Cookbook Review Thread

[bobhalford]

Anyone have the French Culinary Institute book "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine?" I've got it sitting in my amazon cart and at nearly $50 I'm hesitating to pull the trigger.

As a beginner cook, I use the Bittman book. I think it's strength is offering primers on all different food types, telling you how to store them, various ways of cooking them, etc.

A friend told me that epicurious is the best site simply because Gourmet magazine recipes are known for having the best recipes.

[SamIAm]

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So was looking through reviews of Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet and looks interesting... but seems like it's much more of a "coffee table" cook book than a practical one for everyday use?

[/ QUOTE ]We have this book, and my wife definitely enjoys it. The soup she made in ICEDF:Pumpkin was from HSSS.

[BK_]

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Anyone have the French Culinary Institute book "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine?" I've got it sitting in my amazon cart and at nearly $50 I'm hesitating to pull the trigger.

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I just bought this recipe and recommended it in the Whats Coooking EDF #4 thread. It has a ton of really good information and I think it is easily worth the price tag. It has some good recipes, but it is most useful as a theory and "how-to" guide.

[BK_]

Can anyone recommend a good Spanish cookbook?

[gumpzilla]

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Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayliss

This book is awesome. I've only started cooking very recently and I'm not any good at it, but using these recipes I've consistently gotten delicious, reasonably healthy food without much time or effort.
If you ever get a chance to eat at one of his restaurants in Chicago, do. The meal I had at Topolabampo was probably the best Mexican food I've ever had, quite a few meals in Mexico included.

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I just got Bayless's Authentic Mexican as a birthday present a few days ago. I've yet to cook anything from it, but reading through it and looking at the pictures I'm pretty psyched to start trying some of the stuff in there.

[mikeczyz]

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Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayliss

This book is awesome. I've only started cooking very recently and I'm not any good at it, but using these recipes I've consistently gotten delicious, reasonably healthy food without much time or effort.
If you ever get a chance to eat at one of his restaurants in Chicago, do. The meal I had at Topolabampo was probably the best Mexican food I've ever had, quite a few meals in Mexico included.

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I just got Bayless's Authentic Mexican as a birthday present a few days ago. I've yet to cook anything from it, but reading through it and looking at the pictures I'm pretty psyched to start trying some of the stuff in there.

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authentic mexican can be a bit intimidating for cooking noobs...i usually recommend mexico one plate at a time for a mexican starter cookbook.

[jeffnc]

I look forward to trying a couple of the recommendations in this thread.

1)
If you want a Hazan cookbook, the one you want is Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. The other 2 came before this one, and this is basically a compilation of them and they are obsolete.

I like this book because it's pure, authentic Italian, without any American influence. (Well, how would I know? I didn't grow up cooking in Italy. But I think it's true, based on reading the book and reading what others have written about the book.) This is the sort of book that makes you feel you're learning so much more than just recipes.

Interestingly, some of the recipes are surprisingly simple. Like T-Bone steak rubbed with a little garlic and grilled over hot coals.

I feel like a cool guy after reading - I can go anywhere and if need be whip up my own pasta sauce from scratch after a quick trip to the store. Canned tomatoes, garlic cloves, olive oil, salt, pepper, simmer for awhile, fresh chopped basil mixed in just before serving, and voila (bad timing for French I guess), you have a nice sauce to mix your Penne into (and that is exactly what you do - you don't just pour the sauce over the Penne.) Why buy dry pasta made with brass extruders? Might be a fine point, but she does have a point, and it does indeed make a good pasta dish (has to do with how the sauce coats the pasta.)

2)
As someone mentioned, Ben and Jerry's and a Donvier, and you are golden for dessert. Any girl will want to be invited to your house for dinner, believe me, whether dessert is Coffee Heath Bar, or Lemon Sorbet.

3)
Joy of Cooking is a classic - you will learn about cooking techniques and ingredients as well as some good recipes.

4)
Misc copies of Cooking Light magazine - you can usually find a recipe or 2 every month that you'll like.

5)
Cook's Illustrated magazine. They have an online presence as well. I'm very impressed with the quality of this magazine. Fewer glossy photos (think a little more Wall Street Journal pictures), and seemingly less content (ad free I think?), but really high quality stuff. Kind of like a high-end Consumer Reports for food and cooking utensils and techniques. There is some free content on their web site if you'd like to get a taste for it. For example
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/test...8&bdc=6336