I like Bittman, but I've found that some of his recipes aren't quite as well-tested as they could be. For example, roasting times can be wildly off. I'm not the only person to notice this. The recent edition of the Gourmet cookbook is another comprehensive cookbook that has well-tested recipes. It has one big design failure--recipe titles are in yellow ink, and almost invisible.

Any thoughts on a bookstore in DC with a big selection of cookbooks. Looking for one to give a young mom and her two somewhat picky kids to cook together.

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I bought Bittman's book last week after I got home from the Netherlands, saw how broke I was, and decided it was time to learn how to cook my own food.

For the first time, I was able to go to the grocery store, buy all the greens I always wanted to buy but never knew how to store, prepare, or make delicious. Never even had to call my mom to ask dumb questions about food storage or cooking times. The next night I made an actual dish for a group dinner, and it tasted good.

Great recommendation, and I only bought it because you talked about it so much. Thanks!!

I've got a bunch of cookbooks, but if I had to live with only one, it would either be "Joy of Cooking" or Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking."

Marcella was my first real cookbook - taught me to take my ingredients more seriously.

I like Bittman, and rely on him as a reference, but not only would I second the above comment about his recipe testing, but I would also add that his baking recipes are seriously suspect - I have serious cooking friends who won't use any of them, rather than get burned (ha!) again.

Oooh, ooh, list time!

The Best Recipe- Cook's Illustrated
A scientific, perfectionist approach to cooking

The Dean & Deluca Cookbook- David Rosengarten
An extremely useful method book (in-depth information about techniques and ingredients) with a large selection of high cuisine recipes.

The Three Rivers Cookbooks I-IV- Child Health Assoc' of Sewickley
Indespensible "home cooking" collection contributed to by the residents of Pittsburgh. Vol I has the Parcel Torte, the most perfect dessert known to man.

Graham Kerr's Best- Graham Kerr
An excellent mid- to low-fat cookbook. Kerr was better known as the Galloping Gourmet, but his work on healthy versions of standard (and some esoteric) recipes was really outstanding.

James Beard's Menus for Entertaining- James Beard
It's James Beard. The book consists of menus for all occasions, with each recipes for each course, from "An unusual, elegant buffet party for 12" to a "Party for a teen-age crowd." Lots of great ideas.

Jacques Pepin Celebrates- Jacques Pepin
The most concise and useful collection of excellent French recipes I have ever seen.

Probably the short list of my favorites.

Nolo, Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" is easily the best one I have. Too bad it is long out of print (at least the last time I checked) and my copy is falling apart.

By the way, I have that Better Homes cookbook in the back from the '60s from my mom's kitchen.

I'd add
Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking
by Nancie McDermott

Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province (Hardcover)
by Fuchsia Dunlop (Author)

Glorious French Food: A Fresh Approach to the Classics by James Peterson

Splendid Soups: Recipes and Master Techniques for Making the World's Best Soups by James Peterson

I've got a not too old Emily Vanderbilt cookbook -- recipes are not so interesting, but all the little line drawrings sprinkled throughout the book are by "Andrew Warhol"

I also like the big Italian cookbook, called "Silver Spoon" I think

Well, I guess I just did all my Christmas shopping for myself!

Here's my contribution to the recommendations

-Bills Food

Bill Granger has a number of really lovely cafes in Sydney, and everything in this book is light and fresh and just yummy. His recipe for crepes with ricotta filling and bitter orange sauce is fantastic, but my favourite recipe is the one for Apple and Blueberry shortcake. The crust is sweet and crumbly, and it's a wonderful dessert because you can assemble it hours in advance, leave in the fridge, then place in the oven during dinner, so it's hot and fresh when you serve it. Mind-blowingly good.

Granger's Sydney Food is similarly fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Bills-Food-Bill-Granger/dp/0060740477/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228948748&sr=1-1

cakes to dream on by collette peters and nueva salsa by rafael palomino
the pictures are simply fantastic

Commented over at IFA, but the comments here thus far are very impressive. Not a stinker in the lot IMHO. Fnor, the Three Rivers collection is a local gem, isn't it? I was just re-reading mom's over Thanksgiving. Great stuff.

James Beard's Fireside Cookbook (1949) has just been reprinted with an new intro by Bittman.

It's a great book.

RoboticGhost: I couldn't get by without the Three Rivers Collection. Glad to see someone else who appreciates some good yinzer food ;). It never ceases to amaze me what families can cook up and refine over generations. I think, sadly, we're losing that aspect of our culture, and it's a shame.

Napoleon, Hazan's original "Classic Italian Cook Book" and its sequel are out of print, but "Essentials" (which is a compilation of the two) is not. Click here for the Amazon listing.

Got the new How To Cook Everything, had the old one. Really prefer the new one. I think part of it is me being a less picky eater now and a better cook, but the recipes seem more streamline. What I love about it is being able to tell my husband "check How To Cook Anything" when he has a question.

My two to add to the list:
Pamela Anderson "How to Cook Without a Book" She's a former Cook's Illustrated editor, and this book is basically a guide to weaning you off of recipes, giving basic formulas for hearty soups, omelets, roast butterflied chicken, etc. The proportions are rounded off and easy to remember.

"The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book" I've been working through this one and it is fantastic. If you want a cookbook for making foolproof yummy stuff this is it. It has the basics, but also heads off into both the heartland and yuppie realms. There is a chapter on rustic breads with ciabatta and the others. Headed for harder times? This has a chapter on how to bake a wedding cake. The snickerdoodle recipe rocks hard. I love madelines, got a pan as a gift a few years back. The cooked dough recipe in Joy of Cooking always scared me off. But I made the one in here and they were wonderful. (Didn't keep though - will have to make on a weeknight to bring leftovers to work.) Also has French Macarons and lots of other fancy cookies. It does include pizza in the category of baking, as well as a chapter or two on breakfast. Yeah, I'm a bit soft on the it.

I'd add Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone." I'm not vegetarian (lard, anyone?), but it's the single most used cookbook in my library. More than Bittman's. I'll frequently consult both for ideas, but if I had to pick one, the nod goes to Madison. Her recipes are largely infallible, invariably delicious, and the range of techniques (made comprehensible for bumblers like me) and ingredients is truly remarkable.

The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

Affordable, reliable, usable.

Try it - you'll like it.

P

Excited about the cookbook recommendations. Not as thrilled about the Amazon linking (though I know it benefits the blog). For readers looking to buy from independent booksellers, one thought is to check www.indiebound.org...

Great picks, all. I use How to Cook Everything enough to have made it worth purchasing. And though I don't have Colicchio's book, Craft is one of my favorite restaurants ever, so I'd be interested to try it out. I also would like to second someone else's suggestion of Deborah Madison's book, although its philosophy is the polar opposite of Bittman's. Probably averaging 10 more ingredients per recipe and three extra steps, but generally always for a reason.

I'm chiming in here, however, because I can't believe no one has yet mentioned The Joy of Cooking. It's really the canonical resource. And the 6th edition, published in 1997, is modern enough for me to actually make the recipes instead of modifications of them. Highly recommended.

pictures are simply fantastic

I'll second or third the earlier mentions of Marcella Hazan's "Essentials." That's the one that taught me that the fewer ingredients, the better. But not in that overly simplistic way that Bittman sometimes falls into--especially regarding instructions. Minimalism works when you're a whiz, but not for shmoes like me. Hazan is also, like Child, a good writer. I'd also add any of Bayless' books. If ever you eat at Topolobampo or Frontera you'll see why they're both one of the Obama's favorites. My outlier is "Mrs. Chiangs Szechwan Cookbook," little-known but sworn by by several people who lived in China and has served us well. The chicken with smoked tea leaves alone is worth the price of the book. Speaking of which, time to eat....

I don't think Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking has ever been out of print, and as noted above it is certainly in print now. However, even were it not, the interwebs is your friend, and you can find hundreds of used copies available through services like www.bookfinder.com (along with new ones).

The two volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, et al., remain, together, my favorite cookery book of all. Always in print, by the way. Of Julia's other books, The Way to Cook is probably the all-round most useful. The lovely memoir (as told to her nephew), which came out after she died, called My Life in France, while not a cook book, gives you one last listen to Julia's glorious voice.

I'm a big fan of Cookwise, by Shirley Corriher. Rather than a cookbook, it's sort of a book of kitchen experiments that demonstrate why and how things work the way they do in cooking, and have the happy side-effect of producing tasty things for you to eat.

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Deborah

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Love all of Marcella's work (duh) and love Joy.

A few more favorites:

Fields of Greens. Yes, from the famous San Francisco vegetarian restaurant, and this cookbook is just fantastic, whether you're a carnivore, a vegan, or something in-between. Every recipe I've ever tried turned out fabulously, and I make the banana-coconut bread so often, it's almost a weekly thing around here.

The New York Cookbook by Molly O'Neill. Good grief, but I adore this book. Great carrot cake, wonderful soups, and all manner of local goodies--as you'd expect, since O'Neill interviewed not only chefs, but long-time NYC residents of every ethnicity who adore their food and love making it themselves even more.

The Moosewood Cookbook Desserts. If you're ever in Ithaca, go to the original Moosewood restaurant--it's veggie, and it's awesome. The regular cookbook is fantastic, too, but the dessert one is out of this world. My favorite recipe is the polenta poundcake.

(Yeah, I have a sweet tooth. So??)

Gourmet Cookbook, both volumes. Pick it up in a 2d hand bookstore or presumably online. it's got everything you'll ever need.

Craig Claiborne's Southern Cooking. Built around recipes from the recipes his mother used in her boardinghouse in Mississippi.

Anything by Edna Lewis.

Depending on the person, it is always a good idea to give a solid intro cookbook like Joy of Cooking or Better Homes and Gardens. I like Julia Child's The Way to Cook and anything in Stabler's Food that Schmecks line.

Another old-school cook here. Joy of Cooking as the basic, Hazan and Julia Child as the most-used add-ons.

Note that for Joy, the 1997 edition is horrible and should be avoided.

It's not really a cookbook, but The Flavor Bible by Page and Dornenburg is extremely useful as a general cooking resource, at least for cooks who are experienced enough to cook without a recipe.

Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking
by Nancie McDermott

Ooh! I didn't know about this one, but her Curry Book is absolutely wonderful. Very accessible, reasonably authentic (she lived in SE Asia for years, IIRC), consistently successful recipes. Actually inspired my wife to go to Amazon to write a review simply to spread the word.

Yeah, Bittman's cooking times for baking can be way over while those for meat can be way under.

Nigel Slater's Appetite is a mainstay. Claudia Roden's Arabesque. (Her books on Middle Eastern and Jewish food are also wonderful.) Nigella's baking book, from before she became ubiquitous. Deborah Madison's for vegetarian stuff, though her ingredient list can sometimes be a bit obscure. (Even more so with Fields of Greens.)

Another great supplemental cookbook: Madhur Jaffrey's "World Vegetarian". I'm not vegetarian, but it is a great resource, and it has useful pictures of grains so you cna figure out what they are, and every recipe I've used has been delicious.

That Better Homes cook book you have pictured on the left is the one I grew up with in the sixties and seventies. There's certainly nothing elite about it and a lot of the meals are high in calories and fat, but for learning the basics of cooking it's hard to beat.

Some of my favorites focus more on technique than recipe, which I think is something that everyone should pay more attention to. It makes it much easier to cook without recipes when you've mastered techniques. I'd recommend:

Jacque Pepin's Complete Techniques

and Jill Prescott's

Ecole de Cuisine

Both are very Francocentric, of course.

I'd also second the Silver Spoon rec, but note that the instructions are extremely sparse -- kind of "take all the ingredients on the list and cook them in a pan", so it's not as good for beginners.

Field of Greens is a reliable go-to book.

As for Cooks Illustrated, I love it and I hate it, but would ultimately recommend it.

Also, Rick Bayless is awesome. I could never have survived living in Germany without him.

If you are looking for an interesting gift for a foodie, this quarterly publication is unique and fascinating.
http://www.artofeating.com/index.html

I really believe that these social networks will have a huge impact on what we can accomplish as groups, it'll help us be very organized and communicate.