25 most influential cookbooks
-
I own (or have owned) many of these. Some I've never heard of. Some I still cook from. One I might actually buy.
One is special for @Steve-Miller !
-
Ones I have.
- Taste of Country Cooking: Edna Lewis
- Joy of Cooking (everybody has this!)
- Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Child
- Moosewood: Katzen (falling apart from use!)
- Jerusalem: Ottolenghi/Tamimi
- Essentials of Classic Italian: Hazan
Never been to the French Laundry, but would be happy to go!
-
I have soooo many cookbooks. Currently there are 3 boxes of cookbooks to donate to the thrift shop, a floor to ceiling bookshelf chock full of only cookbooks, and a stack of them upstairs--many of which will also go to the thrift store.
The problem with a lot of cookbooks is they have one or two good recipes out of the whole lot. I do have some books with consistently good recipes in them, and those are staying here, of course.
-
I have The Joy of Cooking, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Diet for a Small Planet, and An Invitation to Indian Cooking. I've always intended to get a copy of the Moosewood Cookbook.
I love my cookbooks, despite the fact that I usually only ever cook a handful of recipes out of any given book. Sometimes I just sit and read them like novels. An Invitation to Indian Cooking is especially good for that, since her essays about life in mid-twentieth-century India are fascinating.
-
I own (or have owned) many of these. Some I've never heard of. Some I still cook from. One I might actually buy.
One is special for @Steve-Miller !
I own only one from the list. The Joy of Cooking. Haven’t opened it in years but I used to use it a lot. Now I mostly use the internet.
Perhaps a bit lowbrow for this list, but in my experience the most influential cookbook of my generation is The Betty Crocker Cookbook. It’s the book I learned to cook from and the one I remember seeing in everybody’s kitchen. Does anyone still make Chiffon Cake?
I saw the Tartine book when I went to the bakery and considered buying it. I think I’ll hold off - I’m not really ready for the 37 page recipe for Country Loaf. Right now I’m busying myself checking my starter every few hours to see how many bubbles it has.
A lot of these books turn up regularly at Thrift Stores for just a few dollars. Maybe I’ll pick up one or two when I see them and have a look.
-
I have soooo many cookbooks. Currently there are 3 boxes of cookbooks to donate to the thrift shop, a floor to ceiling bookshelf chock full of only cookbooks, and a stack of them upstairs--many of which will also go to the thrift store.
The problem with a lot of cookbooks is they have one or two good recipes out of the whole lot. I do have some books with consistently good recipes in them, and those are staying here, of course.
@Bernard said in 25 most influential cookbooks:
I have soooo many cookbooks. Currently there are 3 boxes of cookbooks to donate to the thrift shop, a floor to ceiling bookshelf chock full of only cookbooks, and a stack of them upstairs--many of which will also go to the thrift store.
Same here. I had probably 300 or more (including most of the ones in the list of 25 most influential) but have winnowed the collection down to less than half of that and am about to do another pass to further downsize. Donated them to the Friends of the Library. They have quarterly book sales and the proceeds go to our library.
@Mary-Anna is right - many of them are fun to read just to read.
My Mastering the Art of French Cooking volumes are autographed by Julia and Paul Child!
I also have several editions of the Antoinette Pope School Cookbook. My mom had a copy and I bought one for myself when I set up my own household. And I ran across a very early edition and added it to my collection.
Anybody else have the Betty Crocker Cookbook? Not a game changer, just ubiquitous.
edit: cross-posted. I see @Steve-Miller does!
-
I was surprised that so many of the ones I have that I thought were "obscure" made the list. I was also surprised that so many of them are decades old.
My list:- Joy of Cooking
- Mastering the Art -- tbh, I just donated these volumes as I rarely use them and can get things online
- A Book of Middle Eastern Food - just great
- Moosewood - I have it but I rarely use it. I found the recipes to be bland, but often used them as a starting point
- Jerusalem - I love this. I haven't found a bad recipe yet, and the photos are food porn.
- The Cuisines of Mexico - another oldie but goodie
- Diet for a Small Planet - I married into this one
I'm intrigued by the Jaffrey "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" book. Does anyone have it, and do you like it?
-
Interesting. I have the moosewood, and Joy. Hunters chicken from joy of cooking. The only thing I ever made out of moosewood was ratatouille. I spent a lot of time looking at the drawings, lol. I gave away the mastering the art volumes for the same reason Nina did. I used Joy and the old Betty Crocker cookbook a lot when I was younger. Still use the baking powder biscuit recipe, and stuffed green peppers and cake and cookie recipes. I find almost everything else online now. Mostly the NYT cooking app, but frankly if you type ingredients and “best” or, “fastest” into google, and read the reviews, you can find really good recipes. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my cookbooks.
-
I was surprised that so many of the ones I have that I thought were "obscure" made the list. I was also surprised that so many of them are decades old.
My list:- Joy of Cooking
- Mastering the Art -- tbh, I just donated these volumes as I rarely use them and can get things online
- A Book of Middle Eastern Food - just great
- Moosewood - I have it but I rarely use it. I found the recipes to be bland, but often used them as a starting point
- Jerusalem - I love this. I haven't found a bad recipe yet, and the photos are food porn.
- The Cuisines of Mexico - another oldie but goodie
- Diet for a Small Planet - I married into this one
I'm intrigued by the Jaffrey "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" book. Does anyone have it, and do you like it?
@Nina
I have An Invitation to Indian Cooking, and everything I've made from it has been delicious.The recipes tend to have a million ingredients, but most of them are spices. If you don't have a solid spice collection, that can be pricey, but if you already have a bunch of spices and dried beans, you can cook a lot of the dishes by buying the meat of chioce, some yogurt, and some cilantry.
