s/d: cookbooks!

it's always time consuming but most of the good stuff isn't fussy at all

Yeah I would say Julia or Jacques Pepin. I still really want one of the Bocuse books but I know I will never make anything from it.

i have said this before on ilx but mastering the art of french cooking is very interesting to read and not much fun to cook from. i would strongly recommend getting something more contemporary if you actually want to cook from it. (i can't speak to any of the later julia books, maybe they're great idk).

i disagree re Mastering The Art of French Cooking - i have cooked from it a lot, it’s like Julia’s hanging out talking to you

but i can see how it might not be to everyone’s taste re wordiness & such

The 1997 edition of the Joy of Cooking is the best of the versions of ‘Joy’, and one of the best books of any kind I’ve ever had in my possession. Incredibly versatile and useful, although it skimps on all but the most basic non-western recipes.

A French cookbook that lots of French people use, even if only for mostly simple things, is « Je Sais Cuisiner » by Ginette Mathiot. I think there is an English translation now, but the French version is a cheap paperback. It’s been around since the 1930s.

what kind of "french"?

― seandalai, Friday, May 24, 2019 5:02 PM (twelve minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what are the different kinds?

i wanna start going to butcher and asking for some nasty cuts of pork and cooking them in tasty french fashion

― flopson, Friday, 24 May 2019 21:20 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

There are many regional styles (Brittany=seafood+crepes, Normandy=apples and cream, southwest=foie gras+chestnuts, Alsace=plums+choucroute+flammkueche) as well as the classic bourgeois food culture (all those sauces with names). This is a great overview on the regional side with easy recipes (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Larousse-cuisines-régionales-Alix-Baboin-Jaubert/dp/2035604508) but I don't think there's an English version. I don't have the Wolfert book but she's awesome so I'm sure it's awesome too.

(aside: Paula Wolfert's Moroccan Cuisine was as life-changing for me in my twenties as The World of Arthur Russell or Love Saves the Day, it's the reason I have a bookcase dedicated to cookbooks)

A French cookbook in English that's never let us down is Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells. I'll vouch in particular for her salads, which have become standbys chez nous. Also the chocolate cake, which is like a 20 minute prep tops; you can go for it when you learn late that a friend'll drop by and you'd like to have something after dinner. It's not elaborate, but French people tend to avoid making elaborate desserts at home; that's what a patisserie is for. But simple French desserts are often made at home and they're a joy.

The 1997 edition of the Joy of Cooking

This is the first cookbook I bought (in June 1998 I believe) and it's what really got me into cooking. The book is beat to hell now with a broken spine and covered in pancake and cornbread batter and gravy and but it's still my definitive source for a number of things.

what you really need is a good tortilleria

i live in london, UK, so that's a hard no, but i have a tortilla press and imported masa flour!

I'm interested in either a cookbook or just a book in general that is as comprehensive an overview of Chinese cuisines as is possible. Has anyone looked at "All Under Heaven" by Carolyn Phillips or "China: The Cookbook" by Kei Lum Chan and Diora Fong Chan? Or are there any others you'd recommend?

This is totally not what you want but when I saw this had been revived I thought I'd mention that we have been enjoying the recipes from Fuchsia Dunlop's "The Food of Sichuan" which was (re?)published late last year.

I'm not familiar with it, but maybe All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China by Carolyn Phillips?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012KJYR48/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

Not suggesting buying it from amazon, of course.

are you anti-blog bc

https://thewoksoflife.com/

Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon has been my bible for 20+ years

You’ll prob have to get it used, i think it is out of print here

The Complete Asian Cookbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/1743791968/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Rp83EbS8V1AWC

oh wow Woks of Life looks GREAT!!!

we are a fuchsia dunlop household. her books are wonderful

woks of life is, in fact, great

yeah I don't know how many books she has but she has two very good books on Sichuan and Hunan cuisine

xp

fuchsia rules, I've seen tons of really wonderful books from her and others on individual cuisines, but not a whole lot that are like "ok here are all the diff regions and the types of food they prepare and how they've influenced or been influenced by these other regions etc etc etc"

ya she’s basically exclusively szech

Another vote for Fuschia Dunlop.

As well as the Hunan and two Sichuan books she has a couple of others.

‘Every grain of rice’ which is a more general every day Chinese cookery book.

‘The land of fish and rice’ which is cuisine from the Jiangnan (Lower Yangtze) Région

All highly recommended and highly accessible but Every grain of rice is the one I use the most as it is really focussed on everyday cookery.

I've cooked about half the Sichuan book and idk max 3 recipes from "The land of fish and rice". Not sure I have an explanation.

She's great in any case, her memoir is a good read too.

I’m probably about the same ratio. I think I just love the spicy bombast of Sichuan food.

where is the love for OLIA HERCULES? I've been working my way through Kaukasis and Summer Kitchens, and I have a pot of bubbling green tomatoes at the ferment, but ultimately I'lll just say she has a love of food that everyone should engage with.

i've had kaukasis on my cookbooks list probably since it came out but never bought it. what does she do with green tomatoes? i am supposedly getting a batch in my farm share tomorrow and have never worked with them.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt put out a kids book with recipes if anyone wants to cook with their progeny

nice of kenji to remind anyone who missed it the first 5000 times that he is a dad

lol do u need a minute cad

haha he had a kid and then instantly altered all of his bios to read like this: J. Kenji López-Alt is a stay-at-home dad who moonlights as the Chief Culinary Consultant of Serious Eats.....

I lost track of him after the Food Lab book came out and he cut back on writing to open a restaurant, didn't even realize he had his own cooking channel until last month. His videos rack up a crazy number of views for a guy wearing a GoPro and chatting.

his videos are good! he's still one of the best out there at teaching people how to actually cook but could otherwise stand to relax a bit.

His videos are good fun, I trust his recipes and I enjoy peeping at his kitchen and fridge

kenji's zucchini basil soup (on youtube) is KILLER

His pressure cooker chile con carne is a winter staple.

Nice. ive always wanted a pressure cooker

pressure cookers are great

Instapot mania seems to have died down but I still use mine once or twice a week. The stovetop pressure cooker I had wasn't worth the effort for the extra pressure.

don't have place for a pressure cooker, and am not sure I need to cook my food that much faster, but I liked reading about that J. Kenji Lopez-Alt Chili Con Carne recipe

it calls for a dutch oven, which I do have

yeah had to grudgingly admit the instant pot is way better than a stovetop pc

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/01/quick-and-easy-pressure-cooker-chicken-lentil-bacon-stew-recipe.html

another incredibly good cold weather recipe but I swap out the bone-in/skin-on thighs for boneless and a little bit of gelatin powder. Pressure cooked chicken skin is gross and more trouble than it's worth to fish out.

made that one a few times, it's quite good

I have tried more recipes from Ottolenghi's "Jerusalem" than most other cookbooks over the last few years I think. After many years I'm still impressed by Patricia Wells' "Bistro Cooking" especially, but also "The Best Recipe" book, the Silver Palate books, and Madhur Jaffrey's books

i've had kaukasis on my cookbooks list probably since it came out but never bought it. what does she do with green tomatoes? i am supposedly getting a batch in my farm share tomorrow and have never worked with them.

― call all destroyer, Saturday, 24 October 2020 01:58 (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Recipe in Kaukasis is a mostly-straight fermentation recipe - cover in brine with various flavourings, leave bubble away for a week or two until they taste fizzy. There's another great/simple fried green tomatoes recipe in Summer Kitchens - the secret is to cover them in a huge amount of cheese after frying.

yeah had to grudgingly admit the instant pot is way better than a stovetop pc

― call all destroyer, Sunday, 25 October 2020 1:04 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink