OT: What's your "Go To" cookbook?

[GonaSovereign]

Originally Posted by Mzilliox

i am less concerned with recipes than i am with techniques, concepts, and flavor profiles. once you begin to understand these things, your food supply becomes yoru pallete. on a recent visit, it was declared that we have no food in our house other than leftovers. the reality is i have loads of ingredients, they all just need to be alchemaically combined to form something more like what the average american thinks of as food, which is more often than not, "not food".

I guess what im saying is im less concerned with following the recipe and more concerned with learning how to cook.

so i seek out cookbooks that help with this. Taste and Techniqe is a good one.
Sauces, The professional Chef, Green Kitchen at Home, and Love and Lemons.

This!

[jtakeda]

So many good ones. My most used are probably

Joy of Cooking

Art of simple foods

Preserving the Japanese way

Vegetable literacy


Recently enjoying:
Oaxaca al gusto

And looking forward to using:
Donabe: classic and modern Japanese clay pot cooking


I’d actually love a recommendation for a “meat heavy” cookbook because most of ours are vegetable heavy.

[nalax]

I'm lazy. I often google recipes and I like to read the NY Times cooking sections. The Times has a recipe for Dapanji (Big Tray Chicken) that Mark Bittman wrote a few years back. We've been making it since.

[Hellgate]

Originally Posted by Birddog

What? no mention of the "Fannie Farmer Cookbook". My mom gave me my first one back in 1968, somewhat out dated but solid info never the less.

That's a classic. My mom used it for decades.

[C40_guy]

My Joy of Cooking is dated 1973. I don't use it much anymore, except as a reminder for the basics of my apple pie recipe.

[paredown]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

The original Moosewood Cookbook
The Greens Cookbook
Tassajara Cooking

I still have my copy of the Moosewood--it was a graduate school staple.

I made a point of stopping there for dinner on a drive through that area in the '90s. Buncha hippies... and it was pretty good.

[Joel]

Ok folks. I've been in the restaurant business for about as long as I've been riding bicycles...which is back to the mid '70's...

As such, there are a lot of cookbooks around this place. Here are the top five. One is pure professional for work, the others are passion for fun and entertaining.

In order:

1) The Professional Chef - Published by the Culinary Institute of America. This the handbook for technique. Receipes vary by edition, but when I forget how to do something, this is the reference. It's a must have. Any edition will do.

2) The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking - Barbara Tropp. Out of print as far as I know, but a masterpiece of technique and recipes that are as at home in the home as they are in a restaurant. c. 1982. If you wish to understand Chinese Cooking search this one out!

3) The Southeast Asia Cookbook - Ruth Law. A tour de Force across several countries. The recipes are solid and the instruction on technique of ingredient handling is strong. The first real exploration of Vietnamese Cuisine in English, with recipes that have stood the test of time. A treasure trove of sauces. c. 1990

4) The Japanese Kitchen - Kimiko Barber. A handbook that will launch thinking into how to take basic to advanced preparations into the home kitchen. Like the one above, this is where I turn for sauces and marinates. c. 2004

5) Pei Mei's Chinese Cookbook(s) volumes I, II, and III. Classic regional Chinese cooking. These are collectors items and darn hard to find. Volume I is 1969, Volume II is 1974, Volume III is 1979. The recipes range from the simple to formal banquets. Her life has been put to film (I believe on Netflix).

Honorable Mention - Website: Woks of Life.

Obscure Pulblished Mention: Wei-Chuan Cultural and Educational Foundation published a series of thin books in the '90's on various topics. All are good. The Dim-Sum book is lovely.

Have Fun!

Joel

[unterhausen]

I get ideas from the WaPo, and then google "instant pot ___" fill in the blank with whatever the idea was.
I made instant pot pesto chicken and potatoes last night. Bought a jar of pesto, so it's going to be in the rotation for a while.

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by paredown

I still have my copy of the Moosewood--it was a graduate school staple.



I made a point of stopping there for dinner on a drive through that area in the '90s. Buncha hippies... and it was pretty good.

Haha! I still have mine as well, including several of her later versions. The original Moosewood had some of what I still consider to be favorite recipes that have stood up for...uhoh....decades.

Many recipes are loaded with sugar and fat, but - in the words of Utah Phillips - GOOD THOUGH!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[colker]

My favourite food is beans and i have been trying some odd things that are working all right. Here everybody fries them on garlic and onion after cooking on water but i find it too heavy to digest. So i cook on water w/ mexican pepper and lots of other spices + onion and avoid oil or grease. No meat as well. It is delicious and much lighter. I can eat beans at night or breakfast done like that.

[Birddog]

Not a "go to" cookbook but one of some value is George Herter's "Bull Cook and Other Authentic Recipes and Practices". Both my father and grandfather served at times as bull cooks in hunting or logging camps and on the railroad. I nabbed a copy at an estate sale, fun reading.

[nickl]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

The original Moosewood Cookbook
The Greens Cookbook
Tassajara Cooking

Another thumbs up on Moosewood. I’ve used mine since the early eighties and it was one of several cookbooks that fostered a healthier eating revolution at the time.