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Foodies: fave cookbooks?
I have resolved to try one new recipe per week this year. I was looking through some of our cookbooks last night to plan the coming week's menu, and I discovered that I have some cookbooks that pretty much suck. I'm planning to do a cookbook shelf purge, but I'm interested in getting just a couple really good ones. What are your favorites for everyday cooking?
We have Joy of Cooking, Alton Brown's books, a comprehensive beginner book from England (but no pictures...maybe I'd want to make more of the stuff with pictures), the Pillsbury baking book, a great Italian book, a Moosewood book, and a whole host of others of varying quality.
We feel like we've gotten into a cooking rut. We've been making most of the same things over and over, and lately neither of us has felt like cooking. This isn't good because we have a loooooong time ahead of us to cook!
Re: Foodies: fave cookbooks?
I have the Better Homes & Gardens limited edition/breast cancer research cookbook and I like it, but I don't love it. It's great for really simple things - pie crusts, quickbreads, frostings, cookies, etc, but I haven't been a huge fan of the meals I've made from it.
I have two America's Test Kitchen cookbooks that I LOVE. Unfortunately, I don't remember the names. One is red and sort of three-ring binder-ish and the other has a black & white cover.
I also love Giada's "Everyday Pasta" cookbook and the big orange Mario Batali cookbook... but I know people have very varying opinions on him.
Three of my favorites are from Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen - The New Best Recipe, Baking Illustrated, and an ATK compilation (from 2005 or 2006). They don't have a lot of pictures, but their recipes and techniques are great.
For a basic cookbook that has everything in it, I like the big yellow Gourmet cookbook. I strongly prefer it over the standard red-and-white-checked Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (I think the BH&G recipes are too bland, even for the basics).
My favorite baking cookbook right now is Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. The recipes are great, and there are beautiful color photos of every recipe. It's like food porn.
I also like Cooking Light's recipes. I often seach their web site for new ideas.
Most of my cooking is done from magazines and the web. A subscription to Food and Wine or Gourmet costs about what a cookbook costs, so you may want to think about that. I love my Food and Wine, I get so excited every month when it comes in and there's lots of new inspiration in every one.
But, as for my cookbooks, I love my Jamie Oliver cookbook. I really wanted his At Home cookbook for Christmas, but alas, Santa did not deliver. I've got The Naked Chef though and it's wonderful. Lots of basics, and his recipes aren't super strict either - he gives you ideas for variations on them and they are really flexible and adaptable.
I've got two Joanna Weir cookbooks, and I like those a lot too.
One of my new year's resolutions is to cook more from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking book...it's really a bible of vegetables with tons of great ideas, I just have rarely opened it because it doesn't have pictures.
Thanks for the ideas. We have considered getting a subscription to a magazine before, but we haven't. I don't know why the hell not, considering we subscribe to just about every other magazine under the sun.
The ATK books would probably be good. I love Cook's Illustrated, and the H loves to watch ATK on PBS.
I will definitely look into the Mario Batali one. The H has a mancrush on Mario, and we've made a couple of good recipes of his from online.
LOL. I suspect mine has a mancrush on Bobby Flay.
Don't tell him I said this, but Mr.P most def has a mancrush on Bobby Flay.
I don't have them, but I've heard great things about ATK. I also have Everyday Pasta, and it's pretty fantastic, better than I expected (I only bought it 'cause she was doing a book signing). I've gone in spurts where I use it several times a week.
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
I very much enjoy those Cooking Light compilations they come out with every year. Basically, they take the recipies from each of the magazines that year and cram them into one cookbook!
good stuff!
I know know if you're open to vegetarian cuisine, but my favorite new cookbook is Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.
I found this book to be a great primer for veggie cooking. I mean, I know how to cook vegetables and non-meat dishes, but this book gives a lot of basic tips and suggestion on how to use specific veggies, grains, legumes, etc.
Also, I've found it's easy to add meat into these dishes if you want to. One of my favorite recipes is a polenta casserole that I add prosciutto to, and it's fantastic!
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/16950000/16953659.JPG&imgrefurl=http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Vegetarian-Cooking-for-Everyone/Deborah-Madison/e/9780767927475&usg=__Z55Mb83b8u4fZRlu4sMClvv3m7I=&h=233&w=185&sz=12&hl=en&start=9&sig2=s1eHkxG1rf45w7sqJQGFOw&um=1&tbnid=YnrISZavODcFqM:&tbnh=109&tbnw=87&ei=rfZeSYqoNJCktQPSvNCeDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbook%2Bvegetarian%2Bcooking%2Bfor%2Beveryone%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GWYE_enUS247US248%26sa%3DN
I love epicurious which has supplanted the big yellow gourmet cookbook (b/c epicurious has all those recipes plus more). ?Epicurious is probably my #1 go-to for recipes.
Also the cooks illustrated/america's test kitchen big red book that someone else mentioned.
I have the two first Moosewood cookbooks that have been republished which I for the most part really enjoy, but I haven't enjoyed the spinoff books from the restuarant.
Joy of Cooking of course.?
That's basically it. ?I do have more books, but I don't use most of them after the first couple times. ?I get all excited for a new book, then I ignore it after a few weeks.
I have to second fannie farmer! It's great for classics and basics (e.g. every type of frosting known to man!).
I also enjoy my Barefoot Contessa's and Giada's.
And speaking of Food & Wine, they actually do have a cookbook which has lots of great recipes too.