Which Cookbooks DON'T You Use & Why?

[highchef]

I got the "Sopranos Family Cookbook" from my niece for Christmas a few years ago, when it came out. Nothing but a big hype for the show.

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Oh, yes. Three different people have given me that one. It was kind of a fun read, anyway.

The ones I never use are those charity and other group cookbooks. My mother had a bunch of the Junior League type ones from the 70s and 80s. My favorite was called the Forum Cookbook. Almost every recipe seemed to call for a bottle of salad dressing or something, and a lot of them had comments like, "Takes five minutes; your guests will think it took hours." "Soooo easy." Not that I mind easy recipes, but it was funny. Reading those cookbooks always made me feel like I'd had about 5 vodka gimlets.

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I actually learned to cook the regional dishes from the local Junior league cookbook...I love the one's that end with "men love this!"

[Ducky]

The French Laundry Cookbook. There is virtually nothing in this book you could attempt without the help of at least three sous-chefs and 24 hours lead time.

The triumph of method over ingredients!

[TongoRad]

Chez Panisse Cookbook - darn pretty. Never cooked a thing out of it.

Apparantly, my sister never did either. She's been on her own for about 15 years now and that book has been sitting on her old shelf since then. Just this past weekend I was at my parents' house for Easter Sunday and finally decided to take it. Hopefully I can make more use of it, we'll see. But it sure is darn pretty!

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Which one? Chez Panisse Cooking or Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook?

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I'll have to verify when I get home, but in looking at the photos on Amazon it seems to be Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. Their info has a publication date of 1999, though it sure seems like it has been sitting on that shelf for longer than that. Maybe my sister got it as a Christmas present and never took it with her. I wonder- is there a statute of limitations on cookbook abandonment? Oh well, posession is 9/10ths, as they say...

[CtznCane]

The Passionate Vegetarian. I have a good number of books here and there are few that I don't use either for general knowledge, ideas or recipes. As much as I like vegetables and would love to eat more of them (their only flaw is they aren't beef) this book doesn't do it.

Finishing a close next to last is The German Cookbook by Mimi Sheraton. I love German food but of all the books I've bought this one most disappointed me. I hope to revisit this book again to see if maybe my fisrt impression was wrong.

I use to have one of the firs Chez Panisse books and found it totally useless. Since I no lnger have it (gone in a past divorce) I didn't consider that one. If I had, it would have one first-worst hands down.

[jgarner53]

I have some gooseberry patch type cookbook that someone gave me -- you know, homey recipes from some local women's group or something like that. Not as bad as having things like 7-up cake or the 7-layer salad that sits overnight in the fridge, but bad enough.

I did get Bourdain for Christmas and haven't made anything out of it yet, but that doesn't mean I won't. I'm afraid if I make it wrong he's going to come knocking on the door and grab the skillet out of my hand and bash me about the head with it, spouting a fountain of obscenities excoriating my cooking skills (or lack thereof)

[johnnyd]

Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe.

Great reading but entirely off limits! Squirrel Ravioli... Deep Fried Calves Eyes...

You get the picture.

[WHS]

Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe.

Great reading but entirely off limits!  Squirrel Ravioli... Deep Fried Calves Eyes...

You get the picture.

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Yeah, I've got that one too. The Roasted Chihuahua--maybe in another lifetime.

Another winner: "Cooking with Regis and Cathy Lee"

[SethG]

Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook .  Everytime I look in it for what to cook for dinner I realize that something as straightforward as a chicken dish requires some sort of exotic spice rub/marinade/infused oil that I'm supposed to have made 2 days ago.  I just can't find a way to plan that far ahead.

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Not to be contrary, but you really ought to give Schneider a second look. There's a lot of great stuff in there that requires no advance planning. The celery root puree with apples is a great all purpose starch side that I make all the time. There are also really good base recipes with good suggestions for variations in saucing or flavoring. There's a lot of good focus on method-- take the papillote section, for example. The leeks in papillote are great.

I totally agree about the French Laundry. I checked it out from the library and returned it unused. I'm just not that into straining.

[troyml]

Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe.

Great reading but entirely off limits!  Squirrel Ravioli... Deep Fried Calves Eyes...

You get the picture.

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My college library had that one for some reason, anthropology / sociology maybe? I checked it out and thouroughly enjoyed it! I could be convinced to have some of those things, but not all that's for sure.

[canucklehead]

Not to be a food snob - but the slow cooker "Fix it and Forget It". Got it as a gift and have never made anything from it - who knew that cream of mushroom soup could have so many uses.

But the Slow Cooker for Dummies is actually very useful. I have made killer pot roast and chili from it.

Okay - stop snickering back there...

[Chris Amirault]

I'd like to make a pitch for Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet. There are several outstanding recipes in that book (larb, tom kar gai, a great pomelo salad, lots and lots more) that are pretty straightforward. Everything I've made in it has been outstanding. Give it a try!

Are there any other books listed here that you have used happily? What recipes?

[purplewiz]

Manifold Destiny, all about cooking on your car's engine. Funny read, but I don't think I'll ever do that.

The Star Wars Wookiee Cookies Cookbook. 'Nuff Said.

Those two were gifts - the one I bought myself that I'll probably never use is Jasper White's Cooking From New England. The recipes sound good, and they're like a lot of things I ate growing up, but now that I live in Colorado, most of the ingredients are not easy to find. Still, if I ever want to hold a clambake, they've got full instructions :-).

Marcia.

[ruthcooks]

The worst hands down was a cookbook from the Pioneers or Pioneer Club or something like that, which is a group of retirees from Southern Bell in Nashville. A thick book of oft repeated recipes with the cake mix, can of soup, tub of Cool Whip, etc. But it was given to me by a friend (she told me I'd not like it, sort of a joke gift) and I keep it as a reminder of how bad a cookbook can be.

The only cookbook I ever returned was by Joanna Lund, a mid-western diva of low fat cooking. It was supposed to be comfort foods but the recipes consisted of terrible, nasty, chemical ingredients. I was told in a publishing seminar that she has sold more cookbooks than any other cookbook author in America. Good grief.

There is one more I can't wait to get rid of: "Bobby Flay Cooks American Style".

All he does is add chili peppers to most of the recipes, thereby ruining them for me.

[Tepee]

Creative Compositions for Cakes and Patisserie by Andreas Heil

- Beautiful pics of marvellous desserts but at this point I'm baffled by some ingredients. Maybe later.

Great Good Food by Julee Rosso

- Somehow her recipes don't sound as if they taste as good as they're healthful. Tried 2 recipes, though. Not great.

Both were gifts.

However, I've not regretted a single book I've purchased because I usually do some research on the book before I make my decision. Not any light decision because shipping costs are quite hefty.

[jodicalhoun]

TASTE, pure and simple. My mom gave it to me for Christmas. I love the idea and the look of it, I wish I could want to cook something from it, but it just isn't "there" for me.

[Rachel Perlow]

My vote is for Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia.  I pick it up and look through it all the time and one day hope to be able to cook from it, but I am not there yet.

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I'd like to make a pitch for Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet. There are several outstanding recipes in that book (larb, tom kar gai, a great pomelo salad, lots and lots more) that are pretty straightforward. Everything I've made in it has been outstanding. Give it a try!

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What Chris said! I think what's partially intimidating about that book is that most of the recipes call for a zillion ingredients, but they're straightforward and produce consistant results. I'm usually impressed at how close they come to what I'm trying to copy from a Thai or Vietnamese restaurant. My book falls open to the Spicy Beef Salad and it helped me perfect my Summer Rolls.

Chez Panisse Cookbook - darn pretty. Never cooked a thing out of it.

Apparantly, my sister never did either. She's been on her own for about 15 years now and that book has been sitting on her old shelf since then. Just this past weekend I was at my parents' house for Easter Sunday and finally decided to take it. Hopefully I can make more use of it, we'll see. But it sure is darn pretty!

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... Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook. Their info has a publication date of 1999, though it sure seems like it has been sitting on that shelf for longer than that. Maybe my sister got it as a Christmas present and never took it with her. I wonder- is there a statute of limitations on cookbook abandonment? Oh well, posession is 9/10ths, as they say...

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Two choices there... either wait until she brings it up ("hmm, where's my Chez Panisse Cookbook? I was going to take it home this time") and you can fess up and bring it back to her, or just tell her you borrowed it and to let you know when she wants it back. She probably never will, but then you won't have that nagging feeling.

[artisan02]

Chez Panisse Cookbook - darn pretty. Never cooked a thing out of it.

Apparantly, my sister never did either. She's been on her own for about 15 years now and that book has been sitting on her old shelf since then. Just this past weekend I was at my parents' house for Easter Sunday and finally decided to take it. Hopefully I can make more use of it, we'll see. But it sure is darn pretty!

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When I started traveling as a traveling nurse about 2 years ago, I went through all my cookbooks (over 1000) and tried to decide which ones I really couldn't live without.

I ended up bringing along most of the Chez Panisse cookbooks, except for Chez Panisse Cooking, and the Pasta one. The others are with me. Oh and the original one: while that one fueled my interest for some time, it isn't really a practical cookbook from which to cook.

[artisan02]

Sally Schneider's A New Way to Cook .  Everytime I look in it for what to cook for dinner I realize that something as straightforward as a chicken dish requires some sort of exotic spice rub/marinade/infused oil that I'm supposed to have made 2 days ago.  I just can't find a way to plan that far ahead.

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Not to be contrary, but you really ought to give Schneider a second look. There's a lot of great stuff in there that requires no advance planning. The celery root puree with apples is a great all purpose starch side that I make all the time. There are also really good base recipes with good suggestions for variations in saucing or flavoring. There's a lot of good focus on method-- take the papillote section, for example. The leeks in papillote are great.

I totally agree about the French Laundry. I checked it out from the library and returned it unused. I'm just not that into straining.

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I have Schneider's book, and I agree that it has some great stuff in it. I am trying to weed out some of my cookbooks even now, as I am currently lugging around 5-6 heavy boxes of cookbooks, from contract to contract. I am still lugging hers around.

And I agree about books like the French Laundry Cookbook. I have heard some great things about it, but my taste these days tends to turn to the more rustic foods and preparations. In theory, I would love to cook like that, but I just can't see doing it day after day, and even for special occasions.

[TongoRad]

Two choices there... either wait until she brings it up ("hmm, where's my Chez Panisse Cookbook? I was going to take it home this time") and you can fess up and bring it back to her, or just tell her you borrowed it and to let you know when she wants it back. She probably never will, but then you won't have that nagging feeling.

Thanks- I'm definitely going to do the second one. I'll let her know it is safe and sound, and probably being used. It definitely is the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook from 1999, and I've already got a few recipes to try- making interesting use of spring asparagus and all that.

[foodie52]

Anybody else remember the cult of the "Cuisine Minceur" of the late 70's?

Was given the book ( help me out..who WAS that famous French chef????)opened it once, couldn't give it away at my last garage sale.

Edited April 2, 2005 by foodie52 (log)

[SuzySushi]

Pat

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Oh, but that's a collector's item for the hairdo alone!

[divalasvegas]

Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe.

Great reading but entirely off limits!  Squirrel Ravioli... Deep Fried Calves Eyes...

You get the picture.

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Okay, I have to know.................. what exactly are those things being peeled by the woman and girl in the picture for this link? They appear to be, umm, male in origin. And the way the little girl is holding her peeled object as well as what it appears to be is a bit disturbing.

Having said that, I think I really must buy this book!

[Sleepy_Dragon]

Pat

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Oh, but that's a collector's item for the hairdo alone!

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Hehehe!

I'd never make anything out of the book, but I do have love for Ruby Ann:

http://www.rubylot18.homestead.com/

Pat

[auntdot]

Diana Kenndy's "The Art of Mexican Cooking".

As much as I like true Mexican fare, I find the book impossible to use.

When I find a recipe I would like to make it includes ingredients I have no hope of finding, and have no clue for a substitute.

For example, her recipe for blood sausage in green sauce calls for moronga mexiquense, which is apparently a blood sausage from Mexico. And she specifically states that morcilla, the blood sausage I can find, is not an acceptable substitute.

Yeesh.

Don't know why I keep that on the shelf.

[fifi]

I have the same problem with Diana Kennedy. Even though some ingredients are now more available here than they once were, I still haven't cooked anything from it. There is some interesting reading there. However, there is also something about her tone that can really tick me off.

Alice Waters does that to me too. (I have flipped through the books at the book store.) I don't have an Alice Waters book and probably never will. I know, I am probably missing some great recipes. But that woman is like fingernails on a blackboard to me. *ducks*

Oddly enough, I have most of what Zarela Martinez has written. Even more oddly, I have never cooked anything from Oaxaca or Veracruz but I do enjoy reading the narrative parts and the pictures. But her first book, Food From My Heart, looks like a rectangular hedgehog with all of the little skinny sticky tabs. It is one of the very few cook books that I own where I actually use the recipe to cook from, not just for guidance, ideas and inspiration.

So, I don't really expect to actually use the recipes in all of my cookbooks. That really isn't why I collect them.

Wait . . . I just thought of the one book that I would like to dispose of . . . Kafka's Roasting. I don't know where she lives but where I lived when I first got it, they fine you after so many false smoke alarms.