<p>Marcella Hazan passed away yesterday and it made me reflect on how her “The Classic Italian Cook Book: The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating (1973)” changed the way I cook and live. I turn to it regularly, especially when I want to get back to it’s basic focus on simplicity and freshness.
My copy is about as stained and dog eared as a book can be. The cover is held together with duct tape and carries the scent of several hundred batches of Bolognese sauce. That recipe is poetry in a pan. </p>
<p>What, if any, cookbooks changed the way you cook for good and forever?</p>
<p>How to Cook Without a Book really taught me that a recipe isn’t necessarily what’s on the page. It’s to be taken as a guideline for a whole category of recipes you can change and tailor to your own likings or modify for what’s on hand. I started to recognize how recipes I would read in other cookbooks developed from the other basic recipes I already knew, and how much of cooking really isn’t that much of a mystery.</p>
<p>Mediterranean Light. This book taught me how to cook delicious healthy food. I bought the book during my senior year of college and have been cooking ever since.</p>
<p>Most recently…The Family Dinner by Laurie David (of curb your enthusiasm David)…part cookbook part how to bring your family together more…really moving.</p>
<p>I make her Bolognese at least once a month. I love the book because it’s really about the ingredients and simple, yet artistic preparation. The Joy of Cooking is another life changing cookbook. It’s been revised many times, but I like my falling apart version from about 25 years ago. Even though I have a more recent copy, some great recipes are missing. The krumkake recipe - pizzelles in Italian kitchens - are a staple in our house on holidays.</p>
<p>Classic Italian Cooking changed the way I cook. I received a copy when I got married 32 years ago. I loved the recipes as well as Marcella’s commentary on ingredients and cooking techniques. Her recipe for making pesto is one of the best. She inspired me to make my own pasta.</p>
<p>I love Essentials of Italian Classic Cooking. </p>
<p>The book that changed my life was The Way to Cook by Julia Child.</p>
<p>I also have a great cookbook in the “356” series called “365 Easy Low-Calorie Recipes” by Syvia Schur and Vivian Schulte (1990). I use it all the time. I don’t know what I’ll do when it falls apart. The recipes don’t follow any fads but basically limit fats and carbs and use more vegetables and lean meats. I’ve never made a dud recipe from it. A terrific cookbook for everyday meals.</p>
<p>When I read Diet for a small Planet in 1971 when I was 13 or 14, it changed the way I looked at food & waste & how we use the land.
I cant say the recipes were really anything to write home about though.
Vegetarian cookbooks have come a long way.
I still use fish & animal products, but more as a condiment & flavoring usually than the main attraction.
Except for grilled salmon.</p>
<p>30 something years ago: Whole Foods for the Whole Family. (La Leche League)
Now: knowing how to cook. I rarely follow a recipe unless Im baking, but think about how flavors and textures and ingredients work together.</p>
<p>
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I doubt you are thinking of the chapter on game animals. We had our kids rolling out of their chairs this summer reading about how to prepare squirrel, muskrat and beaver. It all started when I said my Grandma cooked squirrel when we went to her house in the fall back in the early 60s…</p>
<p>I also am a Betty fan. My first one from the 1970s finally fell apart. But wait…I was in a used bookstore one day and a Betty was there…in excellent condition (that person must have used Joy of Cooking ). I was so happy to have a new copy of my old book!</p>
<p>My first cookbook was James Beard’s basic cookbook which starts off with telling you how to boil water.</p>
<p>Life changing: </p>
<p>Molly Kazen’s The Moosewood Cookbook - vegetarian food that tasted good.</p>
<p>Pierre Franey’s* The Sixty Minute Gourmet *- this was a staple of cooking for the eating group at Caltech - delicious meals and not too time consuming.</p>
<p>Julia Child’s The Way to Cook - which taught me to think about master recipes and variations.</p>
<p>Gray Kunz and Peter Kaminsky’s Elements of Taste - a new way for me to think about flavors and textures and how to combine them. For weekends only - these aren’t simple fast recipes!</p>
<p>Mark Bittman’s *How to Cook Everything * and The Best Recipes in the World - which are completely in line with my approach to cooking. Simplified versions of flavors I love. I also love his series in the NYT Magazine of how to cook X twelve ways.</p>
<p>Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty - more yummy vegetarian recipes with ingredients and combos I never thought of using before.</p>
<p>I love my 1975 Joy of Cooking for the basics. My all-time favorite cookbook is my early 80’s Los Angeles Times California Cookbook!!! It taught me that recipes do not have to be complex to be stunning. The LA Times had a highly acclaimed food section back in the 70’s and early 80’s. Alas it went downhill after that and is terrible now. </p>
<p>Things that changed my cooking style forever:</p>
<p>Molly Kazen’s The Moosewood Cookbook absolutely was my “first” and I would say coming in close seconds are the Silver Palate Cookbook and later Good Times. All three are literally in tatters in my cookbook shelves from reading and use.</p>
<p>I’ve been culling my cookbooks, I just got rid of a few dozen, but I’m glad to see that the ones that I have cherished and kept, though the worse for wear, are all mentioned here. With the exception of Vball moms bread book. I am challenged by baking…maybe it’s time.</p>
<p>So I still haven’t mastered the art of cooking things I can actually eat as meal…but The Cooky Book from good ol’ Betty Crocker made me fall in love with baking. My mom used it to bake Christmas cookies and she used to hate it and be miserable the entire time–I took over once and never looked back. I may not be able to cook a steak or a chicken breast, but I can make the best damn brownies and cookies and cupcakes you’ve ever tasted from scratch</p>
<p>She made the world a better place. That is probably the one cookbook I would grab if I were told I could only keep one. It covers so much territory from simple to elaborate. Some of my favorite dinners come from that cookbook.</p>
<p>You are so right, the Bolognese sauce is beyond description. The eggplant parm is pretty amazing. Homemade fettucini in butter and cream sauce (“al fredo”) is sinful. The most stained page in my copy is a very simple pot roast in red wine.</p>
). I was so happy to have a new copy of my old book!</p>
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