Essential/Fav Cookbooks?

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/8/16 at 2:36pm

I've slowly been building a library of cookbooks, and I was wondering if everyone would share their thoughts on some essential cookbooks, or favourites? 

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 10/8/16 at 3:58pm

I don't really have a favorite, most of the ones I use are really for simpletons. 

Not what you're looking for, I imagine, but Salvador Dalí's cookbook is due to be re-released soon, sure to be a curiosity. 

 

Food and surrealism make perfect bedfellows: sex and lobsters, collage and cannibalism, the meeting of a swan and a toothbrush on a pastry case. The opulent dinner parties thrown by Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) and his wife and muse, Gala (1894–1982) were the stuff of legend. Luckily for us, Dalí published a cookbook in 1973, Les diners de Gala, which reveals some of the sensual, imaginative, and exotic elements that made up their notorious gatherings.

The illustrations and recipes are accompanied by Dalí’s extravagant musings on subjects such as dinner conversation: “The jaw is our best tool to grasp philosophical knowledge.”

...In making this exceptionally rare book available to a wide audience, TASCHEN brings an artwork, a practical cookbook, and a multisensory adventure to today’s kitchens.

Link

Updated On: 10/8/16 at 03:58 PM

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 10/8/16 at 4:25pm

three by Ottolenghi and Tamimi:  Ottolenghi, Plenty, and Jerusalem.

[artscallion]

Posted: 10/8/16 at 4:39pm

Cooks Illustrated's Best Recipes. If you've seen America's Test Kitchen, you know how they work. They take an item, say lasagna, and test every possible method for making it until they find the best. This book contains all the basic recipes, from rice that never fails to perfect blueberry muffins to pad tai. They include explanation of the process they went through, telling what they tried and why one way works and another doesn't. If you really want to understand cooking and become really good at it in the process, get this book.

This is the mother of all their books, but they also have a series of specialized books, Best Desserts, Best Italian, etc.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/8/16 at 8:56pm

I really love Ina Garten's books, as well as Giada De Laurentiis's books. I fell in love with both of them through their Food Network shows.

 

For Christmas this past year my dad gave us all copies of one of my grandfather's cookbooks that was a collection of a bunch of old Scottish recipes (compiled from members of a ladies' auxiliary club); everything from scones and trifles to tripe and haggis (it also includes handwritten notes that my grandfather made in the original copy, so it holds a lot of sentimental value since he passed away 15 years ago and seeing his handwriting helps keep his memory alive). I'm looking forward to making a huge batch of shortbread for the holidays this year with the recipe that my grandfather used for so many years.

[John Adams]

Posted: 10/9/16 at 9:30am

I used to collect cookbooks, but they eventually took up too much space. Now I use the internet and I collect blogs and websites instead. I copy the recipes I use most often into my word processor and save them on my hard drive.

When I kept physical books though, my favorites were the ones I bought from fundraisers - the ones where churches, schools or other organizations collected their favorite recipes and had them published in a book to sell as a fundraiser. (Similar to AEA AGMA SM's grandfather's cookbook).

I also enjoyed my Weight Watchers cookbooks for really healthy and tasty meals. The Fast & Fabulous cookbook was one I used a lot. (There's a recipe for Orange/Ginger Chicken in there that I've made so many times, I've got it memorized.)

Although I don't have any of their physical cookbooks, I also agree with artscallion RE: America's Test Kitchen (or Cooks Country).

Do you bake, or are you looking for savory recipes?

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 7:15am

The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by the late Judy Rodgers is a must-have. It's been my go-to for simple yet refined comfort food since it was released 15 years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Zuni-Cafe-Cookbook-Compendium/dp/0393020436

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:12pm

 

This book was a follow-up to Uta Hagen's Respect for Acting:

 



 

[amaklo]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:15pm

Julia Child--The Way to Cook

Julia Child-- Mastering the Art of French Cooking

The Silver Palate Cookbook

Vegetarian:  The Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Updated On: 10/10/16 at 02:15 PM

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 5:22pm

Do people really still use The Silver Palate Cookbook? seems so 80s. 

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 5:30pm

I have a large cookbook collection  and have almost all of the books mentioned.  My go to is a basic standard, the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook -- red and white checked tablecloth cover.

[amaklo]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 7:20pm

Re Silver Palate.  Good recipes aren't like fashion.  They don't go out of style.  Theirs is the best Thanksgiving stuffing.  And I made their ratatouille last weekend.

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 8:53pm

Some very good recs on here!

I'd add the 1975 6th edition of The Joy of Cooking. It's a classic.

I adore my old copy of The French Chef Cookbook by Juila Child.

If you'd like to try your hand at Brazilian Food, The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz is easy to follow.

The New Portuguese Table by David Leite is jam-packed with good recipes.

I have a number of novelty cookbooks, (Iron Chef original series, Nero Wolfe cookbook, Friends Cookbook - don't judge,  and such) but one that stands out because the recipes are surprisingly good is The Sopranos Family Cookbook. Plus the read is a hoot.

For sheer beauty, check out The Illustrated Escoffier. So gorgeous! Out of print but easy to find online.

If you're into baking let me know I have some recs if interested.

[AC126748]

Posted: 10/10/16 at 9:43pm

amaklo said: "Re Silver Palate.  Good recipes aren't like fashion.  They don't go out of style.  Theirs is the best Thanksgiving stuffing.  And I made their ratatouille last weekend.

 

"

Couldn't disagree more. I find most of the recipes in Silver Palate as a dated as gaucho pants. Most of them are needlessly over the top...reflective of the times in which they were created. 

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/11/16 at 9:32am

It might not be an essential cookbook, but Molly Gilbert's Sheet Pan Suppers is definitely my favorite cookbook right now. I only got it a few weeks ago, but so far all of the recipes I've tried have been a big success.