World's best cookbooks

[merstar]

Alice Medrich's "Bittersweet."

[kurl]

Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything

[flybottle]

Frank Tolbert's A Bowl of Red is a must have Chili cookbook...

[paul o' vendange]

Man, too many to name. But my cornerstones:

Jacques Pepin, La Technique (now incorporated with his La Methode in one volume, Complete Technique). It was my bible, beginning when I was 12, when I worked it cover to cover; and I still rely on it.

Escoffier. (Duh).

Louis Saulnier, Le Repertoire de la Cuisine.

Richard Olney, Simple French Food.

CIA, New Professional Chef.

Madeleine Kamman, The Making of a Chef.

LaRousse Gastronomique.

Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, Culinary Artistry.

James Peterson's books, esp. Sauces, and Fish and Shellfish.

Books by Joel Robuchon. I have learned from his fervent desire to grab all that is intrinsically valuable from a material, without extrapolating it to hell. "Food should taste like what it is

Thomas Keller, the French Laundry Cookbook. Hands down, my absolute most important lessons over the last year - I have always shied from too much abstraction on the plate; almost an aggression of composition (or deconstruction, post-modernism, blah blah blah), but what I love about Chef Keller is, like Chef Robuchon, his intense focus on composition and flavor - the thing is every bit what it is, intensely concentrated, beautifully inviting, all without bells and whistles (I loathe "engineered" food - my bent; I can't handle more "ice cream of sea urchin beak with salamander toe 'spritzies.'" ). Anyway, enough of the soapbox. I rely on The French Laundry Cookbook a great deal.

Lately, Michel Roux's work.

[bunny]

some of my favs are

the french laundry cookbook- thomas keller

a return to cooking with eric ripert

cooking with daniel boulud

element of taste-gray kunz

sauces-james peterson

Joel Robuchon-throgh the seasons

[ghostrider]

I can only conclude that there are way too many cookbooks on this planet.

Seriously, folks who advocated using your library & just browsing bookstores are on the right track, I think. Look for cookbooks that make sense to you, explain things in intelligble terms, contain recipes & ideas that point towards the kind of food you want to see on your table.

Don't assume that because a book is "hard" therefore it must be "good" & demands weeks of your time attempting to penetrate it.

Similarly, don't assume that a book that might seem dense at first is not worth your time. Sometimes the effort is worthwhile.

In the end it's all about feel & taste. And perhaps a bit of aroma.

[chengb02]

I really like the Jamie Oliver cookbooks as the recipes are mostly pretty simple and my results have always been good using it. I would prefer not to add another tv chef to the list, but the other day I was perusing Rocco's book "Flavor" and it looked very good, the recipes were all relatively simple, it listed total time and degree of difficulty. I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but plan on doing so soon, hopefully with positive results.

[chow guy]

There are lots of great suggestions. I'll add a few of my faves that weren't mentioned:

Feasts for All Seasons by Roy Andre De Groot

Sacramental Magic in a Smalltown Cafe by Brother Juniper

A Commonsense Guide to Uncommom Fruits and Vegetables by Elizabeth Schnieder

[sequim]

I am collecting the Time-Life The Good Cook series. Lately, I've been using the Vegetables one and love it for every day cooking. My brother-in-law is a produce truck driver and frequently comes by with unexpected veggies, so I pull the book out and find some way to cook whatever it is he's given me.

Have also enjoyed Tom Douglas's Seattle Kitchen. He puts the entire meal together, complete with wine and I haven't had a failure yet. Also love it since I'm from Seattle and he talks about where he goes to buy the best ingredients.

Caveat: These aren't the world's best as I couldn't make that distinction, just what I am liking right now. I imagine once I've exhausted Seattle Kitchen, I will go on to the next book to cook through. But, I think The Good Cook books will be used on an ongoing basis as they're so encyclopedic.

[soshea99]

I have about a hundred cookbooks that I keep close to the kitchen, but there are two series that I use more than the others:

1] Cook's Illustrated annuals. This series is useful for things that you know how to cook, but where you suspect there may be room for improvement.

2] The James Beard cookbooks. I use these as a starting point when I don't know the basic recipe. [When we ran a B&B and needed to know how to poach an egg, James Beard told me how.] His recipes are unfussy but satisfying.

The other books fall into two categories:

1] Where there is at least one indispensible recipe (e.g. the ultimate braised lamb shanks).

2] Where the recipes are impossible but inspiring.

[Annie Girl]

Here goes:

Anything by Michael Fields

Anything by Pierre Franey

I can't help loving "The Silver Palate Cookbook"

Also, can't help loving the Lee Bailey (picture) cookbooks starting with "Country Weekends"

A book I keep returning to is Marie Simmons "Fresh & Fast" - try the Sesame Tuna or any of the fish recipes/

I have lots more. Will stop here.

[scottie]

This thread could rival the Dinner one!

Madhur Jaffrey's Vegetarian Cooking of the East has been my bible for about ten years now. I've even stopped being vegetarian in the meantime, but she has got a recipe for just about every weird ingredient you can think of- bitter melon, black cardamom, plus instructions for making your own tempeh, paneer, and other strange amorphous foodstuffs.

Of course, I also like all things Moosewood and Mollie Katzen. The older books are really outdated (cheese and nut loaf, anyone?), but Mollie definitely has a way with veggies.

Currently, I am a big fan of Alice Waters. I just love to read the way she writes about some obscure but delectable fruit or something.

For inspiration, lately I have been using my backlog of Food and Wine magazines. Lots of good ideas in there.

For Southern cooking, Junior League is the way to go. Their recipes continue to dominate every holiday my family celebrates.

Everything above is easy but tasty. I just received a copy of Jacques Pepin's Complete Technique, and I must say that I would only use it if I were catering a party or seeking to impress, well, Charles de Gaulle. I wouldn't even use it to impress Mitterand- for that I would turn to Bocuse.

[bleudauvergne]

Bickery,

My mother gave me her two volumes of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking when I was your age. I found that although I wasn't cooking from them every night, they're a good reference for technique, braising vegetables, making your different kinds of pate, mayos and other sauces (I think that if I had met a man who habitually whipped up home-made mayonnaise when I was 21 I would have fallen in love with him so please be responsible in your sauce making), choosing ingredients, etc. Once you have technique down you never look at recipes the same way again, they simplify in your mind. This is a good thing to check out from the library and learn from.

I was also read McGee's On Food and Cooking as a bedtime story at the age of 12 by my big sister, and we still refer to it now (I stole the family copy but have made up for it by buying new copies for my siblings and parents). My husband who is a physicist is also obscessed with it and loved the tinkering in the kitchen it inspires. The principles in this book, memorized over the years, are helpful in avoiding panic when I am making something new or delicate.

For Chinese cooking, you must start with Chinese Gastronomy (Hsiang-Ju Lin, Tsuifeng Lin), before you approach any other Chinese recipe books because it really guides you in the aesthetic approach and history to Chinese cooking, in addition to having a collection of the most authentic basic recipes I have found. Because of this book, now when I look at a Chinese recipe I can get a good idea of what technique, region, or custom inspired it.

I often pick up "Best American Recipes" (it's a series which comes out each year, edited Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens) they are a really wonderful collection and it's clear that they put a lot of work into selecting their recipes. I have never failed with any of them, in fact I'm using one of the recipes for a dinner party I'm giving in a couple of days (Robert Redford's Lamb Chili with Black beans and mint). I only have the 1999 version but I'm reading it all the time and have asked my mother to get them for me and save them for when I next go home. Lots of new ideas.

Hope that helps. I second the idea of going to the library. Also hit the used book shops whenever you can.

- Lucy

edited to highlight recipe titles

Edited February 11, 2004 by bleudauvergne (log)

[marie-louise]

Here's a link to what KQED (a San Francisco PBS station that sponsors a lot of cooking shows) considers recommended cookbooks.

[davidthomas8779]

Japanese Cooking, a Simple Art is a great book that covers a broad range of a cuisine that most are not familiar with cooking. It has great technique information and good illustrations.

I enjoy reading the China Moon Cookbook.

[lancastermike]

Like some others I like Big Flavors by Forbes, I really like Cheasepeake Bay Cooking by John Shields it was for a TV show but I love it. Joy of Cooking is a classic for me. I am now mostly baking bread instead of cooking and Peter Rinehart is great. I must have more than a hundred cookbooks and love to just sit and read one. My wife thinks I am whacked, and I do not buy many anymore unless it is something special. I used to get them by the armload. I had a part time job at Borders just so I could by cookbooks on discount. Some week I spent more on books than I made. I am better these days but love cookbooks

[heidihi]

There are some great recommendations in this thread and I can't resist adding a few of my own. This is my first eGullet post, although I have been a reader for quite sometime. I also am posting from a vegetarian perspective and all of these books have great vegetarian-friendly recipes and techniques (or are easy to adapt).

Zuni Cafe, Judy Rodgers

Beautiful book, amazing recipes -straightforward, contemporary w/o being fussy.

Wildwood: Cooking from the Source in the Pacific Northwest, Cory Schreiber

You hear/read about California, Southern, and Southwestern cuisines all the time. This book has a wealth of recipes utilizing the amazing bounty of the Pacific Northwest.

Southwestern Vegetarian, Stephan Pyles

An exciting compilation of forward thinking flavor combinations and techniques rooted in the spirit of the S.West. The recipes are a bit intricate (and long), but I get inspired every time I open this book.

Trattoria, Patricia Wells

My favorite for simple everyday Italian.

Appetite and Real Food, Nigel Slater

One of my all-time favorite food writers -- unpretentious, smart, and full of flavor-packed recipes perfect for home-cooking.

Thai Food, David Thompson

A must if you are interested in Thai cuisine. Stunning book design.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison

A definitive resource on vegetarian cooking for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.

[mags]

I have to put in another plug for Sophie Grigson, just because I'm realizing how often I turn to her books -- particularly Sunshine Food and Sophie's Table. I resisted buying Sunshine Food for ages, because I figured it was going to be another rehash of the same "Mediterranean" stuff we've all seen a zillion times -- pesto, risotto, ratatouille and so on. But in fact, like her other books, it's full of recipes I would not otherwise have encountered (often with a distinctly Turkish/North African bent). One of my absolute faves, a Tunisian dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, peppers, and spicy sausage, is on the menu tonight.

And I second the raves for Nigel Slater, yet again, in part because his books are such a pleasure to read. In fact, I've been thinking that while I own a ton of cookbooks, there are really fewer than a dozen that I cook from regularly.

Edited May 24, 2004 by mags (log)

[SKinCA]

I find myself going back to The New York Times Cookbook quite a bit for essentials.

For cookies and cakes, Cookies Unlimited and Perfect Cakes, by Nick Malgieri - they will unfailingly A) work and B) be delicious.

And ditto what many others have said, particularly Cookwise (if you haven't had Shirley C's Touch of Grace Biscuits, you haven't really lived, IMO).

[CompassRose]

I'll add in my shout for Cookwise. Great book, and the Real N'Awllins Pralines have given an extra surge of popularity to my Christmas gift baskets.

Let's see, I have a lot of cookbooks... over three hundred at last count, and more bought since then.

Out of those, some favourites are:

The Village Baker's Wife, by Gayle and Joe Ortiz, for cakes and pastries, and The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz, for breads (I grew my very own sourdough friend from that book!). Both of them have absolutely the friendliest, AND very thorough, explanations of technique, tips, and Useful Stuff.

Crescent Dragonwagon's The Passionate Vegetarian has delicious recipes, which branch out a bit from the usual vegetarian fare, and is also a great read -- like a giant autobiography with recipes. If you ever have to feed vegans, I highly recommend Bryanna Clark Grogan's cookbooks, all of them. Vegan food that real people will eat too -- plus she tests everything, and is always ready with substitutions and tweaks to the recipes.

For East Indian food, my very favourite is Dakshin, a book of Southeastern vegetarian cuisine. I also like Madhur Jaffrey, but find she goes a bit heavy on the salt. For other Asian, I love Hot Sour Salty Sweet, but haven't yet bought it -- I've taken it out of the library a couple times, but it's SO expensive. I keep hoping to run into a used copy somewhere.

For daily use, I turn to the Cooking Light cookbooks a lot, mostly the Complete, the Chicken, and the Five-Star Recipes. I also enjoy Steven Raichlen's High Flavor, Low Fat cookbooks; I've got the Vegetarian, the Italian and the Jewish, and use them all fairly regularly.

Other favourites, which I love for sundry reasons, are the Horizon historical cooking pair (which someone else has mentioned); The Grits Cookbook by someone who I forget just now; Gloria Ambrosia's Gloria's Gourmet Low-Fat Muffins; Eleanor Scully's Early French cookery: Sources, history, original recipes and modern adaptations for medieval food; anything at all by M.F.K. Fisher; Shizuo Tsuji's Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art; Alice Medrich's Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts; and my 1919 copy of Mrs. Beeton.

[Behemoth]

I don't know if anyone else is a fan of those "wei-chuan" chinese cookbooks, I love 'em. They are inexpensive, and as far as I can tell, quite authentic. (The fact that they are bilingual adds credibility, in any case...) I have the two dim sum ones, and my mom has a bunch more that I steal now and then. Occasionally you have to interpret a translation a little, but I have to say those books got me closer to making restuarant-quality dimsum than I ever thought possible. Except for "Sha Her Fen" (rice sheets). Those things will need a lot of practice or may just be forever beyond my reach. The one on garnishes is amazing, and so utterly beyond my reach I just enjoy looking at the pictures. (They very helpfully "walk" you through the process of making a monkey out of daikon with a red face carved out of carrot...um, right.)

[Artichoke]

1. Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child

2. Complete Techniques, Jacques Pepin

3. The Making of a Cook, Madeline Kamman

4. La Varenne Pratique, Anne Willian

5. French Regional Cooking, Anne Willian

6. Nose to Tail Eating, Fergus Henderson

7. Goose Fat and Garlic, Jeanne Strang

8. The Classic Cuisine of Italian Jews, Edda Servi Machlin

9. Heart of Sicily, Anna Tasca Lanza

10. Classic Pasta, Giuliano Hazan

11. Roast Chicken and Other Stories, Simon Hopkinson

12. The Slow Mediiterranean Kitchen, Paula Wolfert

13. Real Stew, Clifford Wright

14. Noodle, Terry Durack

[karnesky]

I am collecting the Time-Life The Good Cook series

...

But, I think The Good Cook books will be used on an ongoing basis as they're so encyclopedic.

I have the whole series & love it. I'm surprised to not see it more frequently suggested. Richard Olney & company did quite a wonderful job. If you don't mind giving up the shelf space or referring to multiple volumes, this is a great series to pick up from used book stores or ebay!

[smorris291]

I have to mention of my favorite cookbook, mainly because I didn't see it noted anywhere else in the thread: "Charlie Trotter Cooks At Home". It's intentionally scaled down from his other cookbooks, with ingredients and preparation suited for the home kitchen, but still with great flavors and interesting dishes.

And for a culinary reference, you can't beat the CIA's "The Professional Chef".

[chefdg]

As you can tell, a fortune of books are available and loved by cooks and chefs. I'll never forget my first cookbook and I always refer back to it. The New Professional Chef (CIA) textbook. I also enjoy Cook Wise and The French Laundry Cookbook.