<p>Any suggestions for a first cookbook for a first apartment?</p>
<p>DS knows his way around a kitchen in very basic terms. Though he wouldn’t know what “braise” means, for example!</p>
<p>He will be living on his own this summer for an out-of-town internship, and in a year he will live off campus in some kind of apartment.</p>
<p>So I am looking for suggestions for a basic, no frills, simple cookbook for the instances where cheese nuked on Tostitos won’t cut it (and hoping there are such instances!)</p>
<p>Our son loves to cook…but he has several good cookbooks. One is an old Summit Cooking for Two cookbook. The recipes are easy, and they make smaller portions than standard ones. We also got him the Joy of Cooking. </p>
<p>Personally, for a novice, I would go with something like the Betty Crocker Cookbook or Better Homes and Gardens. Are they even still published?</p>
<p>And know also that you can google just about ANY food and get recipes for making it. Lots of kids use the internet…epicurious is one site that is great.</p>
<p>As thumper says, the Joy of Cooking is a very good basic book. Another one wife and I still have had from day1 is The Goodhouskeeping Cookbook. We’ve always found it the best source for easy, general reference.</p>
<p>Do a cooking search on either of the two parents forums. There have been numerous prior suggestions.</p>
<p>I doubt that he will have the equipment needed to make many of the dishes on that site. Think “survival cooking” here. He’ll likely have a saucepan and a frying pan and not much more, as he’s going to drive cross country to set up shop for only 3 months. Also, he may need the inspiration that good illustrations or photos would provide. “Oh, baked chicken pieces! What an idea!”</p>
<p>Thanks, violadad. I hadn’t noticed those threads before</p>
<p>I bought this book for my culinary-challenged son when he spent a semester away from campus. Students in his house took turns preparing family-style dinners. He told me the receipes were easy to follow and everyone liked the food. And it comes with color photos!</p>
<p>Any of those little “pamphelt-style” cookbooks at the supermarket check-out aisle, mostly by Betty Crocker & Pillsbury. The recipes tend to be easy, with limited easily found ingredients.</p>
<p>The “I Don’t Know How to Cook” Book, by Mary-Lane Kamberg. It has numerous recipes from easy to hard, breakfast to dessert, tips for equipping a kitchen, glossary of cooking terms and much more. I purchased this for our student last summer since he was home interning locally. Hopefully, since he will be back again this summer, he can cook even more from it. It even gives directions for boiling an egg!</p>
<p>For an S (or D) who would like to be a cook (rather than a microwaver), I still think Joy of Cooking is the best way to cover all of the bases*. Handles all basics, making no presumptions of prior knowledge, but can take you almost anywhere in terms of level of difficulty, range of cuisine…</p>
<p>I also use Epicurious and some other sites and kids can go there for recipe browsing or searching.</p>
<p>What I don’t think I’ve seen here yet: I think our kids most appreciate having a “cookbook” of some of the recipes we have made for them over the years that they would now like to try. Family favorites, special holiday dishes etc.</p>
<p>I have been emailing some of these, on request, to DS and have a file on my computer of “Recipes for S.” But you could print out and bind/staple/spiral bind or whatever.</p>
<p>S used Joy of Cooking last night to make Hollandaise Sauce for himself and Dad (he loves it with salmon and I am not there). Tonight they are having company and he is moving up one variation to Bearnaise Sauce, for a beef filet. </p>
<p>It’s fun to watch them get into cooking and, for those of us with sons only recently emerging from the “Cone of Silence,” it gives them one more reason to call Mom. (He wanted to hear it from <em>me</em> how to reduce the vinegar and herbs, not from Irma Rombauer and grandson; I love that).</p>
<p>*or whichever of the basic all-time cookbooks has been your favorite (Betty Crocker, the red plaid one (I forget who that is)…</p>
<p>I’d look at [Food</a> Network : Healthy Recipe Collections, Party Ideas, Quick & Easy Recipes](<a href=“http://www.foodnetwork.com%5DFood”>http://www.foodnetwork.com) They have all kinds of recipes even for novices. Rachel Ray has a show for 30 minute meals with simple recipes and basic ingredients. You can find the recipes from the show on the website. Frankly I don’t bother with cookbooks anymore.</p>
<p>Cook’s Illustrated has a magazine series with detailed discussions of the varieties of result for all kinds of traditional dishes. There are cookbooks available which compile from the series plus add extra things. Costco carries some of these cookbooks for good prices. [Cook’s</a> Illustrated](<a href=“Error”>Error)</p>
<p>This is what I bought S for his first apartment. They are interesting reading, and make it possible to adapt a recipe according to the taste and texture that we each find characteristic, i.e. crunchier, creamier, thicker, etc. A chemist would appreciate the approach… I like knowing what I will get if I substitute.</p>
<p>I am going to get the 4-5 ingredient type of cookbook for my son. I just looked at the index of that college cookbook. My kid is picky, and he wouldn’t like most of the recipes in there. At least he knows how to cook a little, but very little. At least it is a start.</p>
<p>Best cookbook, is “Dad’s Own Cookbook” by Bob Sloan. It has great recipes, plus explains how to do it in a guy’s eye. I bought for Bullet when we were first married.</p>
<p>The recipes go from lesson 101 (to feed themself) to Grad school type (impress the girl)</p>
<p>The other thing I did was print out a collection of simple, few ingredient recipes from sites like allrecipes.com. That way I could select things I knew he had the appliances for and ones that met his likes. I could focus on main dishes as he is not interested in desserts or snack foods.</p>
<p>I bought three-ring binders and sleeves and made my own cookbooks for the kids. Since I get my recipes from all kinds of places, like my own mother, websites, made them up, etc, if there is something the kids really like, I photocopy it and I’ve started a cookbook for each of them. Of course you have copywrite issues if you copy out of a cookbook, but I don’t think that’s an issue with stuff that’s distributed free on the web.</p>
<p>I haven’t given them to any of the kids yet, since they’re all still at home, but I’m hoping it turns out to be a welcome gift. And I do sort of try to focus on things that they could make easily, without fancy equipment.</p>
<p>Jude, that is what I am doing for son. I started with the recipes on the internet, put them in a binder with divisions of beef, chicken, fish, soup, etc (with one for slow cooker too–he gets much use out of that). I slowly am typing up some of the old favorites and will add to this notebook on a future visit.</p>
He’ll likely have a saucepan and a frying pan and not much more, as he’s going to drive cross country to set up shop for only 3 months. Also, he may need the inspiration that good illustrations or photos would provide. “Oh, baked chicken pieces! What an idea!”</p>
(He wanted to hear it from <em>me</em> how to reduce the vinegar and herbs, not from Irma Rombauer and grandson; I love that).</p>