Anyway, Rob asked a question in chat that would have led to a long non-baseball answer, so I offloaded it here:
Hi Keith, any suggestions on good cookbooks for beginners? I’m not looking for recipes so much as I’m looking for basic principles and techniques–the how’s and why’s of cooking.
Here are a few suggestions:
- Joy of Cooking
, 1997 edition. This was my starter cookbook. It’s pretty comprehensive both in terms of included recipes and ingredient descriptions. The more recent edition took out a lot of useful content, unfortunately.
- How To Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food
. Another comprehensive-primer book, one I’ve bought for many friends who told me they wanted to learn to cook. I actually don’t own this one; I tend to only buy genre cookbooks now, like The Cuisines of Spain
.
- I’m Just Here for the Food: Version 2.0
. I learned to cook primarily via Joy and from Alton Brown, mostly through his TV show, Good Eats. Food Network shows Good Eats reruns daily, so if you watch those and get this, his first book, you’ll be in pretty good shape.
Feel free to add your own suggestions for Rob below.
I’m a beginner myself and have been using How to Boil Water (food network kitchens). I’ve found it to be informative and detailed. I’m going to take Keith’s reccomendation and track down a 97′ J.O.C. as well.
Joy of Cooking for general is best. I have the Alton book but rarely drag it out. It’s not a bad book but the RPP (recipe per page) ratio is lacking. And it isn’t nearly as entertaining as the show.
And, like Keith, I’m into genre books at this point.
Keith, I think you nailed it. There are so many books out there, but these are really the essential books for a beginner. I’m Just Here for the Food was the biggest help for me, and I think anyone could benefit from the knowledge of the whys and hows of cooking. Recipe books don’t provide much in the way of improvement of cooking skills. J.O.C. ’97 is a great book to have after getting a hang of the basic processes of cooking. It’s the best book out there to use as a reference. After those two, it’s probably time to invest in a few genre books that are more specific to interests. The good genre books have explanations of specific processes needed as well as recipes.
What, no “Cooking for Dummies”?
I prefer the Cliff’s Notes for Cooking
J.O.C. & Good Eats were my primers as well and I’ve become pretty fearless in the kitchen. Jamie Oliver’s original show “The Naked Chef” (available on DVD) and now his “Jamie at Home” series have influenced my cooking greatly as well. His ‘rough and ready’ style that stresses quality ingredients and handfuls or dashes instead of prescribed measurements is liberating in that it teaches that its more about feel and taste than 1+1=2. I can’t follow a recipe to save my life so I think the key for me was learning the basic cooking techniques and just figuring out when to use them.
Keith, do you ever read old cookbooks? I have the ’73 Joy, and it is really an amazing read. It gives a great snapshot of how food in America has evolved- who eats aspics any more, or needs to know how to skin a possum? The essays at the beginning of the book are great too. There is a lot of food science info, and even though a lot of their science is not quite correct, there is just an innate understanding on how to balance meals for nutritional value. It also touches on a lot of issues that we think of as modern, such as the feasibility of a primarily meat-based diet and the possible health risks of industrial farming. I had no idea people had been thinking about those issues for so long.
Did all the comments from previous posts go bye-bye when the site went down? 🙁
Kyle: A ton of them were lost, yes. The database file was corrupted, and unfortunately my backup file was corrupted as well. Had it happened in January, I could have taken more time to try to salvage them, but obviously this is a busy time at work.
Following up on chris’ comment, we have both the ’75 and the ’97 editions, and one of the notable omissions from the ’97 is the entire alcoholic drinks section.
The ’97 edition also left out ice cream recipes, but at the same time omitted a section of recipes built on processed ingredients like condensed soups. I understand the most recent edition brought those back, at a cost of various other good recipes from throughout the ’97 book.
I do have a few older cookbooks at home, given by relatives, but I find I stick to the same 3-4 for the basics, Joy being one of them.
I would also add to the list Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed by Shirley O. Corriher. Shirley is/was a frequent contributor to Good Eats (I haven’t seen her in any of the newer episodes), especially to explain the science behind a particular food concept.
I think I’ve got the ’73 Joy as well, it was my mom’s copy when she moved away from home. I enjoy the articles on skinning things you normally wouldn’t consider edible. It’s an interesting snapshot, definitely.
Veganomicon isn’t as complete as I’d like it to be, but I think it’s the best vegan/vegetarian cookbook my wife and I have found so far. A lot of really fantastic recipes we eat regularly (and we’re not really vegan or vegetarian).
The best suggestion I can give – just don’t be afraid. Sounds stupid, I know, but really that’s the secret. Just don’t be afraid of it.
8 years ago (at age 23) the most I would cook was chicken on a George Foreman. Now?
You name it – just about any dish, any cuisine … from Wiener Schnitzel to Pasta Carbonara.
You just need to accept it’s not brain surgery and give it a shot … it’s not nearly as hard as you think.
How about Alice Waters’s “The Art of Simple Food”. It gave me the confidence to roast a chicken for the first time. .Lots of good recipes and tips. . recipes focus on fresh herbs rather than dried too, which is nice.
Keith,
Off topic but didnt know where to post.
I am a big fan of Baskin Robbins peanut butter chocolate ice cream. Have you ever made anything like this or have a ice cream recipe? Thanks for your time.
Logan – never made peanut butter ice cream, but I’ve made plenty of ice cream. Lots of egg yolks, no whites, definitely cook the mixture to 160, then let it age overnight in the fridge. Peanut butter is fatty so it’s possible that a recipe will include fewer yolks to compensate.