289078 Thu Apr 25 10:35:43 -0700 2002 20 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1563243 On earlier thread about "cookbook ideas", a number of you mentioned that you were avid cookbook collectors and addicts. What a relief! I thought I was the only one. Is there a support group for this? My question is, how many cookbooks do you have? What are your favorite sources? A couple of years ago I counted up to 40 and I thought that was a lot. Since then my collection has grown exponentially with the discovery of a number of discount and bargain cookbook catalogs and websites. Used bookstores are also my favorite haunts and I've found a few gems along the way such as one of my faves "The Can-opener Cookbook" (ca 1965), a collection of recipes that combine different canned goods into delicious meals. What a hoot! What are some of your "finds" and off-beat favorites? Thu Apr 25 10:35:43 -0700 2002 0 raj1 1 1563247 My cookbook collection is "only" 20 (remember that I am still in school, live in a studio apartment, and have no kitchen, merely a stainless steel kitchenette in the corner of my apartment). Plus I have subscriptions to 3 or 4 cooking magazines. My favorite hidden finds? The Pauper's Cookbook by Jocasta Innes. I picked it up in a used book store in the Cotswolds for 50p. All sorts of money saving tips and excellent recipes. Another favorite source is half.com Thu Apr 25 10:54:36 -0700 2002 1563243 0 Caitlin Wheeler 2 1563264 I have over 400 cookbooks, and subscribe to 7 food magazines. To add to this madness, I'm writing a cookbook of my own. What stokes the flames of this obsession in part is the incremental nature of cookbooks/recipes. Due to the fragmented nature of modern urban life, these books and magazine provide a portable forum in which I can absorb information in snatches, whether an hour or five minutes. Most of us well know the joys of cooking, the zen of prep and the stimulation fo all five senses. And much has been written about the vicarious thrill provided by that "food porn"--cooking shows and those glossy Condé Nast magazines. I've gotten a lot "better"--I don't feel like I have to own every significant new cookbook. My collection is fairly complete in terms of cuisines and techniques. Over the last decade, I have developed recipes that are in my standard repertoire--I no longer need to read recipes for carbonara, cheesecake, lasagna, steak au poivre, fried or roast chicken, and a few dozen other dishes, because I'm very happy with those recipes. Favorite cookbooks? Julia Child, hands down. All of them. And Marcella Hazan, of course. Jacques Pépin. Any of James Peterson's. The Joy of Cooking. Rozanne Gold's 1-2-3. Lynne Rosettto Kasper's marvelous pair of Italian cookbooks. Penelope Casas's Spanish cookbooks. You know, the usual. They're famous for many, many good reasons. Julia herself has said that the wonderful thing about cooking is that you never stop learning. If I had read 400,000 cookbooks, there would still be new culinary doors to open. Thu Apr 25 12:38:11 -0700 2002 1563247 0 Tom Steele 3 1563454 Whoa, I am impressed! I haven't counted my books, but I guesstimate they number around 75-100. Plus all the issues from Bon Appetit since 1986 (which I am still hoping to bind one day) Among my favorites is a little book called "Elegant Easy Creme Brulee & Other Custard Desserts" by Debbie Puente--I have yet to try one of the recipes, but just looking at the amazingly yummy photos is a sinful pleasure. Two little, inexpensive cookbooks with recipes from back home which I treasure. Also, Soltner's "The Lutece Cookbook", Julia Child's "The Way to Cook," etc, etc, etc. Too many to mention really, each book in the collection contains at least one recipe I love, and many more memories. Fri Apr 26 23:22:50 -0700 2002 1563264 0 Maria 1 1563269 Avowed addict. Weirdest cookbook (which doesn't beat your can opener book by a long shot, mind you): "The Art of Tofu" by Akasha Richmond. Now, this one was *given* to me by the printer who printing it, so I don't know if it really counts. FWIW, it does have some good recipes! Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/chowhoundcomA Thu Apr 25 12:57:15 -0700 2002 1563243 0 wow i'm a dog 1 1563279 I have a lot of cookbooks, I guess about 1500. If I had time I’d whittle it down a bit. Special collections/interests include Thai food, street food and markets, foodways. These are not all primarily recipe books, some are expository. This is a highly personal and idiosyncratic list, not meant to be definitive in any way. I always travel with ethnographic cookbooks; it adds immensely to the experience. Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way, and also Burmese Family by Mi Mi Khaing. The latter is not a cookbook but is the best source for descriptions of eating in a Burmese family. Euell Gibbons, Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop (Gibbons was a famous naturalist and forager of the last generation; his descriptions of seeking and cooking wild seafoods are a treasure) Smokestack Lightening by Elie and Stewart (a definitive barbecue journey and for those of you who wonder what all the fuss is about! ) Home Cooking and More Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin Anything by MFK Fisher A Lamu Cookbook by Fatma Shapi and Katie Halford (Swahili cooking) Cheese Primer by Steven Jenkins (this is the book for those of you who want to learn to appreciate cheese—much much more than a catalogue of cheeses) Roy Andries de Groot, Auberge of the Flowering Hearth (an old classic, a wonderful treat for those of you who missed it, it was my favorite bedside book for months) The Thai cookbooks I turn to over and over again: It Rains Fishes by Loha-Unchit Cracking the Coconut by Sui Mei Yu True Thai by Victor Sodsook The Taste of Thailand by Vatcherin Bhumichitr Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Alford and Duguid The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden (actually the old one is fine too, the best description of kibbeh and its place in the cosmos) Anissa Helou, Lebanese Cuisine Godine, Lebanese Mountain Cooking Sonia Uvezian, Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table by Mai Pham (new) The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam by Ngo and Zimmerman Vietnamese Cooking by Miller Traditional Recipes of Laos by Phia Sing (not a book you can realistically cook from but a wonderful documentation of Lao recipes of yore, accompanied by drawings) Cooking, Care and Domestication, A Cooking Ethnography of the Tai Yong, Northern Thailand by Ing-Britt Trankell Kaikai Aniani, A Guide to Bush Foods, Markets and Culinary Arts of Papua New Guinea by R.J. May (self-explanatory!) Fermented Fish in Africa by Kofi Essuman Ethnic and Regional Foodways in the United States by Brown and Mussell Changing Chinese Foodways in Asia, ed. By David Wu and Tan Chee-beng Thai Hawker Food (a little book sold in Thailand, sometimes available at abebooks.com. It has delightful humorous sketches of all manner of street foods sold in Thailand; we carry it with us whenever we go) Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium (They publish a book most years, fascinating scholarly articles on esoteric food topics. Each year has a different theme, such as Public Eating, The Cooking Pot, etc. My husband and I co-authored an article on Swahili food and architecture in one of them; he wrote an article on Kenyan honey wine (uki) in another) A Kipper with My Tea by Alan Davidson (personal essays, delightful) Fish and Fish Dishes of Laos, also by Davidson (Davidson was posted to Laos with Britain’s Foreign service or Diplomatic Service way back when) Seafood of Southeast Asia, also by Davidson Eating Alfresco: the best street food in the world by Sheffer and Aharoni (for street food devotees; the photographs are wonderful and will make you want to hop on a plane) Food and Life of Oaxaca by Zarela Martinez, also Food from My Heart Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless (These are excellent books to explore Mexico with) Great Curries of India, also sold as 50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi (This was recommended to me by Nach Waxman, the owner of Kitchen Arts and Letters, the cooking bookstore in NYC. His specialty is Indian cooking and he told me he rarely eats Indian food out because it’s generally so inferior to Indian home cooking and his own cooking. He liked this book and I have had great success in making the curries. A big hit was a watermelon curry that takes about 5 minutes to make! Now if only I could wangle a dinner invitation to Nach’s house!) At Home with Books by Ellis, Seebohn and Panjabi (This is NOT a cookbook but a wonderful art-type book picturing home libraries. If you’ve read this far, you probably need help in shelving your cookbooks—this are the libraries you’d create if you had the funds!) Great Kitchens: At Home with Americas Top Chefs by Whitaker, Mahoney and Jordan (In a similar vein—a good book for dreaming! These are the home kitchens of Rick Bayless, Ken Hom, Cecelia Chang, Alice Waters, etc. I actually got lots of great ideas from their wonderful kitchens) Thu Apr 25 13:52:56 -0700 2002 1563243 0 Wendy Leonard 2 1563364 Oh Wendy, as if I didn't have enough books already! Great list. Fri Apr 26 11:33:43 -0700 2002 1563279 0 saucyknave 1 1563297 Gee, only about 500. Finds? Anything about ingredients, with or without recipes, because as long as I can find out what something IS, I can make something with it: Two by Elizabeth Schneider, "Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables" and her new one, "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini." "Gourmet Ingredients" by Sophie Grigson (her first book) "The Visual Food Encyclopedia" the English version of a Canadian book "Ingredients" by Loukie Werle, revised by Jill Cox. Support group? Isn't this??? Thu Apr 25 15:22:31 -0700 2002 1563243 0 CTer 2 1563301 I don't know how many I've got but I estimate it at about ten or fifteen yards of shelf space. Some very good, some hilariously pathetic. I tell used bookstores to call me when an estate block comes in. teh rule is that good cooks have good cookbooks and tha cooking this stuff probably kills them. So I also tell the shop owners to watch for my obit. (But I hate to break up someone's collection that was lovingly assembled over the years. Still, how many copies of the same thing can one take?) Samuel Chamberalin's original Boquet de France is wonderful de Groot's Feast for All Seasons is a delight ALl of Charles Baker's Gntl'man's Comanions and Esquire Culinary Guide to France. The Southern Cookbook Several of those plastic ring-bound jobbies are good (I esecially treasure one from the Eastern Shore in MD). I just read the things in bed for the hell of it--gives me lots of good ideas. Thu Apr 25 16:25:51 -0700 2002 1563297 0 Hazelhurst 3 1563307 ooh ooh, re: the eastern shore MD one. can you tell me more about this? Any standout recipes? I'm particularly looking for 'maryland' fried chicken crabcakes (obviously) any recipe involving crab and country ham any recipe involving crab and another (non-shrimp) seafood, preferably not imperial. and i'm just looking for broad verbal descriptions, no verbatim recipes. thanks, ben Thu Apr 25 17:02:11 -0700 2002 1563301 0 ben f 4 1563337 Re: MD Eastern shore--sure---let me dig the book out. Will respond ASAP Thu Apr 25 22:43:00 -0700 2002 1563307 0 Hazelhurst 1 1563305 We've got about 200-300 (along with every cooking magazine on earth!). We have the good technical books such as Julia Child and Marcella Hazan, and the wonderful narrative books by people like MFK Fischer and Elizabeth David. However, we also like the older cookbooks on unusual subjects or by unique people. These include books like a cookbook by Vincent Price, the Trader Vics Kitchen Kibbitzer - the cookbook for men, A cooks tour of Italy by Muscatine, a southern cookbook by the lady who wrote The Yearling, and (a gift from my sister!) a romantic cookbook by Barbara Courtland (which provided great amusement for many!). We're always on the lookout for cookbooks that come from older restaurants (such as the one we have about Luchows!). The hunt for cook books like these is part of the fun - garage sales, book fares, antique stores etc. What a wonderful hobby! Thu Apr 25 16:53:36 -0700 2002 1563243 0 ElizabethC 2 1563306 Cross Creek Cookery by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The Yearling) is a great book, wonderful cornbread recipes! Thu Apr 25 16:55:21 -0700 2002 1563305 0 Wendy Leonard 1 1563324 I have hundreds,as do my mother and sister.We all love food and talk food and read food, especially for all those in the family who loved food and didn't have such luxuries and didn't need cookbooks to cook or to appreciate good eating. My grandmother,grandfather and aunts had probably no cookbooks combined but they had the inheritance and the way of life. As an antique dealer and scrounger, I'm always trying to recover the past in collecting cookbooks ,among other things. I imagine I have acquired hundreds of Time-Life international volumes because I think they're as relevant as they ever were and should be saved and recycled(I've also acquired some great vintage castiron cookware ,food choppers,knives,coffee grinders,etc.)I'm most excited by my latest read, but I especially remember the wonderful writing of Elizabeth David in her 700 lire (remember lire?) paperbacks. She taught me how to prepare some great,simple pasta dishes.Her reissued volume on Italian Food,with great ancient illustrations added, is probably my favorite. Thu Apr 25 20:20:46 -0700 2002 1563243 0 mangiabene 1 1563330 I have over 5000 cookbooks -- I've been collecting for more than 30 years. I really like Joyce Goldstein's books, Julia's, Marcella Hazan's, Marion Cunningham's -- it truly depends on my mood. I love community cookbooks and have a large collection of Jewish cookbooks -- I'm particularly interested in the role of food in rituals and holidays. I enjoy learning about different cultures by reading cookbooks. Copeland Marks, Coleman Andrews, Penelope Casas, Paula Wolfert, Barbara Tropp, Edda Servi Machlan, Carole Field, Julie Sahni, Ken Hom and many other authors have given me much knowledge about different countries and cultures -- more than I learned in college. I'm also interested in regional American cooking -- Bruce Aidells, the Southern Living books, Sunset books, the Jamisons all come to mind. I'm also interested in baking -- Flo Braker, Rose Levy Berenbaum, Marion Cunningham, the Sunset Bread cookbook (this one taught me how to bake bread), Lora Brody, Joe Ortiz, and Beth Hensperger have helped to make me a pretty good baker. If anyone wants titles, they're available at www.amazon.com or www.ecookbooks.com, etc. or if they're out of print, you can look these authors up at www.alibris.com or www.abebooks.com. Thu Apr 25 20:49:19 -0700 2002 1563243 0 Nancy Berry 2 1563359 I want to know where you store them all! We have a small house and have over 1,600 hard-bound books (cataloged). Our house has bookshelves in every room! We're now taking one of the bedrooms and converting it to a library so we can move around our living room. My cookbooks are not cataloged so I have no idea how many I have. I know I have at least 25 cookbooks from the 1950s, most of the Pillsbury bake-off books (these are a hoot to look through!) and various others. Fri Apr 26 10:23:48 -0700 2002 1563330 0 DeeS. 3 1563363 I'm working on a storage plan right now. Many of the books are in labeled boxes, but lots of them are all around the house. We have a full basement that we are going to use as a library when we get the storage plan into place. Many of the books are stored on shelves there, already. Fri Apr 26 11:01:16 -0700 2002 1563359 0 Nancy Berry 1 1563344 With over 400 cookbooks in my library, I am working at resisting the temptation to acquire more every time I read about a new book on the press! I am constantly amazed when I learn of a book I don't have!! The truth is that I have developed an amazing reference library for my family, friends and staff, and my collection is a treasure. Life is short and you can't have too many cookbooks! And, yes, I use them all! Fri Apr 26 04:04:04 -0700 2002 1563243 0 sue jaffe 1 1563345 Never mind! I just went on to read about the collection of 5000 cookbooks! At least now I have a good response to the ribbing I get for having what I now deem a "paltry" collection of books. And, I think I'll give up my attempts to curtail my habit! I will have to consider remodeling my home to accomodate my growing library! Fri Apr 26 04:07:50 -0700 2002 1563243 0 sue jaffe 1 1563346 Wow...5000...I'll bet you have more than the library that specializes in cookbooks (I think it's in Massachusetts) I have a little under 100, but get this, I rarely cook. That has to be a true addict. My favorites: Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Favorite Recipes Life is a bowl of Olson's Cherries http://www.cjolsoncherries.com From Gilroy, The Garlic Capital of the World, The Garlic Lovers Cookbook California Olive Oil Dolce and Biscotti Recipes http://www.sciabica.com Treasured Polish Recipes My mother's cookbook - the pages yellowed, falling out and food-stained. The binding gone. Lovingly stored away. HOWEVER, when I can't find the recipe anywhere else, this cookbook has the recipe (non ethnic American recipes) The name: The American Family Cook Book (1954) by Lily Wallace So I like regional and single subject cookbooks collected while traveling, found at fairs, farmer's markets and festivals. The stuff that never makes it to Amazon.com. Also like old books from used book stores. For example, the Olive Oil Biscotti book which has 49 recipes for biscotti, was personally published by Gemma Sciabica. She wanted a cookbook up to her standards. There needed to be a spiral binder so that the book would lie open and not close while baking. The Cranberry book has recipes from luscious -Cranberry Sour Cream Pie -Orange Pecan Cranberry Cookies -Black Walnut Cranberry Pound Cake with Cranberry Icing To ludicrous - Cranberry meatballs - Cranberry Fish Soup Stew - Cranberry Prune Cake (make up your own joke, but it‘s got to be good for you for a number of reasons) In Chicago, I collected Polish cookbooks (my heritage). In the Polish cookbook for AMERICANS the recipe for roast turkey says: In warm weather, kill the turkey two days before using. In cold weather, kill them from two to five days before you need them. (and we worry about defrosting overnight on the counter). ….never buy one that has long hairs on its skin and feathers on it’s drumstick of a purple color… …pull out the pinfeathers. Then singe off the hairs over a flame…… It made me consider becoming a vegetarian. Fri Apr 26 04:30:24 -0700 2002 1563243 0 Stanley Stepha 1 1563367 I couldn't stand the guilt, so I've never counted. My cookbook reading addiction began while I was still in Jr High: Henri Souli's autobiography found in the public library. Alice B Toklas's autobiographical cookbook mixes good food (great baked whole shad recipe) together with art & lit gossip. But my first cookbook purchase - before I even had my own kitchen - was Venus in the Kitchen (Graham Greene, Norman Douglas). It has been recently reprinted. Fri Apr 26 11:48:53 -0700 2002 1563243 0 saucyknave