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World's best cookbooks


Bickery

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I don't know if this has been mentioned, but "The Silver Spoon" is my go to book for italian. Deserts by the Yard, by Sherry Yard for desserts.

"I eat fat back, because bacon is too lean"

-overheard from a 105 year old man

"The only time to eat diet food is while waiting for the steak to cook" - Julia Child

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I will need to add two books by the amazing Irish Chef Denis Cotter of Cafe Paradiso. His book Cafe Paradiso Seasons will open your eyes to vegetarian cuisine. Wild Garlic Gooseberries and Me is filled with his experience, thoughts, musings, stories, and humour of his favorite fruits and vegetables.

Dan

"Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea." --Pythagoras.

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I'll nominate Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless - it's the sort of book that you turn to for easy week night meals and the flavors are outstanding - bright, savory and satisfying. I've not made a recipe out of here that I didn't love.

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Here's the list to date, alphabetically by title:

I was looking this list over, thinking that it was a nicely global list, covering a wide range of cooking styles and international cuisines. But (to the extent that I am familiar with the contents of the books) I then noticed that northern and eastern Europe are not well represented. Also nothing about Africa, though I think that there are not a lot of good African cookbooks published in English by Western publishers (I remember that this was a problem, actually, when I was working in a cookbook library a few years back).

Anybody want to try and fill some holes?

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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Here's the list to date, alphabetically by title:

I was looking this list over, thinking that it was a nicely global list, covering a wide range of cooking styles and international cuisines. But (to the extent that I am familiar with the contents of the books) I then noticed that northern and eastern Europe are not well represented. Also nothing about Africa, though I think that there are not a lot of good African cookbooks published in English by Western publishers (I remember that this was a problem, actually, when I was working in a cookbook library a few years back).

Anybody want to try and fill some holes?

african :

1 The Moro Cookbook

2 moroccan modern

3 MAKE IT MOROCCAN

middle eastern:

saha

arabesque

greek:

wild weed pie. by Janni Kyritsis

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  • 1 year later...

I could not be without:

Ruth Rogers - The River Cafe Pasta Cookbook

John Thorne - Serious Pig

John Thorne - Simple Cooking

John Thorne - Pot On The Fire

John Thorne - Mouth Wide Open

John Thorne - Outlaw Cook

Patience Gray - Honey From A Weed

Richard Olney - Simple French Food

Richard Olney - The French Menu Cookbook

Richard Olney - most of the Good Cook series, especially Poultry and Beef & Veal

David Thompson - Thai Food

Su-mei Yu - Cracking The Coconut

Madhur Jaffrey - A Taste of India

Madhur Jaffrey - An Invitation to Indian Cooking

Julie Sahni - Classic Indian Cooking

Marcella Hazan - The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

James Beard - Beard on Food

Julia Child - The Way to Cook

Julia Child et. al. - Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Miriam Ungerer - Good Cheap Food

Laurie Colwin - Home Cooking

Najmieh Batmanglij - New Food of Life

The Joy Of Cooking - a pre-1990s edition

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The Best Recipe has not once let me down in terms of delivering what it promised, nor has The Splendid Table (and you learn from them, which is at least as important). I also regularly turn to McGee's books, because they also teach. I actually think I favour The Curious Cook, even though its scope is far narrower than that of On Food and Cooking.

Michaela, aka "Mjx"
Manager, eG Forums
mscioscia@egstaff.org

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The book i like and use the most at work is cooking by tom aikens,this in my opinion is a bible,and about as close as it gets to the perfect book for a chef,working in my area.

Previous favourite's have been the river cafe cook book and canteen by marco.

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Welcome to the forums, Emanuel Diogo.

 

It isn't clear - to me, at least - whether you're looking for basic cookbooks for beginners, cookbooks to improve your existing skills, or cookbooks about new techniques or cuisines altogether.  Do you already like to cook?  If so, at what level, and what sorts of food?  What would you like to learn?  If you're not sure, what sorts of food do you like to eat?  Are you interested in learning to bake breads, cakes or pies?  Are you interested in Modernist cookery?  Answers to these questions will help us give you useful suggestions.

 

If you're looking for cookbooks for beginners, you may find this topic interesting:  Best Cookbooks for Beginners.

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Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

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I think this depends hugely on your starting point. If you're a good lover but relatively new to cooking I'd steer you in the direction of Jamie Oliver's books: particularly Cook with Jamie. If you have more experience and you're looking to elevate your technique to the next level, though, you'd be better off with Modernist Cuisine at Home or Heston Blumenthal at Home. The afore-mentioned Pepin is good if you're looking into knifework and basics as defined by the French--omelettes and so forth. 

Chris Taylor

Host, eG Forums - ctaylor@egstaff.org

 

I've never met an animal I didn't enjoy with salt and pepper.

Melbourne
Harare, Victoria Falls and some places in between

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I think this depends hugely on your starting point. If you're a good lover but relatively new to cooking I'd steer you in the direction of Jamie Oliver's books: particularly Cook with Jamie. If you have more experience and you're looking to elevate your technique to the next level, though, you'd be better off with Modernist Cuisine at Home or Heston Blumenthal at Home. The afore-mentioned Pepin is good if you're looking into knifework and basics as defined by the French--omelettes and so forth.

With being a good lover the obvious requirement for good cooks of any level :-)
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I just joined today but as a cookbook junkie I though I would put in my 2 cents.

 

For basic cooking techniques and recipes the Joy of Cooking is still my go to cookbook. I'm sure millions have learned to cook from these pages. Jamie Oliver's books are pretty good but alot of the ingredients are hard to find or to figure out what they are.

 

I have found some of Emeril's books to be quite good, but again ingredients can sometimes be a problem depending on where you are. I'm in Canada so a lot of the Cajun stuff is not available here,

 

But most importantly have fun with it.

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It's going to depend on how you define good home cooking.....everyone defines it differently.

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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With some practise most anyone can learn how to cook meats and vegetables, starches.

IMO the real challenge is to make excellent stocks and sauces. This is where the rubber meets the road culinary-wise.

For this I always turn to Escoffier.

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I don't know how many Spanish speakers are here in the forum but I can recommend what I think is one of the great World cookbooks (but it's in Spanish):

La Cocina Completa de la Marquesa de Parabere (Maria Mestayer de Echagüe). 

It's from the last century but a real gem. If you are curious, visit www.parabere.com.

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Richard Stephens

Majaelrayo, Spain

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