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Just finished reading the local thread on your favourite recipes cooked from local chef's books. Now who should write a cook book (B.C. chefs only) and what should be in it? I'm first off the bat with a book from Chef Jeff at Aurora for his great brunch contribution of Free range scrambled eggs with black truffles crowning a blanket of filo pastry nested upto some back bacon and slow oven roasted tomatoes Stephen Bonner

What are some of your favorite kosher or Jewish cookbooks? Most of mine are older than I am - it's time to support some new authors. (new to me would be anybody published within the last 30 years ) From starters to desserts and everything in between. Baking, holidays, everyday. Recommendations?

On Amazon, there are two books by Dan Lepard. I notice that he has posted on this forum previously and other eGulleteers seem very impressed with his knowledge of bread. I'm wanting to get a bit more experience with bread and would like opinions on his two books: "The Handmade Loaf" or "Baking With Passion: Exceptional Recipes for Real Breads, Cakes, and Pastries" As it seems the second book deals with cakes and pastries as well as bread, it might not be detailed enough on bread to satisfy my interest. Is "The Handmade Loaf" technical or written for the layman? Thanks for any/all input. Regards, Alana

If you are living in France and want to bake some American recipes, then you will need to print out a copy of David Lebovitz's invaluable guide: American Baking in Paris. I spent many hours trying to create my own list, but this is far more complete. Oh the time spent combing Paris for vanilla extract* only to discover that the French really don't use the same thing (arome de vanille NEQ vanilla extract). Or looking for a can of chicken soup… you're not gonna find it. *I was told, quite simply, that French chefs use vanilla beans when they want vanilla flavor! Imagine!

I would appreciate some help selecting a soup cookbook intended as a gift for a friend. This dear friend is a marvelous soup cook but does not usually use a cookbook. She's most familiar with Moosewood. The intention is to provide both recipes and ideas. I have poked through the cookbook threads, but no one seems to focus on soup. I have done some research and these are the three that look promising to me -- Culinary Institute of America's Book of Soups James Peterson's Splendid Soups Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Soups and Stews Can anyone who is familiar with any of these books comment on them? I'm looking for sure-fire, not too challenging, delicious recipes. Thank you very much for your time and help.

I am a home cook who really wants to improve my cooking skills. What are the best cookbooks that offer a methodological approach to learning the key basics to cooking well? I've tried following recipes to improve my skills, but this approach is unfocused. Thx!

So i'm in barcelona and enjoying the food here quite a bit. One thing i have found a bit tough is how to ask the butchers for different cuts of beef or pork. I'm not good enough with the anotomy of the animal to figure out where to ask from so if there is an online source that translates the different names of cuts that would be great. thanks, Jonny

Cracked open one of my new cookbooks this week, James Oseland's Cradle of Flavor, and before the evening was up I had a stain on his great Javanese fried rice recipe. Virtually every book in my library has grease spatter on one page or dough between two others. When a guest was over a few days ago, she spied my utterly destroyed, held together with tape copy of Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook and expressed shock that I could take such poor care of my books. Honestly, I find the schmutz a tribute to their success. What about you? Do you keep your cookbooks neat and clean? Or like me do you paint 'em with whatever's for dinner?

I purchased a black truffle from a small but well stocked grocery store store on Friday. Half was used in a Black truffle risotto apetizer for two. I started saturday with home made toasted walnut bread, a plain omelet and grated black truffle. That sure was a good way to start the weekend. Now I have half a black truffle in my fridge in some risotto rice. Any suggestions on what to do with it? I guess I have to use it as soon as possible to get the most out of it. The truffle is from Provance. If I've understood it, hunting season is January black truffles. Of course I want to use it as fresh as possible :-) I'm open to suggestions, the recipe should serve 2 people. Ps. The truffle cost me $90 and had a weight of 30 grams. For my personal economy that's a bit pricy. The store is probably to only one in Oslo/Norway that would have a fresh truffle, so there isn't much competition. How does this price compare to other countries, and how accessible are fresh truffles when they are in season?

Does it make a difference? And, if it does, which one would you recommend? I have Marcella Hazan's original 'The Classic Italian Cookbook' so would it be worth it to get her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking if Essentials is just a combination of her earlier works. Did she tweak the recipes, and if so, which version would be better? (Its strange that the copyright for The Classic Italian Cookbook is earlier than the reported publication date I found on Internet) I also have older editions of James Beard's American Cookery and New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne, and I'm just wondering if there's any signifigant changes between the older versions and the updated ones.

In previous conversations with others in the Baking Forum, you've mentioned some of the problems you've had with having your books published--limitations due to space, etc. In a perfect world, what would your ideal baking book include? Have you ever had so many problems with a publisher or editor that you've wanted to pull out of a project? And what helpful advice would you give a wanna-be cookbook writer (I'm not one, but I'm just curious about the business-side of such things) for dealing with publishers and editors (aside from plying them with samples of your baked goods )?

There is a recent thread on the New York board about the Michelin Guide ( I still think they do tires better than restaurants), so I was wondering what people used before Michelin, Zagat, the internet etc., especially when traveling to other cities. I know Michelin has a long history in Europe (especially France), but what about the United States and some other countries? I used two: Where to Eat in America and Country Inns and Back Roads. Where to Eat was terrific when traveling to other major cities. My favorite category was "Where to Eat if You Only Have Time for One Meal." I was never disappointed with any of their choices. I don't think it's currently published. I used it in the 70's & 80's. Country Inns was published by Berkshire Press in Mass. It was a great traveling companion when driving through the countryside. I never had a bad meal or accommodations with one of their recommendations. I know the original author died and someone continued it afterward, but I think it's gone now. Again, I used in during the 70's & 80's.

so there i am, in a semi-trance, pushing the cart through costco, when, in the corner of the walk-in produce fridge, something catches my eye. walking a little closer, i actually let out a tiny shriek, causing several other shoppers to look over in alarm..... large styrofoam trays of perfect, glowing golden chanterelles.. they are in amazing shape, even though they are wrapped in plastic, and look like they were hydroponically cultivated. a mushroom class i took a few years back taught me that they cannot be commercially grown, but have to be foraged...these must have come from a glorious, magical costco chanterelle forest. visions of costco elves (they look a bit like keebler elves) with mushroom knives dance through the forest of my imagination... the cold of the walk-in, and the beauty of the mushrooms jolt me back to reality, so i grab a hefty tray and check the price...again, i am in fantasy land, as it appears that the costco price for a full pound of these beauties is...$8.99. now i know that there are parts of the world where chanterelles grow on trees...okay, well, under them, and milk and honey flow through the streets, but i live in parched southern california, where, if you are lucky enough to lay your hands on any chanterelles at all, they are shriveled and mealy and you are happy to get them, and happy to pay up to $40 a lb. for the pleasure. i figure they are mismarked, and that i will get the real price at check out, but they are so gorgeous that I MUST HAVE THEM, regardless of the cost, so i proceed to checkout, where they ring up at $8.99. i love costco. so, i have a pound of perfect chanterelles, and i plan to have another pound and another pound and another, until the sad and tragic day, very soon, i fear, when the walk-in holds the magic mushrooms no more. what will i do with all these beautiful mushrooms? your best suggestions greatly appreciated! please help me bering this bounty to its full potential.

Molecular Gastronomy. You have no one else to thank but Marcel "Scarface" V. from top chef 2 for my interest in cooking, whatsoever. Ideally, what I am searching for is like a website, or a book with examples of application of some chemicals & mixtures that will help me get my feet wet without having to jump to deep into chemistry & theory. This is my first real stab at cooking, where it's easy for me to make a knife pun, or some sort of culinary pun, i'm going to refrain. I just found out cooking is fun.

I find most cookbooks rather hapazard in this regard, where they don't really explain why they're using specific ingredients. For a recipe with 20 ingredients, I'd like to understand the process of why they needed all 20 ingredients, and how they came up with those specific 20 ingredients. I'd like to know what would happen if I didn't use one of those ingredients, or if I substituted another ingredient. Sometimes, there might be a small blurb with the recipe that mentions that they used a specific ingredient, but then its just so completely random. I guess I'm looking for more of a theory book about this topic, and don't necessairly care about recipes. It would be great if the book started out by laying down its ideas, and then used the recipes to illustrate those concepts. So far, I've found several books that sound like they might help me in this regard: Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page The Elements of Taste by Gary Kunz Secret Ingredients: The Magical Process of Combining Flavors by Michael Roberts Kitchen Conversations by Joyce Goldstein Has anybody read these books? I'd like to get some opinions about them before I order them. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I was looking at Culinary Artistry by Andrew Dornenburg on amazon.com, and saw that there are 2 versions a hard cover thats $116, and a paperback thats $32, now thats a pretty big difference in price, can anyone tell me the difference btwn the hardcover and the paperback? thanks

I am very curious about this title, but my local libraries do not have it and I always hate buying cookbooks I don't end up using. Can anyone tell me whether or not they like this cookbook and how many dessert/pastry/bread recipes it has? Thanks!

Don't know if anyone out there can help me with this. About 10 years ago I was in a used book store here in scenic central Oklahoma and there were several copies of a cookbook which, as I recall, basically glorified in a rather tongue-in-cheek way the food of the 1950s. I think the cover was done in shades of pink and black. I'm trying to locate this book and can't seem to get at a title or author. This is not aided by the fact that my memory may be faulty on the look of the cover. Does anyone have a clue what this cookbook might be? Any help would be much appreciated... Thanks, Rinsewind

So i recently received a first edition of The Epecurian Cookbook; A Complete Treatise of Analytical And Practical Studies On The Culinary Art. by Charles Ranhofer of Delmonico's from my parents. The condition is emaculate, with a copyright date of 1920. I'm curious as to how i should care for it, Right now it's standing upright in one of my bookshelfs. I own quite a few cookbooks, but this is the first which has any historical importance. P.s. It is not for sale. I just want to keep it as is.

Has anyone cooked much with this? I checked it out from the library, and it looks amazing! I don't know that I'll be buying a meat slicer, but a dessert based on a Kit Kat is pretty interesting.

He's often quoted and was such a character but I can't seem to find any translations or anthologies of his Almanach. Amazon, Alibris, Addall, the Seattle Public Library reference librarians all come up empty, any suggestions?

I am interested in this book "What to drink with what you eat" but as it is not a British book I can't go and flick through it in a UK bookshop....I'd have to order it unseen from Amazon. If you have this book would you mind letting me know what you think. Is the advice good and useful? Thanks.

The invasive Species Cookbook: Conservation through Gastronomy is available at www.bradfordstreetpress.com The idea of the book is to increase interest in the issue of invasive species and to reduce them in number by eating them in as many interesting ways as possible.

My latest fascination... The Library Thing... a dead easy way to catalog and compare your book collections. Of obvious applicability to those with burgeoning cookbook collections - this is mine: http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?ta...ery&view=jtseng Extremely easy to use and surprisingly addictive. Enjoy J

Hello and Happy New Year to everyone. I have tidied up my list of freely available historic cookbooks, checked all links, and thought that some of you may be interested. It is at <a href="http://www.mydatabus.com/public/TheOldFoodie/z/Online_Historic_Cookbooks3.pdf">Online_Historic_Cookbooks3.pdf</a> I do want some feedback please - there are bound to be errors, and if you have any to add it would be especially welcome. I'll keep you up-to-date with any changes. If any of you would prefer the Excel spreadsheet from which the pdf was derived, just pm or email me and I'll send. [edited to ask about feedback - I hit the post button too soon - must be that New Year Champagne!] Janet