Cookbook Recommendations

[mstevens]

Has anyone bought the new The Silver Spoon (allegedly Italy's most popular cookbook)? I'm wondering what people think before buying it.

Yup. Got it for Christmas after my significant other nearly killed to get a copy during the holidays. I spent a fantastic three hours browsing through it and looking at the mouth watering photos... and then... I put it down and haven't picked it back up. The book is VERY comprehensive and has some really inspiring recipes in it, but that said, it weighs about 10 pounds and frankly, I've gone for Marcella Hazan book before reaching for Spoon. This really is the equivalent of Joy of Cooking for me (although double the size and weight of a hardcover Joy); something I'll pull out a few times a year for a very specific reason, but unlikely to be used on a day to day basis.

Although, I should amend that to say that I do occasionally pull out Joy just for fun to read about things like how to skin and cook opossum

[cjsadler]

As a b-day present, I received a copy of Herve This' "Molecular Gastronomy". I've only been skimming it so far, but it seems far more readable than Harold McGee's book (and with much more usable, practical advice). The very short chapters are concise examinations of a particular food science issue (such as "Can a Creme Anglaise Be Saved?"*) If you have any interest in the science of food and cooking, check it out.

*Pretty much: put it in a blender with a pinch of flour. More interestingly, you can make a virtually unbreakable creme anglaise by adding in a pinch of flour at the start. He says you can even bring it to a boil and it won't curdle! Food scientists haven't determined exactly why this works yet.

[erikv]

I have about a dozen books and growing. The one that gets the most consistant use from me has been The Silver Spoon. I mainly use it to develop different sauces, butters, marindades, etc. Then I start to adapt off those recipes, but the Silver Spoon has been a great starting point for me.

I've been debating getting the CIA textbook from amazon.com, but haven't quite been convinced about it.

[qwertyy]

...and we're not the only ones. This article in today's WaPo Food Section just warms my heart (breaks it a little too).

After Katrina, Cookbooks Top the Best-Seller List

When the city's bookstores began opening after Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters receded, the first volumes residents bought to replace their waterlogged, moldy collections were often beloved cookbooks.

Philipe LaMancusa, owner of the Kitchen Witch bookstore in the French Quarter, said that 70 percent of his sales since reopening in November have come from customers whose recipe books were among Katrina's casualties.

"People are replacing their cookbooks first," agreed Tom Lowenberg, owner of Octavia Books. "Cooking is so tied in with people's comfort and quality of life, especially in New Orleans. I think making familiar food helps people with the heartbreak of loss."

[Poivrot Farci]

The grand trilogy of culinary books that you should or must posess are:

In no particular order

1. The French Laundry

2. Culinary Artistry

3. On food and cooking, Harold McGee

The French Laundry is an excellent resource for those already comfortable in the kitchen and has recipes and introductions into higher end production and products such as pasta dough, butter poached lobster, foie gras, seasonal vegetables and such and such.

Culinary Artistry is sort of a food lover's encyclopedia that matches foods. Almost every vegetable, fruit and protein are listed alphabetically (and when in season)and thereupon listed below are what they can and traditionally are paired with. There are lists of what herbs and spices traditionally accompany what, basic staple of ethnic foods, salty-sweet-sour-bitter foods and menu items from well reputed chefs. There aren't any recipes in the book. It simply tells you what goes well together and how best prepared (grilled, braised etc...)

On food and Cooking is a scientific reference that will give you everything from the molecular structure of mayonaise to temperatures of cookery for proteins. It is a compendium of where everything comes from, its history and why it does what it does and how it comes to be.

[erikv]

I've been debating getting the CIA textbook from amazon.com, but haven't quite been convinced about it.

Boy am I glad I got this textbook! I would highly recommend it for anyone interested in improving their technical skills in the kitchen and increasing their understanding of the restaurant industry!

[AlliK]

I'm enjoying Room for Dessert by David Lebovitz, a former Chez Panisse pastry chef, and his blog which he writes from Paris.

[brendanc]

v=glance]Rocco's Five Minute Flavor[/url]

a blow to his female fans everywhere

[Al Dente]

Batali's "Molto Italiano" is worth it just for the chicken cacciatore recipe.

[JPW]

Batali's "Molto Italiano" is worth it just for the chicken cacciatore recipe.

I think that at this point I have made most of the chicken recipes and a fair number of the others from this and have yet to find a clunker. Mrs JPW has said that the purchase of this was a very good investment -- for her.

[mdt]

Batali's "Molto Italiano" is worth it just for the chicken cacciatore recipe.

I tried this last night and it is very good. Chicken with pork fat, mushrooms, rosemary, and a couple of other things? How could that not taste great?! I did not have the full 2 hours to let the chicken sit, but it did not seem to hurt it.

[vsky]

Are there any new ideas or new releases that are must haves or sure-bet gifts?

[DanCole42]

Are there any new ideas or new releases that are must haves or sure-bet gifts?

Vincent Price's "A Treasury of Great Recipes."

They just don't make cookbooks like this anymore. Illustrated with photographs from the eggscelent Mr. Price's home and kitchen, it features recreations of recipes from restaurants all over the world, as well as some of Vincent's favorites.

Out of print, but e-bayable.

[sunshine]

Has anyone bought the new The Silver Spoon (allegedly Italy's most popular cookbook)? I'm wondering what people think before buying it.

I bought it at Costco for about $24 instead of the listed $39.95. I really like it. It's well-organized by ingredient, e.g., poultry, vegetables, meat, etc. and the index is very helpful for finding recipes. There are also some very nice photos , although they are not identified with a particular recipe, so one has to guess which recipe the photo depicts. There's a recipe for hard boiled eggs with green sauce that I haven't tried but am hoping that it's the same or similar recipe used at 2 Amy's. The book is very comprehensive, hence massive. This has become one of my first books to consult for recipes, along with Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking and the New All Purpose Joy of Cooking.

[giant shrimp]

I check out cookbooks all the time, most recently Mastering the Art of French Cooking because my copy was still packed. The only problem is keeping them clean. I am an inveterate cookbook splatterer and I write in the margins.

when i find a cookbook i really like, i keep cooking out of it until it's falling apart. our copy of mastering the art of french cooking was finished off by mice years ago. they shredded it. i recently found something similar to julia child's mound of crepes with spinach and mushroom sauce in deborah madison's supper book. it was one of our children's favorite recipes, and they would wait out patiently the two or three hours it took their mother to assemble it. madison calls it a cake, and she incorporates the spinach into the batter. i have only been using her latest cookbook for a few months and have already cracked its spine and anointed it with scalding water. cooking 30 or 40 crepes in succession is tedious to me, but my wife loves to do it. she also enjoys preparing bechamel sauce more than i do. somehow, miraculously, i have managed to preserve three of my four marcella hazan books. she is the bible of italian cooking.

[zoramargolis]

This morning on WAMU, Diane Rehm interviewed the grandson of Irma Rombauer, who has supervised a 75th anniversary edition of _Joy of Cooking_, out just in time for Christmas. Apparently, they have restored many of the classic "Cockaigne" recipes that were eliminated in the 1997 revision, along with the sections on wild game, ice cream, and preserving and canning. Also new are recipes for cooking wild-caught fish.

[ol_ironstomach]

Recently acquired: La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange. Published October 2005. Apparently Julia Child's favorite reference while she was writing Mastering the Art... Aratow, co-founder of Chez Panisse, has lovingly translated this 1927 cookbook into English for the first time.

[johnb]

A couple of things which I have not seen in this thread to date, tho that may only be because I didn't go thru it carefully:

Best beginner book I ever saw was written many years ago by Craig Claiborne, called "A Kitchen Primer" I think. Very basic for a rank beginner but a very good book nonetheless. Try eBay.

The old Time-Life Foods of the World series was great great great. Mostly because the recipes were kitchen tested to hell and back by Michael Field and a good staff and they almost always work. Tremendous variety and intro to just about all the cuisines of the world. 40 years old but amazingly up-to-date. I have seen others say the Time-Life "Good Cook" series is just as good. Again, easily available on eBay.

Some earlier remarks about the shortcomings of the "most recent" edition of Joy of Cooking have now been superseded by the latest new edition which just came out. I bought it, as much for old times' sake as anything else, but it does appear to be a return to the strength of the older editions. It's amazing how many cooks will say, if they had to choose just one book to use to the exclusion of all others, that they would choose Joy.

[Miami Danny]

A couple of things which I have not seen in this thread to date, tho that may only be because I didn't go thru it carefully:

Best beginner book I ever saw was written many years ago by Craig Claiborne, called "A Kitchen Primer" I think. Very basic for a rank beginner but a very good book nonetheless. Try eBay.

The old Time-Life Foods of the World series was great great great. Mostly because the recipes were kitchen tested to hell and back by Michael Field and a good staff and they almost always work. Tremendous variety and intro to just about all the cuisines of the world. 40 years old but amazingly up-to-date. I have seen others say the Time-Life "Good Cook" series is just as good. Again, easily available on eBay.

Some earlier remarks about the shortcomings of the "most recent" edition of Joy of Cooking have now been superseded by the latest new edition which just came out. I bought it, as much for old times' sake as anything else, but it does appear to be a return to the strength of the older editions. It's amazing how many cooks will say, if they had to choose just one book to use to the exclusion of all others, that they would choose Joy.

totally love the Time-Life series(es). I have received many T-L books and binders from a friend who swears by them (I get all his doubles). They are solid, time-tested, and have great pictures! And they're usually available at thrift-store prices.

The two cookbooks I READ most often are Nose to Tail...by Fergus Henderson, and French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane. The ideas in them are basic but revolutionary, each a product (or anti-product) of their time. And Claiborne's NYT International cookbook is also a great read.

[Seanchai]

A little cookbook that I keep going back to again and again is Rick Bayless' Salsas That Cook. I have his other more comprehensive cookbooks but I keep coming back to Salsas for the simple reasons that everything I try out of that book has turned out great.

[ctay122]

Is anyone interested in doing a cookbook trade? I have a copy of The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle by Kate Zuckerman and also Bite Size by Francois Payard that I received as gifts, but I already have them. I would be willing to trade these for something else. PM me if interested. I have over 300 cookbooks but am always looking for more. I especially like pastry/baking/French/Italian.

[cjsadler]

Charlie Trotter's star seems to have fallen, but two books I find a lot of interesting ideas from are Charlie Trotter Cooks at Home and The Kitchen Sessions (available for only $8). The Kitchen Session dishes are quite a bit more complex, with multiple components (I never end up making the whole dish as described, I just borrow a part or two). The books are especially good on sauces (for example, the roasted shallot vinaigrette here is delicious), some made with techniques I've never seen anywhere else.

[Seanchai]

Does anybody have a really good southwestern U.S./TexMex cookbook they would recommend? I feel I have my Mexican covered with my Rick Bayless collection but I do get hankerings for saucy spicy cheese covered stuff, various grilled meats and chilis (as well as chiles). All suggestions welcomed short of recipes off bottles of Taco Bell salsas, unless they are really good of course.

[zoramargolis]

Does anybody have a really good southwestern U.S./TexMex cookbook they would recommend? I feel I have my Mexican covered with my Rick Bayless collection but I do get hankerings for saucy spicy cheese covered stuff, various grilled meats and chilis (as well as chiles). All suggestions welcomed short of recipes off bottles of Taco Bell salsas, unless they are really good of course.

You won't find recipes for the cheese-blanketed enchiladas type of Tex-Mex food, but I like _Coyote Cafe_ by Mark Miller--lots of basic sauces and classics such as queso fundido and posole, as well as more creative, high-end dishes. He and John Sedlar and Stephen Pyles were pioneers of the Southwest cuisine movement. I have a book on tamales by all three of them. I would say, look for cookbooks by any of them. If you are craving more "pedestrian" Tex-Mex food, you can always make enchiladas with a basic red or green sauce and melt a whole lot of shredded jack cheese on top. For grilled meats and salsas, I like _La Parilla_ by Reed Hearon, who has a restaurant in the SF Bay area.

[Seanchai]

You won't find recipes for the cheese-blanketed enchiladas type of Tex-Mex food, but I like _Coyote Cafe_ by Mark Miller--lots of basic sauces and classics such as queso fundido and posole, as well as more creative, high-end dishes. He and John Sedlar and Stephen Pyles were pioneers of the Southwest cuisine movement. I have a book on tamales by all three of them. I would say, look for cookbooks by any of them. If you are craving more "pedestrian" Tex-Mex food, you can always make enchiladas with a basic red or green sauce and melt a whole lot of shredded jack cheese on top. For grilled meats and salsas, I like _La Parilla_ by Reed Hearon, who has a restaurant in the SF Bay area.

Thank you Zora, exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

[Sundae in the Park]

I just got finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and now I really, really want to dash out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, I'm not sure I would actually use all of the fancy recipes (though it would fun to have them on hand!) and since then, she's written a number of other recipe books, most of which sound simpler. What would y'all recommend? Go straight to the top or pick one of the easier books? Suggestions?

[monavano]

This made me think of one of my favorite cooking shows .I just love when I get to watch Jacques and Julia: Cooing at Home

[Barbara]

I just got finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and now I really, really want to dash out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, I'm not sure I would actually use all of the fancy recipes (though it would fun to have them on hand!) and since then, she's written a number of other recipe books, most of which sound simpler. What would y'all recommend? Go straight to the top or pick one of the easier books? Suggestions?

MAFC is so very useful, that I would recommend it without hesitation. However, for pure technique, Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques is a must. It is a compilation of two of his earlier books. As for useful recipes, I have several Julia Child cookbooks and the one I use the most is The Menu Cookbook. This is a compilation of Julia Child & Company and Julia Child & More Company. I remembered seeing these shows during the 1970's, so was very pleased when my Aunt gave this to me for Christmas several years ago. It really came to the rescue one holiday when I was fixing Rack of Lamb for a crowd. I was expecting to buy the previously-frozen, already Frenched racks from New Zealand at the Safeway, but they were sold out. So, I dashed to WF and bought some which were not Frenched. Because I had seen her show (many times in reruns) and had the book, I knew just what to do and even turned the trimmings into a very nice sauce.

[mdt]

I just got finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and now I really, really want to dash out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, I'm not sure I would actually use all of the fancy recipes (though it would fun to have them on hand!) and since then, she's written a number of other recipe books, most of which sound simpler. What would y'all recommend? Go straight to the top or pick one of the easier books? Suggestions?

I find Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking very helpful.

[Ilaine]

I just got finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and now I really, really want to dash out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, I'm not sure I would actually use all of the fancy recipes (though it would fun to have them on hand!) and since then, she's written a number of other recipe books, most of which sound simpler. What would y'all recommend? Go straight to the top or pick one of the easier books? Suggestions?

I recommend that you check Mastering the Art of French Cooking out from your local library and give it a try, along with a recent, hilarious book, written by a female blogger who decided to cook every recipe in that book within a year, and posted about it.

The hardback version is called Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. The paperback version was renamed Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. For some bizarre reason, Amazon is selling both of them together as a deal. Such a deal!

Julie Powell is intelligent, perceptive, and genuinely funny, and thus, you get very good insight into many recipes you probably will never try. She cooked every one of them, and talks about every one of them. Here is a link to her original blog, on Salon.

The only cookbooks I remember from my initial phase as a fledgling cook are my mother's copy of Peg Bracken's "I Hate to Cook Book," my stepmother's copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," and my grandmother's gift of James Beard's "How to Eat Better for Less Money."

Bracken is still in print because she's still funny.

That particular book by Beard is no longer in print but of course his legacy is enormous, and most of his ouvre remains in print.

Between Beard and Child, I couldn't tell you which one has given more to the cause of introducing American cooks to the culinary arts, but it's Julia who broke the ground, and that book was the groundbreaker.

Even if you don't buy it, you should spend some time with it. I still use it, myself.

Your local library has many other cookbooks that you will love. On my reading table now is Molly Stevens, Marcella Hazen, and the Silver Spoon. Stevens' book on braising made the cut towards permanent status, I will buy a copy, the rest, no.

[smokey]

I recommend that you check Mastering the Art of French Cooking out from your local library and give it a try, along with a recent, hilarious book, written by a female blogger who decided to cook every recipe in that book within a year, and posted about it.

The hardback version is called Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. The paperback version was renamed Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously. For some bizarre reason, Amazon is selling both of them together as a deal. Such a deal!

Julie Powell is intelligent, perceptive, and genuinely funny, and thus, you get very good insight into many recipes you probably will never try. She cooked every one of them, and talks about every one of them. Here is a link to her original blog, on Salon.

While I sometimes enjoyed her blog, I didn't think much of the book Julie and Julia... I don't think she gives much insights into the food in her book, she seems, instead, focused on presenting the quirky exploits of her friends and discussing without discussing her boring job.

But, I wholeheartedly second the general recommendation of trying a cookbook from the library before you buy it. Even if the checkout period is, only, say 2w, if you can renew it two or three times, you should be able to get a sense for whether you're going to enjoy the cookbook and cook from it. I've done it many times and have saved myself loads of money learning that an author's tone drove my around the bend, regardless of how reliable his/her recipes are or aren't.

[Heather]

I just got finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France and now I really, really want to dash out and buy Mastering the Art of French Cooking. However, I'm not sure I would actually use all of the fancy recipes (though it would fun to have them on hand!) and since then, she's written a number of other recipe books, most of which sound simpler. What would y'all recommend? Go straight to the top or pick one of the easier books? Suggestions?

I'd recommend it. And many of the recipes are not at all complicated.

This was my mini-review of Julie and Julia. Actually, the ensuing conversation in that thread was pretty amusing.

[The Hersch]

The two volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking are endlessly useful, loaded with insight, beautifully written, and just an all-around joy. Even if you don't end up actually making many of the recipes, you'll end up knowing a lot more about French cooking, which can inform your own cooking of other things. As to the Beard cookbook that's out of print, you can find almost anything HERE. There are scores of copies of that very book.

[Sundae in the Park]

You people are brilliant, brilliant, I say! It turns out that my library is a treasure trove of cookbooks and I'm free to browse and make informed buying decisions at my leisure. Right now, The Silver Spoon is a featured title. Since I was already getting Marcella Hazen's Essentials, I checked out The Silver Spoon as well and now have an Italian cookbook cage fight going on in my very own home!!! Fight!!! (Right now TSS is winning. Not only because of its weight class superiority, but also becuase I love its organizational style.)

Next up, I'll get some Julia on Julia action, in order to decide which of her many tomes shall be mine. Now this is entertainment...

[giant shrimp]

Right now, The Silver Spoon is a featured title. Since I was already getting Marcella Hazen's Essentials, I checked out The Silver Spoon as well and now have an Italian cookbook cage fight going on in my very own home!!! Fight!!! (Right now TSS is winning.

marcella hazan's recipes are more reliable, although i haven't cooked out of this book. i did try enough recipes in the silver spoon to know that it's a good idea not to be too faithful to the recipes. i strayed from some of them just because it seemed to make sense, but found some things that even looked like errors, although i can't point you to them. it's definitely a worthwhile book, however, and it's where i discovered cooking dry pasta by starting out sauteeing it (although not exactly now they instruct you to do it). the celebrity recipes in the back looked good, but so far i've been too lazy to get down to them.

[JLK]

I found a cookbook in my living room and have no idea how it got there. Event gift bag? Maybe. Anyway, it's The PlumpJack Cookbook and after skimming through it (and skipping over the many-pages-too-long intro), I'm into it. The recipes sound appealing, but, for the most part, not too complicated Anyone have it?

[edenman]

I am currently in love with the Stevens "All About Braising". Made the Coq au vin last week (B+), and the Caribbean Pork Shoulder this past saturday (omg A+). Looking forward to trying some of the beef and veggie dishes, but even if the Shoulder is the only recipe I end up keeping from the entire thing, it will have been worth the cost of the book.

Somehow I think I'll be able to find some other winners in there, though.

[purplesachi]

I am currently in love with the Stevens "All About Braising". ...Somehow I think I'll be able to find some other winners in there, though.

i was really into this cookbook over the fall and winter. i've tried the cochinita pibil recipe from here and it's really great (with the addition of the sour orange juice, recommended by zoramargolis ), especially when served whole at a party. i've also tried the braised pork belly and turnips, which was ok (i'd give it a B ), and the lemony chicken with prunes and olives (B+). there is a pork adobo recipe in there that looks a little suspect to me (given the proportions of the vinegar and soy sauce), so i haven't tried that yet.

oh, and i love the vietnamese pork riblets recipe (fish sauce is very versatile), B+.

i'm planning on trying the braised radish recipe in there soon...

[thistle]

I am SUCH a cookbok junkie! I try to control my purchases, because I'm out of bookshelf space, so my favorite place to 'browse' new cookbooks is the library also. Right now, I have -Rosa's New Mexican Table-Roberto Santibanez (this is good!), Perfect Party Food, Gordon Makes it Easy, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Big Sky Cooking, Crust & Crumb, & (not really a cookbook, but very good) The Earth Knows My Name-Food, Culture, & Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans.

I have quite a few cookbooks (3 bookshelves) & I reread them periodically. My cooking is not quite on par with my cookbook reading, unfortunately, being more mundane & suited to a family with unadventurous palates. However, my son has really started to show an interest in food & cooking, we watch cooking shows together & he helps out alot in the kitchen as my sous-chef. I have high hopes for him (& he'll always be able to feed himself well!)...

[mhberk]

I've been spending some time recently with Su-Mei Yu's Asian Grilling: 85 Satay, Kebabs, Skewers and Other Asian-Inspired Recipes for Your Barbecue. Her chicken satay and peanut sauce, though time consuming - which I've heard authintic satay is, has completely ruined any hope of me enjoying satay in a restaurant!

[ctay122]

I am at 346 cookbooks and still buying. And yes, I do cook from them.

For good reading and authentic Sicilian recipes I suggest 3 books by Vincent Schiavelli: (deceased actor, and also host of The Chefs of Cucina Amore) Papa Andrea's Sicilian Table, (Recipes and Remembrances My Grandfather), Many Beautiful Things (Stories and Recipes from Polozzi Generosa) , and Bruculinu America: Remembrances of a Sicilian-American Brooklyn Told in Stories and Recipes. I never realized what a good storyteller he was as well as a cook. I think anyone who has a love of cooking will thoroughly enjoy these.

[jm chen]

there is a pork adobo recipe in there that looks a little suspect to me (given the proportions of the vinegar and soy sauce), so i haven't tried that yet.

The chicken/pork adobo in All About Braising is the only recipe in there I've tried that I just did not like. There's gotta be better adobo elsewhere.

Fantastic cookbook, though, and everything else has turned out A-OK. Particularly loved the Chicken With Rosemary and Pears, and whatever the chicken with star anise and orange is called...

[DameEdna]

Recently acquired: La Bonne Cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange. Published October 2005. Apparently Julia Child's favorite reference while she was writing Mastering the Art... Aratow, co-founder of Chez Panisse, has lovingly translated this 1927 cookbook into English for the first time.

I got a copy of La Bonne Cuisine (LBC, to those in the know) it is a quirky book, both because it was written

80+ years ago, and because it was written for a French audience. I find it an interesting read, but have not cooked from it,yet.

Random thoughts:

--- technology - no microwave!

--- ingredients -- not always familiar, not always easily available.

--- measurements are translated, usually with both English system and metric but it would be easier to just put

your Go Metric! apron do the grams and liters.

To paraphrase a bit of one recipe: "...good to cook in November ... start with 100 grams of foie gras and 6 truffles ..."

(I got my LBC on Ebay ... it was cheap ... so sue me.)

[ol_ironstomach]

A recent perusal of the shelves in the Montgomery County Historical Society gift shop led me to a copy of Eat, Drink & Be Merry In Maryland, originally compiled in 1932 by Frederick Philip Stieff and reissued by the Johns Hopkins University Press in 1998.

Stieff, scion of the Baltimore pianomaking family, appears to have been a avid foodie on the side and spent much of the Great Depression travelling the state collecting old family recipes. Each recipe is printed with an attribution to its source; for instance, there are at least ten different recipes listed just for the curing of hams, most of which come from once-prominent estates around the state. (It seems that Maryland hams were often smoked and then given a coating of lime whitewash prior to curing.) A few of the recipes are dated to the Revolutionary period. I'm intrigued by entries such as "Maryland doughnuts", "Lady Baltimore cake" and "Maryland rice bread", and five pages of terrapin recipes. As with LBC (above), the entries are terse and assume the reader has the customary skills of a cook from the pre-modern era.

There are also a number of cocktail recipes listed, most of which involve brandy! I'd expected to see more rye. Marylanders appear to have been fond of "bounce", consisting of sweetened and spiced berry juice mixed 4:1 with brandy or whiskey and allowed to meld together in a bottle. Maybe the best drink entry is Millard Tydings' explanation of the "Kentucky breakfast":

"Have you gentlemen ever participated at a Kentucky breakfast?"

The answer is likely to be in the negative. Then some guest will probably ask:

"What is a Kentucky breakfast?"

...

"A Kentucky breakfast is a big beefsteak, a quart of Bourbon, and a houn' dawg."

One of the guests will then ask:

"What is the dog for?"

The host then replies:

"He eats the beefsteak."

The book ends with a few historical menus from banquets of the 1780s and 1850s. Madeira shows up frequently, and in vast amounts.

[Pat]

I just bought a copy of James Peterson's Cooking at Costco. I love Splendid Soups, so I figured I'd give this a try. It looks wonderful. It starts with the basic cooking methods and ends with a cooking glossary. There are many how-to photos. I'm actually finding myself reading this, which I rarely do with cookbooks. I usually pick and choose and skip around. The expository writing in the book is engrossing. I haven't tried making anything from this yet, but I don't think that will be a problem .

BTW, the Pentagon City Costco still had a few remaining discounted copies of Happy in the Kitchen.

[Gary Tanigawa]

(They are having a "Gastronomic Sale" with 1000 food/wine-related books reduced an additional 25%. Mainly diet books & celebrity books, but there are some steals on quality cookbooks if you take the time to search for them.)

Thanks mktye. Some other titles I noticed (they may be recent arrivals outside the Gastronomic Sale) that others may want are Corriher's Cookwise and Kamman's The New Making of a Cook.

[zoramargolis]

Thanks mktye. Some other titles I noticed (they may be recent arrivals outside the Gastronomic Sale) that others may want are Corriher's Cookwise and Kamman's The New Making of a Cook.

Those are both excellent resource books. I learned a lot of what I know about cooking from an earlier edition of Kamman's book, and this one is her magnum opus--she is one of our very best teachers, and she put everything she knows into this book. She goes into great detail on the how and why of food preparation, not just a loving description of a dish and then a recipe. I noticed that Ann Cashion, in one of her Q&A responses, mentioned Madeleine Kamman as a strong influence. I really recommend *The New Making of a Cook*--it really is much more comprehensive and instructive than any other book I have, and that includes Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. And Shirley Corriher is really good, too. She's as much of a kitchen chemist as Harold McGee and has many more and much better recipes.

[Anna Blume]

Re the sale at BookCloseouts.com that M.K.Tye brings to our attention, I'd like to plug at least two of the titles I found under Regional/Ethnic (Other than American):

COOKING THE ROMAN WAY--David Downie

This has become one of my favorite cookbooks in any category. Best carbonara w scholarly essay on its problematic history and a great trick for coating strands w silky vs. scrambled egg. Everything you can do w artichokes and fava beans. Lamb. Great photos, too.

Paula Wolfert's book on the Eastern Mediterranean.

All her books are wonderful, but this is the most unusual, perhaps, in tracing inter-relationships among dishes of coastal areas surrounding the Mediterranean and reaching up through Greece into Serbia, Bulgaria, and from Lebanon, Syria and Turkey up to Georgia. Lots of warming dishes for this time of year such as Macedonian pork smothered in leeks or lamb stew w winter squash, lemon and mint. Smoky eggplant, yogurt and pomegranates. Greens and grains, especially pilafs.

There is also a classic cookbook in Italian-Jewish Cooking. (Hillvalley: there are a lot of kosher titles.) CUCINA FRESCA was a favorite years ago. All recipes simple, w limited number of ingredients, designed to serve at room temperature. Good for entertaining, or planning quick meals w emphasis on vegetables. ETA: What she said, below. (Missed that!)

[mktye]

Thanks mktye. Some other titles I noticed (they may be recent arrivals outside the Gastronomic Sale) that others may want are Corriher's Cookwise and Kamman's The New Making of a Cook.

You're welcome. (I try to limit my visits to that site to once every six months or so. )

I ended up buying A Baker's Tour by Nick Malgieri, Mediterranean Street Food by Anissa Helou, The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud's Celebrated New York Restaurant by Leslie Brenner (for only $3.74, I could not resist) and Gluten-Free Baking by Rebecca Reilly and Romulo Yanes (a present for a friend).

Also at BookCloseouts.com for $14.99 is Lynne Rosetto Kasper's The Splendid Table which is one of my favorite Italian cookbooks. But there is only one copy so if you want it, get it soon!

[pax]

Mollie Katzen’s Vegetable Heaven $4.99

How to Read a French Fry, by Russ Parsons $4.99

Sheila Lukin’s All Around the World $5.99 (who could leave it for $5.99, I mean, really?)

From My Mexican Kitchen, Diana Kennedy...$7.99

All in like new condtion, because in addition to used books this place does a lot of close out.

I have been itching to get my hands on Vegetable Heaven, the others are just a bonus.

I cruise on in there every once in a while hoping to score a Rose Levy Berenbaum (sp?).