Top 5 Reference Cookbooks

From carrie — Blog by Carrie Floyd

March 9, 2009

These are the books I grab when I want to know how long to cook a chicken, prepare grains and vegetables, turn a seasonal fruit into dessert, contemplate the rise (or fall) of bread, or simply need a good, basic recipe:

1. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Marion Cunningham
2. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison
3. Chez Panisse Desserts, Lindsey Remolif Shere
4. On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee
5. How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman

I still grab Joy of Cooking, every-now-and-then, when I’m contemplating skinning a squirrel or making some Cockaigne dish. (For you die-hard Joy fans, I have the 1975 edition, which is why this is my go-to book for retro/childhood favorites like canapes, meatloaf and cornmeal pancakes.)

What are your favorite kitchen reference books?

Top 5 Cookbooks

From carrie — Blog by Carrie Floyd

March 5, 2009

I just finished reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, which is full of Top Five Lists. I love the scene near the end when Rob is asked to name his five favorite records. As he says, it’s a question he’s been waiting for all his life, so why does he choke?

It’s not necessarily that “five” is too limiting (after all no one wants to hear your top 100 list), but it shifts each time another title is considered, creating a need to clarify “top five”: at the club, home, etc.

I’m sitting in my office surrounded by cookbooks (piled on my desk, in stacks beside my desk, crammed into the book shelves) thinking about my top five, and the list changes every time I get to three. Here’s my Top Five List of my Top Five Cookbooks:

1. Top Five Reference Cookbooks, the books that never get reshelved because I use them so often.
2. Top Five New Cookbooks, the ones I horde and feign ignorance of when asked about by co-workers.
3. Top Five Good-Read (cook)Books (stories, author’s voice, photos and/or illustrations trump the recipes).
4. Top Five Defining Cookbooks: childhood to middle-age, a book a decade.
5. Top Five If-I-Really-Only-Get-Five Cookbooks.

Talk about avoiding commitment, I think I just pulled a Rob.

I’m a wee bit tired of tomatoes . . .

From carrie — Blog by Carrie Floyd

October 16, 2008

. . and there’s still another batch to get into the freezer. Meanwhile I’m trying to figure out what to do with the tomatillos. The last few bags I turned into salsa, but now I want to do something different. Soup? Anyone have any ideas?

I’ll be cooking all day today

From carrie — Blog by Carrie Floyd

October 14, 2008

I’m making Aaron’s corn soup for tomorrow’s featured recipe, finishing off a batch of apple butter, and at the kids’ request, baking plum cake. I’ve been craving chowder (now that the weather’s turned) and am chewing on a recipe. How does this sound: potatoes, corn, bacon, red peppers, and salmon/smoked salmon? Marjoram or basil?