Cookbook for beginners

Having eaten take out since I was 5 (I'm 26 now), I want a good beginners' cookbook that I can use, in conjunction with cooking classes (I'm thinking of the basic 3-class one offered at cooking fools--thoughts?). All suggestions as to cookbooks would be greatly appreciated!


Edited: to include website of cooking fools: http://www.cookingfools.net/

I think any of the Cook's Illustrated cookbooks would be good. I'd start with, maybe, "The Best Recipe", available used here and many others places.

The recipes tend to be very easy to follow but still great-tasting.

gleam wrote:I think any of the Cook's Illustrated cookbooks would be good. I'd start with, maybe, "The Best Recipe", available used here and many others places.

The recipes tend to be very easy to follow but still great-tasting.

That's an excellent idea. Also, you might want to consider subscribing to their website. I think it's about 20 bucks a year and you get access to their entire archive of recipes and tests. I think the books have recipes that aren't in the magazines, but there is a ton of good stuff at their website.

Every now and again we make a Cook's Illustrated recipe. They're never overly complex and they turn out very well.

I'm also a big fan of Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way". Simple, excellent recipes.

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:That's an excellent idea. Also, you might want to consider subscribing to their website. I think it's about 20 bucks a year and you get access to their entire archive of recipes and tests. I think the books have recipes that aren't in the magazines, but there is a ton of good stuff at their website.

Every now and again we make a Cook's Illustrated recipe. They're never overly complex and they turn out very well.

I'm also a big fan of Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way". Simple, excellent recipes.

Best,
Michael

And I'll readily agree with the FFMW suggestion, also.

There are recipes in the books that aren't online, but it's largely just variations on basic recipes. For instance, in "The Best Recipe", there's one for flank steak with a spicy parsley sauce, which doesn't appear online. However, there are about 10 other flank steak recipes online.

If you want to get an idea for Cook's Illustrated's recipes, you can go to http://www.americastestkitchen.com and get access to all the recipes from Season 5 of the TV show for free. Beth and I made the chicken under a brick recently and it was fantastic. Juicy meat, unbelievably crispy skin, nice lemon kick. Really awesome.

For Italian cookery, a very fine and, I think, clearly written book is the Romagnoli's Table, of which there is a fairly recent and updated edition available (as opposed to the ancient one I have). As these are matters of taste to a good degree, I certainly won't say that Gleam's suggestion above is bad (indeed, CI is held in high regard by many) but what I've seen or heard of their approach at least to Italian dishes doesn't strike me as the most attractive.

Based on what I've seen of the associated PBS series, I would second eatchicago suggestion regarding Jacques Pepin's "Fast Food My Way."

I would also suggest going to a library and/or a used bookstore with a good cookbook section (e.g. Powell's on Wabash), so that you can browse and check some out without spending an arm and a leg on books you may not end up liking all that much.

Antonius

I also agree about the Cook's Illustrated suggestion. I have used many of their recipes as jumping off points for dishes of my own. My usual M.O. is to first make the recipe as written (for the most part) and then after tasting, modify the recipe to my own taste for future preperation.

I'm a fan of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food. There aren't great color photos, but it's an easy to follow, pretty comprehensive cookbook.

Granted, it doesn't really live up to its hyperbolic title, but there's been several times I've brought something home from the grocery out of sheer curiosity, had no idea what to do with it, and received guidance from Bittman. There are a lot of solid, classic recipes here.

It is a tome, though. And at 950+ pages, it can be a bit unwieldy in the kitchen. But I recommend this book often (but I'd suggest avoiding the numerous smaller, mostly redundant Bittman books in the HTCE line).

Zee

I have Bittman's "The Minimalist" Cookbook. It is also a good starting point for the beginning cooker. Really simple, flavorful recipes.

One of the Food Network shows. "Young and Hungry:' has its own cookbook that is geared toward less experienced cooks who are beginning to entertain for the first time.

The recipes are pretty simple and focus on nice presentation as well as good flavor.

HI,

This thread on fast and easy cookbooks may also be a source for ideas.

I learned a lot about cooking from reading the articles in the older versions of the Joy of Cooking. I recently acquired the new, updated Joy of Cooking, I have not yet sat down to read through it. While I have a lot of cookbooks, the only one which lives in the kitchen is my 1951 copy of the Joy of Cooking.

e-Gullet has on their website cooking classes, which are probably more master level than beginning. There are quite a bit of step-by-step cooking tutorials, which I have bumped into on the web. I also found watching cooking shows beneficial. I watched Julia Child's French Chef for years when it was broadcast every weekday at noon on WTTW-TV. There really are lots of resources for free cooking classes via the web.

Regards,

I'd add that if you can get your hands on some of Alton Brown's Good Eats DVD collection, this will serve as a great foundation for so many classic eats, as well as providing the science and understanding to make variations and go forward with your own cuisine.

I'll second Cathy2's suggestion to get a Joy of Cooking. Anything edition pre 1990-something will do, just don't get anything labeled "New Joy of Cooking" -- they took everything useful out of it.

If you have any kind of scientific/experimental streak, subscribe to Cook's Illustrated. You'll learn more than you need about any given dish, but you'll also start to understand how to adapt a recipe for different uses, how to substitute ingredients, how to change things to your own tastes. Some of their recipes get ridiculously complex (using parts chicken and beef broth to optimize flavor levels, taking three steps when one will do just fine for weeknights, thanks), but they also tell you why they do that, and what your consequences are if you shortcut.

We have at least one of their cookbooks, but I haven't cracked it yet.

I learned a lot of my cooking from The Frugal Gourmet's books too. Good to read, good to cook from.

Half.com is your friend, so is Brandeis Book Fair (although their cookbook pickings have been slim the last few times I've been there). Garage sales can be a terrific place to grab a basics cookbook, especially those old Joys.

I second the recommendation of Mark Bittman's "Minimalist" cookbooks (there are at least two; tonight I made penne with butternut squash from his first).

My goto book anytime I'm faced with something I'm relatively umfamiliar with is David Joachim's "Brilliant Tips" book. (The title begins with a number that grows as the book is updated.) It's essentially a dictionary of foods and techniques; tomorrow I'll be making its risotto with butternut squash recipe. (Lots of butternut squash in the last CSA shipment of the season.) I'd rank it even with the Cook's Illustrated stuff, perhaps a little ahead of it; so far as I know, CI doesn't have any reference works.

While I'm a fan of Alton Brown's Good Eats show, I'll spare no effort to steer you away from his awful cookbook, "I'm Just Here for the Food." (I can't pass judgment on its sequel, as I refuse to pick it up.) If you can find it in a library or a friend's collection it's worth one read for free, but unless it's been heavily revised, it's terribly organized and the recipes are scattershot.

Bob S. wrote:While I'm a fan of Alton Brown's Good Eats show, I'll spare no effort to steer you away from his awful cookbook, "I'm Just Here for the Food." ...it's terribly organized and the recipes are scattershot.

That's because, deep down, it's not really much of a cookbook. It's really more of a kitchen science text. If you're astounded by the magic of browning, oven spring, and you don't want the magic to come out of it, don't read this book. But you can learn from it. Just not recipes.

I second (third? whatever?) Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" because you can pretty much find any recipe you might have an inkling to make in it, and the recipes are simple. I also have to put in a plug for my old standby -- Betty Crocker (get the 3-ring binder edition). The first time I made Thanksgiving dinner I used recipes solely from this cookbook and everything tasted just like Mom's!

If you want to bake, get the King Arthur's Baking Companion - fabulous, with lots of tips and directions.

A good option to start a cookbook collection is to join http://www.thegoodcook.com - you get 4 free, 1 for half price, and only have to buy 1 other in a year. They often have deals where you buy 1 and get the rest for 50% off, etc.

I got started with the Silver Palate cookbook, also the Frugal Gormet books and also for Italian the Diane Seed books. All are easy to follow and very good food

Get something AND

Alton Brown "I'm Just Here For the Food"

This book will teach you heat cooking methods. I found it a tad more useful than his TV show since you can so easily go back to look at the book.

I didn't have this when I started cooking. For years I wondered why I could never brown anything while sauteeing, now I am great at sauteeing.

This book will give you very few recipes, but a great foundation in how to cook with heat.

Alton's "I'm Just Here for More Food" is a similar book but more based on baking, in case you're leaning to baking more other cooking.

Once you can basically cook, it's probably best to get any decent cookbook that has plenty of recipes you'll actually make. So don't make it over fancy.

Nancy

Cmoliva,

I edited your post above to include a link to Cooking Fools. I understand that the Calphalon Culinary Center has arguably the best classes in town, although that is subjective and I have not taken a class there.

Any basic class will simply cut short learning by trial and error which is the way most of us learn...any basic task. Like the ad says, you need to learn the difference between saute and fry, boil and braise, etc. and when it is best to use each technique.

The cooking fools classes look fine, I would also look at taking the two sauce classes. Sauce classes opened a whole new world for me, because once you learn how to make the basics everything else is just add a little of this or add a little of that. The book Saucier's apprentice, if you can find it.

I think the Bitman or Brown books are a good idea, but I own neither. Once you have some fundamental techniques, the world is your oyster.
But, to be fair, I am a technique cook, I do not use recipes for anything but inspiration. My fantasy restaurant would have no menus, I would just write on the chalk board what I found in the market or felt like cooking that day.


pd

Although I am an experienced cook, I recently bought The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I really enjoyed reading it. Much like there other books it goes into a lot of explanation but covers the gamit of a general cookbook.
Paulette

I found this book at, of all places, Quimby's last week (Amazon link as Quimby's site says they're sold out), and have been curling up with it the last few evenings. While it isn't a cookbook per se, every entry has an explanation of how to prep and cook the particular cut, and it's already encouraging me to try a few things I've seen at Paulina Market but passed by in favor of my very comfortable, happy rut there. It even has NAMP numbers for each cut in case you really want to impress your butcher. Like pdaane, I don't often follow recipes, so the references such as this one are more useful to me than recipe-oriented books. She has also written field guides to produce and to herbs & spices.

I'm familiar with all the books recommended above and believe they represent a good start, though Pepin would be my pick if I had to select just one. If after you've spent some time boiling, frying, baking, braising, roasting, steaming, sauteeing, and maybe even some radiating and sou vide, you find you just have to delve deeper, I encourage you to indulge your inner geek. I can recommend Russ Parsons' How to Read a French Fry, Margaret Visser's Much Depends on Dinner, and Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking (in increasing order of detail and "propeller hattedness"). If those leave you longing for more, and you haven't yet gone away to a serious school, then pick up The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. If that book doesn't leave you feeling disconsolate and anomic, you might be a real cook.

The Art of Cooking is a game of chance (though a rewarding and passionate one) without Cooking Science and History, Concepts and Facilities 101. With the proper intellectual foundation, cooking is still rewarding and passionate, but more predictable, controllable, and much more butch.

I just got Anne Willan's La Varenne Pratique and it seems encyclopedic in its scope. There are 2500+ photos of techniques and ingredients. I have found it quite useful and I've been cooking for over twenty years. I think this book would take the place of both the original Joy of Cooking and Cook's Illustrated.

I often refer to James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking and his exhaustive American Cookery; I almost always find the recipe or information I am searching for in one of these two books.

Hope this helps!

Heidi

Bob S. wrote:I found this book at, of all places, Quimby's last week (Amazon link as Quimby's site says they're sold out), and have been curling up with it the last few evenings. While it isn't a cookbook per se, every entry has an explanation of how to prep and cook the particular cut, and it's already encouraging me to try a few things I've seen at Paulina Market but passed by in favor of my very comfortable, happy rut there. It even has NAMP numbers for each cut in case you really want to impress your butcher.

Bob,

Funny how things work, I know for a fact your oblique reference to Field Guide to Meat has prompted at least 4-people, including me, to buy the book, and an interesting book it is. FG Meat covers fresh meat as well as game, sausage and cured meats, and many points in between, it's fairly comprehensive for a pocket size book.

I also bought the Field Guide to Produce, which, while interesting, does not seem to have the same draw, at least to me, maybe I like meat more than veggies. FG to Meat and FG to Produce are available from Amazon for $10.17.

Thanks Bob.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

Bob S. wrote:I found this book at, of all places, Quimby's last week (Amazon link as Quimby's site says they're sold out), and have been curling up with it the last few evenings. While it isn't a cookbook per se, every entry has an explanation of how to prep and cook the particular cut, and it's already encouraging me to try a few things I've seen at Paulina Market but passed by in favor of my very comfortable, happy rut there. It even has NAMP numbers for each cut in case you really want to impress your butcher.

Bob,

Funny how things work, I know for a fact your oblique reference to Field Guide to Meat has prompted at least 4-people, including me, to buy the book, and an interesting book it is. FG Meat covers fresh meat as well as game, sausage and cured meats, and many points in between, it's fairly comprehensive for a pocket size book.

I also bought the Field Guide to Produce, which, while interesting, does not seem to have the same draw, at least to me, maybe I like meat more than veggies. FG to Meat and FG to Produce are available from Amazon for $10.17.

Thanks Bob.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

Always happy to share some of my favorite food porn! I've been impressed by the Field Guide more and more since I stumbled across it. I haven't yet bought the Produce guide (I stayed away from the thread about how bookstores are dying as I don't buy books online, so I have to wait until I spot it) but I suspect my reaction will be much the same as yours -- what fine pictures of nature, is the steak ready yet?

Bob

Cathy2 wrote:I learned a lot about cooking from reading the articles in the older versions of the Joy of Cooking.

_____I can't believe it took 7 posts before someone mentioned Joy of Cooking. Nicely done C2, I third your recommendation. I do think I'll have to go home, however, and double check my copyright to see if mine is pre or post 1990. Might be a hose of info out there I'm missin'! Either way, it's a solid cookbook for EVERYTHING you want.
_____A generic one is a solid investment, but when I think about what my fam made as I was growing up, I invested in the classsic Betty Crocker cookbook. My Mum has an old food-stained one in binder format that she used quite regularly. I picked up a newer bound copy around the time I started cooking for myself in college (when I bought the Joy of Cooking as well). While I didn't know about edition changes for the previous, for this one I'd be more wary of the newer editions.

cmoliva wrote:Having eaten take out since I was 5 (I'm 26 now), [/u].

_____On a more philosophical strain, the cookbooks I've seem people use in their home mirror what type of food they remember or what they're most comfortable with. For some people just starting out, a hand-me-down family recipe equates to "comfort food". Try talking to family members about recipes you remember from family events and start making your own family cookbook!
_____Considering you stated that your earliest food memories are take-out, maybe some of your "comfort" food and family cooking memories would be restaurant dishes. You can try a variety of copycat Web sites in attempts to mirror those dishes. Then again, if you've really relied on take-out for the majority of your life, maybe you're done with that...