Favorite Jean Anderson cookbooks?

[Katie Nell]

I have "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking" and I just adore it. I'm wondering what other Jean Anderson cookbooks I can add to my collection? I know a lot of other hounds have mentioned her before. Thanks!

[buttertart]

Ms Anderson has a new book out on meat cookery - "Falling off the Bone" - that I want to get, and in addition to her things on AOL Food, you can "friend" her on FB for updates.

[The Dairy Queen]

Sounds perfect for winter, doesn't it?

~TDQ

[buttertart]

Yup!

[JoanN]

My only fear is that it will be too much like "All About Braising"--a book of which I am inordinately fond. But then, I know Jean, I trust her, I'm sure she was well aware of the Stevens book every step of the way while she was working on this one.

[The Dairy Queen]

I was worried about the same thing, Joan, if there would be too much overlap with AAB... This is one I'll probably want to get my hands on before buying...

~TDQ

[JoanN]

I just received an advance order notice from Amazon about Jean's new book and went to take a look at what kind of info they had on it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html...

Fond as I am of her books, this is beginning to look as though I might be able to pass on it--at least until I can sit down and spend some time with it. First, I'm not sure I want to buy a cookbook for which the guiding principle seems to be using cheap cuts of meat. And what are cheap cuts these days anyway? We used to say that about short ribs and oxtails. Hah!

Even more disturbing, though, is that the first recipe they offer, Ragout of Beef with Cranberries and Mushrooms, is almost exactly the same as her recipe for Ragout of Venison with Chestnuts and Mushrooms from "Jean Anderson Cooks." Now, that happens to be one of my favorite recipes from that book, but I don't need another book with that in it. I wonder how many of the recipes in this new book may have been similarly recycled?

[Gio]

"Jean Anderson Cooks" is the only book of hers I have. I know I've cooked a few recipes which I can't remember right now but her conversion charts are a tremendous reference source. Her meat book is one I'll not be buying... I'm on a different track lately.

[AnchovyBourdain]

The Portugal one I just read and it's a great intro to portuguese food (covers only the mainland stuff though). It's the only one I've read from her so far so i'm not an expert in any case...
but I did notice she does some amount of adapting to the dishes for her intended audience which i think leaves them meeker, so to say, in several instances.

[Katie Nell]

I have to say that I might have to add "Dinners in a Dish or a Dash" to the 'Cookbooks you shouldn't have purchased...which books just didn't work for you?' thread. I just don't feel inspired to cook anything from it at all. Seems like lots of pre-prepped ingredients, which I guess I can appreciate the time saved on these items, but they just aren't items I would buy because I do enjoying chopping, etc. and they are definitely more expensive, i.e. frozen diced bell peppers, frozen hashbrowns, jarred roasted red peppers, etc. And I just don't know about buying jarred alfredo sauce! Kind of bummed out about this one, but I did only spend $.01 on it, so I can't beat myself up too much!

[The Dairy Queen]

She has a new one coming out "Falling Off the Bone"

~TDQ

[buttertart]

Great!

[JP_nyc]

The Grass Roots Cookbook, a classic chronicle of home cooks and dishes of regional America; and The New German Cookbook.

Nice interview with Jean here:

http://www.poormansfeast.com/archives...

[buttertart]

Oh yes, the Grass Roots one is a treasure.

[LaLa]

A love affair is my favorite but I also enjoy The American Century Cookbook

[karykat]

I like this one too -- really goes over food history in a thorough and entertaining way.

[buttertart]

"Jean Anderson Cooks" is a very nice general cookbook - as I recall there's a knock-your-socks-off peach soufflé recipe in it - and the Portugal one induced me to go to Lisbon on holiday shortly after I read it. The food processor and MW books are fun too. I met her once very briefly and she is very charming to boot.

[Katie Nell]

Well... I should have been more patient! I had a weak moment over lunch yesterday and ordered "The New Doubleday Cookbook" and "Dinners in a Dish or a Dash". So, I hope I like those ones! I thought I remembered both of those being mentioned in the past by Chowhounds. I only paid $.61 for both though, so not a big loss if I don't love them. I'm sure I will though. Really thought I'd have more responses by now!

[buttertart]

Same here (re responses). The New Doubleday Cookbook is good (in the Marion Cunningham Fannie Farmer line, I think they came out around the same time?) but I don't know about the other. Did you know she has a column on AOL Food too? Also a Facebook page.

[Katie Nell]

I didn't... I'll have to check those out. I did sign up for the free 12 unpublished recipes on jeanandersoncooks.com with my receipt # from "A Love Affair with Southern Cooking". Looks like some good ones!

[JoanN]

A number of years ago I was hired to do a comparative analysis of a few general cookbooks including the then-current Joy of Cooking, The New Good Housekeeping Cookbook, The Fannie Farmer Cookbok, and The New Doubleday Cookbook. The New Doubleday Cookbook is the one I turn to again and again--even more so than Joy of Cooking. I find nearly everything about it superior to Joy, especially the writing. Even the recipes are better.

Two titles not mentioned here are Jean Anderson's New Processor Cooking and Micro Ways (with Elaine Hanna). I really wish someone (and I've actually spoken to people in the biz about this) would take the chart-type info from both of these books and publish them on laminated boards without the recipes so I could hang them on my refrigerator door. It may seem as though most of the information is intuitive, but it's surprising how much better the results can be when you follow her instructions. In the Processor book, for instance, she tells you what the yield for one medium-sized carrot will be if it's chopped, shredded medium-thin, shredded medium, or cooked and pureed. And she tells you just how many pulses you'll need to chop an onion moderately coarse, medium, finely chopped, or minced. I refer even more often to the Micro Ways book, which gives specific timing to make sure you don't overcook things. Although the amount of actual cooking I do in the microwave is minimal, her Risotto Milanese is surprisingly good (and she even has a variation using brown rice).

Fun, but far from necessary, is a little paperback she did quite a few years ago called 1001 Secrets of Great Cooks. It's a tips-and-tricks book and there's little there that would be unfamiliar to most of us.

Finally, I wish someone would revise Jean Anderson's Green Thumb Preserving Guide. It was originally published in 1976, revised in 1984, and is again quite out of date.

[buttertart]

I have Process This! which is an update of the FP cookbook and gave my MIL the Micro Ways one when she finally broke down and got a MW. The information in those is practical and handy indeed.
Very interesting about the Doubleday book, I should rebuy it (I was very taken with the Cunningham Fannie Farmer and the Doubleday one fell by the wayside in a move).

[JoanN]

I hadn't even realized she'd done an updated food processor book. Curious to see how it differs from the original.

[buttertart]

Bigger machines/more powerful motors and so forth are addressed. Not new new as you can adduce from the title.

[Katie Nell]

Very nice! I'm excited to get it then. I'm kind of in need of simplifying my cooking right now, so I think a good general cookbook is what I need. I would love the Green Thumb Preserving Guide too, especially after walking through a local harvest garden today!