Oh, I said Joy, but if I was just starting out, what used to be a staple for new wives (hey, I'm 54, new wives were given cookbooks, never new husbands!) then I agree with the BH&G (the one my mother was given as a new bride) and Betty Crocker (my husband was given as a new bachelor out on his own)(yeah, yeah, I was given an updated version of it myself as a wedding present when I married him .... I had a starter marriage). I grew up using these cookbooks, and love the ring binder format. When discarding an old copy of Betty for a new one, I actually went through the old one and made sure all the old recipes my husband and I used in our old copies were in the new one. Some weren't, and I was able to just pop them out of the ragged binders they were in, put reinforcements around the holes, and pop them into the newer copy.
I don't consider Joy to be a beginner's cookbook. The format isn't as clear as some (when I first started using it, I'd sometimes find myself one ingredient short because I hadn't read the recipe and just bought the ingredients first mentioned). The later versions are more clear than the earlier ones (I bought my first one at a used book store on the closeout shelf). However it is comprehensive and is the first book I turn to when doing research before trying something new and different.
Julia Child did NOT write "the Joy of Cooking." The original author was Irma Rombauer, but the current editions have multiple authors... different ones for each section.
