I live in a small apartment and thus have a one in, one out policy for cookbooks. Those that remain in my collection must be good reference materials or books that really inspire me to cook and create beyond specific recipes. As a denizen of farmers' markets, spice shops, and ethnic grocery stores, I also like learning as much as I can about all the vibrant ingredients I encounter on my shopping trips. Here are five cookbooks that continue to make the cut…
Emily's 5 Essential Cookbooks• 1. Chez Panisse Fruit by Alice Waters: I received this book as a gift when I moved to California 10 years ago, and it taught me so much about the array of fruits at my local farmers' markets – not only ways to prepare them, but also how to identify, choose, and store different varieties. A decade on, I remain deeply inspired by Waters's simple, elegant approach to seasonal cooking.
• 2. Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters: Like the title above, this is not just a cookbook but a beautiful encyclopedia. Arranged alphabetically, it celebrates each vegetable with essays, selection and storage advice, recipes, and Patricia Curtan's gorgeous linocuts. I return to Fruit and Vegetables again and again, both as bedside reading and as cooking guides.
• 3. Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets by Deborah Madison: Local Flavors was ahead of its time when it came out in 2002, and I adore Madison's enthusiasm for regional farmers' markets, her creative (mostly vegetarian) recipes, and stories from visiting with farmers around the country. The book is sensibly arranged by season, and I can always count on it to give me a spark of inspiration.
• 4. Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey by Najmieh Batmanglij: As a vegetarian, I am often adapting recipes or skipping over sections of cookbooks, so I love the fact that this volume is wide open to me. It contains a diverse mix of recipes, fascinating histories, and colorful travel and food photos from places along the ancient trade route, such as China, Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkey, and Italy.
• 5. Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving ed. by Judi Kingry and Lauren Devine: Although there are prettier and more inspiring food preservation books out there, including several that have been published in the last couple of years, this is the standard, go-to resource. I replaced Ball's older Blue Book with this one and it's never far from my side when I'm canning fruits and vegetables.
Related: What Was Your First Cookbook?
(Image: Emily Ho)
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I love the "Silk Road Cooking" book as well; strangely it's really underrated. It has great vegetarian versions of things like kibbeh, and beautiful photos of places I'd like to visit.
http://smultronsoul.blogspot.com/
my first cookbook was "The vegetarian Epicure" followed by The Vegetarian epicure 2" and the New Vegetarian Epicure. I still use them regularly. I also use the Moosewood Cookbook and The Enchanted broccoli Forest by Molly Katzen.
Ball's Complete Book is my bedside reading in late winter as I plan what to grow and then what to do with it.
I was able to meet Deborah Madison while my husband and I were working on a farm near the Santa Fe area. Because she was a local star, I got the Local Flavors cookbook and tried to cook through it. Simple to read, delicious recipes, and ingredients I could readily use- this book was a keeper. I highly suggest the Swiss Chard and Cilantro Soup Recipe. Love Deborah Madison.
Chez Panisse Vegetables is truly a unique book. It is very useful to get to know what you are working with, has some really yummy recipes, but most of all, it makes you want to cook. I peruse it for fun sometimes and although I wasn't going to cook, I sometimes do end up cooking just because of the ideas that book gives me.
I also have The Art of Simple Food and Chez Panisse Cooking, the latter of which, even though its author sometimes sounds haughty, is an ode to food and reads like a novel.
I like simple food with few ingredients and so all Chez Panisse books are excellent books by my standards. I don't have many cookbooks because otherwise, I use the Web for recipes and inspiration.
My problem is I have a room for my cookbooks, and kitchen overflow. I find some of my favorite cookbooks are Taste of Home cookbooks, followed by Southern Living Annuals. I have 4 bookcases dedicated to cookbooks/magazines. I'm also a fan of Cooks' Country, and Cooks magazines.
The Joy of Cooking (the old version), Laurel's Kitchen, Putting Food By, The Talisman Italian Cookbook, The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook.
Splendid Table How to Cook Supper is amazing. Also, though, Italian Country Table (same author), Simple Vegetarian Pleasures (Jeanne Lemlin), On Top of Spaghetti.
@arietia....The Vegetarian Epicure was my first cookbook also. Very warm and friendly. I still use it today! I treasure my mom's little metal recipe box with all of her clippings from magazines/newspapers and little handwritten cards. Some still have a little flour or batter on them...ha! Totally takes me back to the days of my brother and I fighting over who gets the beaters or bowl after my mom baked a cake!!!
Stephanie Alexander's the cook's companion
Mollie Katzen: The Enchanted Broccoli Forrest