greg@olivej.UUCP (01/25/84)
I've come across two unusually good and reliable
cookbooks lately that I thought I'd mention.
(1) Judith & Evan Jones - The Book of Bread. I've
done a lot of break-baking and found this interesting
and informative. My wife had not had much previous
experience with breadmaking and she found it easy
to follow and that it guided her in a very failsafe
way to some outstanding baking (to which I can
attest).
(2) Abby Mandel's Cuisinart Classroom. We use our
Cuisi at least twice a day (DLC7E) and, although
we already had a pile of food processor recipes, we
found this book and its recipes unusually
provocative. This tends to be sold not in book
stores but by Cuisinart dealers (I got it at Macy's).
Other reliable standby's that we couldn't live without
are the old Julia Child/Simone Beck/Louise Bertholle(at
least for vol. 1) "Mastering the Art of French Cooking"
which is now out in paperback, a number of the Time-
Life international series ("The Cooking of China",
"The Cooking of Germany", etc.) and Marcella Hazan's
two volumes of Italian cookery.
I'd greatly enjoy reading other people's recommendations.
Greg Paleynosmo@pyuxqq.UUCP (P Valdata) (01/26/84)
My most basic and most often referred to cookbook is the Fanny Farmer cookbook. Her recipes aren't fancy but you can find almost anything in there. Beginners especially would appreciate the definitions (what saute means, for example), substitution charts (how much cocoa equals how much solid chocolate, etc.), and descriptions of techniques (how to fold egg whites, etc.). If you could only afford one cookbook, this would be the one to get.
twt@uicsl.UUCP (01/28/84)
#R:olivej:-12500:uicsl:3800033:000:406 uicsl!twt Jan 27 20:47:00 1984 My two favorites are: Mabel Hoffman's Crockery Cookery ... I haven't tried all the recipes in it, yet all the ones I have tried I've really liked. I'd recommend it to anyone with a crock-pot. Richard Deacons (Mel on the Dick Van Dyke show) Microwave Cookery ... I have ~ 5 mwave books, but usually I end up turning to Mel's. It also has some nice tables. How about some other fave mwave books. Mary
leimkuhl@uiuccsb.UUCP (01/31/84)
#R:olivej:-12500:uiuccsb:7000024:000:828 uiuccsb!leimkuhl Jan 29 22:03:00 1984 I had the use of about 25 cookbooks when I was at home (not so long ago!). The one I found myself using all the time was the Joy of Cooking. The nice points about it are: 1) Just about everything's in there. (If you want to cook a live turtle or an opposum, this book tells you how.) 2) It has brief descriptive passages on all sorts of cooking terms and techniques. Information is reliable and easy to read. 3) Recipes are not overly complex (as in say Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking" or Lenotre's books on pastry) but are also not riduculously simplified (as in the New York Times' cookbook and most of today's cookbooks). 4) Things that I make using this cookbook seem to work more often than things I make using any other cookbook. Ben Leimkuhler (uiucdcs!uiuccsb!leimkuhler)
wombat@uicsl.UUCP (02/02/84)
#R:olivej:-12500:uicsl:3800036:000:854 uicsl!wombat Feb 1 14:15:00 1984 I've never looked at Joy of Cooking, but the best basic cookbook I've seen is the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. It has recipes for all the basics, like lasagne, meatloaf, various cuts of meat, soups, cookies and cakes, and on and on. No, it won't tell you the best way to use your food processor with your wok, but it will explain cuts of meat, using herbs and spices, whether to put the eggs in before the water boils and the best way to peel the eggs afterwards, basic canning and freezing procedures/charts, and other helpful things. (There's even an appendix that tells you how to throw a dinner party.) It has almost never failed to answer my basic cooking questions. Add to it a good pasta cookbook, a good Chinese cookbook, and any other advanced book you like for a decent kitchen library. Wombat ihnp4!uiucdcs!uicsl!wombat