Well worn copies of The Joy of Cooking from the library of Julia Child on display at theNational Museum of American History (photo from Wikipedia.com) |
Title: Joy of Cooking (1975 edition! which is why I'm not linking)
Author: Irma Rombauer
Title: The Way to Cook, if you don't want to commit to Mastering the Art of French Cooking Author: Julia Child
Title: The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book (this edition or older!)
Author: Susan Westmoreland (ed.)
File Under: Cooking, Life Syllabus
Continuing my answer to dear Chantelle, who asked what a young mother could read in the early years, to get ready for the hard work ahead — some cookbooks for you to read.
After all, being prepared gives you mental toughness. And as the announcers of a Boston Marathon we listened to on the radio one year on the way home from the race kept pointing out, you just can't measure mental toughness.
There are two kinds of cookbooks.
There are the sexy, photo-rich ones that are all garnish your charred eggplant with pomegranate seeds, make pepper-corn cardamom carrot cake in eighteen steps, stroll down to the farmers' market to pick up some organic goat burrato for your basil reduction. (And as you know, I love photos, especially of food.)
And then there are cookbooks that will teach you to cook and provide you with basic recipes that you can modify to your heart's content — including ethnically (so don't lightly dismiss these even if your culture is different from the mostly American one these books admittedly represent).
It used to be that a bride got a small stack of useful, informative books upon her marriage — and they were the ones she grew up with in her mom's kitchen anyway — and she was all set. She didn't know from pomegranates (unless she was Egyptian maybe), but she could make a pie and a stew and a roast.
With the internet, I'm afraid that we're just pinning recipes and wondering why our crockpot chicken is tasteless; and then buying the sexy cookbooks, which granted are adorable, and in general getting overwhelmed by the stark necessity of meals.
I'm sometimes a little surprised, honestly, that when I say to my readers something like “use any sweet roll recipe” or “look up pot-roasting techniques in a comprehensive cookbook,” you don't always know what I mean. That is why I'm posting today (and also, dear Chantelle).
So if you are kind of floundering around, grabbing recipes — and in fact thinking in terms of recipes and not in terms of cooking with confidence — and in general just having trouble with meals, I do recommend these books.
They are books to read.
The Joy of Cooking combines recipes, solid analytical information, and a chatty style that can just warm a young woman's heart. You feel like you're learning from a friend — but really learning every single thing you need to know about eggs and butter and sugar and cuts of meat at the butcher. And if you should need to know what to do with a haunch of boar or a leg of venison, perchance, you are in luck. There are menu suggestions that can spark a helpful train of thinking for you.
Julia Child is the one who will explain techniques to you. Her Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a correspondence course in technique. It may seem counterproductive to have six embedded recipes for making a spinach dish unless you understand what she's trying to do — she's teaching you to fish, not giving you a fish, er, spinach.
In my early days, I made just about everything in Mastering, working my way through, meticulously following her directions. Had there been blogging in those days, Amy Adams would have been playing me in that movie, because I totally did that. (And was a lot nicer to my husband than that awful Julie.)
And I learned to bone and cook a chicken breast to a fare-the-well. I can enrich a sauce. I'm so glad I did, because later, it would have been way harder to spend the time. I literally read all my cookbooks– these and others — from cover to cover, multiple times. I know a tremendous amount of French vocab for food due to this effort.
The Good Housekeeping Cookbook is an inside joke at my house. With my loyalty to the two above cookbooks fairly rock-solid, I admit I looked with a certain scorn upon this one. I'd taste something delish that Sukie had made, but turn up my nose when she said it was from this cookbook. It's more of a straightforward compendium of recipes, without the systematic approach that I appreciate in the others — so I kept referring to it as “that bad cookbook.”
When I found one for a dollar at a library sale (a library-bound version — ideal in a cookbook!), I made one or two things out of it just to see. Well, it has the virtue of having tasty, tested recipes (yes, like the ones Sukie made)! We all like the recipes we use from this book! So we do recommend it. (Similar books would be The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and Betty Crocker , but I didn't learn with them — and don't know about various editions. Yet, if you see them at a yard sale, snatch them up. After all, they are time-tested.)
On a lower tier, but very helpful, is this one: Elegant Meals with Inexpensive Meats. It's quite small and possibly screams 80s.
But for thirty years I have made the things in it — it's in tatters. Why? Because it's methodical and gives you the whys and wherefores, not just the recipes. And if you are committed to figuring out how to living simply, you need instruction in how to save money on meats.
Could you recognize a cut of meat if it were presented to you crosswise rather than lengthwise? Would you still know what kind of heat to use on it? Could you remove the tendon from a piece of otherwise tender chuck steak? Can you tell what a cut is, even if it is given a regional name at the store, just by looking at it? Scheer's book really helps with all that.
This is my organizing principle for a cookbook: that it teach you something about methods and have preferably time-tested recipes.
I think someone will mention The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook, and in many ways I like their systematic approach. However, often the recipe they end up with is not the one I would suggest. They often use questionable ingredients and way too many steps, appliances, and gadgets. Many times I think that a basic principle of cookery (searing, braising) could have been applied at the outset to arrive at a simpler solution. That said, it is at least a way of education, and so I'm for it. Personally, I would borrow it at the library.
Disclosure: I am sure you know that we get a little something when you click through and buy at Amazon. This funds our own book-buying! Thank you!
Gwenny says
I was given no cookbooks as a bride and somehow had the presence of mind to purchase Joy of Cooking for myself. Probably because my mother had it. I didn't know all the drama and debate about various editions, and still don't. But I read it. I mean, snuggled down on the couch in the evenings and read it. And I am so glad I did. I consider the “other” cookbooks a waste of time because pinterest achieves the same thing. But I wouldn't have the understanding to judge a pinterest recipe if it weren't my my Joy of Cooking background. And I know if I want to try something new, I can count on learning everything I need to know about it first! I would never have pulled off my first turkey without it! Good recommendation, Auntie!
Robin says
I'm glad you put Cook's Illustrated at the end. At my current stage of life, I can whip stuff together, based on many a lunch time/nursing time spent reading Joy while managing babies/toddlers. Now I can read through CI and cut out steps that are unnecessary for me, and still come out with something tasty.
Bonus for reading the Rombauers: you will be able to skin a squirrel if need be. Just sayin.
Diane says
Yes, I would have mentioned America's Test Kitchen's The Science of Cooking – it gives an extended discussion of each method/technique along with the recipes – but honestly, I also have The Way to Cook, and find much the same info in a condensed, much happier style.
Reading cookbooks is so much about learning to cook, rather than learning just to follow recipes.
Rain says
The Joy of Cooking is my go-to wedding gift. I love it. When I am looking for a certain recipe I will almost ALWAYS find it in there. I also love Fannie Farmer. But I must say for a photo rich cookbook that is actually wonderful, I love Everyday Food (actually I have all the back issues of the magazine). And I have to add Feeding The Whole Family Though there are no photos). It is wonderful (every recipe has been a hit) and it has the best recipe for granola EVER!
Thanks for your post. You're fabulous.
Margo says
I love to read old cookbooks! The Mennonite cookbooks have been hugely helpful to me – More with Less, Mennonite Country-Style, and the Mennonite Community (which has as much ethnic history as recipes, so very precious to me).
I am not a fan of the new cookbooks, not at all. Which is ironic, considering I'm a cookbook editor.
My edition of Joy of Cooking is 1954 – just made her eggnog over the weekend so we could decorate our tree!
Sarah K says
The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook is one of my favorites and I also refer to Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook (1950 edition) especially for baking (she gives you basic recipes and then walks you through modifying them). I also think watching old Julia Child or Jaques Pepin PBS episodes helped me learn to cook.
Anitra says
Two recommendations:
For someone who is TOTALLY overwhelmed with even the idea of cooking from scratch – “Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!” by Kevin & Nancy Mills. This young man wrote a cookbook with his mother's help, and it includes a lot of basics – how to make mashed potatoes, plain or flavored rice, cook a whole chicken/turkey; and also plenty of “recipes” in the more traditional sense. It has tips all over the place for WHY you do certain things and HOW to fix mistakes. It also includes a fair number of simple ethnic recipes – great for us young(er) folks who grew up eating other cultures' food but with no idea how to make it! (examples: Chicken Tikka, Baba Ganoush, Sauerbraten, Thai Pasta Salad)
An online resource that I love, for those who want to get into some of the science of cooking – ” target=”_blank”>http://www.CookingForEngineers.com – it has separate sections for recipes and techniques, and a unique way of presenting the final recipe. It is the source of my often-used chicken/turkey pot pie recipe.
Terra says
Our most used cookbook is The Joy of Cooking and you are right about how useful it is. Ours is old and is likely a 1975 edition. I knew nothing about cooking when we bought it in the 70s and I learned a lot using it.
Lauren says
I learned to cook through reading cookbooks as well! I love Joy of Cooking and have used it so much.
If people are interested in purchasing a Betty Crocker cookbook, I highly suggest the old “Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook” as the newer one is horrible. I have both and never use the new one. But, I use the old one quite frequently. The older one has lots of lovely commentary and techniques.
Also, if people are interested in learning to bake, I highly recommend “Baking with Julia” as it is my favorite and helped me learn how to make my special danish (which my husband adores!).
Rozy says
I have a James Beard cookbook that I enjoy reading for instructions and techniques. I've stayed away from Joy of Cooking only because it was unfamiliar to me. Must look into it for my further education as a “chef.” Thanks so much for sharing. Just goes to prove the old adage, “You're never too old to learn something new.”
Dixie says
I wholeheartedly agree with this list!
I have the 1966 Joy of Cooking; I also bought, when I was a teenager, the “updated” version, which I guess was sometime from the '90s (or maybe 2000? I didn't keep it), and watch out! It is not AT ALL the same high quality as the older versions. I wouldn't get one from past 1980.
I sure miss the Fannie Farmer that is somewhere in my parents' house.
The Better Homes and Gardens book is a great one to give a young single person. It has basic recipes — though not the kind of teaching recipes like the J of C has — and is great for a new cook.
For gluten-free folks out there, hands down the best cookbook out there is Kelli and Pete Bronksi's Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking.
Melissa Diskin says
When I was married 11 years ago my grandmother gave me “A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband … with Bettina's Best Recipes” — I think the original pub date is 1917. It's the perfect newlywed gift since each chapter tells a little story on housekeeping and how to do things like choose meat and cook once, serve twice (or even thrice). A very fun read from cover to cover, and with cute illustrations. The first chapter starts off with their first meal after they come home from their honeymoon.
I'm from Atlanta, so I adore with a passion the Southern Heritage series put out by Southern Living in the 1980s. Each book (I think there are 20) handles a form of cooking: Breads. Cakes. Pies. The Cookie Jar. Ocean & Stream. Beef. Poultry. But there are a few others, too, like “Gift Receipts” with candy and confections and other gifty items, or Family Gatherings, with great menus for big family dinners. I love these so much — because some of these come from great estates such as Monticello or Mt Vernon, or taverns in Williamsburg, and other from plantations and farms, and still others from small but famous restaurants and inns throughout the byways of the south. Is there a New England series that's similar?
I'm also reading the Mary Randolph book — from 1840 or so — on how to housekeep and cook, too. Not that I'll ever make head cheese or use saltpeter, but it's the how and why that's added in that makes it so marvelous and fun to read.
Saiorse says
Have to recommend Mark Bittman “How to Cook Everything” – it was a wedding gift and very well used in my house.
Marion says
Yes! I second Bittman's book–it's like a younger, fresher (literally and figuratively) alternative to the venerable Joy of Cooking.
Pippi says
That's my go-to book! It's falling to pieces and I got my friend's dad to rebind it.
@HouseUnseen says
I agree about the Cook's Illustrated book being too “fancy” but I have to give a shout out to their more family friendly cookbook The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I have never loved a cookbook so much in my life. In fact, Joy of cooking has not come off the shelf since we started using it!
@Mrs_Ear says
Yes, the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook has become my go-to “comprehensive” cookbook, with a great standard recipe for pretty much any ordinary thing you'd want to make, and the one I recommend for novice cooks. I also loved Pam Anderson's How to Cook Without a Book when I was starting out, and often recommend it, too (though I get a lot of guff for it being a *book* telling you how to cook without one).
_Leila says
So, to clarify, it's not that I think you'd never need another cookbook — not at all! It's just that the ones you have at first need to teach you how to approach the others, by giving you a methodology. The ones I listed are the ones that I used!
Cate says
“pepper-corn cardamom carrot cake in eighteen steps” LOL! Oh how I know what you mean. We live in this odd, paradoxical time in our culture where domestic arts like cooking are not viewed as a necessity, but as some ornate hobby. They give us no scratch to start from, and they should know by now most of us learn essentially nothing about cooking in our upbringing, so yeah, you can't cook rice, but you need to know how to make terragon mango relish.
I have heard that the newest editions of Joy of Cooking are not as good as the older ones. It may have something to do with culinary snobbery working it's way in there, I don't know. I heard the really old versions tell you how to cook squirrel and such which makes me smile.
sibyl says
Absolutely agree. I got the Joy of Cooking (80's version) at a used bookstore and loved reading it — just the anthropological interest (cocktail hour, “luncheon” food, etc) makes it worthwhile, besides the good basic help.
For baking, may I suggest another book I got at that same place: The Wooden Spoon Bread Book” by Marilyn M. Moore. I learned to make bread out of it and still use it constantly. It explains everything but in an un-fussy, simple style that really takes the intimidation out of baking breads. (It doesn't do cakes or cookies, but crackers, pita, pizza dough, all types of grain breads, rolls, biscuits, festival breads.)
Becky says
I found the Joy of Cooking a bit too intimidating. What I actually found most helpful as a housewife was watching cooking shows- the good ones that were on PBS on Saturday and Sunday afternoons when I was a little girl. My mother is a terrible cook but somehow I figured out the importance of browning the meat, using actual butter and such via hearing Julia and Jeff discussing it so much. As a new housewife, I found the Better Homes cookbook to be the most immediately useful. While I didn't so much *learn* from it, I was able to get dinner on the table with it. As I grew in confidence and meal planning skills, I was ready to refer to Joy as needed. I will also say that I think the single most important thing to check is that somewhere you have a cookbook that will tell you how to butcher a whole chicken. It's an important skill if you are going to live frugally and a basic one but one that is depressingly absent from most modern cookbooks. I consider it something of a litmus test for cookbooks. Also, when ordering on the street in France, I was amazed at how many basic french food words I had picked up from the NAFTA labels on produce.
Annalisa says
I really enjoy Alice Waters, “The Art of Simple Food” for reading, and find it great for learning a lot of good techniques. Perhaps on the fancy side, it pairs well with the more foundational Joy of Cooking.
Maria says
Great list! I'm going to put in a plug for La Leche League's Whole Foods for the Whole family. When I was starting out and trying to be feed my family in a more healthy way, before it was the “foodie” thing to do, I learned a lot from it. It gives tons of suggestions for substitutions which gave me the confidence to use what I had, rather than slavishly following a recipe.
michelle says
I also like How to Cook Everything. I got it from my dad for Christmas the year I was in my first apartment. It's now in tatters, but i can't get the new edition because there are too many notes in it! I read it from cover to cover, and it was a revelation- you mean tomato sauce is that easy? My dad is an excellent cook, but there are some things he just doesn't do. Once you know your way around a kitchen without a recipe, get Kitchen Express for inspiration.
Jennifer says
I am so excited to learn that there are others out there that READ cookbooks as opposed to simply following the recipes! I love to cook and bake. I also usually change things up based on what is available from the garden or currently in the pantry or suits my tastes! I think having the background of The Joy book and various other old cookbooks from my grandmother (mostly church compilations) gives me confidence to experiment. By the way, most of the cookbooks from the 50s use shortening (which is awful), but work just fine when you use the same amount of REAL butter in place of the shortening. It may not be low-cal, but it is real, and, therefore, it has to be better for you!
Happy cooking, y'all!
Helene says
I bought the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook as a young bride and learned all the basics from it. 20 years and many children later I have my own personal collection of recipes but I still pull BH and G out every week for this n that! I have the hardback 3 ring binder edition and it has survived the years, splattered but intact!
Hafsa says
We actually have my husband's grandmother's copy of The Joy of Cooking and I will admit that no colorful pictures deterred me from opening it up, but now I see the book while nursing in my future 🙂
I have two go-to cookbooks: America's Test Kitchen family cookbook and ATK's family cookbook of quick recipes. I do agree about the questionable ingredients and the unnecessary steps though.
Sue says
Of course, some of us are prepared at the outset of marriage with our cookbooks, yet end up living in a culture where they seem completely useless – that is until Costco comes to town and finally offers those big cuts of meat shown in that long ignored section of my favorite cookbook! I spent the early years of marriage learning how to do everything completely differently from the way I saw Mom do it all my growing up years – I think I'm better for it, though.
My mom was decidedly not Egyptian, but loved pomegranates. She would buy one every year – around this time, it seems – and we would share it. It seemed so very exotic! They are pretty common here in Japan, too. Our neighbors have a pomegranate tree in their garden.
Julie says
I knew how to read and follow a recipe when I got married, but my knowledge in technique was sparse. Until reading this today, I hadn't given much thought to now I would teach my kids to cook. I like the idea of including technique instruction!
Faith says
I love Rodale's Basic Natural Food cookbook and More with Less, like Margo. A new bride who was housesitting our home “”forgot to return” my Joy of Cooking. Seriously.
ar_danziger says
My husband grew up with the Fannie Farmer cookbook and introduced me to it when we got married. I feel like I'm only just getting a handle on cooking, but at least I know for sure how to make a big pot of chicken soup from scratch (as in boiling bones) and it's a great feeling. I couldn't get my head around Joy of Cooking, but my copy was probably too new.
Lisa G. says
I have Julia's The Way to Cook – it's a great resource on how to do it. I also rely on my Betty Crocker from the 70s for reference. I don't own Joy of Cooking, but I learned how to cook the lamb shoulder chops for Easter dinner after my mother died from our library's copy – something led me to look in it, and their recipe is the guideline I follow.
Briana@mousehouse says
I have those! I have a few copies of The Joy for my girls when the leave the house because if you could believe that people were *throwing them out* at the library book sale? The horror. I read my cookbooks, too. Cover to cover. I have had a hard time with I Know How to Cook, that thing is a doorstop. Perhaps this winter in the doldrums I'll pick it up again. And another total favorite?Darina Allen's the Forgotten Skills of Cooking. That one is magnificent. OK, maybe it's Joy all sexied up with pictures, but still.
Let me tell you what conundrum I found myself in the other (Thanksgiving) day. I was expecting 24 people. I cooked for about 70. I kid you not. It was…well…we're still eating it.
I gave some away, even.
What I did not know, (though I can make a roux, and all kinds of stocks and basic good meals and then some extras), is how MUCH to cook.
I am going into the Christmas season armed with the knowledge that 23 people do NOT need 10 pounds of white potatoes for mashed, and another 10 pounds of sweet, and then a 2 gallon pan of stuffing…
I threw away the last of the potatoes today.
RubberChickenGirl says
This one says “1975” on the cover (The Joy of Cooking): http://www.amazon.com/JOY-OF-COOKING-Irma-Rombaue…
I grew up on the red and white gingham Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It was probably the only cookbook in the house as my Mom did nothing beyond cube steak and cream of mushroom soup dumped on everything. I discovered my love of baking through making apple turnovers from this book at about age 7 with the babysitter. I don't know if it is instructional over all. I am looking to get an older version for my collection.
RCG
Laura Jeanne says
I love old cookbooks. In fact, I have a Good Housekeeping cookbook from 1922! I also have a Fannie Farmer cookbook from 1906.
I second the vote for The Joy of Cooking. I don't think there is anything that isn't in there (although it is a bit scant on canning recipes). I also use The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (the red checkerboard one) a lot for basic things. I have a 1990s edition and one from the 70s, which I prefer more because it doesn't have low fat recipes. These types of books are great for just basic stuff like pancakes, biscuits, roast beef, scalloped potatoes… then you can embellish the recipes if you wish (but probably won't if you have small children).
A very nice cookbook which is more recent (2007), is The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. It has lots of explanation on technique (I think she talks for 2 pages about how to roast a chicken), and a fairly small number of basic recipes. Then, each recipe has potential embellishments at the end. I did intend to read this book cover to cover and do all the “practice” recipes, but I never got around to it. Ms. Waters puts a strong emphasis on simple meals using high quality, fresh whole foods.
Amanda says
Briana, I am just dying laughing at your Thanksgiving portion problem! Can we come over, my hungry hoard will eat enough for 70 in a couple days no problem 🙂
So, Auntie Leila, or anyone, what do you suggest for a busy homeschooling mom of four who has zero cooking experience? Like….my own mom's idea of dinner was a rice-a-roni box, canned vegetables, and overcooked chicken breast. That was on a good day. And we were not allowed in the kitchen at all, so I got married at 22 with zero cooking knowledge, worked 70+ hours a week as a teacher for a year until I had my first baby, and then have spent the last 5 years stumbling through trying to get any sort of dinner on the table each night as I had another three children. My husband has cooked dinner most nights for the last year and a half, and he's a great cook but disastrous at the basic concept that food must be on the table every day. So we're still a mess in the meal department and eat out far more than I care to admit.
So, where do I start in cooking for a family of 6? And asking me to list favorite meals to make is actually about 3 steps too far since a) my son is allergic to dairy and soy so my favorite childhood meals we can't eat (mac and cheese would have both my boys in the bathroom for an hour) and b) I don't make any meals so I have no favorites that I've made, lol! Except your Boston baked beans! I actually made that the day you posted it and it was fantastic. It's my one cooking success
sibyl says
Amanda, good for you for at least being game to try at this challenging time of life! I am a mother of 6 and have always enjoyed cooking but even I am daunted with the task at times.
May I recommend that you begin with learning basic categories first? Easiest would be to learn how to make a salad without the pre-bagged veggies. Don't worry about the main dish right now. Instead, find a simple recipe for green salad, maybe an easy homemade vinaigrette (and trust me, it's super easy).
After you feel you can put together at least a salad from scratch, try soup. Don't get fancy. Just start with canned broth, some chopped onions, carrots, and celery, perhaps some thawed frozen peas, and meat off a rotisserie chicken. Mess around with it until it seems like you might actually eat it.
Then pasta. Learn to make one easy pasta dish (I'm guessing a tomato-based one, since you have dairy allergies in the family.
Work your way up to something like a roast, which requires you to have a sense of timing about when every other element of dinner has to be begun.
If you master the category, you can learn to vary it as you gain confidence. Use Auntie Leila's recipes; they're easy and really great — Egyptian lasagne! Yum! Tomorrow night's dinner for us.
I would do one of these a week, not more.
Laura says
Sibyl's advice is great. I would just reinforce that you should get yourself copies of some of the recommended books–I gave my cousin a copy of the Help, My Apartment Has a Kitchen book mentioned earlier in the comments and that is a great place to start for very basic cooking. He mentioned over thanksgiving that he and his wife use that cookbook and the copy of How to Cook Everything I gave them for their wedding as their two most used cookbooks. I was pretty proud of that! I would also recommend the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook and a Joy of Cooking. Mark Bittman has a How To Cook Everything the Basics out and I gave that to a colleague who wanted to cook but just didn't know where to start. She was very big on step by step photos, which that book does provide.
Anyway, to build on sibyls advice, I thought I'd throw out a few more simple places to start with cooking:
Eggs/breakfast–these are usually really easy recipes, don't take a ton of time and comforting because they are hearty and familiar.
Salads, not just for sides but whole dinner salads–There is a whole post on those salads here on this blog and usually you can find a section on composed salads in a technique cookbook.
Chicken breasts–baked or done on the stove top with a pan sauce. Get a meat thermometer to make the whole is it done question slightly less scary.
Also, you might want to start with semi-convenience foods. Chicken or beef strips already sliced for fajitas, beef patties ready for hamburgers, stew beef already cut up into cubes and so on–get used to cooking the food and knowing how to get from raw to finished and then take the step to buying the larger cuts of meat that you prep yourself. I would not recommend the pre-prepared entrees as they don't really teach you anything and are often dry and kind of disappointing for what you spend, IMO.
Jenny says
Amanda, are we the same person? Except for the homeschooling and dairy allergies part, I think we might be the same person.
Emily says
Auntie Leila, your timing is, once again, uncanny! I spent this weekend silently lamenting my mediocrity as a cook. In fact, sometimes I'm downright below average! I don't burn stuff, and I enjoy the process, but very rarely do I finish a meal and feel I got it right. Either it took me forever, used odd ingredients, or was so plain and boring I don't want it again. Friends invite us over, and I don't have good go-to side dishes to bring along that are tasty and easy and healthy. Plus, I have high blood sugar that I am trying to manage with a low-carb diet, and that eliminates pasta, bread, and many casseroles. Sounds like I should put an old copy of the Joy of Cooking on my wish list and get reading.
Caitlin says
Love your suggestions! I have been wanting the 1975 edition of Joy forever, but I've been holding out that it will magically fall into my lap sometime at Goodwill. Still waiting on that. My current go-to for basics is Martha Stewart Cooking School. The directions are excellent and clear, but the tone is so…. Martha Stewart. I'd love something less obnoxious. Also I must say the pictures are stunning. But it is very practical and organized by method which I appreciate.
We always had a pomegranate for Christmas! So interesting. It was probably the most exotic thing my Polish grandparents ever ate, but it has become a tradition!
CaMama says
I don't own a lot of cookbooks even though I (and now my daughters) cook and bake every day. The books I've used most are “The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (for recipes and info), “The Moosewood Cookbook” (original edition) and the Mennonite “More with Less Cookbook.” I also have compiled my own binder of most-used recipes or recipes that my family particularly likes. I also have a separate binder for holiday and holy day recipes and use “The Continual Feast” as well for those occasions. My very first recipe book was the “La Leche League Cookbook” and I used it a lot as a newlywed and new mama. Now in this tech age, I use the Pioneer Woman's site a lot. She's never let me down and many of her recipes have been added to my personal recipe binder.
Margaret says
I don't know if it's been mentioned, but Shannon Hayes' Long Way on a Little is my new cookbook bible. She has a whole leftovers and soups section, it is mostly gluten free, and it is all real food. I consider myself a good an d experienced cook, but she has simple tips in there that have changed my life. Like, rather than needing to make chicken stock, make meat stock. Now I just save all my meat bones, regardless of species, together in a Big ziplock in the freezer until I have enough to make stock. Whole chicken carcasses get set aside to make strictly chicken stock.
natcu says
Thank you for this! I graduated in May and moved into my first little DC apartment and I've loved cooking and sharing food with my friends. I figured that now is the time in my life when I have all this spare time and I should really use it to learn to do something I already love.
_Leila says
Well, ladies, let me jump in here to try to make a distinction. Amanda, let me tell you:
This post was not about how to find good recipes.
There are good recipes — including wonderful ones featuring burrato and pomegranate and fun gluten-free things — in lots of places.
This post was about learning how to approach cooking systematically. Getting the mental equipment to face some food and do it justice. Also, to some extent, to keep the collective memory and not think that we are the first ones to think of browning butter just because, internet.
That is why I recommended a book called THE WAY TO COOK. If you come here to wonder HOW you will learn to cook, might I suggest buying it (or borrowing it from the library, where it is undoubtedly on the shelf — for sure, Mastering is there) — and USING it.
And I emphatically DO NOT suggest buying prepared little strips of meat or the like. In fact, if you want to learn, buy a whole chicken or whole pork butt with the bone in, open up Julia or Joy, and see what they say to do.
Learn to make a roux, and then how to make a slurry. Learn to reduce a stock (and make a stock). Learn to cream butter and sugar. Learn to debone a leg of lamb (including that tricky hip joint) and butterfly the meat. Learn to gut a fish and scale it. Learn why your eggs sometimes have a green ring around the yolk when you hard-boil them, and how to make meringue by heart.
I would NOT recommend starting with a casserole or a soup. Casseroles, soups, and indeed many many recipes are ways of using up meat and veg and starch that you have already cooked some other way. Bake a ham with the bone in (truly the easiest thing you will do — the hard part is choosing a good ham!) and then stand back and see the recipes make sense to you.
It's true that we have a tech age. The problem with it is what I tried to address in this post: You still need to sit down and figure some stuff out, not merely google your ingredients. How will you discern which of the 578,456 recipes will work? Only by knowing HOW cooking works.
Mark Bittman is a joke, honestly. Anyone who would even consider touching manufactured chicken has lost all my respect. Not to mention the stupid eggplant thing. No, we are not going to raise a family by giving them eggplant instead of meat. But then, he's not about family, is he. He's about the New York we're-all-beyond-meat-now mentality. He is doctrinaire and inconsistent. Martha Stewart makes things very pretty — I do love her ideas – but not all her more complex recipes work well. She has that thing going on of high expectations without reference to the crew of assistants behind the curtain.
PW you should know really does just take the recipes from Betty Crocker and photo every step. Nothing wrong with that, but why not get the original book? That cooking for engineers site is re-inventing the wheel (their way of curing salmon is so needlessly complicated — they were nothing to me after that). If they want to call themselves analytical, that's fine, but it seems like they should acknowledge those who went before them. I feel for Julia when I see something like that.
But who else but me will tell you this: When you are young (but not only then) is when you have the time to do justice to the work of a master-mind like Julia Child and learn TECHNIQUE. Why not just hop off of google and try it?
CaMama says
Leila, I think the problem with just getting a cookbook and trying to learn technique is that it is hard to do this without someone guiding a novice through step-by-step. That's were sites with lots of photos or simple cooking shows help. I learned how to cook from my mother, but I learned a lot from Sr. Beatrice, my high school home-ec teacher. She really gave me the confidence to work in the kitchen. With my own three girls, they helped me in the kitchen when they were young and then started taking over more and more – especially when I had the younger boys. They'd ask me if they were unsure about something, but they learned by experimentation and their mistakes as well. I am mostly hands-off with them now. My 15yo has mastered pie-making and now makes better crust than I do. She also makes great yeast breads. My 23yo made and canned applesauce from our apple trees this autumn. They learned this primarily from watching me. What I think I really did was de-mystify cooking for them and helped them to feel comfortable in the kitchen. My sister-in-law grew up with a lot of packaged and canned foods. Her mother was SAHM, but she liked to do everything herself. My SIL's pre-married life was preoccupied with school and after school activities, not anything domestic. She is amazed when she sees me whip up a pan of brownies from scratch for a quick dessert. The kitchen was and still is foreign place for her.
_Leila says
CaMama–
Yes, photos and cooking shows help. Fortunately, Julia has both 🙂 The Way to Cook has photos and Mastering has gorgeous drawings.
I love cooking shows. They are so much fun.
The question was what reading to do while your children are still young (or before they arrive). I think that there are certain books (no doubt in addition to the ones that happened to come my way, there are others) that are formational. It was very important to me to have these books that I could return to over and over, pondering their information.
Having a person to teach you would be awesome as well…
RubberChickenGirl says
Auntie Leila, you *are* a purest aren't you! Cutting up meat freaks me out and I have lived my whole life with lousy knives. You must talk about kitchen knives if you want to help us cook. I think my lack of knife skills and my overcooking all meat have been my constant weaknesses (my Mom who barely cooked, cooked all meat to the point of jerky and I am A. used to it that way and B. bad at judging donenness and C. Scared of the site of blood. Anyway, I am sure you cannot cure those things in me, but it would make my husband happy if I could not overcook his meat. I am not allowed to touch the Thanksgiving Turkey! (which gives me one less big job to do so we're all happy).
Just some thoughts….
RCG
Amanda says
“Learn to make a roux, and then how to make a slurry. Learn to reduce a stock (and make a stock). Learn to cream butter and sugar. Learn to debone a leg of lamb (including that tricky hip joint) and butterfly the meat. Learn to gut a fish and scale it. Learn why your eggs sometimes have a green ring around the yolk when you hard-boil them, and how to make meringue by heart. ”
::cries:: I have no idea what any of that even is, never mind how to DO it. Like, what's a slurry? Or a roux? How or why on earth would someone cream butter….or sugar? Does deboning mean to take the bone out of a piece of lamb? because, eww!! I've never even eaten lamb (I'm not that picky i just have never even seen anyone serve it). Butterfly meat? Uh……no idea what that is. And I don't know what a meringue is either. I have hard-boiled eggs a handful of times though!
So you see I really am hopeless in the kitchen, it's a whole language I don't understand with tools I don't know how to use. Just choosing what sort of pan/pot/whatever to use for some recipe requires a lot of mental thought.
Maybe I ought to just stick to peanut butter sandwiches…
ar_danziger says
I don't know what a roux is yet either, and I'd swear we had the same mom except my first name is Amanda too 😉
Don't give up, it's not hopeless. I totally understand where you're coming from. That's why Fannie Farmie works so well for me. There's a whole section in the beginning with a glossary and little illustrations of kitchen utensils and pans, and a small section at the start of each recipe category about the basic principles involved and how to identify and prepare different cuts of meat, etc. But I think all the books Leila suggested do that. It's like any subject, you have to do some research, then learn by doing, and not being too afraid to make mistakes. Maybe make it a family learning project with your kids. They have to learn to feed themselves one day too!
Rachel Nicholson says
I am loving this library series! Every time there's a post I follow the links over to amazon and buy one or more of your recommendations. I always get used books and sometimes for pennies + shipping. It's great because I know they'll be good. It's painful to accidentally buy a bad book. Anyway, I've just bought The Way to Cook and the “bad” cookbook to replace another “bad” cookbook that is in tatters and needs replacing. I'll be keeping my eye out for old editions of The Joy of Cooking as I thrift. Thanks so much!
Margaret Kelly says
What a delicious post! Do you ladies know Elizabeth George's work, e.g., A Book of Mediterranean Food? She was a progenitor of Julia Child and introduced many post-WWII British to the cuisine of France, Italy, Greece and Egypt. I think her cookbooks might be right up your alley, Lawlers!
Ann Marie says
I consider myself to be a fine cook-well, good enough anyway. I've been cooking since I was 13-my mom worked and she was thrilled when I stepped into the kitchen. I have devoured 100's of cookbooks in my life-yes, I can make a roux and a slurry, can cream butter and sugar, and can bake a loaf of bread, a batch of scones or biscotti that I'd put up against any “professional” variety. BUT, I've never been able to grasp “Joy of Cooking” or “Mastering”. Call me stupid, but it's too far above me. (having said that, maybe I should look up an older version…) And I'd sink if I had to clean a fish or debone a leg of lamb (hello, Mr Grocery Store Butcher?”) My point is, that people like YOU, dear Amanda, can cook decent meals for your fam w/o being an “expert” cook. My family would far prefer a casserole or soup over most any hunk of meat. (mind you, it absolutely has to have meat in it!) And side dishes? They almost don't exist in my home and yet, no one goes hungry and we eat relatively healthy. Take heart. And start small, but do start! 🙂
_Leila says
Ann Marie — since everyone eats and most people have to make some food once in a while, there are a million ways to approach the whole “learn to cook” issue.
Keep in mind that the post wasn't “If you're smart enough this is how you will do this.” It was “If you have time to read now, before your kids get old enough to notice, you might want to read these books that I read when I was younger, since you asked.”
That is all.
Ann Marie says
Oh yes, I understand your original post well and appreciate the encouragement it offers, as your other posts do, even when it's not completely relevant to me. And if I can find an old copy of JoC, maybe I'll know what to do with a cut of meat when I get it home too.
My only intent in commenting was to encourage Amanda that she didn't have to stick to pb&j to feed her family a decent meal, even if deboning a leg of lamb or cleaning a fish seemed like a foreign/unattainable feat. I see now that I could have replied directly to her comment. Duh.
Tamara says
I just got The Way to Cook based on your advice and I am loving it. Thanks!
Michal the Girl says
I love “How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman. Sorry, I do! One of the best cooks I know gave it to me as a wedding gift. As a person he's exactly what you said, but I have learned SO much from that cookbook. It's simple explanations and variations, and I can look up almost any food and learn in a few paragraphs the basics I need to know. It's systematic and trained me in the how and why, giving me the confidence to change recipes as needed/desired.
Now that I've got that off my chest, I'll go read my mom's ancient copy of Joy of Cooking, and find out what all the buzz is about! In my defense, Mom never used it. She was a Betty Crocker user, but she just wants recipes. She's not interested in comprehensive understanding of technique. She thinks I'm a little crazy for the time and energy I put into cooking.
Teri Pittman says
I know, it’s a old thread. But my favorite cookbook is The Commonsense Kitchen by Tom Hudgens. Every recipe I’ve tried has been excellent. My late husband used to use a Searchlight cookbook from the 40s. The recipes use less sugar than modern cookbooks.
Leah says
Maybe I missed it, but do you have a recommendation on the best edition? I would love to find a copy. It seems that the older versions are better, but is there one that is the best?
Leah says
I mean to say – do you suggest a certain edition of The Joy of Cooking?
Leah says
I’m sorry. I missed it at the top of the post, 1975 edition.