Cookbooks – How Many Do You Own? (Part 3)

[maggiethecat]

Mon ami: 88, 460 it is.

[chromedome]

I've added a few in recent months:

Magic in the Kitchen, Jan Bartelsman

Dori Sanders' Country Cooking

And my wife's grandmother's 30-year-old copy of The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, in a practical coil-ring binding. I picked it up when it arrived, and opened it at random, and was terribly amused to find myself looking at a recipe for gefilte fish!

[maggiethecat]

88,462.

(I love spiral-bound cookbooks, and own precious few -- the recipe companions to the Time- Life "Foods of the World."

[JanGilbert59]

Roughly 215 cookbooks in my home.

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311 here after last years yard sale. More on the way, though.

[Dianne]

Just back from a wonderful trip to Virginia, Georgia and South Carolina. Four books to add from that trip.

[MicBacchus]

My dear husband just gifted me with the entire Time-Life Foods of the World series so that's what - 54? more. I will be waiting for the delivery guy every afternoon

[judiu]

My dear husband just gifted me with the entire Time-Life Foods of the World series so that's what - 54? more.    I will be waiting for the delivery guy every afternoon

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Wow! Quite a wonderful gift; where in the world did he find the whole set?

[Osnav]

In number, I now have about 300 food-related books.

Here are some of my favorites:

Pretty Books:

1. The Dali Cookbook (and his Wines of Gala): both beautifully created books.

2. Monet's Table: Just a beautifully photographed book.

3. Craig Claiborne's Memorable Meals (w/ beautiful art work by Jaques Pepin)

Cooking "Old Style":

1. The Origninal Picayune Creole Cookbook (1901) Published by the Times-Picayune Publishing Co. in New Orleans, this has some great recipes from the Creole South.

2. Mirations & Miracles of Mandy (1929) "Some Favorite Louisana Recipes" This amazing book by N. Scott, a rich white woman, is a compilation of her black cook's (Mandy) recipes. Not only is does this have some fascinating recipes; but it is done it also delves into the relationships of the elite upper classes of Louisana and their domestics of the day.

3. The Gentleman's Companion Collection: (1939) These were a series of books put out by Charles H. Barker Jr. (I think he was a food critic or editor for Gourment in the 40's). I have two boxed sets. Both sets contain two books: one on Cookery (recipes) and the other on Drinks. One set was based in the United States and the other was based on the rest of the world.

I have not really done many of the food recipes; but the Exotic Drinks from around the world is wonderful. I am always using some off-the-wall drink that Mr. Baker got from a Raj in Bombay or a bartender at some exotic hotel in Buenos Aires to start an evening's get together with friends.

Not only are the drinks wonderful, but the stories of where they come from and how Mr. Barker got them are absolutely delightful.

"Cook" Books:

1. Joy of Cooking: I stole my mother's copy when I went away to college and have gone thru 2 other copies over the years.

2. The Way to Cook by Julia Child: Because I love Julia.

3. La Techinique by Jaques Pepin: Before the video revolution, Jaques put out this book that was a series of step-by-step photographs(w/ recipes) illustrating the processes to take in creating several dishes that would be impossible to do without the step-by-step photos. I learned how to galantine a chicken from this book (try that without the aid of photos or video).

Non-cookbook Food Books:

1. Calvin Trillin: Maybe because we are both from Kansas City and because we share the "utter joy" of good food. Anyone who will travel 2,000 miles for a rib dinner is someone I will always have a great respect for.

2. MFK Fischer: The Lady could write.

3. Elizabeth David: Taught me about thinks I didn't know.

As to the newer Food books I love the Molly Stevens Braising book, the Oxford Companion to Food and most of the Chez Panisse books.

[helenjp]

the entire Time-Life Foods of the World series

I have a very few back from when they weren't collectors' items, but were available in any old second-hand bookstore. They are fine books...I brought a couple with me when I moved to Japan, which is saying a lot.

[Corinna Dunne]

Add 150 for me... practically abstemious compared to the company I'm keeping on eGullet!

[fifi]

Add another 8 for me . . . Gifts and an Amazon orgy.

[MaxH]

Could have had an additional 10,000 (but I've got too many already). So could you.

One of the major US cookbook collections, which some people here will certainly have heard of in the past, is for sale at the moment, intact -- some 10,000 volumes, exceeding the Bitting collection, which I believe started the US Library of Congress cookbook section in 1946. This has nothing to do with me except that I‘d bought books from the owner before. I thought it was an event of possible interest to eG readers. (I posted details on several online forums in late March but have not heard back from the forum host on this one, whom I queried on the subject and was told the posting must go to committee first.)

Max Hauser

[MicBacchus]

My dear husband just gifted me with the entire Time-Life Foods of the World series so that's what - 54? more.    I will be waiting for the delivery guy every afternoon

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Wow! Quite a wonderful gift; where in the world did he find the whole set?

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It was a 'Buy It Now' on eBay. We watched a set go for about $230, and this was offered at $175 including several supplements. The only qualifier is that I need to make at least 1 recipe from each volume - what a chore

[Toliver]

While I've never submitted a total for myself, I will add one to the eG count. I was in Costco and bought The New Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated. What a monster! As thick as an old dictionary (1,028 pages) and chock full of the most basic recipes with oodles of tips and recommendations. It'd be a perfect "starter" cookbook for anyone getting married or moving out on their own.

The one drawback is the almost complete lack of photos though it does have the typical Cook's Illustrated-type drawings throughout.

[RobinCR]

I have in the neighborhood of 300. 200 are cookbooks, 100 on baking. I weeded out about 75 or so this past year and I have gotten much more selective about the ones that I buy. We are moving in a few weeks and packing the books is on the schedule for this weekend. Another opportunity to weed out some more.

Robin

[maggiethecat]

89.590.

[snowangel]

Add one more. Bread Baker's Apprentice. I'd only checked it out of the library a bazillion times, renewing it the max number of times

[Safran]

Add another 8 for me . . . Gifts and an Amazon orgy.

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Awww...fifi, you can't just say 8...Which ones are they??? An Amazon orgy needs to be defined!!!!

[kelautz]

Last count was about 450.

I've since attempted to keep my habit under control, so my rate of acquisition has slowed somewhat. Most of my collection are old/out of print/obscure books. I haunt the used bookstores, snapping up treasures I didn't know even existed before.

One of my favorite titles is "Better Cooking". It is a Readers Digest compliation from the seventies I think, with no author attribution (as I recall, not being at home right now.) The title appeals to me because of its realism. Its not "Awesomely Fantastic Best Ever Guaranteed Recipes", just "Better Cooking". This is something I aspire to daily. The recipes are pretty good, too.

I'm also a fan of Louis P. DeGouy.

I am lacking a good Pilipino cookbook for my collection. Anybody got a recommendation?

[chromedome]

Score!

My local mall has a book liquidation outlet; I never let a payday go by without adding something to my library. Today they had an additional 50% off everything in the store...<ominous music>

I contemplated several large-format books, originally $80 CDN/their retail $40 CDN/now $20 CDN; but decided not (I'd just spent $20 unplanned on a Henkel boning knife for my son). In the paperbacks, though, I spotted Claudia Roden's A New Book of Middle Eastern Food, Gitlitz & Davidson's A Drizzle of Honey, Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History; all of which I grabbed (only one copy of each on the shelves).

These, plus a Kipling bio I'd had my eye on, cost me the grand sum of $20 CDN and change. All brand new. <insert "happy dance" here>

Definitely a good day, and hey! I have a "comp" to a single malt Scotch tasting yet tonight, complete with pipers (balm to the soul of a homesick Nova Scotian).

Yup, definitely a good day.

[heyjude]

Got the maximum 25 at the FOL sale. They include old, new and collectible and I am happy at least until I try to shelve them. Titles: Alice's Restaurant Cookbook, A Treatise on Baking by Wihlfahrt, a Gladys Taber, All about Chocolate by Carole Bloom and Pates and Terrines among others.

[chefcyn]

622 for me--though I'm weeding it out this year, eliminating duplicates and most of the stuff I bought through the Good Cook Book Club.

My collection is narrowing down to Baking and Pastry/Desserts, Hors d'oeuvres/Canapes/bites, and books from the 1930s and older.

I have a complete collection of all the cookbooks by Ida Bailey Allen (50+ books) with different versions of several, and a big handful of miscellaneous ephemera (pamphlets, calendars, herb guides) also by her. I started collecting her works with an eye toward writing a biography but haven't gotten around to it just yet ;).

I really love reading the older books, especially the ones that are "Household and Receipts" books--I have one from the late 1800s that really clearly instructs in the proper the way of life for the Lady of the House back then (provided you had money and a big house).

I do need to do a lot more whttling down though, I have very limited space and have already lost about 20 books to dampness in bad storage! :(

[Sleepy_Dragon]

It was April 29, 2004 when last I posted in this thread with my 80 books. I'm now up to 105.

Most recent: Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine in South India

Pat

Edited April 17, 2005 by Sleepy_Dragon (log)

[maggiethecat]

90, 716.

Welcome to all the first-timees here, and please keep us updated. Susan, I understand that moment where you realize you can't continue to check out a cookbook from the library forever. That's why I own "Jacques and Julia."

Hey, Jude: I've missed you, the backbone of this thread, and I'm delighted you had a good day.

And chromedome, I'm partnering you in the Happy Dance. What a great haul.

[andiesenji]

I received a shipment of books on Thursday but didn't get around to opening the box until this morning. (Was still working on several tax returns for last minute folks until Friday evening, then was so tired I did practically nothing yesterday.)

26 cookbooks in the batch, including some that are probably duplicates of ones already in my collection.

Some interesting ones are An Alphabet for Gourmets, Anne Willan's Cook It Right, teh All-American Truck Stop Cookbook, Babe's Country Cookbook (Babe the Pig), American Hot, Christmas With Southern Living, Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver and Another Potful of Recipes.

I haven't looked at all of them yet, however I will be going through them in the next week or so to see if any recipe jumps out and grabs my interest.

Edited April 17, 2005 by andiesenji (log)