I am inordinately excited about cookbooks. I love them. I buy them, I borrow them, I get them from the library. I read them like novels, front to back. I use them.
I bought my first cookbook,The Joy of Cooking, by Irma Rombauer, as a freshman in college. Sadly, I discovered too late that it was bound without pages 117-148. I contacted the publishers, and they curtly informed me that I would just have to buy another. Anyway, Ms. Rombauer undertook the task of collecting recipes for everything she could think of as a remedy for the depression she experienced when her husband died. It is full of age-old recipes, new, modernized recipes, quick recipes using convenience foods, and witty commentary, including old-wives tales, folk remedies, quotation, and verse. My favorite: On beaten biscuits, page 634:
To win unending gratitude, serve to any homesick southerner this classic accompaniment to Virginia ham. The following lines by Miss Howard Weeden in Bandanna Ballads sum up in a nutshell the art of making biscuits:
“Of course I’ll gladly give de rule
I meks beat biscuit by,
Dough I ain’t sure dat you will mek
Dat bread de same as I“Case cookin’s like religion is–
Some’s ‘lected an’ some ain’t,
An’ rules don’t no more mek a cook
Den sermons mek a saint.”
Our boxes from the storage unit were delivered on Saturday night, and with glee, I began opening them to see what treasures had been secreted away these many months, even years. Since we had been living in a basement apartment with little shelving, we kept most of our books in boxes, but now, I’m going to let them free. Or course, I still don’t have any shelves, but those will come.
Here’s a list of all the cookbooks I’ve unearthed so far, in absolutely no order of preference.
The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer.
The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum
Vegan with a Vengeance, Isa Chandra Moskowitz
To the King’s Taste, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Early American Cookery, Margaret Huntington Hooker
The Splendid Grain, Rebecca Wood
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison
Jaques Pepin’s Table, Jaques Pepin
Potager, Georgeanne Brennan
finger food, Elsa Petersen-Schepelern
Greens Glorious Greens, Johnna Albi and Catherine Walthers
New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, The Moosewood Collective
Classic Indian Cooking, Julie Sahni
World Vegetarian, Madhur Jaffrey
Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, The Moosewood Collective
Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, The Moosewood Collective
Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special, The Moosewood Collective
Bones, Jennifer McLagan
Cookbook of Breads, Sunset
Moosewood Cookbook, Mollie Katzen
Mexican Cookbook, Sunset
The Bread Bible, Peter Reinhart
The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Peter Reinhart
Easy Beans, Trish Ross
Vegetarian Sushi Made Easy, Hiroko Fukuhara and Yasuko Takahata
The Silver Palate Cookbook, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
Secrets of Jewish Baker, George Greenstein
Great Cookies, Carole Walter
The Pie and Pastry Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum
Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Recipes from the Hunan Province, Fuchsia Dulop
Arabesque, A Taste Or Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon, Claudia Roden
Chez Jacques, Jacques Pepin
Flavors of India, Madhur Jaffrey
First Meals, Annabel Karmel
Sundays at Moosewood, The Moosewood Collective
Moosewood Restaurant Celebrated, The Moosewood Collective
Breakfast, James McNair
From Julia Child’s Kitchen, Julia Child
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines – China, Greece, Rome, Jeff Smith
The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors, Jeff Smith
A French Chef Cooks at Home, Jacques Pepin
Theory and Practice of Good Cooking, James Beard
Quick and Easy Thai, Nancie McDermott
Corn Cookbook, James McNair
Rice Cookbook, James McNair
Vegetarian Times Complete Cookbook
Pretend Soup, Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson
International Vegetarian Cookbook, Sunset
Tofu Cookery, Louise Hagler
Light Desserts, Sunset
Hors D’Oeuvres, Sunset
Picnics and Tailgate Parties, Sunset
Pasta Cookbook, Sunset
Amish Cooking, Crescent Books
The Provence Cookbook, Patricia Wells,
American Pie, Peter Reinhart
1000 Best Recipe, Cook’s Illustrated
Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, Julie Sahni
Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, 1969 edition
That’s the list so far, but I think there’s at least one more box to find. As you can see, my collection is a mishmash of high and low cooking, vegetarian and non, ethnic, fake ethnic, baking, and general recipes. Just looking at them all makes me excited to go experiment in the kitchen. What should I make for dinner?
November 7, 2007 at 11:52 am
I’m overwhelmed just looking at your list. I have about 5-6 right now. And then a whole bunch of random recipes I’ve found and have collected. I need to get a notebook to organize them all, because it is a hodgepodge in there right now.
November 7, 2007 at 3:12 pm
You have way more than I do, but I see we have some titles in common. I am quite fond of my Bread Bible, and the Moosewood Cooks At Home.
I don’t have Pretend Soup, but I interviewed Molly Katzen when it came out. I was living with 3 roommates and 4 cats at the time, and the youngest one, still a kitten, was quite a climber. In the middle of my phone conversation with Molly, the kitten climbed on top of my head and I had to excuse myself to go pluck her off and put her out of the room. Molly was very understanding.
November 7, 2007 at 5:03 pm
I do love cookbooks extremely very eceedingly much too! I have lots and lots of them, from several different countries. My most “exotic” is one from South Africa that Elizasmom’s dad brought me from a business trip. It is written in Afrikaans, which is very close to Dutch but not the same. I have never cooked any of the recipes. Reading them was fun enough. I also have read lots and lots of cooking magazines in my life. First of all, because I love anything about cooking. Second, as a busy mom, for many years I hardly ever had energy left at the end of the day to focus on a real book. My go-to-sleep literature was recipes. They are short, and if you fall asleep in the middle of one, you can easily start over the next evening. Unlike books, where you have to return to the beginning of the chapter, and probably fall asleep at exactly the same spot as the night before. Thus my mantra for many years: Some day, some day, I swear, I’ll read an entire book again!!
Another benefit of reading recipes is that, although you can almost taste all the flavors, you don’t consume any calories. Yummy! Sort of like reading romance novels. Delicious but no sins committed!
November 7, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Both Silver Palate Cookbooks are sort of a food bible for me. Their Basic Pesto is a wonderful starting point to go wild on this favorite food in my family. And anything from Sunset is just wonderful!
November 8, 2007 at 10:43 am
Mmmm, I love cookbooks too. By the way, not sure where you are in Ohio, but you are much closer to the Silver Palate chef Julee than when you were in Utah (you were in Utah, right?). She runs a B&B in Southwestern Michigan, near the town where I grew up.
January 13, 2008 at 5:29 am
Take a look at Indian Restaurant and Takeaway Recipes Revealed – Vol. 1.
With this book you will finally be able to cook at home your favourite Indian food, that is curries and other dishes that taste exactly like those in Indian restaurants and takeaways. These curries are easy and quick to make, and best of all, they’re delicious!
As chefs and owners of a popular Indian restaurant in Yorkshire, England, we are giving you the actual recipes used in our restaurant and associated takeaway, regional tastes may vary. Within Indian Restaurant / Takeaway Recipes Revealed, we have carefully measured all the ingredients and described all the techniques exactly as they are done in the kitchens. All the information that you require is right here. Nothing has been left out. All the recipes are given in exacting detail along with accompanying photographs.
All your favourite curries are here — Chicken Tikka Masala, Garlic Chilli Chicken, Meat Madras, Vindaloo, Phall, Balti, Dupiaza, Biryani, Bhuna, and Korma to name a few. We have also included Tandoori Chicken, Chicken Tikka, Kebabs and delectable pilao rice, breads, starters, and a range of side dishes. In other words, all your favourite curry house recipes contained within this exclusive book.
Our recipes are very relatively simple to make. All it takes is a little reading, some attention to detail, and carefully following all of the instructions. Do not rush and plan ahead. Before you know it with a little practise, you will be preparing Indian restaurant and takeaway food at home better than you ever thought possible. Your friends quite simply will not be able to tell the difference.
http://www.thecurrybook.com