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With the current popularity of Julie/Julia
and Julia Child's-Mastering The Art of French Cooking hitting #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list since it was written in 1961,


I thought this would be an interesting question to ask: What's your favorite cookbook?

My simple tastes take me back to my tattered, yellowed and greasy paged Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

At the moment I am in love with Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson. Tasty recipes, that can be quickly and simply without a list of ingredients that are a mile long. So glad I picked it up now.

I LOVE cookbooks. My favorites are actually church produced or locally produced cookbooks. It was a chick actually that suggested picking up a local cookbook anytime you go on vacation to be able to bring home part of the experience with you forever. I loved that idea and always try to scout out local cookbooks when we go vacationing.

I like the church ones too. I think they are my favs. I love Paula Deen's cookbook and one I've got that I love is Mark Bittmans How to Cook Everything..I have lots that I turn to though and I keep adding to them.

I love the church/school cookbooks, my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook from when we got married and my mom's first cookbook. I'm also big on pulling out recipes from magazines and newspapers. My cupboard is full of cookbooks--you would think it was all I do!

I love the 3 ring binder "Taste of Home" cookbook. Simple meals to feed a big family.

By the way -- keep buying those Julia cookbooks! My company has been making the paper for Volumes I and II almost constantly since the movie put it on the bestseller list. It's been so exciting!!

Rose, I'm with you on the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Mine is old, battered and well-used. It was a wedding present and at the time, I was clueless about cooking - dunno what I'd have done without it.

Also (even though Julia didn't like it), The Joy of Cooking, and community cookbooks.

Even though cooking has lost it's appeal for me, I still love my cookbooks.

It's hard to pick, but I really do like my Moosewood restaurant cookbooks. I also have a recipe book entitled "From Palette to Palette, Recipes from the Cincinnati Art Museum" that I love. It contains recipes sent in by arty families around that area, but the recipes aren't complicated.
Pat Conroy's Cookbook has the best crab cake recipe- almost all crab.

Suze, that's so funny because I didn't know how to cook either and it saved me. Also, The Joy of Cooking as well.

I have never enjoyed cooking so I needed/need all the help I could get. :)

I love my battered copy of The Joy of Cooking! Another favorite is China Express by Nina Simond.


What the heck is going on with the "add book/author" feature? Every time I type in a totle I get a bunch of bizarre, completely unrelated titles.

Too funny that this came up. I just found on-line a copy of a cookbook that I got when I had my first apartment back in 1972. My copy was being held together with a binder clip - Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cookbook. I bought it for $12.95 and it came in the mail today.

I love any cookbook by Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa. I love her cooking show too! She make food look delicious!!!

OMG, my 7 year old and I bow down to Ina. lol I'm only about an hour away from the hamptons where she lives.

Kathryn wrote: "Too funny that this came up. I just found on-line a copy of a cookbook that I got when I had my first apartment back in 1972. My copy was being held together with a binder clip - Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cookbook ..."

Me too!!!!! I tore out my favorite pages and put them in a small binder! That's so funny, Kathryn. :)

I also loved the little church/organization produced cookbooks. One of my favorites is from my hometown. I also have a collection of Taste of Home cookbooks, from the Taste of Home magazine and these are awesome!

Oh now this is a subject I can get into. I love love love cook books. I collect them. My all time favorite is the Cooky Cookbook. It was one we had as kids. When it went out of print for a time I was my sisters heron when I found one at a used book store and gave it her for christmas. I restrict myself to only one every 6 months.

Another favorite is one by Adrian Trigiana. I love it because the recipes are almost the same as my moms.

I really like the church cookbooks, even though my personal cookbook collection is very small (I'm single, college student, so I usually just cook something simple). I have a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but I like my mom's copy from the 80s better because that's what I'm used to. I feel like the new edition has some weird recipes that I'll never use and the recipes, like for fried chicken, are different from past editions. I need to find a cookbook that I just love to death. I also tear recipes out of magazines like you would not believe. I need to round them all up and put them in a binder and try them!

My mom bought me a recipe binder book thing from borders that I love. It it a 3 ring binder so I can put in my torn out of magazines recipes I find but it also has sheets to wrote recipes and pockets to hold recipes too. I love it. My favorite cookbooks are Paula deen's books so I can cook southern like my grandma and also Betty crockers cookbooks.

oh yes- I also like Betty Crocker cookbooks. I like the idea of the binder. I have a little pile of clipped recipes that I use and still need to organize!

Nadia wrote: "I love any cookbook by Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa. I love her cooking show too! She make food look delicious!!!"

She makes it look easy, doesn't she? Plus her books have pictures - a must for me. I prefer to buy cookbooks with visual aids.

Tera wrote: "I LOVE cookbooks. My favorites are actually church produced or locally produced cookbooks. It was a chick actually that suggested picking up a local cookbook anytime you go on vacation to be able..."

I am with you, Tera. I especially love the local cookbooks that have been passed down to me from both my grandmothers.

There is one other book I love called La Concina de la Frontera by James Peyton. It takes a look at Mexican American cooking from all regions of the southwest. It has great stories and history, so it is fun to read.

Rose wrote: "With the current popularity of Julie/Julia
and Julia Child's-Mastering The Art of French Cooking hitting #1 on the NY Times Bestseller list since it was written in 1961,
..."

My BH&G is from the 70s and is yellow and greasy, too! I got in the habit of putting aquired recipes from other sources in the BH&G binder so I would know where to find them! I found my mom's recipes for meat loaf, fried chicken and macaroni and cheese in there after I got married though I didn't know that's where she got them. It was just like home. My other worn out favorite is Make-a-Mix by Eliason,harward and Westover. It is just fun and convenient to make your own mixes!

Lauren wrote: "OMG, my 7 year old and I bow down to Ina. lol I'm only about an hour away from the hamptons where she lives."

She rocks! She makes everything seem so simple and just yummy!

Stephanie wrote: "Nadia wrote: "I love any cookbook by Ina Garten - The Barefoot Contessa. I love her cooking show too! She make food look delicious!!!"

She makes it look easy, doesn't she? Plus her books have p..."

I totally agree with you - cookbooks must have pictures! I want to see the delicious food that I am attemting to make. I love her show and cookbooks! I also like Nigella Lawson's and Jamie Oliver's cookbooks and their cooking shows. Such yummy food!!

I know I am older and I have been collecting cookbooks for a long time (in fact, my daughters had an all out brawl about who would get Momma's cookbooks if I died! I ended the conversation by explaining I was not dying soon!).

I would like to recommend some of the cookbooks that help people like me -- those of us who have gone through breast cancer, etc. (my husband has prostate cancer). The New American Plate Cookbook is great. But, you know, I can't get rid of what I know, so what I work on is modifying the recipes I know. Please, think health and "all things in moderation" when you look at a recipe.

Lydia wrote: "I know I am older and I have been collecting cookbooks for a long time (in fact, my daughters had an all out brawl about who would get Momma's cookbooks if I died! I ended the conversation by explaining I was not dying soon!).
..."

That's funny :) It reminds me of a story sbout an older woman putting names on everything she owned so her family wouldn't fight!

Thanks for sharing, Lydia.

It must be a thing about reading and cooking going hand in hand. I have about 30 cookbooks. But my favotites are the church cookbooks. But, I always have old faithful, Bette Crocker Cookbook.

I do like the Joy of Cooking cookbook, some of the Taste of Home, the Paula Dean cookbooks, and my all time favorites are the Byerly's cookbooks. Byerly's is a grocery store in the Twin Cities and their cookbook absolutely rocks. There are two volumes. Elegant but fairly easy.

My favorite cookbook for the longest time was my mom's The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook from the 80's. I've used it my whole life. It's completely separated from the binding and has food stains all over it, but I love it.

But last year I got The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook and I love it for regular go-to recipes and best cooking methods. They use a scientific approach to finding out the best methods, ingredients, and cookware, which I love. I know that makes me extra nerdy, but who cares?

We usually tweak the ingredients a little to our personal preferences, but for those of us that aren't advanced cooks this is the way to go. I like it better than my Better Homes & Garden's cookbook, but I'll usually reference both just to see which ingredients sound better :).

I know this isn't about a book, but I don't have cable right now, so I don't get to watch all the awesome food shows that I love, but I do get PBS and right now my favorite is Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie. Anybody seen this? I absolutely adore it. All their episodes are available online if you want to check it out (yeah, that's how much I love it.. I'm pushing it on you unsuspecting chicks ;)

I'm a big fan of Mexican food so a recent favorite cookbook of mine is Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. I got it a few years ago and have loved it ever since!

The Joy of Cooking

I have an old copy that was passed down from my grandma to my mom and then to me. THE BEST peanut butter cookies EVER! :)

My friends and I also have an online cookbook on Flickr where we post recipes and pictures that we try. So many of my husband's favorite meals have come from there.

I also like these:



and anything by Rachael Ray!

i absolutely looooove The Bride Groom First and Forever Cookbook i got it for my wedding shower, and the recipes are so delicious!!!

Monika, I just looked at that cookbook and I want it! Even though I'm nowhere near getting married. It sounds like it has good recipes that anyone needs to know.

Valerie, have you ever seen Rick's show on PBS? His food looks SO good!

Katie, I love slow cooker recipes! It's so easy and the food always tastes so good!

I love the idea of having an online cookbook on a photo hosting site. I'm with Stephanie and Nadia: if a cookbook doesn't have pictures, more often than not, I'm probably not going to use it. So, a flickr cookbook is such a good idea!

I admit I really prefer pictures too. I live by crockpot recipes and (even though they don't have pics) do like those Fix It and Forget It books. The other thing I have gotten into is the menu subscriptions from Savingdinner.com They offer several different types. The menus come via email for a week at a time. It includes the main dish and best of all, a shopping list by grocery depts!! I love these because they are quick, usually one skillet/pan things that are fresh, take little prep, are healthy and delicious.

I am on my second copy of both Joy of Cooking and Fanny Farmer, Fanny being my favorite of the two. I couldn't bear to part with my old Fanny Farmer, though, because the book falls open to my favorite recipes and it served me well for so many years, so I stored it away rather than throwing it out, even though it's falling apart.

I also have a much loved and very shabby Betty Crocker. All three of those books provide the basic essentials, as well as much more.

I am also very fond of 365 Ways to Cook Chicken.

Valerie wrote: "I'm a big fan of Mexican food so a recent favorite cookbook of mine is Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. I got it a few years ago and have loved it ever since!"

I was really please to see Rick win the Top Chef Masters competition. He seems so down to earth. And his food sounded good, too!

Marsha wrote: "I am on my second copy of both Joy of Cooking and Fanny Farmer, Fanny being my favorite of the two. I couldn't bear to part with my old Fanny Farmer, though, because the book falls open to my favo..."

Oh, I had forgotten all about the 365 Ways to Cook Chicken. I think I sent it with my daughter when she went to college. I wonder if she'd let me have it back? :)

I am very fond of an old worn and stained copy of the red plaid Betty Crocker binder. My mom still has it but the pages we made all the time are well worn and sticky looking. Love that. I also love the church cookbooks. I have one that is very worn that is from my hometown and the thing i love the most is that I know most of the people in there. I love to make a recipe and find it was from an aunt or person that is now deceased so it is cool to carry that recipe on. (one of my aunts especially was a good cook and I ate most of her things spending summers at her house)

I know just what you mean KrisT! My aunt, who we just lost last year, made the best scalloped potatoes. Anytime I was sick, she would always make me some to feel better! She told me many times how to make them; she never wrote an actual 'recipe' down. I have tried just as many times to make them but they never taste as good as hers!

I feel that same way about my grandma's white beans and cornbread and grilled cheese sandwiches. No matter how I try to do cook those things they are never as good as when she does it!

Cindy, my mother makes wonderful scalloped potatoes, and I have tried her recipe more times that I want to admit, and botched it every time. So often that I've sworn never to try it again. I'm a good cook, but those scalloped potatoes just elude me.

Twice this summer I've asked my mom for one of her oldest recipes, and both times it was, "Oh, I don't really use a recipe." I managed to find a shortcake biscuit recipe that tasted like hers,and I haven't attempted the sticky buns yet. She did give me a recipe for the syrup, but told me that the cinnamon bun recipe that probably came with my breadmaker should be good enough! The problem is my husband says her sticky buns are the best ever, and I wanted to make them for his birthday.

Marsha maybe you can sweet talk your mom into making some for you....for your husband!

I'd have to say my 5 all-time favourites (in no particular order) are...

[Book: Bake] by [Author: Rachel Allen]
[Book: How to Eat] by [Author: Nigella Lawson] (mostly because I love reading Nigella's anecdotes alongside her recipes)
[Book: Feast] by [Author: Nigella Lawson] (...perfect for Christmas, parties, dinners and occassions)
[Book: Ripailles] by [Author: Stéphane Reynaud] (...not necessarily for the food so much as the fact that it's such a beautiful book)
[Book: Be-Ro Flour Home Recipes 40th Edition] (...you send away for it from the back of the flour packet and it's just a little booklet full of scones and cakes and pies and lovliness - simple is usually best!)

I love to cook - must do more of it!

Ally

Cindy, my mother always makes those buns for my husband, but unfortunately we rarely get up to see my family more than once a year. He's thin (and I am not), so she is always pushing cookies and cake and pie on him at Christmas!

Maybe you can get her on the phone and she can talk you through it! Good luck!

I just treated myself to debbie Macombers new cookbook. LOL its out in the car right now. I think its called Cedar cove Cook book. I am at the library killin 20 minutes becasue home is to far to go and make my hair appt on time

Angie wrote: "I was really please to see Rick win the Top Chef Masters competition. He seems so down to earth. And his food sounded good, too!"

I was too! I love Top Chef and I was so glad that he was included. I watched him on PBS for years and I've always wanted to go to his restaurant!

Renee wrote: "I just treated myself to debbie Macombers new cookbook. LOL its out in the car right now. I think its called Cedar cove Cook book. I am at the library killin 20 minutes becasue home is to far to go..."

I just saw that today and almost picked it up! I'm curious to know what you think of it.

I am a culinary arts student so I have to say that my cookbook collection is big but not big enough..including a binder that is my own. I will add that I love Taste of Home more than anything! I also love anything put together by Alton Brown and I love love love my Bread Bible...I am always getting new cookbooks..my hubby always gets me one when he does something wrong..instead of flowers..lol