Your five favorite cookbooks

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I don't have a big collection of cookbooks.

The ones I look to the most are:

-Julia and Jacques Cooking At Home.

-Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan

-Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

-Secrets of Cooking: Armenian/Lebanese/Persian, Linda Chirinian

I also look a lot on the internet, but you have to be careful. Even when a recipe says it's Julia Child's recipe for "xxx", it's probably not accurate. I have on several occasions compared a chef's recipe from their cookbook to one on the internet claiming to be theirs only to find the internet copy is way off.

Recipes on a chef's official website is more likely to be accurate.

Stick to websites you know are reliable.
 
I just downsized my cookbook collection to almost nothing. I get most if not all of my recipes on line. I virtually stopped using them.

I am curious if their are other of you that have or are considering the same thing.

Guess I am trying to figure if I just did something bad....

Mark

I agree the internet is the way to go, I'm working at getting rid of cookbooks that are simply collections of recipes. I will keep the cooking books that feel like they were written by old friends and kindred spirits until I can find someone who will enjoy them as much as I have. Authors like Gladys Taber, Beatrice Vaughn, Billie Touchstone Hardaway, Edna Lewis, Haydn Pearson, Celestine Sibley, Mary Mason Campbell, and many more.
 
I just downsized my cookbook collection to almost nothing. I get most if not all of my recipes on line. I virtually stopped using them.

I am curious if their are other of you that have or are considering the same thing.

Guess I am trying to figure if I just did something bad....

Mark


I cleaned out my cookbook cabinet, along with my garden book cabinet, and donated all to our local library. Packed them all in one well-worn, retired suitcase. The library got to keep the suitcase as well as the books.
 
I have found that many recipes on line may not be exactly the same as those in cookbooks. For instance many Prudhomme and Lagasse recipes found on the net refer you to spice blends they are marketing. The books list the ingredients and amounts used in these spice mixes.:(
 
Out of need to downsizing, I am down to one cookbook. Good Housekeeping, 1978 edition. It is falling apart, but I just can't give it up. If I have a question, I don't go to the internet, I go to my falling apart GH. :angel:
 
I just downsized my cookbook collection to almost nothing. I get most if not all of my recipes on line. I virtually stopped using them.

I am curious if their are other of you that have or are considering the same thing.

Guess I am trying to figure if I just did something bad....

Mark

I read cookbooks for more than just recipes. I like cookbooks that include personal stories or historical information. I read them like novels. I'm a book lover, so I will never get rid of them all.

I do get recipes from the Internet, too. I have several binders in which I put the keepers. I'm pretty selective about sites I choose. Not everyone with a cooking blog is equally good at writing recipes. It's an art.
 

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I didn't think I ever cook more than one recipe from any particular book.
I guess what I'm trying to say , I have no favorite cook book.

Sent from my iPhone using Discuss Cooking.
 
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I have many cookbooks, and I still use them. I like recipes that have been properly thought out, and this invariably includes writers like Auguste Escoffier (classic French recipes, Aldo Fabrizi (Roman recipes), Claudia Roden (Middle Eastern recipes) Luigi Carnacina (Classic Italian recipes), and newer, Yotem Otolenghi, Heston Blumenthal, and many others besides. I don't get recipes from the web, I get them from well-informed friends. When I read a recipe, it's to scan over and understand ingredients, method and service.

di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde
 
I read cookbooks for more than just recipes. I like cookbooks that include personal stories or historical information. I read them like novels. I'm a book lover, so I will never get rid of them all.

I do get recipes from the Internet, too. I have several binders in which I put the keepers. I'm pretty selective about sites I choose. Not everyone with a cooking blog is equally good at writing recipes. It's an art.

Same.

I don't buy cook books as often as I used to. Many of the ones I have are ones I picked up at meet and greets with the chef/ author. So to me, these are more than just cook books.

Many I have are also linked to authors tv cooking series.

I like the way they look in the kitchen.

The ones I refer back to most are any from Jacques Pepin.
There is another book I acquired from my parents, that is finger foods/appetizers from around the world. I seem to refer back to this book the most.
 
I don't have a lot of cookbooks. The one that I do have and use is "The Silver Spoon", the Bible of Italian Cooking. IIRC it was only translated to English about 15 years ago. I also have and enjoy reading and trying things from Julia Childs' "The Way to Cook".
 
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