ot: learning a bit about cooking, do you have a fav cookbook?

[eddief]

if yes, which one and why?

[rickygarni]

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Every-Day-Recipes-Fosters/dp/1400052858/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/103-3026167-6766258?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184204081&sr=8-3

from Sarah Foster of Foster's Market, Durham, NC

simple, homey, distinctive, well organized, and just different enough ...

[Ginger]

Why, yes I do. I tend to references, but I do have a few cookbooks that I really thought were useful in learning about cooking, and a few I just like to cook out of.

Sauces
Classical and Contemporary Sauce Making
by James Peterson
Depending on what sort of cooking you're doing, sauces play a part. I'll come across recipes that call for X sauce with really crummy directions and I revert to this book. The recipes are excellent, but this has more of the Why and the How of the sauces. Rather than making you guess what part of a recipe is method, and what part is just ingredients, he tells you. An example is Integral Sauces Derived from Poached Meats, followed by a Model for Preparing Sauces for Poached Meats.
Excellent explanations..rather complete. Yes. It's a reference, not really a cookbook. But it's one very very handy book. You'll see a few from Mr. Peterson on this list, he writes useful information.

The Essential Kitchen
Basic Tools, Recipes, and Tips for a Complete Kitchen
by Christine McFadden
This fairly short (140 pages) book is a good primer on the equipment and technique/processes of a kitchen. Contains some good recipes as well...not many, but what are there are solid.

Barbecue Bible - Sauces Rubs and Marinades
Bastes Butters & Glazes
by Steven Raichlen
Once again. The basis for experimentation with good explanations. It's really the only book on barbecue you really need. Once you get the hang of the process and sort out what you like and don't like, off ya go.

Simply Salmon
by James Peterson
Once again, he explains technique in a very accessible manner, and once you figure out how to cook a forgiving fish like salmon, you can use the techniques on other fish.

The Passionate Vegetarian
by Crescent Dragonwagon
Excellent accessible vegetarian food. Did I mention well written? She's a hippy, but the food is good.

Craft of Cooking
by Tom Colicchio
Good recipes The braised shortribs? Excellent!

The Art of Fine Baking
Cakes and pastries Coffeecakes, Breads with continental flavor
by Paula Peck
The first part of the book is about terms and techniques, then the recipes follow for you to choose which cake/frosting etc. you're going to make. Excellent directions and very good recipes that give you the basis to move on to poorly written recipes in other cookbooks and ignore the directions.

125 Best Gluten Free Recipes
by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt
If you need this sort of thing, it has good recipes for gluten free baked goods.


On Breads...I was to the point I was bringing home wild grapes and fermenting wild yeasts in the fridge and feeding the sponge every day and baking baking baking...Ah well.

Bread by Beth Hensperger
Another good basic book with good pictures and good recipes. A good step into the bread world.

Brother Juniper's Bread Book
Slow Rise as Method and Metaphor
by Br. Peter Reinhart
I picked this up just before I was diagnosed celiac, I didn't have much time to get into the book before I couldn't use it. If you're into making bread it's a good read...even if you aren't into making bread it's a good read.

Breads from the Labrea Bakery
A step further with the artisan breads.

oh, and what started it all:
The Joy of Cooking - 9th edition (my mom's...the new editions aren't as fun and don't have as much um...interesting stuff in them...)


you wanted just one?

[Kevan]

If Lidia Matticchio Bastianich will have me, I'm gone.

[Steve Hampsten]

Larousse Gastronomique - if you're good with theory

Mastering the Art of French Cookery, by Julia Child and Simone Beck - if you're not as good with theory

White Trash Cooking - covers my day-to-day

Manifold Destiny - you know, for travel

[Larry8]

Joy of Cooking-----the classic many learned with

How to Cook Everything-----Picks up where JOC leaves off.

Cooks Illustrated Magazine----the companion to America's Test Kitchen TV show

Watch the Food Channel 24hrs-a-day!

[weaponsgrade]

I got the Naked Chef book as a gift and have had good results with it. It's only my second cookbook. My first one was "How to Cook Everything" which I just found too overwhelming.

[djg]

Larousse

Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Joy of Cooking

[Sandy]

If Lidia Matticchio Bastianich will have me, I'm gone.

What is Lidia's phone number?? :)


Sandy

[dbrk]

Greens. From the restaurant that is across the Bay from you, eddie, what an amazing place.

Lord Krishna's Cuisine. 'Cause if you haven't ever eaten at the place where they sing Hari Krsna, Hari Ram, you've missed the best free meal in the world.

Listen to Hampsten too, he's an amazing cook. Goodrich too. Both pros, not just in bike stuff. Otherwise, I'd bet a lot of folks know from food here, add Ginger and oh my, perfect gluten-free vegetarian delight.

dbrk

[William]

http://www.rru.com/contest/Images/rkcookbook.gif

http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_sep2003/RoadKill.gif

[Ozz]

oh, and what started it all:
The Joy of Cooking - 9th edition (my mom's...the new editions aren't as fun and don't have as much um...interesting stuff in them...)

+1 Start with this one....it covers everything you would want to do. It will give you the basic recipes, and you can modify to suit your tastes

Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking...)

good book, but no (color) pictures....any of her books have great recipes

The ladies who wrote the "Silver Palate" and "New Basics" put out some nice books also. Shelia Luskin (sp) & somebody.....???

I subscribe to both Bon Appetit and Cooking Light magazines. They always have a couple good seasonal recipes in them.

Cheers.

[Brendan Quirk]

+1 on Hazan. A must-have if you like Italian.

[SManning]

Joy of Cooking-I use it for basic recipes like waffles, scones, biscuits, etc.

Mexican Everyday, Rick Bayless. Some of his other cookbooks are extremely complicated with hard to find ingredients. Mexican Everyday has accessible recipes with ingredients that you can find at any specialty grocery store. When I was pregnant, I cooked out of this book all of the time. The Pineapple Upsidedown cake is awesome as well as the enchiladas. There are also some very yummy salad dressings with recommended salad ingredients.

Cooking Light-I cook out of this daily. The recipes are very flavorful, yummy, some are easy and everything is healthy. With the subscription you get access to their recipes on the internet. I look at my magazines but I mostly grab my recipes off of their website. It's much easier than trying to figure out where to find my December '04 magazine.

[darylb]

I find a lot of good stuff on the internet. I will normally start there for ideas for something I have never tried to cook before.

Otherwise, someone gave me a copy of Dad's Own Cookbook for Father's Day one year and although very basic, it has some solid cant miss meals in it. It is better than I would have thought.

I use the Big Weber Book sometimes too since I do a lot on the grill. Mainly I look for ideas and use what sounds good and make up the rest.

[Ginger]

I've spent quite a bit of time following recipes, but learning technique really sets you free from the books. If you've got the ideas down, then you just add ingredients.

But I dug through a lot of cookbooks before I figured that out.

Asking people about their favorite cookbook is a lot like asking someone what kind of bike they ride...

[Too Tall]

The New Joy of Cooking + billions

New York Cook Book - cool rendition of fav. chefs in NYC. Yah gotts to try the cold sesame noodles and dutch (hot vinegar poured over + mustard ) cole slaw.

New York Cookbook: From Pelham Bay to Park Avenue, Firehouses to Four-Star Restaurants (Paperback)
by Molly O'Neill (Author)


Chili madness - Really there is only one recipe "Simple Bowl of Red"
Chili Madness (Paperback)
by Jane Butel (Author)

Bwaaaa hahaaha, Steve I have the W.T. cookbook...given to me ages ago by an GF at the time 'cause I am prone to that sort of thing.

Suggest you prowl Amazon for used versions of these...just smell the well worn pages for clues ;)

[old_school]

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
It has nothing and everything to do about cooking.

Sorry, I know this is a serious thread, but I couldn't resist
... guess I have spent too many years in the restaurant biz.

[YO!!!]

http://www.zarela.com/pressmedia-books.html

[Ozz]

...learning technique really sets you free from the books. If you've got the ideas down, then you just add ingredients. ...
BINGO!

[Steve Hampsten]

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
It has nothing and everything to do about cooking.


I loved that book - that was my life for 18 years. Well, maybe not exactly - and minus the drug addiction - but close enough.

His latest - The Nasty Bits - has some good stuff and some filler. His trashing on Woody Harrellson and the raw food thing is worth the price alone.

[shinomaster]

Anything from Martha Stewart. Really I'm not kidding.

[Too Tall]

Anthony Bourdain is a BA. I'd hate to get caught up in his wake...omg is he even still alive and why???? Yep yep, that book taught me about mise en place...read the book cover to cover sitting on a beach. Now I know I'd never want to be a professional chef...it's harder than being a coal miner. :cool: There is an episode he is with chef Daniel Boulud (after hrs.). Thought that any second they'd clear plates and start huffing lines YIKES!

[Fixed]

bro this food might bore you to death though .imho
cheers

[BURCH]

If you get tired of reading cookbooks, watch "GOOD EATS" on the Food Network. Alton Brown does a really good job of explaining the "why" behind cooking. I actually have only made one of his recipes because I don't watch it for recipes really. The knowledge his shows gives helps me cook without recipes and I have also learned some good skills like knife handling and butchering. Great Show. Especially if you are into science.

Very rarely do you meet someone who is truely a great home cook. Usually people just read a recipe and do what it says without knowing what the "baking soda" really did. I am not saying that they don't make good meals...just that they are really good at following directions.

[Lunar Probe]

Sometime I get into a phase where I eat traditional peasant foods.

[fierte_poser]

+1 on Alton Brown -- I'm Just Here for the Food:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781584790839&pwb=1&z=y

super duper +1 on Julia Child -- The Way to Cook:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780394532646&itm=1

[PeterW]

The Best Recipe (from the folks of Cook's Illustrated) is the best, easiest-to-use, general cookbook for daily use. The proof is the results. My wife is not a natural (don' t tell her I said so!), and this is the only book that she can use and kick @!!. If you like Cook's Illustrated mag (and I do, with all that test kitchen stuff), you'll will love this book. If you want to understand why your recipe came out a certain way, it will explain why.

I read a lot of cookbooks (and I like to read others more), but this one really works.

[Marburg]

+1 on the JOC (60s era, preferably) and Bitman, though admittedly I don't think I'd ever just sit down and do a recipe from either. I'd start with one of their recipes and then go improv from there.

Let me put in a word for those big, cheap, glossy (Australian!) cookbooks that are always on the sale rack outside Borders. Usually with single-word titles like "MEDITERRANEAN" or "SOUP" or "STIR FRY" They can be hit-or-miss, but for $8 or whatever they're great for just browsing, picking something that looks good and making it.

[Hardlyrob]

What ginger said "...but learning technique really sets you free from the books. If you've got the ideas down, then you just add ingredients" in spades.

Alton Brown on Good Eats gets to a lot of the chemistry and reality behind why food does what it does. If you want to read what the research chefs read, find a magazine called culinology (http://www.culinology.com). This is a blending of food science (yes there really is such a thing - got a degree in it myself) and culinary sense.

To echo others already:

Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol 1&2 - it's all about technique baby, but her recipes are laid out a little funny - always best to read ALL THE WAY THROUGH before you start

New Basics - Silver Palate folks Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso - every recipe works, unlike later ones from either author

Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

James Beard Theory and Practice of Cooking

Beard on Bread

All of these focus on the why - textures, flavors, contrasts, complements and techniques of putting the ingredients together in a basic form, then riffs and variations on how it works. The two I absolutely swear by are New Basics, and anything by Julia Child (always ask yourself "what would Julia do?" - WWJD). Make a point to try some of the really weird sounding ones like sauteed lettuce, or cooked cucumbers - at first they sound strange, but if you give 'em a go most are great.

As Tony Bourdain said while serving a chicken with only a knife on a dock in Vietnam with an ex Viet-Cong fighter - French technique is the only technique, regardless of the cuisine.

Happy cooking!

Rob

[Hardlyrob]

Everything everyone has listed here are all classics - go get 'em used on Amazon, or on ebay. Got a set of Julia's Mastering the Art first editions for $9 - quite a find.

Rob

[bcm119]

I'm not much of a cook myself, but the ones from our kitchen that stand out are:

The Greens cookbook (another vote for it!)

Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

BTW, eddieF I was in your neighborhood a few weeks ago and had some of the best Indian food I've ever had right on Solano St.

[Skrawny]

Wow, lots of good cookbooks!
I am fortunate to say that I have used many of them and agree (and I'll look into getting the ones I don't have)

After college I was working at a restaurant and contemplating culinary school as a career. I bought a culinary school textbook "Professional Cooking" by Gisslen and read it cover-to-cover. It was fantastic! It has chapters like "Understanding Poultry" with review questions at the end! I agree with what has been said, learning technique will set you free from recipes as you understand that they are only suggestions.

This may sound weird, but short of a culinary textbook, I recommend "Cooking For Dummies" It contains all of the classic sauces and techniques, but doesn't presuppose that you know anything and tells you all of the tools you will need and how long it will take -including prep time. Seriously, check it out. It's funny too.

For magazines, I would second the recommendation of "Cooking Light," but would also add "Cook's Illustrated." It doesn't have the fancy photographs of Bon Appetit, but they are very good at focusing on technique and *why* each part of the recipe happens.
Cheers!
-s

[steelrider]

Both of the cookbooks based on the SFFD. After eating these kind of meals one has to ride. Otherwise you'll swell up like a balloon.

[Russell]

The Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook by Alice Waters

Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking

Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques

Also, I got a couple books from Borders for $5 that had Asian and pasta receipes. Lots of pictures, easy to follow.

I have the French Laundry cookbook, but that is a tough one to replicate - and if I could I wouldn't be sitting here in front of a PC not doing my work.