Call for 10 essential cookbooks and a giveaway

June 13, 2012 by
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old cookbooks
Our friends at Food52 have an interesting challenge on their site — one that’s right up our members’ alley. As they describe it:

“Every home cook has their cookbooks: the ones front and center on their shelf, the ones they turn to advice, for courage, for inspiration. We want to hear yours. Leave your 10 essential cookbooks in the comments section of this post (we know, it’s hard), and help us create The FOOD52 Cookbook Library. We’ll choose the top 10 cookbooks from all of your answers…And the best part? One lucky commenter who submits their top 10 will win Jane’s original painting of The Food52 Essential Cookbooks (a $345 value).”

If there’s any group that knows their cookbooks, it’s the EYB group, so we thought this would be fun for all of you. And, of course, it’s also fascinating to see what others think the top 10 cookbooks should be!

Category: Book News

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12 Comments

  • scparks  on  June 13, 2012

    1. Joy of Cooking, take your pick as to which year!
    2. No Need to Knead, Suzanne Dunaway
    3. The Cake Doctor Book, Ann Byrn
    4. The Cuisine of California, Diane Rossen Worthington
    5. Hershey's, any of the many Hershey's Cookbooks…the covers alone look like chocolate.
    6. Grilling and BBQ, Cooks Illustrated Best Recipe Series
    7. Twelve Months of Monastery soups, Brother d'Avila- Latourette
    8. Cooks Illustrated Cookbook, Cooks Illustrated
    9. Cookbooks of the World–Chinese, Italian, Provincial French, Spain, Germany volumes, Time Life Series
    10. Latest best friend–Cake Doctor Bakes Gluten Free, Ann Byrn

  • Jane  on  June 13, 2012

    These are the 10 that I put up on Food52 then instantly thought "What, no Jamie Oliver?". I suspect I will remember more I should have listed – but then, what to drop?

    Cook This Now by Melissa Clark;
    Feast by Nigella Lawson;
    Appetite by NIgel Slater;
    Sunday Suppers at Lucques by Suzanne Goin;
    The Ottolenghi Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi;
    Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan;
    All About Braising by Molly Stevens;
    The New York Times Essential Cookbook by Amanda Hesser;
    The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz;
    Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian

  • billroper  on  June 13, 2012

    Mastering the Art of French Cooking – Julia Child
    The Art of Simple Food – Alice Waters
    Michel Guerard's Cuisine Gourmande
    Alastair Little's Keep it Simple
    The Lee Brother's Southern Cookbook
    Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant
    America's Test Kitchen Menu Cookbook
    George Perrier's Le Bec-Fin Recipes
    The Big Fat Duck Cookbook – Heston Blumenthal
    il viaggio di vetri – Marc Vetri

    Ack! I can't believe that I cut Ottolenghi and Pepin!

  • adrienneyoung  on  June 13, 2012

    Julia Child: Mastering, vol 1. Dorie Greenspan: around my French table; Marcella Hazan: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking; Richard Sax: classic home desserts; Yotam Ottolenghi: Plenty; hensberger's and Kaufmann: the ultimate rice cooker cookbook; Thomas Keller: Bouchon; Grace Young: Breath of a Wok; Fuschia Dunlop: land of plenty; Patricia Wells: Salad as Meal.

  • sir_ken_g  on  June 14, 2012

    Delicioso! The regional Cooking of Spain – Penelope Casas
    Hot and Sour Salty and Sweet – a culinary journey through SE Asia.
    Japanese Cooking a Simple Art –Tsuij
    Classic Indian Cooking – Julie Sahni
    Land of Plenty – Fuchsia Dunlop
    Eating Koran – Clelia Hae-Jin Lee
    The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking – Mai Pham
    Unmentionable Cuisine – Calvin W. Schwabe
    All About Braising – Molly Stevens
    Fanny Farmer– 11th Edition (1965) – Wilma Lord Perkins

  • ellabee  on  June 14, 2012

    Joy of Cooking (Irma Rombauer) … Vegetarian Epicure (Anna Thomas, counting bks 1&2 as one) … Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Deborah Madison) … Authentic Mexican (Rick Bayless) … Classic Indian Cooking (Julie Sahni) … Silver Palate &/or SP Good Times (Sheila Lukens, Julee Rosso) … Couscous and Other Good Food of Morocco (Paula Wolfert) … Art of Simple Food (Alice Waters) … The Victory Garden Cookbook (Marion Morash) … The Essentials of Cooking (James Peterson)

  • Breadcrumbs  on  June 14, 2012

    In no particular order and with apologies to all the other books I treasure!

    1. Stir – Barbara Lynch
    2. Molto Gusto – Mario Batali
    3. Italian Grill – Mario Batali
    4. Mexican Everyday – Rick Bayless
    5. Off The Shelf – Donna Hay
    6. Martha Stewart Cookbook, Collected Recipes for Everyday – Martha Stewart
    7. La Mia Cucina Toscana – Pino Luongo
    8. 1000 Italian Recipes – Michele Scicolone
    9. The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook – Ina Garten
    10. Vegetable Love – Barbara Kafka

  • schenck65  on  June 14, 2012

    How to Cook Everything (Bittman)
    Marcella's Italian Kitchen (Hazan)
    Appetite (Nigel Slater)
    The Art of Simple Food (Waters)
    Chez Panisse Vegetables (Waters)
    The Best Recipe (Cook's Illustrated)
    Fanny Farmer Cookbook
    The Way to Cook (Child)
    The Gourmet Cookbook (yellow)
    On Food & Cooking: the Science and Lore of the Kitchen–I know it's not a cookbook, but it's essential (McGee)

  • okcook  on  June 16, 2012

    No particular order but these books are the ones I turn to for trusted recipes with great flavours
    Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, D. Madison
    The Complete Asian Cookbook, Charmaine Solomon (fantastic…on my second copy)
    The New Best Recipes, Cooks Illustrated 2004
    The Complete Middle East Cookbook, Tess Mallos
    The Way to Cook, Julia
    The New York Times Cookbook 1961, C. Claibourne
    The Fine Art of Italian Cooking, Giuliano Bugialli
    Ad Hoc at Home, T. Keller
    Mexican Kitchen, R. Bayless
    Weber's Big Book of Grilling, Jamie Purviance and Sandra McRae

  • sabrina7  on  June 16, 2012

    Americas Test Kitchen family baking book and Americas Test Kitchen family cookbook (all of their cookbooks are amazing), Good to the Grain: Baking with whole grain flours, Rachael Ray's Classic 30 minute meals, The art and soul of baking, Vegetarian cooking for everyone ( I am not a vegetarian, but wanted to cut meat out of some of my families diet. this book is great), Pie in the Sky ( I live in high altitudes, this book has recipes and tips for adjusting all baked goods recipes), Quinoa 365, the best vegetables recipe by cooks illustrated, and Under the Tuscan Sun (this is not a cookbook, but does have some amazing recipes throughout).

  • Lauraine  on  June 16, 2012

    The Constance Spry Cookbook, The Cooks Companion by Stephanie Alexander, Forgotten Sklls of Cooking by Darina Allen, The Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon, Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child et al., Vegetables from
    Amaranth to Zucchini by Elizabeth Schneider, The Savory Way by Deborah Madison, Silver Palate, The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden, Cooking at Home Karen Martini.

  • dmihic  on  June 17, 2012

    The New Best Recipe Cookbook, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, The Best Recipes of the World By Bittman, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan, Baking by Dorie Greenspan, Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors, Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Lewis and Poliafito, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten.

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