Cookbook classics and must-haves

[Greg Who Cooks]

Greg, I got married in 1956 and my husband who was a pro chef had a copy of the original JOC. Today my son has it. But even then it was considered the Bible of cooking just before Julia's "The Art of French Cooking." The JOC was written for the average housewife, whereas the AFC had sometime two full pages of directions for one simple step. The JOC had the same instructions, but in simpler terms and one paragraph.

I have no argument with what you said. I love Child for her eloquent writing, I love Rombaeur and Becker for their succinctness and brevity.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

Here are a few of my must have an go to cookbooks.

America's Test Kitchen - The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook, 2001-2013

I just got my copy last week. I'm considering keeping it parked next to my front door. If some hostile person barges in I can smack him/her with this book and bludgeon them into insensibility.

Seriously it looks like a good book (as I thumbed through it) and I'm glad I paid the $30 or so.

 

[timothy032]

"Joy of Cooking" is really really good, the "The Cake Bible" as well. Bought them both on Amazon for less than 10 bucks

 

[Mad Cook]

Wow!!! That's one heck of a list!!! I was going to reply Joy of Cooking and something by Julia Child. I'm going to check out -- literally, check out from the public library -- all of your cookbooks I don't have yet, and I'll buy any that merit it.

One thing I feel strongly about, if there's any cookbook that is worth the price I want it in my permanent library.


I "cut my teeth" on Joy of Cooking. That was way before the Internet. If you had to have just one book in your kitchen JOC was it. You could probably supplement that by something Betty Crocker and various Sunset (magazine) cookbooks. Which is what my library was like in the '80s.


If there was no Internet and I could have only one book on American cooking it would still be Joy of Cooking.

I didn't know that Betty Crocker was a real person. Over here we only know her as the name on packets of cake mix

 

[Dawgluver]

I didn't know that Betty Crocker was a real person. Over here we only know her as the name on packets of cake mix

She's not a real person, she was made up by General Mills:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Crocker

 

[LPBeier]

All my books are "must haves", even if I only use them for reference and picture books!

If I had to pick a few I would say the Canadian series' "Company's Coming" and "Best of Bridge" are great for home cooks who equally love to cook for their family and entertain.

People here would probably think something was wrong if I didn't have a few baking books on my list. "Cake Love" by Warren Brown, "The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgeiri and Carol Fenster's "1000 Gluten Free Recipes are my three biggest go-to's

 

[Mad Cook]

Some other cookbooks to consider (that I own and use as a serious cook):

Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic italian Cooking
Judy Rodgers Zuni cafe Cookbook
Rose Berenbaum's The Cake Bible
David Thompson's Thai Food
Fuchsia Dunlop's Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook
Paul Bertolli's Cooking By Hand
Diane Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico
Paula Wolfert's The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen
Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking
Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice

Barbara Kafka's cookbooks on Roasting and on Soups
Molly Steven's on Braising
Peterson (cant recall his first name) on Sauces

Shirley Corriher's Cookwise is more of a food science book with great recipes
The Professional Chef is the Culinary Institute of America's textbook

Apart from Julia Child, Marcella Hazan and Lizzie David they are all new to me.

No, I won't go and look for them on Amazon, I really won't, I mean it, really I do........

 

[Mad Cook]

As a result of what I've read here I went and looked at it on Amazon. It looks like a really good wedding present book. I liked the clarity and the rather chatty, friendly tone of the instructions

And it might be a good one for an elderly Englishwoman who subscribes to an American cooking forum

 

[cave76]

Has the Sunset Cookbook been mentioned?

"The collection of more than 1,000 recipes selected, tested, and updated from Sunset magazine represents the best of casual American cooking—inspired by local ingredients, created by smart cooks, and infused with the flavors of diverse cultural influences."

(A person doesn't have to live in the West to enjoy these)

 

[CarolPa]

You got a good deal! (I have a few different editions of JOC).

Which edition of JOC would be the best choice if you were only going to have one? I was reading the reviews of them online and now I'm undecided. Some of the reviews of the older editions say that some of the recipes are outdated, such as the directions on how to skin a squirrel. Then some of the reviews of the newer editions say that some of the best recipes from the old book are not in the new book, there are mistakes in the new book, etc.

 

[Mad Cook]

As a result of what I've read here I went and looked at it on Amazon. It looks like a really good wedding present book. I liked the clarity and the rather chatty, friendly tone of the instructions

And it might be a good one for an elderly Englishwoman who subscribes to an American cooking forum

Sorry "it" was the American Test Kitchen book.

 

[Mad Cook]

Which edition of JOC would be the best choice if you were only going to have one? I was reading the reviews of them online and now I'm undecided. Some of the reviews of the older editions say that some of the recipes are outdated, such as the directions on how to skin a squirrel. Then some of the reviews of the newer editions say that some of the best recipes from the old book are not in the new book, there are mistakes in the new book, etc.

You mean you don't skin squirrels regularly?

A (very expensive "fashionable") restaurant in London started serving squirrel as a speciality some time ago. Don't know if it still does. Grey squirrels are an artificially introduced species and a pest in Britain and a threat to the red squirrels so anything that predates on them is good.

 

[Lisa Mac]

As a lover of spices and curries, I can recommend Camellia Panjabi's book 50 GREAT CURRIES OF INDIA.

 

[CarolPa]

I found a 1997 Joy of Cooking online for $.75 plus $3.95 shipping, so I ordered it. At that price, it doesn't matter if I also get the new version somewhere down the line. I just want to have one in my posession. It is being shipped from somewhere in PA and should be here by 1/14/14.

 

[cave76]

You mean you don't skin squirrels regularly?

A (very expensive "fashionable") restaurant in London started serving squirrel as a speciality some time ago.

sa

LOL---- We had squirrel for breakfast as a kid on my uncles farm in Missouri. The only 'special' thing about it was my cousin had to go to the woods and shoot them first!

It's delicious.

 

[menumaker]

I would add Delia Smith's 'Christmas' which is Fab, and anything from Gordon Ramsey that takes your fancy especially for meat dishes. He can be complicated but worth it. Gary Rhodes for excellent British cuisine and 'The Good Cook' by Simon Hopkinson

 

[Mad Cook]

sa

LOL---- We had squirrel for breakfast as a kid on my uncles farm in Missouri. The only 'special' thing about it was my cousin had to go to the woods and shoot them first!

It's delicious.

Never tried it but am tempted to when the one that lives in a tree in my new garden steals the birds' food!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Sorry "it" was the American Test Kitchen book.

That is a great cookbook. Mine's getting worn out!

 

[Oldvine]

My most worn cook book is a first edition, 2nd printing, of the Betty Crocker cook book. Next most worn is a Better Homes and Garden. I handed off a nearly unused Joy of Cooking to a niece that seemed thrilled to see it on my shelf and can only assume she finds it useful.

 

[Jing]

Some great suggestions in this thread. My own bookcase includes several of the aforementioned: Joy of Cooking, plus most books by Delia Smith, Elizabeth David and Marcella Hazan, and Jane Grigson's fish book.

I would also add Rick Stein's Fish and Seafood, and a couple of Jamie Oliver's. Oh...and Robert Carrier's Great Dishes of the World and Pierre Franey's 60-minute Gourmet.