~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there! Always looking for something new or old?
 

~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there! Always looking for something new or old?

I never saw my Grandma use even a receipe much less a cookbook -but- she canned everything and anything, worked off/on as a cook and in the meat department at a local store for a few years.

Best cook ever! BUT my wife and I like to collect cookbooks. You can find some deals at flea markets or better yet the best, "Grandmas Cookbooks" at those churches and fairs. Pies, cookies, whole meals, ummmm!!

Still we find our top 3 most handy for everyday use:

1. Better Homes & Gardens - our old one is 30+ years old yellowing pages but my favorite. However the new one has pictures, great for new young cooks, shows pictures of where cuts of meat come from, how to prepare food, etc, great gift too for young couples starting out.

2. Good Housekeeping, the full size book, almost as good as #1.

3. The New York Times Cookbook, yes NY! I got it for $1, it has everyday plus some more exotic dishes.

Plus we have casserolle books, desserts, a whole bunch!

You'll never learn if you don't try, just dive in and cook. :)

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

I use the #1 you list. That is the red and white checkerboard three ring binder one, right? Mine is also old (from the sixties).
I highly recommend one of Justin Wilson's cookbooks. He is dead now but his cookbooks live on. Most all the recipes in his books will be the best thing you ever ate, till you make another, then that one is the best......

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

Yes the one that looks like a red & white checkered table cloth. It comes 3 ring, hard or soft bound.

We have the full size softbound and it's well used.

Oh and our old one looks like a small paperback book with pages falling out.

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

I think Joy of Cooking is a first rate book,,very readable,,my Favorite was Escoffer,,very pricey,,,But Beside my own Book of reciepies that I accumilated in over 20 years of Kitchen Travels most hand writen on the backs of napkins and scratch paper,,If you can find a Italian cook book called the Romanolis table snap it up

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

My wife has been getting her loose receipes together in clear view plastic 3 ring sheets and putting them in binders.

Clear view is nice, lay on table, counter, wipe off and put back.

Those old 3 x 5 or 4 x 8 cards are too hard to use. Plus now you can print out half or full size receipes from online, zip in cover, put another on back, done.

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

I was checking the cookbooks on just one shelf in our kitchen:

Julia Childs Menu Cookbook....lays out whole meals, flea market find as many are
Betty Crocker New International Cookbook
Pillsbury Best of the Faceoff Cookbook
United Cakes of America...it's red, white & blue of course
Chocolate Cakes by Klivans
Better Homes Casserole Cookbook....small book but great meals!
Homemade Cookies by Farms
Tastes of Autumn
New Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits by Alexis Lichines....a cook's and host's must have

Plus a ton of spiral bound and other books.

Oh, just today we had friends over, got two more as gifts:
Our Latin Table....looks great!
Beyond Roasting....looks interesting.

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

Wife made a new recipe today, briefly:

Shrimp, devained and cooked
Lobster or crab...we did crab
Then the pot pie kind of fillings with a small splash of white wine

Bake in oven about 40 minutes until crust looks done

Came out GREAT. :)

....if you want the exact recipe let me know.

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

That Our Latin Table has some great recipes including some great Cuban favorites like those great Cuban Pressed Sandwiches....like you can get in So Florida in some spots or other Cuban style restaurants.

Now if I can only get some real Cuban cigars! :rolleyes:

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

Better Homes & Gardens
Pots Pans & Pioneers
Dressing & Cooking Wild Game
Talk About Good I,II & III
Cotton Country Collection

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

I might use a cook book to get the general ingredients from but once I get that it's GAME ON. I never leave anything alone and I am for ever changing it up. More garlice less salt kosher salt Himalayan pink salt Hawaiian red or black salt. You name it I try it different. Some times it's good others it great and every once in a long while it isn't all that good.

I have been cooking since I was 13 so I got a few years experience.

I have weight watchers cook books they are good most of the stuff is expensive. And by the looks of my pig belly you would never know I cooked out of a weight watchers cook book.

Alton brown
Bobby flay
Racheal ray
And my boy guy ferri.

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

Well I'm the oldest of 5 boys, no sisters did a lot of cooking there!

Plus in the Boy Scouts, our troop went somewhere in our old school bus every month or more. You cooked to eat period.

I remember one snowy Thanksgiving weekend, only cold water and a wood fired stove to cook breakfast, lunch and supper for about 35 people including a complete turkey dinner, that plus the complete breakfasts everyday I'll never forget!

And we washed in the creek, and played football in the snow.....those were the days....and great adult leaders, I was a troop leader.
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On a very rare "real" diet we go South Beach, the ONLY one I'll recommend or do. Have all the cookbooks for them.

First two weeks is basically the Atkins Diet, NO CARBS! After that it's pretty decent.....and YES it's more expensive than regular cheap ol' food.
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Workout and eat in moderation! Beats dieting if you can hack it. :(

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

Here's an update.....

Well I looked at these $2 flea market books, wow, look brand new.

SPLENDID SOUPS by James Peterson Nov 1993, Hardback 524 pages

Fantastic soup cookbook! Everything you need to know and more about soups, stews, broth, consommes you name it.

How to prepare, cook, serve, store, I give it an A+.
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THE SOUP BIBLE by Debra Mayhew 2009, big softcover 256 pages

Terrific book for beginner or seasoned pro.

About 200+ recipes and 800 pictures, I'll give it an A.
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Not bad for $4, great hobby for a cook, flea market and discount cookbooks.

ENJOY! ;)

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

My favorite ones are from where I grew up, every now and then the ladies of the local churches(a town of 1200 that had 4 diff church's) would get together and put together a spiral bound book of recipes about an inch thick, with a recipe on the front and back of every page, from snack's to deserts, even local wild game recipes,

Nothing like comfort food from where you grew up,

Have a Betty Crocker too,

Been wanting to get one for soups as mentioned above, of course you can find a load of things on the internet, but I find it hard to select one, maybe too many to choose from,

Re: ~Favorite COOKBOOKS~ out there? Always looking for something new or old?
 

Older cookbooks have all the good strong basics - I asked my Grandma to send me a betty Crocker cookbook after I moved to Finland 23 years ago. I still have that beat up paperback and still use it - for the most part for some times of things but there are wonderful simple things that can be made. I use the banana bread recipe and a few others. I also do like cookbooks and have several from different parts of the world. If anyone would like to try a few things with deer meat the Finnish recipes for reindeer will work fine.

One of my favorite Finnish dishes is 'poronkäristys' (poro is reindeer in Finnish). Käristys - the literal translation is fry - but this is not fried reindeer. There are two main ways that Finns cook reindeer (keep in mind that reindeer is a farmed animal in the far north - like we farm cattle here).

When the reindeer is slaughtered the best solid parts of the meat - the 'filet mignon' and the roast (rump roast) parts are cut out and set aside. Then all the 'chuck' parts of the meat are brought out and set aside and cut up. This chuck meat is what is used for the 'poronkäristys'. This is all small pieces of meat with some little bit of fat (reindeer don't have much fat). Meat form the ribs will also be included here.

This meat is first simply fried to seal it's flavor in - and it may be fried with a little onion. It is fried ONLY to brown it. Then it goes into a kettle (a cast iron pot is great - you can cook it over a fire) Add water - any extra herbs you like - all sorts of variations now come into play because it is essentially a stew. Finns serve this with mashed or boiled potatoes, it's own gravy and berries :) Remember those other two parts? The rump roast part and the filet mignon part - the rump roast part is used for reindeer roast beef. The filet mignon part is used for - you got it - reindeer filet mignon steaks. :P

The Saami people live in the far north above the Arctic Circle and are primarily reindeer herders. They made their food simple - they didn't have crockpots (and still don't). I do have my grandma's cast iron dutch oven and, cooked over a wood fire, deer or reindeer cooked this way is absolutely fantastic. Just leave it over the fire for a couple hours.