Anybody have some good ones?
I am a college student. I’m not really willing to spend more than a half-hour on a dish (time that I can ignore it, like when it’s in the oven, not included). I don’t want to have to traipse around the city finding ingredients, particularly if they’re expensive. I don’t need to really impress people with my elegant cooking (my friends are impressed that I cook, period). I have no favorite cuisines, although my wok is my friend.
Simple is good. So is cheap.
The Moosewood cookbooks are good. They’re vegetarian, although some of them include a few fish recipes. The ingredients are generally not at all exotic and the recipes are varied and interesting, even if you’re not a vegetarian.
Mark Bittman’s HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING: SIMPLE RECIPES FOR GREAT FOOD (Macmillan, 1998) is pretty great.
Like THE JOY OF COOKING (which it has superceded as the cookbook I go to when I have no idea what to do with some sart of raw food I have on hand, or I need to be reminded how long to cook, say, a beet), there’s a lot in it you won’t need. You can tear out the pages on baking pies, for instance, if you’re not planning on baking during your college career.
Bittman has organized the book really nicely: take, for example, the chicken cutlet. First he shows you how to saute a cutlet, then gives you about 20 “variations” which will provide you with a rainbow of main courses.
I find that magazines are a good choice for this kind of cooking. Cooking Light usually has a section on “30 minute dinners” or some such stuff.
If you like your Wok, buy How to Stir Fry by the Cook’s Illustrated press. In fact, that whole series of “How-to” books are really good. But then again, I never consider stir-frying quick - it takes too long to cut up all those veggies!
You bahstid! It’s my job to recommend that book to everyone and his brother. Or her brother. Or whatever.
Anyway, I second that emotion.
I am hooked on the monthly Pillsbury recipe books. I get some good ideas for dinners and they always have vegitarian and low fat suggestions.
I use a lot of complicated cookbooks, but this one is really great for simple dishes: Pasta a Food & Wine Book. I have an earlier version than the one in the link below, but it’s a great standby.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0916103234/qid=1005085320
This cookbook has some great elegant food, all very simple and straightforward. It even has a section of 20-minute recipes that really are that quick.
You tried the pasta all’amatriciana yet? It kicks ass.
Of course, Bittman calls it “pasta with bacon and onion and tomato,” because that way the recipe’s easier to find. And it doesn’t turn off possible consumers with a funny Italian hard-to-pronounce name. But it’s the same dish they serve you in little side-street joints in Rome, where they call it pasta all’amatriciana. I just love Mark Bittman, don’t you?
Excuse me, Mark Bittman is my boyfriend so y’all should just back off. LOL
His book <I>The Minimalist Cooks Dinner</I> is pretty great for simple, quick meals that are very tasty.
How about the Frugal Gourmet?? He has a million books, mostly simple recipes, good food.
A little fancier, but still doable: Chef Franey’s “Meals in 60 minutes” - might be out of print. It also has something about the NY Times in the title. NY Times Gourmet Cooking in 60 minutes or less? If I remember I’ll look at it at home.
The all-around best, THE all-around best, seriously, is Basic Cooking. I love it, love it, love it. Everything is fairly easy to make and everything I’ve tried so far has been delicious. Mmm, mmm, mmmmmmmmm.
Quick and Delicious published by Reader’s Digest has been a kitchen favorite of mine. They have very simple to slightly more involved. Even ways to spice up your favorite salad ingredients to pancakes with simple ingredients. From breakfast to deserts, they have a good sampling. Their are also some quick microwave recipes in there too.
I got it back in 1994 or 1995 so I don’t know if it’s still in print.
BTW, one of the best desert recipes that I have ever served at a party is in there. It’s a cheesecake recipe using foil cupcake liners and vanilla wafers. It’s easy and every time I make them people can’t get enough.
Also, there are a lot of excellent full color photos that really help you envision what the dish might look like.
Yeah, Bittman’s great. I became a fan when he was on Arthur Schwartz one day. Arthur asked him how long to cook some kind of roast, and Bittman said “I dunno offhand. I’d look in my book.” Cracked me up. Very honest. I’ll try that recipe. Thanks.
Oh, fine. All you guys are over here in IMHO talking cookbooks while my thread asking about Shirley Corriher’s Cookwise sank like a stone in Cafe Society.
Excuse me, I’ve got a pot of chicken stock to check on downstairs.
there is a jamaican cookbook that i have… but i left it at home when i moved last month. i think it is called rastafarian cookbook or something like that. i tried to google search for it but for some reason it kept crashing the browser. aiya! so, if you can find it, it has really simple recipes in it with short ingredient lists… things like avocado soups and zucchini pancakes, fried bananas and coconut drinks, azuki bean fritters. they are vegetarian recipes but you can always add things as you like and the recipes i tried were really easy to make and very yummy.
Recommendation for cookbook buffs: Food writer John Thorne’s OUTLAW COOK website features a great listing called “If You Could Save Only ONE Cookbook From a Fire, Which Would You Choose?”
I’ve picked up a bunch of cool out-of-print books from the choices filed by Thorne fans. Don’t miss A MAN AND HIS MEALS (1947), which a college student could do worse than adopting as his/her primary kitchen text.
A great cookbook that I like to recommend is The Best Recipe which is put out by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. One of the things that Cook’s does is not only do they test all different kinds of recipes for a certain item–they explain why something works or doesn’t work.
Another thing that I love about this cookbook is they give a Master recipe, then several variations (especially for vegetables). For example, there is a Master recipe for Blanched Sugar Snap Peas, then variations of Peas with Hazelnut Butter and Sage; Peas with ham and Mint; and Peas with Lemon, Garlic, and Basil.
They also go into great detail about how to prepare and cook items, as they want you to be able to do it right the first time. I’ve actually have used this book as research when I was in culinary school, as they are right on target with their articles.
Be warned, though, that most of the recipes are classic (and “new classic” like Pineapple Salsa) American, and about as ethnic as they get is a fajita recipe and the occasional stir-fry (although their guacamole recipe is outstanding).
There’s a 12 books (very, VERY thin books) called something like “Woman’s Day (or some female magazine): An Encyclopedia of Cooking”. It has basic instructions on how to cook everything (as long as it was available in 197x. No Starfruit or Kiwi recipes…)
But you wanna know how to roast chestnuts? Make soup? Make pork sausage? Construct a Trifle? Wanna know which cut of meat comes from which part of the animal? Wanna get a very basic primer on a bunch of nationality’s typical dishes?
This set is fantastic. It’s got entries by type of food (Turkey, hamburger, celery), nationality/theme (French, German, Christmas), type of dish (Soups, cookies, sandwiches) etc. It’s set up like an encyclopedia. The format is fantastic.
It doesn’t cover anything in depth, it doesn’t have a lot of fancy recipes and it’s got a typical '70s slant (fondue, rumaki, etc)…but it has a little of everything. (Plus it has tons of photos. Normally I don’t care if a cookbook has pictures, but in this case, it helps).
Someday, when I have the time, I’m gonna scan in all 12 volumes and put 'em on CDR.
Someday.
And David Rosengarten’s Dean and Deluca’s Cookbook is great. Rosengarten is a food snob who knows how to have fun. Not a ton of recipes, but what recipes there are are great and unusual. Heavily slanted towards the beginning gourmet.
Fenris
I know you asked for a cook book reccommendation but I’ve found http://www.epicurious.com to be a really good and free resource. They have pics and tips and wine pairings and although some of their stuff is fancy schmancy, they have good basics too. Like creme brulee. Yummmmmmmmmmm. If you live in Sacramento, I’ll lend you my blowtorch.
Now that’s fun cooking, when you get to use a blowtorch. My fiance and I take turns.
I looked at it - it’s called The New York Times 60 Minute Gourmet by Pierre Franey.
Excellent food real quick and easy, but you may need a good grocery store nearby for some of the more exotic ingredients.