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I was wondering what people think about Donna Hay, the Aussie who has produced beautiful, well-stylized cookbooks built on themes like: "New Food Fast"-cooking from your pantry, divided by how much time a recipe takes "Off the Shelf"-sort of a primer built around cuisines, i.e. Mediterranean, Asian "Flavors"-exactly that I have the first two, and I wish I hadn't bought "Off the Shelf." More style than substance. She doesn't inspire me, but for those desparation dinners when my brain is fried from a long day, I am glad to have her books around.

I had to get into the office early this morning, so I scarfed down a quick bowl of raisin bran. As I was eating, I started to wonder whether any breakfast cereals could be used in cooking high-end meals. Now I'm not talking about corn flake crusted fried chicken or rice krispie treats. I'm wondering, how Grant Achatz would used puffed rice or shredded wheat?? Could Steve Klc make something interesting with Cap'n Crunch or Apple Jacks? There's got to be tons of possibilities out there (perhaps none of them worthwhile), but if chefs can do something creative with the concept of caramel corn, why not with Honey Nut Cheerios??

I'm going to Mexico in a couple of months and I want to start doing some hardcore learning about the food. If you had to pick 2 Diana Kennedy cookbooks, what would they be?

Well, after three years of careful research, planning and preparation (errr ... procrastination) I am finally going to build my new barbecue tomorrow. Unless some major mental relapse takes place, this will be a brick BBQ with two-level grill trays, an enclosed "oven" below the charcoal tray, and a smoke hood. My past experience of BBQing has been limited to throwing unprepared lamb chops, sausages and home-made burgers onto the grill tray, and removing them when some instinct suggested they were properly cooked. I now would like to be more adventurous with marinaded chicken, steak, kebabs, fish, vegetables and whatever else proper cooks do. I'd also like to experiment with wood briquettes of different kinds. Who knows a really good BBQ cookbook, suitable for a novice ?

I want to buy a French cookbook but I am not sure where to start. Should I buy Julia Child, Jaque Pepin, or Robuchon. I am leaning towrads getting "Le Quisine De Robuchon" (sp??). Any recommendations would be appreciated and please specify the name of the book in addition to the author if possible. Thanks FM PS: I've never owned a French cookbook.

My little hop vine climbed up the side of our back porch and now has a nice crop. My home-brew days are long past, but I seem to have a vague memory of using the hop berries as a seasoning in other foods. Google searches come up with beer, beer, and more beer. Any other ideas out there? Jim

I am interested in getting some cookbooks that cover the basics of pastry and baking--not bread, necessarily, but dessert, cakes, cookies, etc. I searched a few other cookbook threads but did not have luck on finding books on pastry. My interest is in fairly classic French and European style baking, and I need a book that covers technique. Pictures would also be much appreciated--I like both the step by step pix or great pictures of the end product. Right now, I have Desserts and Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. (I love these and have had good results from the recipes, but feel I should start with a more classic approach.) La Varenne Pratique has provided some good starting points, but I would like to find a book with more focus on baking. I was thinking about the Payard book. Any comments? Suggestions would be much appreciated! In case it applies, I am a home cook and am slightly more skilled than a total beginner. Thanks!

So - I recently resigned as Scoutmaster due to health problems and assumed my new post as Assistant Scoutmaster in Charge of Eating. Boy Scouts are 11-17 years old and their tastes are um, different than adults. My statement to them is that they can cook anything they eat at home over a fire. This includes, but is not limited to, open fires, charcoal, backpack stoves and Dutch ovens. They'll also use, on occasion, solar cookers, cardboard-box ovens (ask me some time) and other various weird implements. My first lecture was "40 Ways to Die From Eating". I went over, basically, health and safety. "Though shalt not put chicken in your pack the Thursday before an outing" "Though shalt not eat anything unless it's clean" etc., etc. "If you eat this, you'll go to the hospital, then probably die." "If you eat this, you'll sit on the crapper until you die." "If you put this in a fire, it'll explode and you'll die before anyone can get to you." This is all basically tongue-in-cheek, but I was trying to impress on them the importance of cleanliness. I even made up a song: Salmonella, salmonella, can we all sing Salmonella? (sung to the melody of Cinderella) Anyway - I know that there's a zillion recipes out there on backpack sites, dutch oven sites, etc. But I feel it incumbent upon myself to at least check with the Gulleteers to see what ideas they can come up with. The idea here is that during the winter, we'll stay cold and can pack pretty-much any food we want. Weight is an issue as is water usage. The boys are told that their pack should weigh no more than 1/3 their body weight (which allows yours truly a 200-pound pack...just kidding). Water, at 8 pounds a gallon, is usually limited to 2 quarts. We don't allow water filters (to pull water from a stream) just because I don't want the boys to get into a 'gear race'. When you delve into this area of cooking, things change: We're talking ingredients like Parmalat (sterilized milk), powdered whole eggs, dehydrated fried ground beef, etc. Techniques also: I've got a widget called a Bakepacker that's basically a grid I put into my backpack pot. Using a (I'm lazy) prepackaged muffin/cake recipe, I add dried milk if milk is called for, pack along a couple of packets of olive oil that I swiped from the local sandwich shop, put it in an oven roasting bag (the plastic kind), add water, the oil, smoosh it until it's mixed, then put into the Bakepacker to steam for 25 minutes. Simply grand on a cold winter morning. Tamales can be steamed in an open fire by wrapping them in a wet paper towel and putting in the coals. Awesome onion recipe (though boys don't like onions): Carve out some of the onion, drop a beef bouillion cube and a large pat of butter into the resulting hole, wrap in foil and put in the coals. Did you know a Porterhouse looks great when stuck onto a stick and held over a bed of coals? Or that you can boil Poptarts (leave them in the foil pouch, please). If paid enough money, I'll share the recipe for omelet-in-a-Baggie. Clean-up is an issue - boys don't clean, and with limited water, they have the perfect excuse. So, Gulletanians: Any good ideas? What do boys like? What should I try myself? (hint, hint). Shameless plug: Boy Scouts sell Trail's End popcorn as a fundraiser. It's the best microwave popcorn on the market, but stay away from the bagged stuff. Thanks.......

While waiting for Suvir's cookbook.... I have Betty Crocker's Indian Home cooking by the same author. Was wondering if any of you have seen his new book. and what do you think?

Has anyone had a look at this book? If so, thumbs up or down ?

Well, it looks as though we're actually coming close to the time when my book will come out. It's listed on Amazon.com for October release, but I think we're more likely looking like December-February given where the editorial process is right now. But here's the cover: Isn't it gorgeous? Well, not really, but in any event here's my question for you all: The last comprehensive manuscript update I did was in April of this year (2002). In the coming six weeks or so, I'll have a chance to do a mini feeding-frenzy wherein I get caught up on the key restaurants that have opened in 2002 -- and I also have to cut the ones that have closed or otherwise become irrelevant. I'm starting to build my lists: Closed; New; Need-to-revisit-in-light-of-chef/ownership/concept-change, etc. Anybody want to help me out with this exercise? Editorial commentary is appreciated as well -- I have to make some judgment calls regarding inclusion/exclusion and any information or testimony helps.

Hello everyone, does anyone have any information on where to purchase the El Bulli cookbook other than the el Bulli website? I've looked around online and found nothing, but I really would to add this book to my collection. Thanks

Ed, what Chinese cookbooks do you like? What is your book going to cover?

Can you give us some information about the cookbook you are writing? What will be in it and when will it be published?

I roasted a duck this weekend and I ended up with about a cup of pure white duck fat. I've never used duck fat much before (I think I used it once to roast some potatoes, and once to make duck confit). So what do u use it for?? recipes that use duck fat to add a little "something extra" would be appreciated, as well. Also, how long will it last in the fridge, stored air tight? Thanks FM

Your cookbook looks fantastic and would love to hear about your experience creating it. What (or who) convinced you to write it? Were you approached by publishing companies or did you send proposals around? Did you enjoy the experience? Is there any part of the publishing process that you would do differently if you had a choice?

Every year, I tell myself the same thing right before Christmas "I don't need another cookbook." This is true. I don't need another cookbook, but there's always that one book I really, really want -- no matter how many I already have. Sometimes, I think all the fun is in finding an out-of-print book (we've all got stories) or tracking down the perfect recipe in some obscure book. What's on your Wish List this year?

Making risotto today for dad's birthday, and so the usual $37 stockpot of delicious meat brodo is ready to be defatted and used. My question is: Must that disgusting layer of fat be thrown out, or is that like throwing out gold? Would it be gross to save for cooking, say, potatoes? Should I be ashamed of myself for even asking?

Thank you for your fascinating answers so far. I am also amazed by the photos on your website. Do you use/read cookbooks? If yes, which ones do you favor and why?

Has anyone found any outright errors in the French Laundry cookbook ? Any idea if there is a published list of errors ? Some friends and I are cooking a meal composed entirely from dishes from the French Laundry cookbook. I've spent most of my weekend practicing the first of my dishes, chestnut agnolotti with a celery root sauce. The sauce calls for 3 cups of cream, which I added, but it seems waaaaaay too much: the flavour of the cream dominates completely. I'm going to try it again with a lot less cream (maybe 1/3 cup ?) and see how it turns out. Another dish I'm doing is the truffle custard with chive chip. To make the chip, you slice the potato really thin, sandwich a chive chip between two slices, and then bake the chip with some clarified butter between two silpats at 275. A friend of mine tried this and the chips wouldn't brown, so he looked it up in McGee, who clearly states that caramelization doesn't take place at any significant rate below 310 degrees. So what's the story ? Any of you tried either of these recipes, or found errors in the book ? Suggestions ? Anyone dare me to call the French Laundry and ask for Chef Keller ? Update: I just made the celery root sauce again, this time using 1/3 cup + a splash of cream. Looks (and tastes) much better. - S

As my husband and I were careening through Selfridges yesterday (trying to run our errands) I was waylaid by a new Japanese Cookbook. I didn't really get a chance to give it a thorough lookover but I did flip through it and it looks like it may be a good one. It's a Masterclass.... the author is Japanese but now lives in England... and I can't remember what its called, something very original, like japanese cooking! Has anyone else seen this? Or have old standards that they would like to recommend? Bad Japanese daughter that I am, I can recreate many of my mother's standby dishes but have never bought a japanese cookbook.... I'd like to educate myself in the basics. I also love those moments when you read a technique that you've been doing forever just because this is what you mom did and get to hear the bell in your head go off as you realize, "Oh, so that's what that is called." Okay, I do own the Nobu cookbook and a Madhur Jaffrey that spans all of Asia, but you can't really call those Japanese cookbooks.

I haven't seen this thread, but if it exists, please point me to it. Let's say you have to narrow your cookbook collection down to five titles. (Thus, "The Desert Island Collection." But this thought experiment assumes that you're not actually on a desert island since that might narrow your ingredients to the point that cookbooks would be superfluous.) Here's mine--at the moment . . . Bittman's How to Cook Everything Schneider's New Way to Cook Alford & Duguid's Hot Sour Salty Sweet Olney's Simple French Food Slater's Appetite Your Desert Island Collection?

I've heard this series referenced by a talented cook I know, as well as heard it mentioned on some egullet threads..and today, while leafing through Sara Moulton Cooks at Home (great Spice cookie recipe in there) I noticed she also reccomends finding a used set of this series. Any comments?

There are a thousands of Italian cookbooks out there. Which books have you found most useful and which books are the best at dealing with ingredients that are hard to find outside of Italy? My current favorite is Food and Memories of Abruzzo by Anna Teresa Callen.

An difficult question I know, but how do you come up with ideas for cookbooks when it appears that everything has been done over and over again? (This from someone with a fairly serious cookbook habit that finds it a physical impossibility to walk past a book shop in case there's a cookery related volume he hasn't seen before or already purchased).