<p>Today I was cleaning a bookcase where I store many of my cookbooks and was surprised at the condition of some of them. I tend to like cookbooks, so I have many. I have been married for 30+ years so I have cooked more meals than I care to count. But looking at these books and judging by their wear and tear my favorites seem to be:</p>
<p>Sunset Easy Basics for Good Cooking (given to me by my mother-in-law in 1982. This seemed to be my go to book when first married. Its a solid basic cookbook)</p>
<p>Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook circa 1981 (I guess it was “New” at one time but now the cover is in shreds and it is held together by a rubber band)
Those two seem to be the most “used” of my collection.</p>
<p>I am liking the Cooks Illustrated cookbook these days but it is so large but everything I have made tastes pretty good. </p>
<p>I have my trusty Betty Crocker of course and several Weight Watcher cookbooks that have some of my favorite recipes that I tend to cook all the time. I love my baking cookbooks and when I travel I try and pick up regional cookbooks but they are used far less often. So, it got me wondering…if you could recommend your favorites, the ones you go to time and again,what would they be?</p>
<p>Currently my go to cookbooks are the two Bittman tomes (*Best Recipes in the World *and How to Cook Everything.) I am also trying out a lot of the recipes in Jerusalem and Plenty, both of which have lots of great recipes that have a whole different flavor set than I’m accustomed to - especially good for vegetables. Last night I made a fish from Sunset’s *Quick Cuisine and was reminded that it’s a really solid cookbook - in fact the whole series is. (Their Country French Cooking is wonderful too.) Finally I have to mention The Elements of Taste - great intro to how to think about flavors and textures and their interactions. And finally, finally for basic stuff (roast Turkey, leg of lamb), I’ll pull out Julia Child’s The Way to Cook<a href=“much%20easier%20to%20deal%20with%20than%20the%20book%20that%20made%20her%20famous.”>/I</a></p>
<p>The Southern Living Cookbook (1987)(this is not the annual book) and The Complete Do Ahead Cookbook (also Southern Living–1991). Most of my favorite recipes have come from those two (especially for the holidays and parties).</p>
<p>Can’t imagine just living by a few of current high repute. I learn so much- and am inspired by- many of the older ones. Or Joy for the basics. I have my MIL’s, too, including Southern Living and lots of scribbled recipes on index cards, the way she and her friends would share. Not enough space.</p>
<p>That said, Barefoot Contessa is never-fail. Making her Lemon Chicken Breasts this weekend. And Rocco DiSpirito gave great ways to cut fats, etc, in Eat This Now.</p>
<p>And a special yay for Cooks Illustrated- which is so darned interesting, even if I really don’t need to know what sort of cheeses work best if you’re going to freeze that mac&cheese.</p>
<p>Btw, we should share the names of blogs we like. I got a great recipe for tomato ice cream from one.</p>
<p>Silver Palate series. Bouchon Bakery. Ina Garten anything. I also have How to Cook Everything in app form and love it. I collect cookbooks and would be hard pressed to pick just a few favorites!</p>
<p>I find that I only use a few recipes from each cookbook on my shelf. I refuse to buy any more cookbooks. I have a lot of recipes that I’ve accumulated over the years, and keep them in a binder. It seems when I want a recipe for something, I just do a search online and find a recipe that I try. If it works, I print it out and add it to my collection. My binder is my go to for most of my cooking.</p>
<p>I love Saveur. I am still sad over Gourmet - I have roughly 30 years worth. H’s great-aunt collected them and when she passed I was fortunate to receive them. I love them, even if only for a historical perspective of times gone by.</p>
<p>Consolation, you might be surprised by some of the Sunset books. The Country French Sunset book was edited by Wolfgang Puck before he was famous.:)</p>
<p>I don’t like to cook and rarely use the cookbooks I own. I’ve been known to serve a completely white meal without realizing it: chicken, mashed potatoes, and cauliflower. I think I’m getting all fancy if I just open my Joy of Cooking. Sigh. Consolation calls it pedestrian.</p>
<p>-The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham (Best persimmon pudding ever!)
Cocolat: Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts by Alice Medrich (The source for those outrageously dense dark chocolate tortes that were all the rage twenty years ago.)
-Mastering the Art of French Cooking v. 1 & 2 by Julia Child (How I taught myself to cook when I was a kid.)
-Seasonal Vegetarian Cooking from the California Culinary Academy <a href=“We’re%20not%20veg,%20but%20I%20use%20this%20a%20lot.”>reprinted as Vegetarian Cooking at the Academy</a></p>
<p>Several of these are out of print, but worth tracking down.</p>
<p>Actually, I have a few cookbooks that were sold as fundraisers for groups, there are a few recipes contributed by people in those that I make on occasion. But if I want to make something, I just google and pick the recipes that sound best to me.</p>
<p>I cooked squash for the first time recently, and am about to cook a whole turkey for the first time in a few weeks. We are not adventurous eaters!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>My recipe box, filled with hand written, stained notecards of the recipies I actually use, and have used for many years.</p></li>
<li><p>The book my sister had printed for us after our mother died, filled with copies of HER (our mother’s) hand written recipies, including the comments written in the margins: “Wonderful!” “Substitute x for y” and notes in the upper right corner of who had given her the recipe: “Betty Smith 1962”. </p></li>
<li><p>My “Thanksgiving/Christmas” binder with every recipe I have ever used for those holiday dinners, along with my shopping lists, time lines of “16 pound turkey, put in oven at x time, took out at y time” for almost every year of our 31 year marriage. </p></li>
<li><p>My other loose leaf binder filled with the recipes I ripped out of old recipe books before getting rid of the books (The three recipies I actually used out of a several hundred page book), recipies we print after googling and trying them, recipies given by friends, etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>These are the cookbooks I treasure and use the most. My real cook books gather a lot of dust.</p>
<p>H and I have a copy of Betty Crocker from the early 60’s that is literally being held together with duct tape. We still use it and it contains some recipes that are not in the newer versions. Several years ago I found another copy on line and we bought it but are “saving” it for when the first one crumbles into dust or something.</p>