Best General, All-Purpose Cookbook?

[Uncle Bob]

Micheal states it well.....One Book... "Joy of Cooking"

[Robo410]

Joy of Cooking choose an edition that suits your style...it's a great place to start.

[Hungry]

I was in Taiwan on a business trip from Okinawa when I got my Joy of Cooking in about 1963.

I have uses it extensively. Mostly as a reference rather than the recipes.
It may be a collectors item as I got it on the Black Market and pages 229 to 244 were put in upside down!

Enjoy,
Charlie

[Sugarcreations]

Joy of Cooking is good but the new edition came out with some errors that I believe they corrected. Mark Bittmans book "How to cook most anything" is good as well. But for the novice Joy of Cooking rates supreme no doubt.

[college_cook]

Better Homes and Gardens is what I use.

[Candocook]

Originally Posted by Sugarcreations

Joy of Cooking is good but the new edition came out with some errors that I believe they corrected. Mark Bittmans book "How to cook most anything" is good as well. But for the novice Joy of Cooking rates supreme no doubt.

The new edition of Joy of Cooking is much more faithful to the original classic (after the debacle of The New Joy of Cooking--terrible) of that book and would be the best, I think (in spite of my other suggestion). It REALLY does have everything.
I have a personal bias against Mark Bittman after an interview he did on NPR about Julia Child on the occasion of her passing. He rather boredly and dismissively opined that yes, perhaps Julia would be remembered as a culinary icon. What a twit (in the absence of using a different term)--as if he is in the same ballpark. NOT.
Have heard others say that every time they go to his How to Cook Everything, it isn't there!!

[pdilippa]

I have another one for you but I'm not sure if you'll find it easily. Its by Family Circle and its called "Cooking a commonsense guide" Murcock books is the Publisher. I have found it fantastic for those good old faithful recipes that we all loved when Mum cooked them. It has heaps, eg. Vegetarian, Pasta & Rice, Bread & Buns, Cakes & Biscuits, Desserts, Sweet Treats, Jams & Pickles and even what cuts of meat there are an types of vegetables, Freezing chart, measurements made easy. Heaps and Heaps and there is even a healthy choice version now. Anyway, hope this helps. Let me know.

[jpmcgrew]

Of course The Joy Of Cooking and the other would be The Good House Keeping Illustrated cookbook.I has step by step illustrations for each dish and a photo of each dish in the front of book so you can see what your aiming for.
Amazon.com: Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook: Books

[Caine]

Originally Posted by auntdot

What you want sadly does not exist, and quite frankly I don't believe it could.

Au contraire, mon ami, it most certainly does exist. The original Fanny Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook contain 1,849 recipes, covering just about every normal, everyday American family meal you could possibly want to prepare.

You can use the original book, which is now online at the link above, or you can buy the latest version, editied by Marion Cunningham*, at any book store, either online or real world.

*No, not Richie's Mom from Happy Days, the REAL Marion Cunningham!