Cookbooks

[(poco) Sforzando]

What are your favorites, and why?

These days, a lot of cookbooks look like glorified picture books more about the chef and his or her restaurant than anything I'd want to cook from. And even some of my favorite books sometimes require adjustments for techniques that don't seem to work. But when a book's really good (like Julia Child's Mastering set, or Marcella Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking, or Penelope Casas's Foods and Wines of Spain, or Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking, or Craig Claiborne/Virginia Lee's The Chinese Cookbook), it's worth its weight in saffron. Or even gold.

I was thinking about this when working today on a recipe from Amanda Hesser's The New York Times Cookbook, a stew of lamb braised in Marsala, mustard, and mascarpone, seasoned with rosemary, tomato, and cumin, and garnished with garlic, shallots, and crisp bits of pancetta. Great dish. But the recipe never mentions adding salt. Why? Are other components of the dish salty enough than no salt is necessary? I want a good recipe to tell me this.

And so, I've quickly jotted some thoughts as to what I want to find in a good cookbook:

- It provides abundant, interesting, inventive recipes that have actually been tested so you can be sure they'll work.
- It tells you what the result should look and taste like. (This does not necessarily require pretty color photos.)
- It tells you exactly why you are performing each step.
- It tells you how to make corrections if something goes wrong.
- It uses ingredients one can actually find.
- It is compulsively readable on its own.

Julia gets high marks on each of these, which is why her books are still essential for me even if they seem "dated."

Knowing that we're all coming from different nations, what are your thoughts?

[Ken B]

300 Comfort Food Recipes

[asin]0778800598[/asin]

Most seem to use a Dutch Oven. I think it must be a revision of a Dutch Oven cookbook.

Generally easy but not 5 minute easy prep. Nearly everything we tried is excellent, cooking times are accurate, and a good mix of the basic and not so basic.

[NikF]

I'm a man of simple tastes...

I grew up with a kitchen that was a scullery where everything was forever boiled. But when I became a callow youth I met a nice lady who taught me stuff and recommended this book -



- it's about the only one I own that comes anywhere near meeting the list of criteria set out by (poco) Sforzando. And if I only used one cookbook that would be it.

Later I was given this book as a gift. Again, by a nice (albeit younger this time) lady -



- I'm in two minds about it because although it often presents instructions in a clear and well defined manner, the delivery is sometimes upset by the inclusion of anecdotes about how and where to buy ingredients and then it hurriedly finishes the recipe with sparse detail of how to proceed. However on balance I still consider it a valuable resource.

I've included the next two mostly because I think they're cool -



- this was published in the 1950s and consists of accounts detailing visits to a number of small restaurants and bistros in Paris. They're not quite the sort of thing you might find as published reviews in the press, they're more like informal snapshots with an occasional meandering narration about a peculiarity of the location, decor or staff, augmented by a sample menu and recipe tacked on at the end. It's a printed time capsule and I find it delightful -





Whereas this one -



- I bought partly because the illustrations were by a dude named Berthold Wolpe -



- see? I'm sure some of you know who he was.

However I was also deeply reassured by the '...that any man can make at home'

Also, I liked the fold-out chart in the back which is a useful table of ingredients for the sauces -



I had a few others (including 'The English Cookbook' by Jane Grigson) but when my girlfriend and I split up she took them with her. But as I said, The Silver Spoon is the one I rely on most.

Interesting idea for a thread. I look forward to seeing what other titles are posted.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

My wife is an excellent, inventive cook and can conjure delicious meals with basic ingredients and no recipes. She recommends Julia and Jacques--Cooking at Home. She said that the recipes may look complicated, but the authors really explain it very clearly, and it becomes easy as you're doing it. The book includes a lot of classic recipes that "everyone should know how to do". She also really likes the Rachel Ray books because the recipes are easy, quick, and inventive.

She also really likes Joel Robuchon's book Simply French written with Patricia Wells. This is a really good book for a more advanced cook (I will testify that some of the recipes are incredible!)

To the OP, about the recipe--my wife said the pancetta and mustard should provide adequate salt--but of course, you can add some if desired.

[Parsifal]

Very unpretentious, and easy to follow.



Was inspired to get it after eating at the Moosewood collective in Ithaca, NY on numerous occasions.