Cookbook Review Thread

[dankhank]

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KJS, Bittman has a regular column in the Food Section of the NY Times called "The Minimalist." It's a very good column. The website also has short videos that accompany most weeks. I think Bittman is terrific. Everything is designed to be made quickly and it's basically like Rachel Ray except for people who love food and have good taste.

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his article this week 'ode to the broiler' will probably end up being the most helpful one to me yet. bittman is money. he gets right to the important information about good food and makes cooking it seem easy. i will buy some scallops and try to cook them for the first time now, for example.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/dining/31mini.html

[M2d]

though i own a bunch, the only cookbooks i really use often are the Hazan book, joy of cooking and an old betty crocker book i use for pancakes. i've also found the frugal gourmet books pretty good, but you can't find them anymore since he, you know, turned out to be a molester.

[Aloysius]

Didn't know about Bittman food column, will check it out.

As far as his book "How To Cook Everything", this is my comment from the OOT thread:

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Eh - it's OK imo. I was a little dissapointed (got it as a gift). Seems to be a lot of basic stuff with shortcuts, and while it has good recipe ideas, I've usually turned to another cookbook to make a better version of the Bittman suggestion.

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This is bobman's post:

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I love Bittman, but it doesn't sound quite right here. I think it's excellent for people who don't cook at all and who need to learn how to make delicious food without putting a ton of time into it. That was my situation when I received HTCE as a gift, and as a result, I love it. But every more experienced cook who reads it that I've talked to thinks, "What's the big deal, all these recipes are simple and I already understand how to saute a chicken breast or buy a piece of pork."

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FWIW I don't consider myself that experienced a cook at all, but am prolly more comfortable in the kitchen than your average person and found it to be a little too basic.

-Al

[Aloysius]

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I've mostly stopped using cookbooks, because the internet is just a more functional resource.

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Practically speaking this is my line also. [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Epicurious. But find it handy to have cookbooks lying around that are:

1) Great primers / basics (I like Joy of Cooking alot too)
2) Cuisine specific (for Korean, highly recommend Korean Mother's Cooking Notes)
3) "Genre" specific - (that turnip rec for breakfast foods looks awesome, just ordered it on Amazon, I also have Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book, good stuff)
4) Celebrity chef aimed at home cooking can sometimes be good (has anyone read this - Charlie Trotter Cooks At Home?) - the Silverton book kind of falls in this category - nice to have around to make a more advanced dish which I occasionally do

-Al

[Chimp]

OK, here are some recommendations for Americal regional cuisines:

Californian:
Chez Panisse Vegetables and Fruits
- These two are great reference books, organized by every type of fruit and veggie you'll come across. They include a lot of useful information about seasonality and usage. Recipes are pretty basic Cal-Med, but they're good for learning how to use good quality produce.

Zuni Cafe
- Has a ton of great recipes as well as useful essays re: techniques and ingredients

Gulf Coast/Caribbean:
Norman Van Aken
- One of my favorites. Great recipes, especially if you like spicy or tropical flavors

Creole: Emeril
- Yeah, that's right, Emeril. This book has awesome recipes, and they're really easy for the home cook.

Mid-Atlantic:

Inn at Little Washington
- another one with really good but easy-to-follow recipes.

[bonds]

I have Bittman's How To Cook Everything and use it as my most basic reference tool. If I want to make something that I haven't attempted in years, say, pumpkin bread, my usual strategy will be as follows:

1. See if it's in Bittman.
2. See if it's also in any of the 15-20 other cookbooks I have.
3. Check allrecipes.com for variations.
4. Pick the one that sounds best, based on whatever modest level of experience I have, or if I can't decide, go back to Bittman.
5. Wing it from there.

I've been satisfied with Bittman -- it seems to me that it's exactly what it claims to be, a very basic book that will allow you to make a ton of different dishes and variations without having to spend all weekend learning stuff.

I wouldn't waste money giving a copy to anyone who knows anything much about cooking, but i've given it to family and close friends who are trying to get started in cooking at home.

[SamIAm]

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www.epicurious.com GOAT (not goat) site for this stuff. It has dones of stuff from older magazines. Really really good, especially if you want to get fancy.

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My favorite cookbooks are full of notes; I'll jot-down things to be careful of, or places where I've modified the recipe. This makes them all the more valuable.

The problem with most online recipe sources is that you can't take notes. Not so with Epicurious, though; if you go to the bother of creating a login, you can save notes for yourself that stay with the recipe.

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] epicurious.
-Sam

[Ron Burgundy]

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rachel ray's show is on when I go to the gym, every time I look up at the tv there she is dumping a metric fuckton of nutmeg over everything. does her food suck?

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[adsman]

The best cookbook I own and I own a lot of them, is 'Slow Cooking' by Joanne Glynn. Beautifully photographed and handsomely laid out, this is a book for people who take pleasure in cooking. Most of the recipes are quite long, up to 6 hours for some of them, but the preparation time is quite short and not too difficult.

These are meals which you prepare and then let sit on or in the stove for hours, happily bubbling away. I have cooked a number of these recipes for friends and they have always gone crazy over the food.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Slow-Cooking-Not...TF8&s=books

[thewarden]

It's not a cookbook per se, but Marion Nestle's "What to Eat" takes a row by row look at everything you find in your grocery store and breaks it down by what's best for you, what you should be looking for, etc. It's a great book, and I'll gladly let you borrow it, Vinny, you just got to let me borrow that New Best Recipe Book!