What is the best general cookbook for a relatively inexperienced, non-gourmet home cook? I'm a home cook with a pretty good cookbook collection, but what's missing is one big all-purpose book for general recipes (most of my cookbooks are specialty cookbooks, e.g., Asian cooking, light cooking). Various friends and family members have recommended Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens, America's Test Kitchen, and the Taste of Home, but obviously I can't buy them all, so I thought I'd ask here. Which of these do you rely on or is known to be the best? Or do you use something different? Thanks in advance!
Best General, All-Purpose Cookbook?
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auntdot
Head Chef
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What you want sadly does not exist, and quite frankly I don't believe it could.
Would go with the Joy of Cooking.
It has its limitations, as do all cookbooks. But for an all around reference it is purty darn good.
Would go with the Joy of Cooking.
It has its limitations, as do all cookbooks. But for an all around reference it is purty darn good.
bethzaring
Master Chef
another vote for any printing of Joy of Cooking
Veloce
Cook
You might go to a bookstore and take a look at Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everthing. We also have Joy of Cooking, Good Housekeeping, McCalls (our first cookbook), Fanny Farmer, the Settlement Cookbook and about 100 other hard cover cookbooks, but Bittman's is the one we reach for first these days.
appletart
Sous Chef
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I use The Joy of Cooking and Betty Crocker
We've discussed this many time in our Cookbooks, Software etc. sub-forum (under the Cookware and Accessories Forum) and I think Joy of Cooking has always been the #1 overall choice. It's more than just a collection of recipes - it's also a reference book for explaining terms, techniques and ingredients - and a great tutor for the beginning cook.
I would suggest looking for used copies of Joy between 1975-1995 - the ones prior to The New Joy which came out around 1997.
Julia Child was even quoted as saying it would be her choice if she could have only one cookbook.
I would suggest looking for used copies of Joy between 1975-1995 - the ones prior to The New Joy which came out around 1997.
Julia Child was even quoted as saying it would be her choice if she could have only one cookbook.
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Half Baked
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I have never owned a Joy of Cooking but when I bought one for my wedding/kitchen fix up present, I picked one up for me, too.
What a great book.
McCall's was my first cookbook, also (which I received as a wedding present). I would recommend that as well.
What a great book.
McCall's was my first cookbook, also (which I received as a wedding present). I would recommend that as well.
Mrs. Cuillo
Sous Chef
I have a very very old Joy of Cooking cookbook that was given to me by my boyfriends mom and it is the original one that Michael is talking about. I almost never use that one and use my Better Homes and Gardens one. My mom had a Betty Crocker one that she used all the time when I was growing up. My Better Homes and Garden one also has definitions, substitution guide and measurement equivalent guide as well. I would recommend either Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens but I am new to the cooking industry and those are the two that I have worked with the most. A lot of people on here are wonderful cooks and you can feel "safe" taking their opinions. Good luck i the search and WELCOME TO DC!!!!
Half Baked
Executive Chef
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Better Homes and Gardens is a super book. I use that quite a bit, also.
Uncle Bob
Chef Extraordinaire
Micheal states it well.....One Book... "Joy of Cooking"
Joy of Cooking choose an edition that suits your style...it's a great place to start.
Hungry
Senior Cook
Joy of Cooking
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
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
Assistant Cook
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
Head Chef
Better Homes and Gardens is what I use.
Sugarcreations said:
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!!
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
Executive Chef
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
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.auntdot said:
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!
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