# What's your favorite cookbook? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 20, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367 "2003-11-20T20:43:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/21 "2003-11-21T18:09:17Z")
I would also recommend “Paella!”, by Penelope Casas for ingredient lists for that wonderful dish, but I don’t like her cooking methods. ---
**Author:** ![Kiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiger)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/22 "2003-11-21T18:19:51Z")
Not a book, but I love my Bon Appetit magazines. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/23 "2003-11-21T18:55:28Z")
I have a bunch of favorites: 1. Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites. This is an excellent vegetarian cookbook. 2. Joy of Cooking. This is an awesome cookbood because it’s got all the basics and it also describes the difference between certain types of cooking. 3. New Home Indian Cooking. This is a good one because it provides a lot of recipes for lower-fat North Indian food. 4. Cooking to Beat the Clock. Most of the food in here can be prepared in 30 minutes or less, and this book has the best crab cake recipe I’ve ever had. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/24 "2003-11-21T19:18:14Z")
“Joy of Cooking” is essential. “Italian Classics” by the America’s Test Kitchen people. “Bold American Food” by Bobby Flay. “The Barbeque Bible” is pretty good. (chris schlesinger, is it?) I also have a couple of great cookbooks (from my dead grandmother) from Maine from the sixties called “Cooking Down East” and “More Cooking Down East”. Most of the recipes start with rendering lard in the bottom of a pan for flavor. I can’t remember direct quotes, but it tells you how to pick fiddleheads, and has lines like, “today’s modern housewife isn’t restricted to only making bread on saturdays.” You can’t make that stuff up. It’s got good “comfort food” recipes, if you’re ever looking for stuffing, biscuits, chicken soup, etc. ---
**Author:** ![sengle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@sengle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sengle)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/25 "2003-11-21T19:51:06Z")
My favorite is **The French Laundry Cookbook** , which is pretty close to culinary pornography (IMHO). The recipes are pretty wild, some of them are wilder than I would ever cook, but I can at least get inspiration for my own kitchen improvisations. Also **Last Dinner on the Titanic** is pretty fun for hosting meals with guests. My favorite recipes for parties come from a book called **Elegant Dining** (I can’t find a more specific cite, and an amazon search turns up several zillion books), every recipe is fast, easy, and elicits raves from my guests. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/26 "2003-11-21T20:58:29Z")
Stephanie Alexander’s _The Cook’s Companion_. It’s got everything in there. Nigel Slater’s earlier books. His juice one however is just silly. Jill Dupleix’s books are excellent too. I like Charmaine Soloman’s books. ---
**Author:** ![White\_Ink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@White\_Ink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Ink)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/27 "2003-11-21T21:54:09Z")
I must be the only one who doesn’t love America’s Test Kitchen. For years I subscribed to Cook’s Illustrated. Great layout, great ideas, love the lack of ads and the testing they do on kitchen equipment. Don’t love the way they come up with the Best Recipe. I don’t know where the basis of their food bias originates, but I find the recipes that they call the Best tend to be too sweet and on the bland side. I like the magazine, I don’t think I’d ever buy the books. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/28 "2003-11-21T22:08:50Z")
I’m with **Maureen**. My favorites changes on a weekly basis. Right now I’m crazy about Nina Simonds’ _Classic Chinese Cuisine_, and I want to haul out the wok every night. We just had her Red-Cooked Chicken, in which a whole bird is slowly braised in a broth of soy, sake, cinnamon, star anise, and fennel. The cool thing is that you save the braising liquid in the freezer, to be used again and again, and it’s supposed to get better every time you cook with it. Like **rackensack** , I read a lot of essays-which-include-recipes…Thorne and M.F.K. Fisher are favorites. I just finished James Villas’ collection _Villas at Table_, which just pissed me off…I never realized he such a pretentious, name-dropping little prick. ---
**Author:** ![shannablu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@shannablu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shannablu)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/29 "2003-11-21T22:46:29Z")
Anything by Campbell’s. Everything is so quick and easy and usually turns out delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Mumboo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Mumboo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mumboo)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/30 "2003-11-23T02:26:37Z")
Fanny Farmer, Moosewood and anything by Rose Reisman. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/31 "2003-11-23T04:36:34Z")
I enjoy eating–and occasionally preparing–recipes from any of the vegetarian cookbooks by Jeanne Lemlin. ---
**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/32 "2003-11-23T06:25:39Z")
Rick Bayless, [Mexico, One Table at a Time](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/068484186X/qid) (the tostadas, with garlicky black beans, chicken, lettuce and a vinaigrette, tomatillo salsa…nothing short of orgasmic. Genuinely great cookbook - and if you go to the restaurant, you must try the sopes and a margarita - the best ever…\) Ruth Barenbaum, [The Pie and Pastry Bible](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0684813483/qid). Also, way-beyond-words-good. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/33 "2003-11-23T07:55:41Z")
I don’t cook, but I do love cookbooks. As opposed as I have been to the use of the term “white trash,” my favorite cookbook is called something like _White Trash Cooking_. The photography is intentionally awful but the recipes are truly rural South. The only cookbook that I have actually used that much was a little one called _The College Kids’ Cookbook_. It had things like how to boil an egg and bake a potato. When I was in Denmark thirty years ago, I got a cookbook on how to make these gorgeous and unusual and colorful Danish open-faced sandwiches. They are great for summer luncheons. If you have luncheons. And friends. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chavardz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Chavardz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chavardz)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/34 "2003-11-23T08:39:30Z")
Damn TheOnlySaneOne, as soon as I saw the tittle of the thread I knew it was the perfect post, too bad I was too late. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/35 "2003-11-23T13:22:15Z")
I’ll second **primaflora** ’s nomination of **Stephanie Alexander** ’s _The Cook’s Companion_. This is organised as a dictionary of ingredients. There is a short history of the ingredient, a buying guide and a general preparation guide. Then as well as recipes there’s a list of complementary ingredients and suggestions for going off on your own from classic templates. The whole thing is extensively cross-referenced. It’s ideal if you’re the sort of cook who sees something looking particularly good at the market but wants a bunch of ideas for what to do with it. Plus it always lies open at the page you’re on and has indestructable binding. Well worth the money. My only complaint is that she thinks that malt vinegar with chips is low class. ---
**Author:** ![TheOnlySaneOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@TheOnlySaneOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheOnlySaneOne)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/36 "2003-11-23T14:26:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chavardz \* > \*\*Damn TheOnlySaneOne, as soon as I saw the tittle of the thread I knew it was the perfect post, too bad I was too late. \*\* [Stewie Griffin]Victory is mine![/Stewie] ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/37 "2003-11-23T17:30:10Z")
I truly, truly love How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman. I’d second **evan sven** on everything he said; I particularly love the way Bittman’ll give a basic recipe and then a bunch of different variations that use the same technique but with different flavors. It’s perfect for someone like me who never learned how to best wash and cut up a leek, for example, since it gives sidebars with illustrated step-by-step instructions. The boxes with lists like “22 chicken recipes that make great leftovers” or something like that are also great. It’s all generally the kind of cooking I like - not fussy, but with good ingredients and clean flavors. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/38 "2003-11-23T18:13:17Z")
{i]l’encycopédie de la cuisine\*, but Jeane Benoît. My mother has a copy that was given to her when she was about 16, and I recently got an updated edition. Full of very Québecois food (meat and lard everywhere!) but the updated book also has more healthier recipies! We cook pretty much exclusively out of it. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367/39 "2003-11-23T19:14:30Z")
“One Dish Meals of Asia” by Jennifer Brennan. Everything in it is great, and the recipes tend to have obtainable ingredients. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-cookbook/214367.md?page=1)