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/ck/ - Food & Cooking

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10455449 No.10455449 [Reply] [Original]

I’m finally moving out of my parents house and I was thinking about getting some cookbooks.

I’ve heard that The Joy of Cooking and How to Cook Everything are two of the best cookbooks for beginners, but if I had to choose one, which one should I get?

>> No.10455459
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10455459

>>10455449
You can learn everything you need to know about cooking as a bachelor by looking at youtube tutorials. Don't fall for the book meme

>> No.10455472

>>10455449
Why would you buy a book when you have a limitless amount of knowledge on the internet?

>> No.10455646

Borrow both from a library and then buy whichever you prefer.

>> No.10455650

>>10455646
This. Also look for American's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country cookbooks.

>> No.10455678

>>10455449
cooking books are pretty usless now. what you need is a note book and a pen.

>> No.10455700

Is just fluffy bones. Give ringlets.

>> No.10456193

>>10455472
idk I just prefer having something I can physically flip through. Same reason I can’t read ebooks.

>> No.10457279

>>10455449

cute cat is it yours? i have the same one fur and all

>> No.10457286

>cookbooks

Ummmmmm sweetie there's a thing called THE INTERNET, ever heard of it?

>> No.10457384

>>10456193
Dude they're on amazon used for @10.00 each, just get both.

>> No.10457409
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10457409

>>10455449
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee. The Holy Bible.

>> No.10457459

Here's a list I've been maintaining.
General/Fundamentals:
La Methode and La Technique - Jacques Pepin (or the later compilation "Complete Techniques")
Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Julia Child
Modernist Cuisine
Joy of Cooking (1960-1970s editions preferable)
Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook
Better Homes and Gardens Illustrated Cookbook
The Professional Chef (current edition is expensive, previous editions very economical)
How to Cook Everything - Mark Bittman
Institut Paul Bocuse Gastronomique: The definitive step-by-step guide to culinary excellence


Ethnic/Speciality:
Charcuterie - Ruhlman (sausages, cured meats)
Bread Baker's Apprentice
Pok Pok - Andy Ricker (Thai)
Thai Street Food - David Thompson (Thai)
Land of Plenty - Fuchsia Dunlop (Sichuan Chinese)
Momofuku - David Chang (Asian fusion)
Mastering the Art of Japanese Home cooking - Morimoto
Iron Chef Chen's Knockout Chinese - Chen Kenichi
Mrs. Beeton's Guide to Household Management - Isabella Beeton (British)
Classic British Dishes - Marguerite Patten
The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating - Fergus Henderson (British)
Heritage - Sean Brock (US Southern)
Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and Asian Tofu - Andrea Nguyen
Anything by Steven Raichlen (grilling and BBQ)
Franklin Barbecue - Aaron Franklin (BBQ, especially brisket)
Various books by Gordon Ramsay (Excellent if the topic is British/French; other cuisines hit-and-miss)
On Food and Cooking - Harold McGee (science, background, theory)

>> No.10457466

>>10457286
Internet sucks for noobs. There's no real barrier to entry so it's loaded with shit recipies and noobs don't have any way of seperating the good from the bad.

>>10457409
Great book, but it's not a cookbook. Not a single recipe in it.

>> No.10457536

>>10455449
When my mom was teaching me how to cook, she referenced this book called "Clueless in the Kitchen." I poke through it for some new stuff whenever I visit home

>> No.10457553

>>10457466
>Not a single recipe in it.
Even better. In itself, it's the recipe for critical culinary thinking. Fantastic starting point -- and far more.

>> No.10457629

>>10457553
That all sounds well and good but it's not what OP asked for.

>> No.10459054
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10459054

>>10455449
How much do you know already? Peg Bracken's "The I Hate to Cook Book" is great for the absolute beginner. I was never able to get into Joy of Cooking; I used Jeff Smith's "Frugal Gourmet" series, mostly, to learn midrange stuff. If you can find Steven Raichlen's "Taste of the Mountains Cooking School Cookbook" anywhere, it's excellent.

>>10457409
>>10457466
>it's not a cookbook
This. It's like telling someone to learn to drive by studying physics. "Ooooh, the coefficient of friction between the tires and the road is what makes you move and/or stop!"

>> No.10459109

>>10457459
Got anything for indian food?

>> No.10459147

>>10457459
Professional baker here, gonna throw this out there, the bread bakers apprentice is kind of shit. Go for Tartine Bread of Flour Water Salt Yeast for a bread baking reference. Local Breads is also a good book with less on basic technique but more by way of recipes.

>> No.10459353

>>10455459
>Don't fall for the book meme
i disagree. when i was a kid and wanted to be a baker I learned a shitton from just a couple of books I picked up at the used book store.


that said, I've seen copies of really popular cookbooks like The Joy of Cooking at friends' houses and they're a fucking joke. doubly so for cookbooks oriented towards students, which are all 90% "HOW TO COOK FISH: buy a fish, then put it in a hot pan" and 10% 50s era monstrosities mostly made of mayonnaise and processed foods that dont even exist anymore

just go to a used bookstore, ask for their cookbook section, and thumb through a few. it's easy to tell when a recipe is bullshit marketed to 50s housewives to sell more Miracle Whip and Jell-O molds, and what recipes are actually suitable for human consumption

>> No.10459362

>>10459353
The Joy of Cooking is a masterpiece. Don't you dare post on this board ever again.

>> No.10459368

>>10457466
>noobs
Wow I think it’s been close to a decade since I’ve seen that word.

>> No.10459490

giv lööps

>> No.10459504

Cooking isn't about books, it's about trying things out on your own and seeing what works. Do you think baseball players read treatices on how to swing a bat? No, they build up experience and technique through actual practice. That's how you should treat cooking.

>> No.10460280

>>10459054
>>10457629
oh wow, are you dumb or what? ive not read that book but if it shows you how to think about cooking then id read that over any cookbook out there. recipes are a dime a dozen, go on fucking youtube and cook along with ramsey ffs. i swear the snootiness of this board is even worse than the marketing campaigns and sipbois

>> No.10460284

>>10459504
this basically

>> No.10460292

>>10459109
Madhur Jaffrey's books are pretty good.

>> No.10460331

Cook books can be cool, because they're full of secret forgotten knowledge. I've found shit in cook books that I couldn't find on the internet. Especially for things like bread and pasta, or good stocks or soups. Or anything beyond basic. The internet is great though. I'd say I still use the internet more than books, unless I know exactly what I'm looking for. The Joy of Cooking is good. I grew up on Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The New York Times Cook Book (1990). I've never read How to Cook Everything.

>> No.10460342

>>10455449
How to cook everything is pure and utter trash.

>> No.10460360

>>10460342
I don't think it's anything special, exciting, or inspiring, I'll give you that. But it is a handy go-to reference that covers all the basics and has a lot of useful how-to info as well. And don't forget that you aren't locked into following the recipes verbatim, you can always change things up to suit your tastes.

I do think that "The Professional Chef" is a better general-purpose reference though, and its recipes are of higher quality and are easier to scale.

>> No.10460413

>>10455449
Gib lööps

>> No.10460427

>>10455472
The internet is a terrible place that will tell you to make a fire hazard out of oil, sugar, and peanut butter.

>> No.10461254

>>10459504
I can tell you golfers go through the theory to understand what you are trying to achieve in a good swing and why you do it. I can't say anything about baseball players though, they may not be able to understand it.

>> No.10461278

>>10460292
>100 something books
>Half of them are marketed as vegetarian
Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for her books to see what they are like.