# Help me pick a cook book. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986 "2007-04-20T19:51:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/21 "2007-04-22T22:48:05Z")
Well, it is true that “America’s Best Recipes” wasn’t written by Julia Child. I thought we’d moved beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![ForumBot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ee59a6/32.png) [@ForumBot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ForumBot)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/22 "2007-04-23T00:30:27Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] Yeah, _Joy_ and _Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone_ by Deborah Madison are my kitchen staples. Even if you’re not a vegetarian (I’m not), Madison’s recipes are fan-freakin-tastic. I’ll also confess to a fondness for “Insanity” Rose Levy Berenbaum’s _Cake Bible_ and _Pie and Pastry Bible_. Her incredibly detailed, anal-retentive recipes produce great results if followed to the letter, although more often than not, I find myself saying, “12 hours to make a blueberry pie?! I think not, Rose,” and turning to _The Joy of Cooking_ recipe. [/QUOTE] I have _The Bread Bible_, and it is by far the best cookbook of any sort I have ever seen. If you’re in for the long haul with a heavy dose of culinary science, her books are definitely the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/23 "2007-04-23T02:19:20Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] “America’s test Kitchen” is not fair! [/QUOTE] ??? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/24 "2007-04-23T02:33:17Z")
Rick, “America’s Test Kitchen” is not a Julia Child cookbook, so “not fair” by the query of the OP. **mangeorge** , I really loved the PBS series **Julia and Jaques Cook at Home**. Our gal Julia paired with Chef Jacques Pepin, having fun teaching in the kitchen. Both are wonderful on camera, and you can learn a great deal more with the video preparation than by just a cookbook. (There is an accompanying cookbook, don’t have it now, on my list.) Their appreciation of each other, humor, and, wow, two amazing French chefs teaching you how to cook make the DVD well worth the forty buck cost. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/25 "2007-04-23T03:59:56Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Well, it is true that “America’s Best Recipes” wasn’t written by Julia Child. I thought we’d moved beyond that. [/QUOTE] Have we moved beyond Beethoven? Bach? Elvis? Strauss? Johnny Cash? Roy Orbison, even? Huh? Have we? Sheesh! ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/26 "2007-04-23T04:04:25Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] ??? 😕 [/QUOTE] ATK has about a million cooks, a million tasters and other staff, and an unlimited production budget. Besides, they’re thirty-something cool. ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/27 "2007-04-23T15:35:02Z")
I read Julia’s _My Life in France_ (an excellent read) and she said there that _The Way to Cook_ was her favorite of her cookbooks. So perhaps you should start there. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/28 "2007-04-23T15:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] Have we moved beyond Beethoven? Bach? Elvis? Strauss? Johnny Cash? Roy Orbison, even? Huh? Have we? Sheesh! [/QUOTE] Are you drunk? ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/29 "2007-04-23T16:18:06Z")
Second shill for Nigel Slater. I love his books. _Kitchen Diaries_ should be out in paper soon, and I highly recommend it- it’s a year of his day to day cooking, plus unposed photos of the stuff he cooks. It’s a combo diary/cookbook. Any cookbook that contains the words, “Today I ruined a perfectly good salad”, is by definition great. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/30 "2007-04-23T18:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] Are you drunk? [/QUOTE] No. \*\* Lemur866’s\*\* drunk. I’m stoned. Hence the clarity of my response. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/31 "2007-04-23T18:21:16Z")
Peg Bracken’s series of I Hate To Cook Cookbooks have always been my favorite. Easy, cheap, doable recipes and she is one of those rare cookbook writers who can actually write. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/32 "2007-04-26T00:31:25Z")
My “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” came today. 🆒 Monday night I made Potage Parmentier, as described in “Julie and Julia” (By **Julie Powell** )\*. It was, as Julie might say “good shit”. Using a food mill is important, as the texture is part of what makes this soup so good. Two ingredients. Amazing! Next, the perfect omelet. 😉 And my “The Way to Cook” is on it’s way. To me. Thanks, all, for the good advice. \*This is a fun read. Thanks, Zsofia. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986/33 "2007-04-26T13:42:57Z")
I knew you’d like it! You know, that was the first time I ever cooked with leeks? I didn’t have any idea of what to do with them before. Now I use them often. Still don’t have a food mill, however. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-pick-a-cook-book/400986.md?page=1)