s/d: cookbooks!

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or maybe "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" IS worth getting? idk!

― belami young (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, October 22, 2014 9:26 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's very interesting to read, not actually super fun to cook from imo

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 16:49 (nine years ago) link

Madhur Jaffrey is the go-to Indian cookbook author, but her books have been retitled and combined so it's hard to figure out which is the go-to. I have old library copies of A Taste of India and Indian Cooking.
Yotam Ottolenghi's books are great - Israeli/Mediterranean/Levant food - but I haven't cooked much from them yet. Jerusalem, Plenty and the new one Plenty More (latter two are vegetarian)

Saveur is a little more fancy-pants in the written/travel section than Bon Appetit but it's still a good read IMO.
You should watch The Mind of a Chef on Netflix and PBS.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link

Every time I read Food + Wine it's just like wanky bourgie resort horeseshit and not about FOOOOD, like I just want COOL FOOD SHIT

Belami Young (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:33 (nine years ago) link

show me some 25 year old crust punk pastry chef in Omaha covered in tattoos who talks about how much he fucking loves FOOOOOOD idgaf abt the fucking Maldives

Belami Young (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:34 (nine years ago) link

MTAOFC is fun as a game: Open to random page and pick one recipe with your eyes closed kind of thing. Attempt on a winter Sunday afternoon when you can just order takeout if it all goes wrong. Be prepared to eat a weird dinner with like one 3-hour-preparation dish and a side of toast.

Otherwise, nah.

Orson Wellies (in orbit), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:36 (nine years ago) link

show me some 25 year old crust punk pastry chef in Omaha covered in tattoos who talks about how much he fucking loves FOOOOOOD

tbf, the Bourdain wannabes can get pretty old too

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:54 (nine years ago) link

not answering this question but yesterday I got Sean Brock's southern cookbook Heritage. I really enjoyed his take on food from The Mind of a Chef - one part delicious, one part cultural anthropology. The book is gorgeous but I haven't had a chance to look at the recipes yet.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 17:55 (nine years ago) link

stevie you could also consider getting cook's illustrated, its approach can be a little joyless but they do have cool recipes and you do learn stuff.

kenji lopez-alt's stuff on seriouseats is similar but a lot more fun imo.

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:10 (nine years ago) link

If you have an iPad, the Modernist Cuisine At Home app is sweet. I assume the book is good too but they're always sealed at B&N.

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:22 (nine years ago) link

Saw this as S/M Cookbooks, then disappointed by the actuality. However, gotten good recipes and shopping tips, esp. re vegetables, from Eating On The Wild Side, blanking on author's name (it's not really Wild stuff, but making the most, nutrition & tastiness-wise, of yer local grocery and non-Escoffier skills)

dow, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:28 (nine years ago) link

I'm guilty of using the internet as my cookbook of first resort for the last few years, but these have places of honor on my shelf:

Mark Miller: Coyote Cafe
John Egerton: Southern Food
Sheila Lukins: All Around the World Cookbook
Rosso & Lukins: The New Basics
the Vietnamese and Thai volumes in the Wei-Chuan series, which I picked up eons ago and haven't seen since (haven't looked hard though)
Dragonwagon/Brown: The Dairy Hollow House Cookbook
Breakfast at Brennan's

I like John Currence's book from a year or 2 ago - Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey - but after making a few of the pickle recipes, I haven't messed with it much.

Pict in a blanket (WilliamC), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:32 (nine years ago) link

I have a tablet but it is not an iPad (which is annoying bcz How to Cook Everything app is IPAD ONLY, fuck that); i will check otu Modernist Cuisine at Home though!

Belami Young (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:37 (nine years ago) link

these are my standard reference cookbooks that i consider authoritative and consult almost every time i cook the cuisines they cover, they are all text- and recipe-heavy with little photography (sometimes the marker of whether i think a cookbook is any good -- the more photos, the less i tend to use it):

mexican: "art of mexican cooking", diana kennedy. this is authoritative, exhaustive and such a beautiful, well-designed book. she is so thorough and detailed and at the same time very accessible. she is very particular and doesn't tolerate bullshit and i love it. you could also probably get "the cuisines of mexico." she is similar to julia child in that her husband worked abroad and she mastered the cooking.

indian: "classic indian vegetarian and grain cooking", julie sahni. more fun and interesting than madhur jaffrey imo, even though jaffrey is great too, it's just that jaffrey has so many books and many of them are "cooking of the orient" and "world vegetarian" and with sahni i know that i am getting all india.

vegetarian: "vegetarian cooking for everyone", deborah madison. another beautiful, unpretentious book with tons of background on handling all kinds of vegetables. i'm not a huge fan of the vegan pop-chefs like the "veganomican" or "vegan cupcakes take over the world" authors. madison is a more classic vegetarian who learned her cooking at chez panisse and the san francisco zen center, then started greens (an early local-sourced, seasonally-based restaurant).

fermented foods: "art of fermentation", sandor ellix katz. this is a fucking phenomenal and exhaustive book covering fermented foods and beverages from hundreds of different cuisines. katz runs workshops all over and does intensive training sessions at this queer community in rural tennessee where he lives. it's super fun to read, too.

marcos, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:39 (nine years ago) link

good god it's $80 for an app! EIGHTY

Belami Young (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:40 (nine years ago) link

will second 'vegetarian cooking for everyone' - was super helpful to me when i was really inexperienced in the kitchen and i still use it probably weekly

'how to cook everything' is similarly useful although i would balk at paying $80 for the ipad version

i bought my bf a copy of maida heatter's 'book of great desserts' because it was on a list of best cookbooks and he swears by it - ive never cooked anything from it but have eaten enough to agree its p good

≖_≖ (Lamp), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link

feel like i am not interested in ipad versions of any cookbook. part of the fun is to gradually end up with a super-worn-in and weathered book that shows evidence of use and love and has stains and swelled pages and bookmarks and hand-written annotation. we've had some books for years and years that i will probably hand down to my kids.

marcos, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 18:56 (nine years ago) link

I dig Saveur, never really read any other similar magazines. A lot more travel or place focused than strictly recipes but I find it pretty useful. Seems like most of the ads are actually about food or kitchen stuff too, other cooking magazines feel like they're all luxury SUVs, shiny Vegas hotels, $15,000 ranges, etc.

Other books I've really loved or cooked a lot from:

Plenty (mentioned above)
Thai Food - David Thompson
Classic Indian Cooking - Julie Sahni
Cradle of Flavor - James Oselund (former Saveur editor, this book is all Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia)
Hot, Salty, Sour, Sweet - Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid (Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand)
The Border Cookbook - Cheryl Alters Jamison (my first cookbook after Joy of Cooking, when I lived in Arizona and the one that really got me interested in cooking)

joygoat, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:18 (nine years ago) link

ooh i need to get the border cookbook, rad

marcos, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:24 (nine years ago) link

I am a niche market:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Q0o0T5NFL.jpg

TTAGGGTTAGGG (Sanpaku), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:28 (nine years ago) link

Hot, Salty, Sour, Sweet

I have this one -- need to take another look at it.

Pict in a blanket (WilliamC), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:32 (nine years ago) link

this thread rules

Belami Young (Stevie D(eux)), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:40 (nine years ago) link

whenever we're going through a vegan phase this cookbook is pretty essential:

http://www.vrg.org/bookstore/images/vrg/vegansoulkitchen.jpg

LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link

Vegan Soul Kitchen is a great title. In this vein I'd also recommend the Donna Klein books The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen and Vegan Italiano, as practical regional veg cookbooks.

A lot of the stuff on this shelf is better suited to a coffee table (yes, I've a copy of Great Chefs Cook Vegan), and I don't have the hours for then entrees in the Moskowitz/Romero books.

And no, I don't have the Sriracha cookbook. Its sat there on my wishlist for a couple years.

TTAGGGTTAGGG (Sanpaku), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 19:59 (nine years ago) link

yea i'm not a fan of moskowitz and romero. i find their whole style really grating and (that "hip", informal, jokester writing with no funny jokes) and tbh i don't find their recipes that good.

great chefs cook vegan has beautiful photographs but fuck it is a SHITTY fucking cookbook. nothing in there that i want to eat. makes me think of every fancy restaurant that doesn't have anything vegan or vegetarian on the menu and the chef whips you up something pretty but that provides basically no sustenance and never has any legumes or other foods vegetarians rely on for fat and protein. that comes off shitty i know b/c any chef whipping you up something on the fly that is not on the menu based on a special request is SUPER FUCKING GENEROUS, but that doesn't mean i want a cookbook of that shit.

marcos, Wednesday, 22 October 2014 20:58 (nine years ago) link

'how to cook everything' is similarly useful although i would balk at paying $80 for the ipad version

How To Cook Everything is only ~$10. It's pretty clunky and looks like it was designed for iOS 1 tho.

$80 is the Modernist Cuisine App - not too bad since the book is over a hundred. Lots of neat little touches in how it works - videos, recipe scaling, etc..

Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 22 October 2014 21:56 (nine years ago) link

i will rep hard for MAOFC

you will never have a better boeuf bourguignon than jc's version

if you are super against the datedness though i get it

bourdain's les halles cookbook is a good option instead. lots of all-day French classics that are daunting but fun to master

i have both, dig them equally

difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 23 October 2014 01:04 (nine years ago) link

feel like i am not interested in ipad versions of any cookbook. part of the fun is to gradually end up with a super-worn-in and weathered book that shows evidence of use and love and has stains and swelled pages and bookmarks and hand-written annotation. we've had some books for years and years that i will probably hand down to my kids.

― marcos, Wednesday, October 22, 2014 3:56 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^

this is right on,
i am not together enough to have done this for myself, but, it would be nice, too, to buy a nice cloth-bound book to be copying recipes into, & to eventually have the soup-spattered master list, frayed & unbound, pages steam-buckled, cycles of ballpoint pens come & gone, a casual record of time passing

schlump, Thursday, 23 October 2014 01:46 (nine years ago) link

fyi there are several <$1 copies of the border cookbook on amazon, it looks rad and i just ordered one.

call all destroyer, Thursday, 23 October 2014 02:28 (nine years ago) link

Did I mention it already? Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America, by Maricel Presilla, is a freaking tour de force, and I've yet to be disappointed by its recipes. The grilled skirt steak with chimichurri is just one particularly sublime yet simple example along many.

never have i been a blue calm sea (collardio gelatinous), Thursday, 23 October 2014 02:35 (nine years ago) link

ooh i need to get the border cookbook, rad

I haven't opened this one in probably ten years but it really was the first "specialty" cookbook I owned and I had pretty good luck with a lot of the recipes. I used to make the carne seca a lot and should do that again.

It's also one of those books where certain pages are all stained and and beat up so I can open to recipes I've made a lot right away.

joygoat, Thursday, 23 October 2014 04:19 (nine years ago) link

eleven months pass...

border cookbook is really really good, i got it as a christmas present in 2014 and it's become one of my favorite cookbooks

marcos, Monday, 28 September 2015 19:34 (eight years ago) link

like "southwestern" or "border cuisine" has become such a watered-down concept so it is really nice to be reminded (since i don't live in the southwest) that this is an incredibly rich & varied cooking tradition

marcos, Monday, 28 September 2015 19:35 (eight years ago) link

yeah we love that book around our place

droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 28 September 2015 19:54 (eight years ago) link

Topopo Chicken Salad is a classic

droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 28 September 2015 19:56 (eight years ago) link

been tryna up my SW game since I realized all I ever cook is like pasta

Y Kant Max Read (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 15:53 (eight years ago) link

should be taking delivery of Jerusalem today --- any recs on what to start with

jason waterfalls (gbx), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 15:56 (eight years ago) link

not sure if its in that one but the meatballs in tahini sauce are amazing

ogmor, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 16:00 (eight years ago) link

yea that's the one stevie

marcos, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 16:21 (eight years ago) link

xxp

marcos, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 16:21 (eight years ago) link

i'm gonna get it

Y Kant Max Read (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 16:47 (eight years ago) link

cool! iirc there are copies on amazon for like a buck

marcos, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 16:49 (eight years ago) link

Just snagged it for $0.01 with $3.99 shipping and it was freeeee bcz I had Amazon credit!!! v cool

Y Kant Max Read (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 17:13 (eight years ago) link

should be taking delivery of Jerusalem today --- any recs on what to start with

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Tuesday, September 29, 2015 11:56 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

***parsley and barley salad***
salmon steaks in chraimeh sauce
beef meatballs with fava beans and lemon (best in spring with fresh favas but make it anyway)

call all destroyer, Tuesday, 29 September 2015 17:20 (eight years ago) link

kewl

may have to pick up supplies on the way home

jason waterfalls (gbx), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 17:52 (eight years ago) link

everyone should get the honey & co cookbook btw fyi

pep ponk aliyev (seandalai), Tuesday, 29 September 2015 22:42 (eight years ago) link

three weeks pass...

hey has anyone fucked w/ Thai cookbooks Pok Pok or Simple Thai Food? From what I understand David Thompson's Thai Food was the definitive text but was also idk like crazy complex? I've never fucked w/ it. I want something that is authentic and NOT Americanized w/ curries that actually use tamarind, cane sugar, kaffir lime, etc., but I am fine if they don't take 6 hours and an entire afternoon to prepare.

Ina-Garten-Da-Vida (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 22 October 2015 15:32 (eight years ago) link

also should I get the Smitten Kitchen or The Kitchn cookbooks? Also ppl just give me tips for quintessential cookbooks always, I want all of the best cookbooks!!!

Ina-Garten-Da-Vida (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 22 October 2015 15:35 (eight years ago) link

Might be worth looking at Jean-Pierre Gabriel's Thailand: The Cookbook as well. I find Thompson's books too much work but from what i've seen of the Gabriel one, it's less fiddly.

Al Ain Delon (ShariVari), Thursday, 22 October 2015 15:48 (eight years ago) link

i was curious about pok pok but i imagined it would be one of those impractical books where you never use it.

i recently bought claudia roden's spanish book and it's brilliant, had been looking for something like this for some time, really recommend it.

doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Thursday, 22 October 2015 16:27 (eight years ago) link


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