Well, it is true that “America’s Best Recipes” wasn’t written by Julia Child. I thought we’d moved beyond that.
[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.
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
“America’s test Kitchen” is not fair!
[/QUOTE]
???
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.
[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!
[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.
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.
[QUOTE=mangeorge]
Have we moved beyond Beethoven? Bach? Elvis? Strauss? Johnny Cash? Roy Orbison, even?
Huh? Have we?
Sheesh!
[/QUOTE]
Are you drunk?
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.
[QUOTE=Trunk]
Are you drunk?
[/QUOTE]
No. ** Lemur866’s** drunk. I’m stoned. Hence the clarity of my response.
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.
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
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.