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AWguest
June 18, 2014
I have the whole series of Anne Willan's "Perfect,' some of her 'Look and Cook', and her other books, as well. All the recipes in her cookbooks are very well thought of, sophisticated, and her seafood lasagna recipe is so elegant. I have Julia Child's books but I don't use it as much. I also always refer to 'The Good Cook' and Cook's Illustrated series.
brancica
June 17, 2014
My go-to cookbook is the 1979 edition of Joy of Cooking. Practical advice and never fail recipes
bookjunky
June 16, 2014
Joy of Cooking is my go-to cookbook. Fannie Farmer. for more recent stuff, any of Ina Garten's or Martha Stewart's. These are all cookbooks that I know will give me good, reliable results on the basics.
Georgia
June 16, 2014
I have just begun cooking and haven't yet read any Classic books. Brazil is very poor in culinary books! But I'd love to read Julia's and Jim's
CarlaCooks
June 16, 2014
For me, it's tough to beat Julia. I often re-read Mastering the Art of French Cooking for the sake of feeling like I'm having coffee with Julia, hearing her tell me a story of how to cook something.
anne
June 15, 2014
Well, don't laugh, but Jeff Smith's Frugal Gourmet series really taught me how to cook. I was all of 16 when his series was on PBS and I was new to the kitchen. "Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick!" is a mantra I learned and teach to kids and friends to this day. Not exactly haute cuisine, but man, did he teach good technique and the best part, the history of those techniques and of the food related to them. The recipes always worked and were very useful in that it was food you could make on a weeknight. I learned to make salad dressings, crepes, french omlettes. All kinds of basics I am still making now. I refer to those tomes time and again, like old familiar friends.
Carrie
June 15, 2014
Moosewood Cookbook and Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone! So great!
Anne
June 15, 2014
I will always be dependent on The Joy of Cooking and The Moosewood Cookbook for my day to day cooking and my more complicated questions!
Andria
June 15, 2014
Julia, James, Simca, and any number of those lovingly compiled local charity cookbooks, like New Orleans' River Road Recipes, which convinced me that if those folks could cook, so could I.
ihaventpoisonedyouyet
June 15, 2014
Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My uncle convinced me that even if I could master only one of these recipes, I would indeed be a master of that dish, and it would be a winner. What I like about MAFC is the recipes within recipes format - so even if I can only devote one day a week to making one of these recipes it is an experience. I admit that I enjoy the struggle of a tricky dish because what is better than when you get it right. Merci, Julia!
Fay
June 15, 2014
The Fireside Cookbook by James Beard. Love Julia, but the simpler JB recipes are more useful for everyday cooking.
liz
June 14, 2014
I hold many cookbooks dear to me - However it is very first cookbook brought back from Paris by my mother - that began my lifelong food journey-"La Cuisine est un jeu d'enfants" by Michel Oliver with an introduction by none other that Jean Cocteau! Printed in 1963. This book enthralled me with its French cursive writing and illustrations and all the French warnings about being disciplined- The recipes were not all for children but enough were to engage my 6 year old imagination. From that point onward my heart and soul belonged to France- I started in the first class of The Toronto French School and graduated with a degree in French Medieval Studies- Leaving after graduation to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. To this day as an Executive Chef with 3 decades dedicated to running kitchens and feeding people - I still set up my kitchens with a batterie and the discipline that first started when I opened the page of that special cookbook La Cuisine.. with the warning "Lavez- Vous toujours les mains" ( Always wash your hands )- My cooking is based on Les Fonds de la Cuisine and I have a very soft spot for tarragon and chervil, cornichons and Bearnaise to name but a few - best not to get me started on all things French that I adore. Santé
FinVoilaQuoi
June 14, 2014
I think I baked my first cake from the Joy of Cooking book when I was about 14. However, I'm just starting to do "real cooking" so I don't have a go-to book. How about I make La Varenne Pratique that book?
Cathleen I.
June 14, 2014
The Joy of Cooking introduced me to cooking and has remained a "go to" cook book over the decades. It still gives me confidence when I am not sure of a technique or cooking temperature. However, Pierre Franey's two volumes of "60 Minute Gourmet" truly inspired me as a young cook and gave me the courage to use products I had never heard of at the time, with pairings of foods that seemed dubious on first read but actually worked. I was delighted to prepare really amazing dinners for my family that used fresh ingredients, were easy to put together, and were truly 60 minute meals. I credit these books with my occasional cooking inspirations to this day.
Betsy S.
June 14, 2014
My vintage, well worn, much used and oh, so charming, Better Homes & Garden cookbook. I got it used, years and years and years ago and still just love it, even though now I mostly use the internet for recipes. I like just seeing it in my kitchen.
sexyLAMBCHOPx
June 14, 2014
The Professional Chef, Culinary Institute of America is well worn and used often - still.
Libby D.
June 14, 2014
i was given The Art of French Cooking as a wedding present from my mother with a note that these were things I could afford to cook at some point, but probably not right now. How true that was!
Leif O.
June 14, 2014
Jaques Pepin's "La Technique" is still standing out for me, with several hundreds cook books on my shelf. He is just superb is his ease and simplicity.
lakagi
June 14, 2014
I love and am inspired by Hot Sour Salty Sweet, the Greens Cook Book and Dorie Greenspan's around my French table..to name a few. I also have a copy of Ann Willan's The La Varenne Cooking Course and like to imagine that I'm cooking for her when I use it.
elpie
June 14, 2014
Delilah Smith, joy of cooking, good housekeeping, Sophie and Jayne grigson, Sarah molton to name but a few
Dineindiva
June 14, 2014
The Red & White Cover Better Homes & Garden cookbook - pretty much the only one my mother ever used. I was fortunate enough to see Anne Willan teach at a conference I attended. Hearing her say "Piggly Wiggly" still makes me giggle when I think of it.
Cindy W.
June 14, 2014
I've had so many favorites over the years, but I always go back to my old Betty Crocker and Joy of Cooking for the basics.
James G.
June 14, 2014
I have so many cookery books, but there are three that I love dearly. The oldest belonged to my grandmother "The Scottish women's institutes cookery book 1946". Next - The Penguin cookery book 1971. Last but not least: "Complete guide to cookery" German version by None other than Anne Willan! My dream is to one day write my own cookery book.
the T.
June 14, 2014
I don't really own any classics- but if you give me a copy of La Varenne Pratique I'll have one!
Helen B.
June 14, 2014
Bistro Cooking (Patricia Wells...takes me to France when I cannot be there), French Regional Cooking (Anne Willan....finding a copy in San Francisco in the mid-90s was not easy, but well worth the effort, and I'm honestly not choosing this book because the posting is about Ms Willan...my former roommate in NYC had the book and I was unable to find a copy, and when I moved to SF years later, I popped into many a used bookstore over several years until finally the stars aligned ), The New York Times International Cookbook (Craig Claiborne...my mother used this book often and I loved dreaming of visiting faraway lands), The New Basics Cookbook (Sheila Lukins, Julee Russo...may have been the first book I bought as adult and brought me "American Comfort food" so to speak when I lived in France years later), and while I use it infrequently, I enjoy owning The Joy of Cooking (Irma Bombauer and Marion Becker), a cookbook that I seem to remember everyone owning.
ML
June 14, 2014
I love Julia Child's book on Baking with Julia, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, Alton Brown's Gpod Eats series, Lucinda Huson's The Herb Garden Cookbook, David Tanis' Heart of the Artichoke and Anne Burrell's Cook Like A Rockstar. My new favorite is EGG by Michael Ruhlmam!
jamcook
June 13, 2014
Beard on Bread, Maida Heater's Book of Great Desserts, The NY Times Cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Fanny Farmer , 10th and 11th Editions
Sarah P.
June 13, 2014
I love and have used for 30 years Mrs. Chiang's Szechwan Cookbook by Ellen Schrecker.
Cindy L.
June 13, 2014
Ah, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. It is spotted, torn a bit. and loaded with ink and pencil comments.
Robert R.
June 13, 2014
My favorite cookbook is the Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers (one, for sentimental reasons, since I've been eating at that iconic restaurant since the 1980s, but more importantly because Judy tells you only what to do but WHY you're doing it, so it's been a great instructional cookbook). Beyond this I am an admirer of Richard Olney's cookbooks such as Simple French Food, The French Menu Cookbook, and Provence: The Beautiful Cookbook (even though I don't always have patience with his sometimes vague writing style). Mastering the Art of French Cooking, of course, because when I want to know what's correct, I turn there, even if in time I rewrite the recipe. I'd round it out with The Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook, and The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth, as well as Elizabeth David's books, and I believe I have most of Ann Willan's books and most enjoy From My Chateau Kitchen. I also have a fondness for the Larousse Gastronomique from the late-1980s because it was the first version I owned and morels in cream was a revelation. I wish I'd had the foresight to sock away copy after copy of La Varenne Pratique. It was just so ubiquitous in the late-1980s/early-1990s that I never thought I would have to. :)
lisa
June 13, 2014
my very favorite is my mother's "Encyclopedia of Cooking" - there are about 20 books and while some of the recipes are odd and possibly not so good, these are the books that were available when I was young and wanted to know about Dutch food or some other hard to find cuisine.
Alexandra H.
June 13, 2014
Anything Julia Child, all Chez Panisse books, the Zuni Cafe cookbook, River Cafe London books, and the original Barefoot Contessa cookbook!
Stephanie J.
June 13, 2014
My most used cookbooks would have to be Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and my most treasured of all the Betty Crocker Cookbook. My copy was actually printed in 1950 and it's yellow and literally falling apart, and I love it so much!
CookingIsLikeLove
June 13, 2014
As Julia Child is my hero, I definitely have her Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbooks. My other treasure is my giant copy of Larousse Gastronomique, a Christmas present from the Hubby who was bewildered why I wanted only a single cookbook as a present.
Matilda L.
June 13, 2014
Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan (I have the one volume version, which lacks the names of the recipes in Italian, but my husband has the two volume version which includes this useful information), followed closely by the Zuni Cookbook, which I consider a contemporary classic.
Greenstuff
June 13, 2014
I have a few Anne Willan cookbooks, and I like them so much that in the past year I've sought out some of her older ones and bought used copies. Among the newer ones, I heartily recommend The Country Cooking of France.
drbabs
June 13, 2014
My treasures are Laurie Colwin's two books: Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. And Maida Heatter's book of Chocolate Desserts.
pgraham
June 13, 2014
Mastering the Art of French Cooking (I love Julia!), Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything (not really a recipe book but very inspiration and it does have the very best pie crust recipe I have found), and Back to Baking by Anna Olsen.
Annie
June 13, 2014
Coincidentally, I cracked open my Mastering the Art of French Cooking set for the first time in a while last week and made the opened face piperade omelette that Julia describes in "My Life in France" - which I read last summer and have been meaning to make for a while...totally worth it. Such simple ingredients, but such a surprisingly delicious result. Her volumes are actually the only "classic" cookbooks I own.
Kartoffellöffel
June 13, 2014
My old dog-eared volumes of "Mastering" have served me well for nearly 40 years, but a few others that I pull out frequently, if only for inspiration, are Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", Elizabeth David's "Classics", and perhaps my favorite of all, "Simca's Cuisine" by Simone Beck.
Jeff L.
June 13, 2014
My my treasured first edition copy of Mastering the Art of French cooking which I found in a used bookstore for $4. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook for when I want to cook like my southern grandmother.
Sauertea
June 13, 2014
French Country Cooking by Anne Willian, Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni
Mary
June 13, 2014
Of course anything Julia, but I also greatly respect Jacques Pépin. I thoroughly enjoy his videos, and of course the shows Jacques and Julia made together. He makes classic French techniques look so effortless. I love how he incorporates many dishes his mother used to make. Merci ! to Anne for making her masterful book available to all.
EmFraiche
June 13, 2014
The Art of Simple Food may not be considered a classic, but it took me from a recipe-follower to someone who has a better understanding of how to cook and cherish food. It's dear to my heart.
Julie
June 13, 2014
My mother's copy of Betty Crocker from her college home economics courses--the most-used pages have torn where they're three-hole-punched, but I adore it. We both have new editions but inevitably open the old one, turning the sections carefully to keep them on the gapping binder rings. She has check marks and notes of 'OK' and 'Very good' from her semesters of cooking demos and early married years. I hope I have it all my life and pass it on, too.
Rachael S.
June 13, 2014
Mastering the Art of French cooking is wonderful- but I have to admit I miss pictures. If they are not already classics, then the will be - Zuni Cafe and Art of Simple Food!
Eileen W.
June 13, 2014
My copy of The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas always sends me back to the days when I first became a vegetarian. Just opening up the taped together pages reminds me of the joys of cooking simply and deliciously.
AntoniaJames
June 13, 2014
Beard on Bread. Not sure if these are considered classics yet, but Willan's "Cooking with Wine" and "Cooking it Right" are, to my mind, two of the most useful and interesting cookbooks I've ever put my hands on. Love the photos and explanations, especially, in "Cooking it Right" for understanding and avoiding in the future less than perfect results. ;o)
laurenlocally
June 13, 2014
I have fond memories of sitting in my grandmothers kitchen as a young girl, watching her peel an apple in one long ribbon. Then she'd have us take a turn tossing it over our shoulder to see what shape letter the ribbon looked like on the floor. The letter was supposedly the first initial of a boy who had a crush us on :-)
Catherine
June 13, 2014
Ricardo Larrivée, a Canadian chef,' magazines were my culinary revelation...
Uncle J.
June 13, 2014
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is my favorite. I used to be a teacher and then managed other teachers. I saw again and again that teachers who had just learned the material themselves were the best teachers because they were still excited about the subject matter. Julia conveys the confidence of the new teacher - I just learned this and so can you!
AdeleK
June 13, 2014
Well there are a lot I hold dear, La Varenne, which I still refer to a lot. But I love all the Julia Child ones also, such as Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The Way to Cook is great also. One of my favorites is Craig Claiborne's, The New York Times Cookbook.
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