Best Cookbook(s)?

I'm guilty, I admit it. Guilty of making recipes off the box, guilty of copying out of cookbooks/magazines from Borders, guilty of internet searches for 'mahi mahi AND artichoke' (123254543 sites found), and guilty of sometimes-good, often-not homemade recipes.

So what's a guy to do??? Ask y'all for the bestest ever cookbook!

My tastes vary. This week is an Irish dinner, last it was I'm sick of grilled chicken, week before I think I was on finger foods kick.

My skill level is super- college dorm heating element/sub- actual chef. But I follow directions really well. And I'm eager to learn.

My budget? What's a budget? I haven't quite mastered that level of adulthood just yet... which probably tells you all you need to know about my budget.

I have a full spice rack and I'm not afraid to buy more.

I suppose I could go for at most 3 solid books with a range of ethnicity, style, foods, and complexity. Oh- and I really lean toward pictures. Whaddya got?

This may not be the most satisfying answer, but I've moved entirely away from cookbooks and use Allrecipes.com. You get a gazillion recipes, plus people rate the recipes and tell you what they did or did not like about a recipe. Sometimes people give great ideas on items to add that make the recipe even better.

WOW, whatta response!

So far, the top of the list for books are: (drum roll)

How To Cook Everything by Bitmann
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Madison
Joy of Cooking ala 1975
How to Eat by Lawson

I plan on looking into these at the bookstore tomorrow. And I've bookmarked this page to refer to as my skillz improve. Thanks for the helping me out...

-k

check ebay and other online resources such as bookfinder.com; you should be able to pick some or all of these up for less that the retail price.

Good luck!

Half.com is another good resource.

The thing I like about bookfinder is that it seems to search ALL of the online databases - it will give you Amazon, Half, Powells, ABE etc as well as a lot of others - so I dont have to check around. If I want comments and ratings, I look at Amazon; I will always check ebay because its the ultimate market every seller and buyer can access but for the an overview of the whole organized market, bookfinder seems really excellent.

I buy many, many books (and CDs) on half.com. It's especially cheap for books -- but in my experience, cookbooks tend not to be the steals that you can find in other genres (especially commercial fiction).

I've started selling on half.com to support my habit. I've had no problem selling most of the CD's I've put up for sale -- but I haven't had nearly as much success selling books.

Do you find that half.com is better than ebay for selling?

I've never sold on Ebay.

Selling on Half.com is a snap. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you can go from not having an account of any kind with them to having a listing up in less than 3 minutes.

The secret is that you can sell only items that can be identified by some form of serial # -- an ISBN number for a book, the bar code for a CD. Half.com supplies the graphics (no need to take digital photographs).

The postage allowance allows you to break even on shipping for sellers, even after paying for a Jiffy bag.

I've had more success selling CD's than books, although cookbooks tend ot be hot sellers on Half and Ebay.

You might also look at thegoodcook.com, a book club where it looks like your net investment/return is something like $40-50 for 6 cookbooks. I'm thinking about joining myself soon. Here's an earlier cookbook thread (with link to an even earlier one) that you might find interesting also.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

"The Complete Asian Cookbook"--Charmaine Solomon(India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, China, Korea, Japan) Better coverage of some countries than others, but there's a lot packed into that book. Only a few pictures.

"A Book of Middle Eastern Food"--Claudia Roden or the new edition "The New Book of Middle Eastern Food"

"Texas Home Cooking"--Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison(pretty good range of food in that book--BBQ, Tex-Mex, Chili, Gulf Coast Cajun, Texas Czech and German recipes, etc.)

i second "the complete asian cookbook" by Charmaine Solomon.

All of James Peterson's books are great. Especially love the vegetable and fish and shellfish books.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I really like the "Dean & Deluca Cookbook" written (mostly) by David Rosegarten. It's very good for contemporary basics and has huge ethnic influences from all over. I cook out of this book at least once a week. Overall the recipes seem to be very well tested and give good instruction. (Unlike that damned Martha Stewart book, you know, the green one.) They often will give the "classic" version of a recipe and then give an updated version too. The only downside for a beginner cook is that this book doesn't include any bread, cookies, cake, pastry, etc. But for that I just refer to my James Beard cookbook or "The Bread Bible".

One more thing, I really prefer James Beard over "Joy of Cooking."

Several responses to this thread have mentioned websites for recipes in addition to cookbooks.

No matter what you think of her, Masrtha Stewart's website - www.marthastewart.com - has some excellent recipes. It's not extensive but none of her recipes have ever let me down. This could be a supplement to the cookbooks you acquire.

Her new little magazine - Everyday Food - is also very good. I made the pot roast from the first issue and everyone was crazy about it. D.

It really depends on what you want to do - do you want the ability to master basic techniques so you can improvise or just have a basic set of recipes to follow? Are your interests close to home or exotic?

A book like Joy is good if you want to have a reliable basic recipe for all kinds of normal stuff I dont much care for it but use it as a reference - Id say a book like Bittmans or the Cooks Illustrated book might give you more ideas you can riff on. I just want to add that the one time I used the Bittman book, which I had given to my daughter, the instructions in the recipe we were using were less than adequate - she was making samosas. I also really like The Way to Cook, which has nice pictures and fine recipes - I think that would be an excellent starting place.

Then I would consider what type of cooking I really wanted to do - if it was ethnic, I would pick one or two cuisines I really wanted to dive into and get those books. The following are good books for this purpose: Bayless, Authentic Mexican; Madhur Jaffrey - An Invitation to Indian Cooking (no pix though) - her second book, published by Barrons, which has pix is also good; Anything by Marcella Hazan (line drawings only), the Splendid Table by Lynn Rosetto Kasper or Naples at Table for Italian; Mediterranean Cooking by Paula Wolfert (simpler and less specialized than some of her other books - no pix though); the Duguid and Alford south east asian book is very good and simple for this area, as well as really beautiful. If there are particular areas or styles of cooking you want to delve into, why dont you post those and we can be more specific.

For baking, I also recommend Simple Home Desserts, by Richard Sax. A handful of pix only, though.

I think the Richard Sax title is actually Classic Home Desserts. In any case, I totally agree with the recommendation -- one of my favorite dessert books -- and those pictures it does have are pretty nice. Not Baking with Julia nice, but pretty good nonetheless.

Older edition of Joy of Cooking or La Varenne Pratique for comprehensive basics; the latter has the best practical pictures of anything out there.

Julia Child's "The Way to Cook" for finer stuff, well laid out and thought through. Good pictures, too.

Victory Garden Cookbook for selecting (even growing), handling and preparing produce. Some pictures.

Nigella Lawson's "How to Eat". I don't know if you can get it in the US and it doesn't have any pictures but it does have lots of informative and thought provoking chat and a wide range of recipes that invite you to follow them or improvise as you wish.

Yes, it's available here...

I'll second the recommendation. It's probably the cookbook I use the most -- in part because the recipes are very wide ranging (Moroccan chicken and chickpea stew, fairy cakes, pea crostini, roast beef, mushroom udon), but also because they are mostly very easy and almost always turn out perfectly the first time.

I agree with a lot of others a good basic cookbook is a real asset in the kitchen, I started off with a Sunset cookbook myself, it was an excellent foundation. Additionally your public library may have the books that have been mentioned. It is a great place to test drive a cookbook before buying. If you go to a book store take time and look them over and see what appeals to to you. You can also get some great second hand deals.

After you gain some experience I suggest that you check out a few of the food web sites like epicurious, some of them are so vast and helpful you may never need to buy a cookbook (but they are wonderful to own).

For general mastering-the-art I'd go for Bittman's book or the Cook's Illustrated, both already mentioned.

If you like Italian, Lynn Rosetto Kaspar's The Italian Country Table. Reading it will make you salivate, the recipes (about 95 of them at least) are not difficult or complicated, and it also contains little nuggets of ingredient info (is fresh pasta always better then dried?) and advice/method tips that I think have made me a better cook no matter the dish. Everything in this book turns out so well, and I've used it so often that in our house we just call it "The Book" (as in, "I'm making the fresh tomato sauce from The Book").

You didn't mention desserts and I'm not much of a baker but Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts is --- well --- a classic. A dessert version of the Italian Country Table (known to us as The Dessert Book), in that everything turns out perfectly and is likely to be the best version of X that you've ever eaten.

If not desserts, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone --- great ideas about ways to use a gzillion vegetables. She doesn't hold back on seasoning and you'll learn about the flavors of different cuisines to boot.

Although I've only had it for a few months, I've become a HUGE fan on Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone".

I'm not a vegetarian, but I do love to do creative things with fresh produce and interesting grains and I haven't found a bad recipie out of the book yet. Pretty amazing. I am also usually the type that likes following the recipie to a T, but I found with this cookbook I can use the ingredients as a guide and still get a great result.

There are also nice explanations of different ways to prepare many veggies, eggs, grains--- Invaluable!

I second the Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone rec. I really love, use it as a resource and reference as well as have prepared recipes from almost every section, all of which I've been pleased with.

How could I have forgotten?!
That is the most beat-up cookbook I own. I love that book--even bring it with me on vacations so I can write menus for when I get home!

Kevin,

I strongly second the Mark Bittman book, "HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING." I love it's guiding spirit, which is high on flavor and low on difficulty. It might not be quite as comprehensive as Joy of Cooking, but it is also less intimidating and full of sage advice.

I've given it to many people as gifts, especially to non-expert cooks, and they are still using it on a regular basis.

It's been said already, but I want to re-emphasize that the basic information on ingredients and techniques that you will get from Joy of Cooking is invaluable. I refer to my 1975 edition almost weekly, and to my mom's 1951 edition at least once a month. The recipes themselves aren't particularly exciting, but using the book will teach you to cook!

My very favorite cookbook (wore out my first copy) is the More with Less Cookbook put out by the Mennonite Central Committee. Very practical, everyday recipes with an emphasis on frugality(which does not mean austerity), responsible use of resources, and our calling to care for other people and the earth.

If you like photos, I'd have to agree that the Williams-Sonoma series is very well done. They provide enough information to be helpful, and the recipes have great appeal. You can pick a few of the subjects

I'd very highly recommend the Barefoot Contessa books, by Ina Garten. She has a very non-intimidating style, and her recipes produce great results. I'd start with "Barefoot Contessa Parties", as I think it has the most well-rounded selection of recipes.

Jamie Oliver's books and Wolfgang Puck's more recent titles offer a similar approach. Take your time looking through the books to see which appeal most to you.

Once you've started getting into cooking and would like to go deeper into technique and theory, I think some of the more serious titles that other posters recommend will be very helpful. I particularly like Julia Child's "The Way To Cook", "La Varenne Pratique", "The Best Recipe", and anything by James Peterson.

When I was in college, my mother gave me a copy of "Easy Basics for Good Cooking" published by Sunset magazine. This formed a great foundation and set of skills for further explorations, and featured a plethora of great recipes, including many timeless classics. Good explanatory photos and a ton of helpful charts, too. The instructions are very easy to follow. I won many a girlfriend using the recipes in this book - and won over a few skeptical girlfriends' parents too.

This book has been out of print for a long time (I think Sunset published "New Easy Basics" to replace it - that's also gone out of print), but you can find great deals on used copies if you look around.

You might want to think about getting some of the books in the Williams-Sonoma series. They have lots of pictures, are clearly written, and contain simple recipes that produce above-average results. They are also priced such that you'll want to collect them all.

Others to consider:

The Joy of Cooking is good, but I find I use the Fannie Farmer Cookbook much more often, and like it better. It is easily the most used cookbook in this home. I recommend browsing through both books and then getting one. Whichever you choose, its pages will get dog-eared and food-stained in no time (that's a good thing!).

The second most used cookbook here is Staff Meals from Chanterelle. The recipes are all excellent, and all VERY easy to prepare. They are also clearly written, and throughout the book are bits of cooking advice that are quite helpful (and fun to read). I love this cookbook. Owning it has saved me hours of browsing on epicurious.com.

For reference, Joy of Cooking and Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything".

To learn how to cook and, with that, a basis for understanding anything and everything about all the future recipes and techniques you will ever need to know about to actually cook something, there are two. They are both by Jacques Pepin, La Technique and La Methode.

I've just ordered the Bittman book that includes the CD. I like having access to recipes on my computer rather than destroy them in the kitchen. I wish all cookbooks included such a disc to save me scanning or typing recipes in.

My standard gift to anyone setting up house for the first time is Joy of Cooking, older edition. The information about ingredients and techniques is invaluable.

There's another old set of books that doesn't get sufficent credit, I think: The Woman's Day Encylopedia (of Cooking). It's out of print, but still available though booksellers. A friend gave it to me long ago and I still pull it out occasionally.

Next time you're in Border's, have a gander at a somewhat weighty tome called "La Varenne Pratique" by Anne Willan. It's an excellent reference for technique and ingredients -- you can teach yourself to cook just about anything out of this baby. Excellent photos, great recipes. This is a kitchen workhorse that everyone should have.

If you like pictures, and want serious tutorial instruction, get James Peterson's 'Essentials of Cooking'. It's focused on techniques, not recipes
(though the recipes are generally v good), with good lots of solid recommendations and tips. Follow it up with his books 'Vegetables', 'Sauces', and 'Fish', and you'll be extremely well-prepared to cook anything...

For good basic cooking, I second the motion for an older edition of "Joy of Cooking", as well as Julia Child's "The Way to Cook", which I think is more beginner friendly (lots of pictures and informative asides) than the "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Vols. I and II. Not that they aren't great books, you understand. I use them both regularly, though I use Vol. I much more than Vol. II.

My personal favourite over "Joy" is Basics from the Silver Palette (New York Catering co). Silver Palette has 2 other books out that I enjoy too. I love anything by Julia Child and Donna Hay (great pics). This isn't a book, but I find I use www.epicurious.com a lot more now. They have thousands of recipes and people review the recipes after making them. It's great! I just look up what I want, scroll to the bottom to see if people liked the recipe and if so, print it out and get busy!

You're a person after my own heart. I have a lot of cookbooks but I use www.epicurious.com just as you describe. I get a lot of helpful hints out of the reviews.

For a book you can just pick up and cook something delicious from, I second the recommendations for "The Silver Palate" -- the original by that name, not the second one (which for some reason I rarely use) or the New Basics (which I don't have).

My original "The Silver Palate Cookbook" has that dogeared, stained look that marks the favorite cookbook in the house. The recipes are really easy to follow and always turn out well. It's also fun to read (lots of interesting, useful info in the margin borders), and has a section on "basics" in the back that's quite useful and doesn't require the intensive study of some of the more comprehensive primers other people have recommended.

If I had to pick one book...How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is great. No photographs, but wonderful instructive illustrations. British/Irish, American, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Italian, Spanish, French, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Indian, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese all fairly well represented. Good section on desserts and drinks, as well. The Mexican food is consistantly not as tasty or authentic as the rest.
More cuisine-specific, but very worthwhile:
For Mexican, get Rick Bayless' most recent book (name slips my mind). Photographs are enough to make you get up and start cooking, and the book will tell you how to make good use of cheap staples--rice and beans and inexpensive (read tough) meats.
Second the Cooks Illustrated rec.
Now, for generally inexpensive, really tasty food (and wonderful b&w photos), Mediterranean Street Food by Anisa Helou. Probably the most frequently used book in my kitchen. I use recipes from it at least once a week. Most frequently I come back to koshari--lentils and rice with carmalized onions, fried vermicelli, and spicy tomato sauce. Looks like roadkill, tastes like heaven, and costs less than a buck a serving.

I have a slightly different take on this--I agree, it's good to have a book of basics, like Joy. I suggest you also pick, say, three cuisines you really enjoy--e.g. Italian, Mexican and Chinese, and get a good, basic cookbook for each one. If you want to name your favorite ethnic cuisines, I'm sure the 'hounds can recommend the best starter cookbook for each. (If one of your faves is Mexican, I highly recommend any of Rick Bayless' books. His recipes are well written and easy to follow.)

Definately The Joy of Cooking.

My still favorite cookbook after all these years (you can get it on a second hand book site like alibris) is "Gourmet Cooking For One (or more)" by Robert Graham Paris. It was published in 1968, by Athenaeum in New York. It's superb at describing all the basics of flavors and sauces and substitutions. I've been making some of my favorite recipes in the book for 35 years now, and they still please me and my guests. I admit that no one in their right modern-day mind would cook fish for as long as he recommends, but that's easy to adjust.

His recipes are "International" and he cites the country source on each of them. They seemed more exotic back then when we were less accustomed to having all the ethnic restaurants. They're still realiably good though.

It's also interesting to see how our concept of "portion" has changed since 1968. Most current recipes call for at least two ounces more of protein per person than his recipes. You can always make more than his portion sizes, but reading some of the older books, it's easy to see part of the cause for the 'spreading' of America.

Jane

[blisstone]

perhaps a book that needs adjustments for the modern age may not be the best recommend for a novice.

I was right there with you about ten years ago. I actually bought a paperback copy of Jeff Smith's original Frugal Gourmet cookbook and wore it out my senior year of college. I still have it, but looking back I realize old Jeff was kind of a hack. If I had it to do over again, I would choose these three cookbooks as my first three

The Joy of Cooking
Just get it. It's being reprinted and improved, so make sure you get the most current version. It's still the one I turn to first more often than any others.

Cook's Illustrated The Best Recipe
A paint by numbers approach: it's like Consumer Reports for recipes. Exhaustively tested, and invaluable supporting detail that tells you the why and the how behind why good recipes are good and bad ones are bad. It's pretty dispassionate, however, and will do little to inspire a more visceral attraction to the culinary arts.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume Two by Julia Child
If you want to become a good cook, ya gotta go through France, plain and simple. This is a good basic volume, but looks a bit dated. You might find Jacque Pepin's first book to be more...contemporary.

Have fun!

Slight disagreement on the Joy of Cooking. Oh, by all means get it -- but hunt out an old version from a used bookstore. The new version pales in comparison.

I agree that it is much better to use the old version of 'Joy of Cooking'. You can almost always find a copy at flea markets or book sales. Besides you never know when you might need that recipe for squirrel stew...just kidding.

The 1975 edition of JOC is still in print, and can be found on bookstore shelves right next to the new one.

I think you're referring to the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking. I have read that they are preparing a new edition that will mark a return to the older versions of J of C. Not sure when it's coming out, but that was the one I was referring to.

I must be one of the only people that has never liked and don't own the Joy of Cooking. If I remember correctly, the format is such that the ingredients are listed within very long paragraphs? (I could be wrong on this, but I think Joy is the one that looks like that.) I prefer a list of ingredients so I can gather them together prior to cooking.

Each time I've looked through an older version on someone's shelf or the updated one (not "New"), I've never found it to be an easily usable cookbook. I'd rather go with Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" as a first book to give someone - although the size of the book is a bit daunting.

As others have said - I like going to Epicurious.com and Allrecipes.com and reading reviews and hints about a recipe I'm interested in. I have cookbooks on my shelves; I tend to use Internet sites a bit more.

You are kinda right. The ingredients are intersperced inbetween the instructions. The ingedients are in bold and are indented. An example would be (without bold):

Bring to boil
1 CUP WATER
Add
1 CUP PASTA
When desired texture is reached, strain. Add
SAUCE

It is true that a novice has to be careful to read through it carefully to get all the ingredients, but I think in the long run, it is easier as the instructions themself tend to be less wordy than others and more to the point.

I wish I had How to Cook Everything when I graduated college. Instead, I got the New Basics from the Silver Palet and never really liked it. It didn't seem basic enough. I'd be excited about a recipe and then I'd come accross ingredients (red currant jelly) that required going to a specialty store. I didn't live near any so I got discouraged many times.

Maybe I could have been more creative and substituted or ommited ingredients but every recipe had 2 or 3 ingredients that required a search and turned a meal into an event. I bought How To Cook Everything because of this board's previous recommendations and I've been happy with it.

How very strange that a new Joy of Cooking would look like that. I'm not wild about that recipe format.

My facsimile edition of the 1931 Joy of Cooking is in the usual way:

ingredient ingredient
ingredient ingredient

Method

With a few exceptions of some recipes with very few ingredients presented in paragraph form.

I'm surprised they would change this.

Have you ever looked at one of the post-1931 editions? Early on, this recipe format became one of the trademarks of JOC, and every edition since probably the second or third, including the "all new" one is in this format.

I never really liked JOC that much either. We did actually own it, but then lost it in a move. No one noticed it was gone for months, which gives you some indication of how often we used it. My biggest peeve is the one you mentioned: I also find the layout, with ingredients listed in the steps, not very user-friendly.

In terms of recipes, I tend toward currently-fashionable-asian-mediterranian-influenced american cuisine. The new JOC has been updated somewhat to reflect this. However, I tried about 1/2 dozen dishes in this vein and they were disgusting. To be fair, the more traditional american recipes were much, much better, but I found myself turning more to Cook's Illustrated for that.

My first year out of college, I roomed with 3 other just-graduated girls. Mark Bittman's _How to Cook Everything_ and Deborah Madison's _Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone_ won out over JOC for books we turned to first. The recipes and writing styles of these books (especially Bittman) were much more appealing and approachable to four new young cooks.

For more international foods, I love Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Hot Sour Salty Sweet, Seductions of Rice, Flatbreads and Flavors) and Grace Young's _The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen_. Everything that I have tried by Jacques Pepin is super-reliable and very tasty. Sally Schneider's _A New Way to Cook_ is slowly but surely gaining a permanent spot in my kitchen for healthy food that tastes really, really good. (Not just good compared to other healthy food, but good period.) Didi Emmons's _Vegetarian Planet_ is very creative and has a bunch of recipes that have surprised the heck out of me by how good they taste. Giuliano Hazan (son of Marcella) has a book called _Every Night Italian_ that I turn to quite a bit for tasty everyday food. (I also have Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking but somehow Every Night Italian is more approachable on a weeknight.)

For inspiration I really like Ina Garten (really do-able fun party ideas; some of the recipes are really good, some are basic things I've already found versions of that I like better), Donna Hay (really beautiful pictures; mixed results with the food), and Nigella Lawson (I love her writing, but so far haven't cooked that much out of her books).

Quickly running out of space for more cookbooks...

Yeah, get the 1975 version if you must have a Joy of Cooking. Everything you make from it will work, and all that. But, IMHO, nothing will be exquisite or inspiring or thrilling. There's just something about all the recipes that doesn't encourage spontaneous, joyful cooking, the kind you want to come home and throw yourself into after a long day of work or school.
Also, for easy, cheap, and very flexible Italian, Italy al Dente by Biba Caggiano. Great pictures, great directions, and love in the recipes. Neelam Batra's Indian Vegetarian, but no pictures. Both inspiring books to work with, and very easy and accessable.

I really like Cooks Illustrated's "The Best Recipe". They try every way you can think of making different foods (for example they made 38 versions of creme caramel to find the best version). They also tell the results of each trial and error.

Lisa

I cannot agree with this recommendation enough. This is a great cookbook (particularly for a beginner) because it explains the why of doing things a certain way. I got a copy for my sister who is still in college, and she loves it and claims that she has been able to make every recipe she has tried with ease and perfect results. It may be dispassionate, but I love the wealth of information it provides. Very basic recipes but often there are suggestions for making things more elaborate. Great book.

And you know, just for fun I'll recomend "Eat Dangerously: The Blow Health Out Your Ass Cookbook." It's a tiny book but really fun.

The best part about The Best Recipe's discussion of the alternate methods is that sometimes you find that you like the sound of the results from one of the methods or ingredients they discarded better than the one they settled on. Plus, it's just - endearing - to think of someone madly dreaming up all these experimental things to ratchet up the lusciousness one more degree.