Any other cookbook readers?

Submitted by My_Poor_Nerves t3_xvomei in books

I like to scroll through cookbooks, especially while eating breakfast. I think they sort of function as picture books for adults. The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook has some amazing vintage recipes for salmon mousse (so, so very 1970's!) and chilled lime souffle that have so much more "scope for the imagination" than badly written novels, for instance.

I do especially love gimicky cookbooks that tie into literature too. The Anne of Green Gables cookbook is really well put together and I finally got to get my hands on the monkeyface cookie recipe I was so curious about as a kid.

And the personal stories and histories included in some cookbooks (like the Zingerman's Bakehouse one) can read, if well-written, like memoirs.

Any other bibliophiles make forays into the tasty world of cookbooks?

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no_remakes t1_ir265dh wrote

Pat Conroy did an excellent cookbook and I enjoyed dipping in and out of that. Depending on where in the world you are you get different ones so James Martin (Yorkshire cook) did one about going around the US that I found interesting, Rick Stein did one about specialist farmers in the UK and the different things they grew/kept and how these local flavours were so important and both of them do little anecdotes.

Keith Floyd was an absolute master of this though. His books were very entertaining.

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clockworkdance t1_ir287jt wrote

"picture books for adults" -- I love that!

I don't cook very much and I struggle with anything beyond basics, but I am always checking out random color-photo-laden cookbooks by women from the library, partly for the pictures and partly because, exactly, I love the personal stories they include to introduce each recipe.

I've collected a few of Susan Branch's cookbooks, just because her hand-drawn illustration style is so perfectly whimsical (and her recipes aren't half-bad, either). It's not summer until I've cracked open The Summer Book.

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IndigoTrailsToo t1_ir29b9n wrote

Hi, there are a couple of book clubs that center around fiction books that have food in them. For example, "cook the books" seems to be an internet book club where anyone can read any of the books and then write their own blog post response, kind of Tumblr style comment linking.

You might also enjoy fiction books that are heavily inspired by food like the Julie and Julia my year of cooking dangerously. Another book that I have been thinking about is called sourdough by Robin sloan.

There are all kinds of gimmicky cookbooks out there where you make everything there is one style. For example, one pot cookbooks where you make everything using minimal dishes, or where are you make everything inside of a slow cooker or a smoke cooker or inside of a steam cooker etc. They are also other cookbooks that have cutesy themes like cook like a man and the dude diet

I've seen a lot of cookbooks while trying to shop for family members and holiday gifts but I just don't really recommend very many of them at all. So many of them like you said are just rehashed and it's kind of expensive to pick up a cookbook just for the pictures. Normally I would consider checking out your local library and renting books that way as well but when there is food around I feel hesitant with a borrowed book.

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Cattanooga_Choo_Choo t1_ir33d1n wrote

I love to read cookbooks! I probably own around fifty, and not a day goes by that I don’t flip through one at some point. I find it very relaxing. :)

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Ok_Aioli1990 t1_ir37u4f wrote

I love cookbooks too. All kinds and varieties. I love vintage and regional spiral bound as well as professional and niche. You never know where you will get a good recipe or idea from. I'm always having to cull mine out. Mostly I'm fantasy cooking though

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My_Poor_Nerves OP t1_ir39bpd wrote

Replying to Ok_Aioli1990 (#32,637)

I hear you on the fantasy cooking! I think books in general are wonderful for escapism, and imagined cooking escapism is just a special sort of awesome. I'm never going to make that leftover Thanksgiving turkey pie with stuffing crust, but the idea of it is fun.

And, yes, vintage and regional are so much fun. We bought a little spiral-bound cookbook at a craft fair a few years ago and it had something like 22 different recipes for nutroll. It feels like a historic artifact. 😄

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NANNY-NEGLEY t1_ir3bn1b wrote

True story -

Years ago I used to record tape cassettes with me reading cookbooks aloud. It was a "Reading for the Blind" program in my area. When I questioned why blind people needed to make 48 stuffed peppers, etc., I was told that the tapes were also used for people who could only learn by audio. Had me scared there for a minute!

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coloradogirlcallie t1_ir3gc48 wrote

If you like the Anne of Green Gables cookbook, check out the Little House on the Prairie one.

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My_Poor_Nerves OP t1_ir3hf9v wrote

Replying to coloradogirlcallie (#33,111)

Ooh. I've always been curious as to how tasty "apples and onions" from Farmer Boy might be. Speaking of which, it occurs to me that I can't remember the plot of Farmer Boy being much beyond a long list of various dishes consumed at meals. 😊

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samwaswiseandgamgee t1_ir3lnln wrote

I love cookbooks. I don't even really care too much what they're about. I have been a vegetarian for 5 years, so I like to get ones that I can use in my own cooking (mostly Eastern cultures), but I will seek out anything fresh with a unique voice. I also really like chef memoirs and travel food books.

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PoorPauly t1_ir3m0kd wrote

Read Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.

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Aunt-jobiska t1_ir3o78s wrote

Oh yes. I have 40 or so in most genres, dating from the 1880s to 2021. I browse for fun, but also use them regularly, sometimes adapting recipes.

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EBLS t1_ir4fbpu wrote

Replying to clockworkdance (#31,066)

Yes! I came here to say I love that, too.

I was gifted the Tartine and Christina Tosi books (mostly baked goods) and they both have great writing, anecdotes and photos to look through. They’re all very involved recipes though so I don’t often feel like I can tackle one of the recipes in the moment. They require a bit of prep & shopping.

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Temporary-Koala-8940 t1_ir4jfgq wrote

I am a terrible cook, preferring quick recipes. Usually along the lines of chop stuff, fry it. Add rice or noodles. Done.

But I like cookbooks. Particularly those with pictures, stories about the culture of the recipe or links to novels.

Unfortunately I had to downsize my library and most of my cookbooks got tossed out in the great purge of 2022. At least now, that there is some order restored I can find and read the survivors.

I hope the rest really ended up at a juvenile prison, as promised and perhaps one of the kids there learns to love cooking.

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fancylamas t1_ir5wdrp wrote

A unique hybrid, cookbook slash memoir writer Ruth Reichl, she is amazing. Her stories and recipes strewn throughout are legend. She recounts opening Chez Panisse with Alice Waters, Bruce Aidel's andouille stuffing ( which I make every Thanksgiving), and working as an undercover restaurant critic for the New York Times in her various books.

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Disparition_2022 t1_ir70edx wrote

I love cookbooks though I have to admit I use them in a rather utilitarian way, just going to recipes that look good and trying to make them, rather than sitting and reading through all the personal stories and such. My favorites are Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and New American Table by Marcus Samuelson. I also really enjoy some of Jamie Oliver's books, particularly those about Spain and Italy.

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samwaswiseandgamgee t1_ir8gktz wrote

Replying to nomadiclibrarian (#37,842)

Bryant Terry is one of my favorite cookbook authors. His books are afro-vegan and southern soul food. The recipes can have some pretty ourlandish ingredients, but most of them easy to replace with something more accesible.

Meera Sodha and her vegetarian Indian cookbooks are incredible. I have learned some much just from trying stuff out. I've also just revently discovered Madhur Jaffrey's wide world of cookbooks. Her World Vegetarian book have something like 600 recipes in it and the few I've tried so far have been great.

Bad Manners (formerly Thug Kitchen) again are vegan, but they're a lot more accessible than most out there. Their cookbook was the first one I bought when I went veg and I still make variations of their Collards and blackeyed peas.

If you're interested in more Eastern recipes, this is one of my favorite food blogs. https://hebbarskitchen.com/

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