What cookbook do you actually USE the most?

[Kay in Cal]

I enjoy reading cookbooks and have quite a few, but most of them I can honestly say I've never used. For years I had a battered old copy of the Joy of Cooking that was my most used reference, but now for a quick question (how long should I bake this?) I just Google.

 

The cookbook that I seem to turn to most when I want to actually cook something, or even find a new recipe to try, is The New Best Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. http://www.amazon.com/New-Best-Recipe-All-New/dp/0936184744

 

 

How about you?

[CactusPair]

I like to read cookbooks, but I only really use 2.

 

The Joy of Cooking and Special Diet for Special Kids. The Internet is where I get a lot of cooking info now, too.

[urban_mom]

squirrel???? But I am sorta into southern cooking these days, so I reference it for fun stuff...especially desserts. A guy we know from church has been texting me: "when do I get to eat your strawberry cake again?" ever since I pulled that one out. But you don't want to get it for health conscious reasons...most recipes include either jello or mayonnaise or cream of chicken/celery/broccoli soup. But their crab cakes recipe is fabulous-o.

[philda62]

I use my Better Homes and Garden and Pillsbury cookbooks a lot. I have several others but do not use them as often.

[Dani n Monies Mom]

The Joy of Cooking is the one I come back to the most. I checked out the Blue Willow Inn cookbook, but never used a recipe. I think I better check it out again, you make it sound so good.

 

Ava

[lwilliams1922]

nurishing traditions

[Heather in Neverland]

Sandra Lee's 20-minute meals is awesome!!!

[Crissy]

As much as I love cookbooks (I own shelves full!), I usually don't cook from them.

 

Simply Recipes, on the other hand, is a wonderful resource that I use all the time. Only one recipe hasn't made the cut around here.

[Jami]

Other than allrecipes.com you mean? :D

 

I use my Better Homes and Gardens book quite a bit and one that my high school National Honor Society gathered local recipes for, it's got a lot of "down-home cooking" type recipes. I also have a Saving Dinner cookbook that I like several things from, even though I don't use the full menus or lists.

 

But mostly I just Google what I'm looking for. :001_smile:

 

Jami

[Mom2legomaniacs]

The red plaid one (is it Better Homes and Gardens?) . I also have a really neat one from the Mennonite General Conference group (I think) called Extending the Table. It is wonderful too.

[Sarah CB]

I love Jamie Oliver's cookbooks - I think my favourite is Jamie's Dinners. He uses real food and it's been a neat adventure for me to make some of his dishes. Last week I made Chicken Tiki Masala and it was *so* good. I usually try to make something new from one of his cookbooks every week or two.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Jamies-Dinners-Essential-Family-Cookbook/dp/1401301940/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221698460&sr=8-1

 

I use The Joy of Cooking for general questions. I use Food that Really Schmeks fairly often as well - my mom used it when I was growing up.

[Mamagistra]

My most-used faves are America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (like Best Recipe but with some simplification) and Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking. When I feel like something global, I rely on Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors...mmm, peasant food. :drool:

[RoughCollie]

I like the Betty Crocker Cookbook, edition from the 1970s.

 

I hardly ever use a cookbook, though I love reading them.

[PineFarmMom]

I go to allrecipes for practically everything, but as far as cookbooks, I like some of my old southern living cookbooks. I used to have this incredible one from my mom's church. I swear, I wish I could go to one potluck at that church...everything in that cookbook was superb. I lost it. I've looked and looked, to no avail. :(

 

Teresa

[The Governess]

Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely. All of the meals are fast and simple or go in the crockpot. Everything I have made has been a hit.

 

The book is actually set up as a weekly menu. Each week has 7 recipes and a shopping list. Some of the recipes will use extra meat from the previous night's meal, etc. and they are based on the seasons, so fall includes more soups and spring more spring veggies, etc. I don't use the lists because they are made for a family of 6 and it's too much food for us. But I highly recommend it to anyone who has a hard time organizing a week's worth of meals and doesn't like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen with complicated recipes.

[PariSarah]

How to Cook Without A Book. By Pam Anderson.

 

Have I mentioned it here before? :D

[musicmommy]

I have shelves of cookbooks and actually use many of them regularly. We try new recipes all the time. Here are the ones that get pulled out every week:

Simply In Season (and Simply In Season Kids)

More With Less

 

My boys love it when I pull out this book. All American Cookie Book. It means treats for them. :001_smile:

[Moira in MA]

Like many posters, I have lots of cook books. Difference is, I use them but never quite follow the recipe -- kwim?

 

I have to plan our weekly meals pretty carefully due to eating preferences, braces and time constraints.

 

I find Moosewood Simple Suppers, If Kalimos Has a Chef and Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and Madhur Jaffrey's Food for Friends and Family and her Indian Cooking to be most commonly used. I also use the Winter Vegetarian (in winter!)

 

I find that I quickly get into a rut if I don't use cook books.

 

I recently bought Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food to use to teach dd (14) to cook. I seldom 'read' a cookbook, just browse with something particular in mind. This one, I read and tested. It is thorough and, as it's title promises-- simple. Perfect as a learning book.

 

Moira

[StaceyinLA]

Whole Foods for the Whole Family by La Leche League International. This is, without a DOUBT the BEST cookbook I've ever come across. There's no gourmet stuff, but the book is LOADED with good info and recipes. Mine is about ready to be replaced it's so worn.

[Faith]

nurishing traditions

 

Same here OR the internet for recipes.

[Lolly]

Southern Living Cookbook used to be #1. Now, it is a crockpot cookbook, sorry don't remember the name, I purchased from Cracker Barrel. That or the one my sil put together for me for Christmas last year.. It is fabulous! She took all the recipes I had called and asked for at one time or another, plus the ones my kids had raved about and assembled them scrapbook fashion into a cookbook. Marvelous gift!!!

[sarahli]

Just started using this one, daily.

 

Supper's on the table, come home

[Jolash]

Better Homes and Gardens and a church cookbook from our third appointment. I will also occasionally use one of my Rachel Ray's.

[nmoira]

American Wholefoods Cuisine -- My copy is about 25 years old and is in three pieces (the spine having dissolved years ago). I suppose I should get a new one.

 

For baking, it's a tie:

King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

 

and

Bob's Red Mill Baking Book

[iquilt]

Whole Foods for the Whole Family by La Leche League International. This is, without a DOUBT the BEST cookbook I've ever come across. There's no gourmet stuff, but the book is LOADED with good info and recipes. Mine is about ready to be replaced it's so worn.

 

I agree - I use mine a lot :) Shameless plug, my mom has a recipe in that cookbook from when she was actively involved in LLL while home with us - she's on page 32 "Button Soup".

 

I also use More With Less a lot. My mom put together a cookbook when I got married that I use a lot, with lots of family recipes for favorites; I've added to it and it's a favorite resource now.:001_smile:

[mommylawyer]

The Joy of Cooking

The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook

 

Couldn't live without either!

[E_Edgerton]

The Classic Cookbook by Christopher Kimball (the America's Test Kitchen guy) The Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook by Paul Gayler and it isn't really a cookbook but I use it almost daily as a reference Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Companion I also use Nigella Lawson's cookbooks especially Nigella Express. :)

[Doran]

As much as I love cookbooks (I own shelves full!), I usually don't cook from them.

 

Simply Recipes, on the other hand, is a wonderful resource that I use all the time. Only one recipe hasn't made the cut around here.

 

 

I was JUST ON this site tonight and thought to myself, "Now this actually looks like a good resource." Great to know you agree. ;)

 

I have many cookbooks. I have one or two recipes in each one that I use with regularity. The books open to those pages almost automatically, and the paper there is spattered with ingredients matching whatever is printed on that page. The other pages of each book are clean and unused. :D I suppose, if push came to shove and I had to give up all but one, I'd keep Joy of Cooking (the old version) and go from there.

[cin]

I use Taste of Home. Well, their website. I've never had a bad recipe from them. It's nothing special, just really delicious, down home, recipes.

[Merry]

One Bite Won't Kill Ya, Jan Karon's Mitford cookbook and 5 in 10 (a cookbook from Berekely)

[claire up north]

Fannie Farmer. I'm actually on my 3rd copy cuz I wore my first two copies out!

[Sunshyne]

How to Cook Without A Book. By Pam Anderson.

 

Have I mentioned it here before? :D

 

 

Love this one! I bought it after hearing you rave about it. :P

[Once]

Fannie Farmer. I'm actually on my 3rd copy cuz I wore my first two copies out!

 

:iagree:

I think the manufacturing maybe a tish off. I'm looking at buying my second one. I do love my Fannie Farmer!

[Prairie~Phlox]

I use a cookbook that I got a long time ago called Not Just Beans I'm not even sure if you can get the cookbook anymore. But it has tons of mixes in it, like Shake & Bake, salad dressings, etc. I also use Betty Crocker's Cookbook. I have lot of other cookbooks, but use allrecipes.com a lot too.

 

Phlox

[Susie in SWVA]

Almost 30 years ago now, my mother-in-law got me one of the first editions of the More With Less Cookbook. I am now on my fourth copy of that book. One mildewed, one caught on fire, one just fell apart from use. Just tonight, most of our dinner came from recipes in that book - Master Baking Mix, Applesauce Crunch. and Brown Breadsticks.

 

Even though I often wander from that cookbook, I always return to my favorites that I have found there. Some of that publisher's new creations are fun - Simply in Season and Extending the Table - are fun, but the original is still the best.

 

More with Less got us through our lean years and even though we are now in our more well to do years, it is still a good and comforting friend.

 

Susie in SWVA

[I talk to the trees]

Fannie Farmer. I'm actually on my 3rd copy cuz I wore my first two copies out!

 

Yup! Fannie Farmer here, too! We have a paperback copy that I found at a yard sale for 25 cents. It has been used so much that it has split into 3 pieces, which we now affectionately refer to as Volumes 1, 2, and 3. Pizza dough, for example, can be found in the last few pages of volume 2!:D

 

Funny that this should come up right now. Last night, I told dh that if he wanted to buy me something to forget flowers and candy, and just get me a new, hardback edition of Fannie Farmer! (What was I thinking?! Never tell a man to NOT bring you chocolate!)

 

-Robin

[Parrothead]

The Pillsbury cookbook gets used frequently. So does my Joy. My favorite for baking is the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. I really want the second book, but I keep forgetting to tell dh in time for him to order if for birthday/Christmas.

[LizzyBee]

I love my cookbooks, but I really need to give them away, because in reality I use http://www.allrecipes.com 99% of the time.

[enigma]

The American Woman's Cook Book, copyright 1947, taught me how to cook and bake. I've looked over many other books, and I keep coming back to this one. I just really like the recipes and teaching information. In addition to the recipes I actually use, it has historical value as well. It includes recipes for partidge, quail, grouse, squirrel, oppossum, hot dog and hamburger buns, and marshmallows. People use to make their own marshmallows?!

[EKS]

The Moosewood Cookbook

[Staci in MO]

It's what I often buy for shower gifts.

 

I also have the Taste of Home Cookbook, which I use a lot, but I still use Better Homes and Gardens more.

[Nestof3]

http://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crocker-Cookbook-Everything-Today/dp/0764568779/ref=ed_oe_o

 

and

 

www.allrecipes.com

[imeverywoman]

.

[Tap]

Cooking Light- Best of

 

America The Beautiful

[Rose in BC]

Other than allrecipes.com you mean? :D

 

I use my Better Homes and Gardens book quite a bit and one that my high school National Honor Society gathered local recipes for, it's got a lot of "down-home cooking" type recipes. I also have a Saving Dinner cookbook that I like several things from, even though I don't use the full menus or lists.

 

But mostly I just Google what I'm looking for. :001_smile:

 

Jami

 

Actually I collect cookbooks but I really like my new Cooking Light compilation. I love Cooking Light magazines too.

[angela in ohio]

More With Less, Betty Crocker CookBook, and AllRecipes.com

[Kris]

I use my Better Homes and Garden and Pillsbury cookbooks a lot. I have several others but do not use them as often.

 

These are my "go to" books, also, though my Pillsbury seems to have taken a side trip during our last move.

 

Other than those, the one I use the most is the cookbook our extended family put together for a family reunion about ten years ago. Some of the aunts actually followed Grandma into the kitchen and watched! So we now have at least reasonable estimates for all those "a little of this" and "til it looks right" measurements. Priceless in the comfort food department.

[Mrs Mungo]

I agree with the LLL cookbook, it really is great.

 

I subscribe to Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine. I love getting a new mini-cookbook in the mail every month. I always get inspired by something. I use a *ton* of recipes I've culled from those magazines. Although...we have had a few misses as well.

[Vida Winter]

I enjoy reading cookbooks and have quite a few, but most of them I can honestly say I've never used. For years I had a battered old copy of the Joy of Cooking that was my most used reference, but now for a quick question (how long should I bake this?) I just Google.

 

The cookbook that I seem to turn to most when I want to actually cook something, or even find a new recipe to try, is The New Best Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. http://www.amazon.com/New-Best-Recipe-All-New/dp/0936184744

 

 

 

How about you?

 

Much the same for me, same authors except I use America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. It has a loose-leaf format that is easy to use. Many of the same recipes as the New Best Recipe book but a lot of them are simpler fare for busy nights.

Many recipes are too fattening, however, so I employ some substitutions here and there to use less fats. [ex: using olive oil instead of butter].

[Alenee]

I still love my Betty Crocker books as well except when I want to bake from scratch and the recipe calls for packaged ingredients. That's when I turn to my new favorite, Mennonite Country Style Recipes and Kitchen Secrets. It truly seems to have everything. In fact, as soon as I post this I'm going to look up why my pastry dough hasn't been sticking together correctly...:confused: