Favorite RECIPE book list (feel free to add yours)

[Tab]

I don't often cook from recipes (unless it's a totally unfamiliar dish or I might try something new the first time around from a recipe and then improvise on it the second time. I'm sure that those who cook from recipes have a far greater selection than I do. I'll mention a few. I won't mention The French Laundry Cookbook because I'd rather eat there first.

In no particular order:

Pasternack & Levine: The Young Man & the Sea - Recipes and Crispy Fish Tales from Esca
Larry Forgione: An American Place
Galloping Gourmet: He had one about traditional American recipes - I can't find it so I don't recall the title. I know he got in trouble for his penchant for little boys, but it was still a really good book.

And finally there was a book called "White Trash Cooking", which I got as a joke for a southern cook friend of mine, but he loved it - there were a lot of traditional recipes in it. Sorry, don't know the author.

Comments welcome, of course.

[hippywife]

1. I thought the

one that got in trouble for young boys was Jeff Smith, the Frugal Gourmet. I dunno, I might be confused.

Welcome back, friend! :hi:

[Tab]

2. Yes, you're right - it was the Frugal Gourmet

And therefore the book was by the Frugal Gourmet / Jeff Smith.

As I said, I didn't have the book with me - probably packed away somewhere. I forgot there were "two" gourmet self-titled authors out there.

Thanks

And glad to be back :)

[hippywife]

3. I always enjoyed

watching his program. I wasn't cooking as much then but I thought his recipes looked great.

[madmax]

16. In defense of Jeff Smith wasn't

he innocent? I remember reading something that after ruining him and his reputation the charges were false. :cry: I liked him.
Have two of his books. Loved the homemade pirogies.

[Warpy]

4. "The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking" by Barbara Tropp

and "Chinese Regional Cooking" by Kenneth H. C. Lo.

I'm on my third copy of the second one.

[merci_me]

5. The Frugal Gourmet may be

The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American (how's that for to the point? lol)

I picked it up years ago in a three pack at a discount store.

The other two are The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines (China*Greece*Rome) and The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors (my favorite of the trio)

Actually all are good reading, but with my hundreds of cookbooks and thousands of clipped recipes, I still tend to rarely use a recipe, unless it's baking where measurements are critical.

[Tab]

8. It was the Immigrant Ancestors one - thanks

I particularly liked that one.

[The empressof all]

15. He also had a Winter Holiday Book that was great

I always thought he was a great teacher and was glad he was finally exonerated from those charges against him. Too bad his memory will always be tainted.

The Immigrant Ancestor Book is an absolute Gem.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Naples at Table by Arthur Schwartz

It was a reminder of food I'd had but long ago forgotten, food I always wanted to try. and food I knew, but never knew how to make.

The recipes are incredibly authentic, not gussied up adaptations.

[grasswire]

7. I've enjoyed the American Heritage cookbook for many years.

It contains many historical menus and recipes, a highly readable narrative, and fascinating reprints. Highlights that come to mind are the peach pies called crab lanterns, and the festive drinks and ice creams from early American days. I got it for Christmas many years ago, and still enjoy it.

Some of my family's favorite recipes came from the Sunset Favorites cookbook. The meat loaf, the oven-barbequed ribs --- many, many of our everyday favorites.

Of course, many favorites also came from magazines. My cheesecake recipe is from an old Redbook magazine, and won a couple of contests that I entered. Favorite cookies have been clipped from here and there. Corn fritters, from another magazine.

My standby everyday cookbooks are the Good Housekeeping cookbook, the old looseleaf Betty Crocker (the world's best oatmeal cookies), Silver Palette, and Martha Stewart's basic cookbook (oh, the lemon mousse!).

But I own a LOT of cookbooks and cooking magazines -- overflowing two bookcases. And I don't use them enough. Not nearly enough. The reason? Picky teenagers who require carb loading for athletics. Mac & cheese. Woof.

[Phentex]

9. My favorite is a homemade cookbook by some church ladies in NJ...

from an Italian-American community. It's got some interesting stuff to say the least, plus many of the old stand-bys.

I love cookbooks. But I'm a tweaker, like you, so I use the recipes as a guideline and then make notes about what I liked or didn't like.

The internet has helped me come up with some stuff quickly when I have certain ingredients I want to use but not a lot of time to dig through cookbooks.

[AllieB]

10. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is one of my favorites.

For baking, which I do rarely, I like the Good Housekeeping Cook Book.

[hippywife]

11. I don't have a favorite, I guess.

I have cookbooks and there are certain recipes in them that I like to use but I can't say that I have any favorite cookbook. Heck, anymore I get more recipes off the interwebs than anywhere else.

[wryter2000]

12. Anything by Cooks Illustrated

If they tell you to do something, they probably have a good reason.

BTW, if you go to www.americastestkitchen.com, you can find a link to buy the DVDs of the 8th season and an accompanying cookbook for $30 total. I bought them, and the book is worth $20 itself. This is a very good deal. It could easily make two holiday gifts for foodies.

[HamdenRice]

13. Miss Edna Lewis's "In Search of Flavor"

Edna Lewis was an elderly African American chef who wrote an amazing cookbook on southern/soul food. It was the food my grandmother cooked on her farm and was nothing like the cliche "soul food" that has been foisted on us by fast food restaurants and the lame interpretation of the Food Network et al.

Her book helped me recover some recipes my late grandmother made and that had been lost to memory.

After she moved north late in her life, Ms. Lewis also was the chef of one of Brooklyn's most illustrious restaurants, Gage and Tolner. We used to go there on special occasions, the Ms. Lewis would usually come out around sunset to ask everyone how the food was.

Also my Indian cookbooks helped me shift from lame curry powder curries to real masala based curries.

[sazemisery]

14. Helen Corbitt's Cookbook

I learned how to cook from this book. She was a dietitian at the Cornell Medical Center before she moved to Dallas. She ran the Zodiac Room in Neiman-Marcus for many years. She was the first woman to win the Golden Plate Award.

She has the best poppy seed dressing in the world. Also her Beef Stroganoff is extra yummy. I have two copies of this book because the first one I owed is so tattered that the pages are brittle and I have put it away for safekeeping. I bought the second one at a garage sale. It was in mint condition and it cost me 25 cents.

There are no healthy recipes in this cookbook but they are all very tasty.

[kestrel91316]

17. Cooking From Quilt Country and More Recipes From Quilt Country,

both by Marcia Adams, the VERY best Amish/Mennonite cookbooks out there. Plus, the text and photos alone are fabulous.

These are cookbooks whose recipes I use over and over, that I also love to read and look at the pics over and over. So interesting and informative. So yummy. So fattening, which is not true if you are Amish because they burn up so many calories just plain working throughout the day on the farm.

[Juneboarder]

18. The Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon

I am a total meat eater, but Crescent Dragonwagon truly provides insight into the Vegan world and offers some wonderful recipes. The cookbook gives backround to the ingredients and offers a variety of selection depending on the season we are in as well as offers a full menu to prepare. I have not once been disappointed by her recipes... one of my favorite is the Kung Pao Tofu... :)