My JOC has been used so much, the binding fell apart. I check it 1st before checking online & really appreciate it's approach to cooking from scratch. Just about everything I've made from the recipes turns out well.

Likewise I only use mine for reference, it is a 25 year old paperback copy, I know I have used recipes from Joy but I cannot remember any recent ones, actually I was thinking of getting rid of it as I hardly ever use it.

I toted a copy around with me for years until I realized I never used it - I find their recipes just aren't as user-friendly as those I find in cookbooks like HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING. So I gave my copy away, hopefully to someone who will use it more!

I just used it last night to make pumpkin bread. Love it.

I use mine mostly for reference, but fairly often. I mean, who remembers the right proportion for ingredients in mashed potatoes offhand?

After college I was living with a friend who was in cooking school. I asked him to teach me to cook one night - I came home from work the next day and found the book with a bow on it. We used it a few times together, but since then I have only used it once or twice. To be honest, it scared me a little - everything just seemed too complex for someone who could barely boil water. Lately I have been really getting into cooking, learning a lot, and have been thinking I really need to take it down from the shelf and start trying some of the more complex recipes.

I received mine as a Christmas gift years ago and while it doesn't get as much use as it once did (Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything took its place), I do still refer to it more times than not.

I was given a copy when I graduated college and moved away from home, and then I found a job in the publishing industry, and worked for the company that publishes it! So when it was revised in 1996 I got a copy of that version as well. I like the previous one better (I think it's 1972 but I'm not sure...) because it seems more concise and less "trendy."

I use it quite often for basic recipes. Like, if I want to make banana bread without any bells and whistles. I also have Gastronomique and I never look at it.

My grandmother gave me my copy of JOC when I graduated from high school XX years ago. She wrote a beautiful saying on the inside of the front cover. I have always used it as a reference for times and temperatures. And I have given both of my daughters their own copies.

I love leafing through it's reference sections and learning about different cooking techniques, things like that. Cookgeek stuff. I've really just started getting into cooking (as an obession...) and I love it. It's actually my boyfriend's copy, but I doubt he'll ever see it again.

Also, joy of cooking's chocolate chip cookie recipe is SO SO SO good. Really quick, simple, and chewy.... mmm chewy...

The (accidentally) vegan pie crust recipe is great.

I usually only use it for the cookies and pies, which are all pretty good

The JOC waffle recipe is insanely good, and I use it every time I make waffles. Also, I use their oatmeal cookie recipe, but I don't use it for much else.

We use ours every time we try something new. Even if we have a recipe from somewhere else, we almost always reference the Joy too. :) Love that Joy!

karenbme, you are right about that waffle recipe! I use Joy especially for the cookie and baked goods sections, at the holidays mostly (it's been off the shelf 3 times in the last week alone). most of the rest of the book I use only for reference on cooking times and general technique outlines, i find the actual recipes a bit dated.

I don't have a copy myself, but we keep one in the church kitchen as a reference. I've used it to look up recipes for making macaroons, danishes, and gravy when we need to make use of some spare ingredients in a pinch.

At home I usually refer to How to Cook Everything or On Cooking.

I'll be forever indebted to JoC though if only because I played off the name for the title of my own food blog. =)

JOC is one of the first places I look when I am trying something new. Great as a reference. And most every recipe I've used over the years always works (unlike Bittman, where I've had nothing but disappointment).

I grew up with Betty Crocker's spiral book from 1952. JOC didn't come into my hands until college and didn't appeal to me. As for BC...the pages are literally falling out from so much use and loving attention. It's the only cookbook I actually follow the recipes for and that says alot.

I've never owned a copy of JoC, I have a variety of cookbooks that I use as reference including a Good Housekeeping cookbook from the late 60s I think.

I do have a very special place in my heart for my copy of the Five Roses cookbook that my mom gave me when I left home that she had received for a wedding present. It's far from the resource that the JoC is, I'm sure, but it was a great starter book for starting my own household :) (and it's got the stains and burn marks to show for it)

I was going to say that the only recipe I've ever made from it is the butterscotch brownies (easy and really really good), but now that you've mentioned the waffles, I've made those, too.

I find JOC to be a great reference and starting-off-point for recipes. The other day I used it to look up what different types of ham there are (JOC devoted an entire page and a half to the issue) and got a basic ham glaze from it, which I'm tweaking to use for my Christmas Eve dinner ham.

I have my mother's old copy. I never really use it. The vegetable recipes in particular are very out of date. I once made a green bean recipe from JoC, and it turned out to be a close match for the green beans served at Luby's.

But, there's a penned in comment from my father calling a cookie recipe "shitty," so I can't ever get rid of it. (I'm sure the cookie recipe is fine. My father just can't follow a recipe.)

The two How to Cook Everything books are my go-to references.

I use Joy for almost all basic stuff - especially pancakes & waffles! - and am working my way through the cakes & pies section. They're wonderfully reliable and classic, and so when I need a touchstone recipe for something new, Joy is the first place I go!

I have that and Better Homes and Gardens that I use often for reference and a trip down memory lane. JoC is pretty humorous, actually, if you read up on obscure ingredients!

Hey all you fellow JOC waffle makers: how much butter do you use? :-) I generally do the one stick version.

Nothing better than the JOC for banana bread, waffles and pizza dough. And with all due respect to Mr. Bittman I have not had much luck with either his pizza dough or waffles.

I have the 1976 edition, which I do occasionally use for pancakes and cornbread and icing and such. Many of the recipes are really outdated, but I can't stand to get the new edition - because then what would I do if I needed to cook some possum? Seriously! I don't even eat meat, but I love the weird game recipes in the old version...

Mine is in three pieces and I still use it almost weekly. I make Oatmeal Raisin Scones (but use dried cranberries), Gratin Dauphinois, Lemon Buttermilk Blueberry Pancakes and other recipes and I often use it for reference. It's one of the three cookbooks that stay in my kitchen instead of in the bookcase with the other books.

I too love the JOC waffle recipe -I use a stick of melted butter (or less if that's what I have lingering around in the fridge). I also love the biscuit recipe in JOC. I find that if I am looking for a starting point, I will pull out my JOC (the 75th anniversary edition), and my 2 How to Cook Everything books and compare.

I have three different editions of the JOC. It's an indispensable reference guide, particularly for classic recipes. When I find a recipe online, I often cross-check the JOC and incorporate some tips.

I loved that the JoC included preparation for squirrel, until roughly 1990. It was the first cookbook I purchased, in 1983, and I learned much from Irma and Marion about technique. Eventually I stopped using it and gave away my copy because it no longer served any real purpose for me--too many of the recipes used canned soups. My partner and I are both fans of Bittman as the basic resource.

I was given the JOC (Aka "Rombauer" around our house) by my mother in law years ago. She is a fantastic cook of the most basic of things and she said she always consults Rombauer for just about everything she wants to make. I've found it to be an invaluable reference as a new cook - or even a seasoned one now. I like to look up how to cook different types of meats and how best to cook/roast/bake it. I use it all the time to look up conversions for measuring all sorts of things. Every few months, when I get tired of the usual items on our weekly menu, I'll peruse sections I haven't cooked in for a long time to get ideas (she has some great rice dish ideas as well as different ways to cook and serve veggies). I plan to pass Rombauer on to my daugther or daughter-in-law when she starts to make her own home.

I like Bittman's waffles, but now I have to try JOC's!

I taught myself to cook from JOC -- the old version. It gave me the impression that cooking was difficult and one had to slog through a lot of preparation steps and cross-references to get good results. And slog I did! I even tried to make the cheesecake, which uses actual cheese, NOT cream cheese. Yeaccccccch.

I wish I'd had How to Cook Everything back then. Now I use that almost exclusively, and JOC is only a reference.

We have the Breast Cancer Awareness version of Better Homes and Gardens' cookbook and the binder version of Betty Crocker's Cookbook instead. I actually had to check to make sure we didn't have it.

Mine is falling apart. It was my only "cooking school" once I moved on from Betty Crocker. I find the comments and stories before so many recipes (older 70's version) to be really entertaining, and a glimpse into life back when. I use it very often, but must say I'm so thankful for the ability to look up recipes on the internet. So often now when I ask friends where they found their recipe, they say " I Googled it."

I use mine for honey cake, gazpacho (with alterations), mushroom barley soup, curry (altered...)

yes, I alter a lot from there, but also use a lot without alteration; like the recipe for cole slaw.

it has a lot of basics that other places don't have;

I have the 1996/1998 version.

I've never seen JOC in the UK or indeed, heard of it untill now. Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course is the UK classic, and Mrs Beeton is in our Granny's kitchens...

My mother has two cupboards filled with cookbooks but no JOC. I've often thought about picking up an old copy of it to round out my own collection. Thanks for this post, it's helping me to get an idea of how valuable a reference that classic book is.

Joan A.! Those butterscotch brownies are the first thing I ever baked on my own, ever. My mom gave me the one she received when she was married in 1965. The pages are crumbling, but I keep taping them back in. I get a kick out of seeing my mom's pencil notes for halving a recipe or substitutions she made when living overseas.

I mainly get recipes off the internet, but JOC is the first place I turn when I don't feel like firing up the ol' PC. I particularly enjoy the beginning-of-chapter discussions and menu-planning ideas.

My husband and I have two copies (down from three!) and we use them constantly for both the reference and the recipes. I find the recipes are more reliable than How to Cook Everything and more practical than Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We recently picked up I Know How to Cook, which is supposedly the French JoC. Fun recipes, but we still refer back to Joy and usually end up making that version instead. It is such a wonderful book for cooks of all levels.

I LOVE mine. My mom tracked down an original edition for me in a used bookstore because I didn't want the new one. Before she gave it to me, she transferred all of her notes from her own copy into mine (her cookbooks are like diaries). It's fun to read through it and see the dates when she made certain things and her own notes on recipes; many of those notes are older than me! It's my go-to reference book and I couldn't live without it.

I have a WWII era version that was my mother's. I love it because it has recipes and clippings and notes, plus 4 leaf clovers, little notes from her kids, etc., stuck inside. This early edition has wonderful family stories by the author as well, and makes for lively reading.

I thought about it when they were poking gentle fun at Mrs Rombauer in "Julie & Julia"--that was the only part of that charming film that irked me a bit! It also makes me furious to think she was bilked of proper royalties for this remarkable work.

For a "cooking school" kind of cookbook I actually prefer a Fannie Farmer from the mid-70s that my college roommate gave me. I find that for basics it has the most reliable recipes I've ever found. They must have been tested extremely thoroughly as they never, ever fail.

I have 2 - the last edition and 1972 (I think that's the year).  I use them all the time.  The older edition has a bunch of stuff
that is fun to look at for the heck of it.  Like how to skin and cook a squirrel.  Or that bear must be cooked through 
because it can contain trichinosis.  Or how to make your
own ketchup out of walnuts.  love.

I use mine every year for one recipe: Foamy Sauce!! Seriously, it's called that, and it's amazing. It's a birthday tradition in my family (poured over a chocolate bundt cake), and it's what my mom uses her copy of JOC for as well.

My ex-bf gave me my copy when I was teaching myself to cook, and I also use it for basic recipe- starting points (especially the chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies ;)). My current- bf refused to touch it for a long time, because he thought it was too fancy... I set him straight by showing him the recipe for squirrel (included in the recent editions, too! I think the 1990 version was temporarily "updated" and got rid of the squirrel).

Like a lot of the others, though, I consult Bittman (or compare Bittman and JOC) for technique questions. However, I have HTCE Vegetarian, so JOC is still the go-to for meat around here (but not yet squirrel).

JOC is the first cook book that mother--a cookbook fiend--ever bought for me. My husband likes to make the pasta puttanesca. My faves are the muffins--p.782. Usually I make blueberry. They remind me of my childhood. The smudgy blue fingerprints on that page always make me happy :)

I received one as a gift about 4 years ago...used it for the first time last month, to make risotto. I have the all new Joy of Cooking and it is HUGE.

It was always my mom's go-to reference when I was growing up, so I have a soft spot for it. I more often use Bittman or CI Best Recipes, but I still turn to the old Joy from time to time, especially for baked goods. It's been off the shelf a few times recently - Christmas wouldn't be the same without a batch of Rich Roll Cookies from JoC.

The Joy is good for making "classic" versions of most dishes. Google often produces less than traditional, varied versions of recipes, but the JOC is a good go-to book for the original, mainstream version of dishes. I also like it because I feel like I can TRUST the Joy's recipes to be satisfactory, whereas some recipe off a blog may not be quite so reliable.

I don't have one as I use internet resources for almost all my cooking inquiries. When I'm visiting my parents, I do look at my mother's ancient version. She got it in China when she was a flight attendant back in the 60s. She was supposed to tear out all the pages with Chinese on it, but there are a few still there in the back. When it is passed to me, I'll keep that around forever! I don't know that I'll use the recipes for squirrel or possum, though....

I use mine all the time! I, like most people above, don't generally make the actual recipes, but rather look for cooking times, techniques, and proportions. The candy and bread sections are great... and I literally cannot EVER remember how long eggs take to cook to various stages, so end up looking those up at least weekly.

all the time.

Costco- updated and under $20.
Used in our kitchen 5 times a week.

Never use it. I use Deborah Madison's books all the time instead.

I'm 25 and when I was getting ready to move out on my own, I did a fair amount of research on various all-purpose cookbooks. I wasn't satisfied with any of the editions of Joy of Cooking, and I ended up buying How to Cook Everything instead. So I do not have a copy of Joy.

So often! I use it when looking up standard recipes like cornbread; it's also a great resource for pickling/preserving. I also use it to compare and contrast with recipes in other books, to see how things stray from the standard and to come up with my own recipe.

So often it's rarely on the bookshelf where it belongs.

Joy is the single cookbook that I could not live without. It's a newer, updated edition that I picked up at a used bookstore about five years ago. I use it so often that it is almost always sitting on the counter, as opposed to the cookbook shelf across the room. And I definitely turn there before heading to the internet, because it means not writing any directions/ingredients down or schlepping my laptop into the kitchen. Also, I trust JoC before I trust most internet resources.

Have I made recipes from start to finish? Probably not, because I never do that with any recipe.

I have the seventies version and the newer version.... I loved the old version for pickling and canning and jam and jelly and pies info... but I like the newer version that more accurately reflects how we eat. I too don't really use the recipes, but like the "how to's" and the basic info for a good starting point.
I am currently on the Bittman train - How to cook everything Vegetarian - and just made Julia's boeuf borgineon (how the hell do you spell borgineon?) for a special dinner the other night. (It really was ravishing, by the way. I usually don't follow all of her directions to the T (forgive me Julia), but this time I did. All that butter and bacon fat are ok at Christmas.)
Wondering if I should just get rid of everything except these 4.

When I first left home and was studying in Hungary I used the sketched pictures in The Joy to help me identify squashes that my small Hungarian dictionary didn't know. And the quick and easy pie crust recipe I use regularly.

I also check it for advice quite often. For example, I was making mayonnaise from another cookbook and I found that The Joy explained it better. Homemade mayonnaise is wonderful and I'm glad I had The Joy to teach me how.

I have two copies, the 1964 edition I bought about the time I got married in 1972, and my mother's copy, the 1946 edition. They've both been well used and are losing their covers. I have to rubber band them to hold them together.

I don't use Joy all the time, but it has certain recipes that have never been bested: Bourbon Balls, Chocolate Pie (the filling recipe also makes Chocolate Pots-De-Creme), Chocolate Sauce Cockaigne (none better served hot over vanilla ice cream), Chicken Breast Cockaigne, Swiss Steak, Traditional Chicken Salad (in the 1946 edition), Swedish Meatballs and Tuna, Noodle and Mushroom Soup Casserole. There are others, but these are the highlights.

"Cockaigne" was the Rombauers' way of identifying the very best recipes. The term was inspired by a children's story book about a magical Land of Cockaigne.

The cookbook has also been my go-to book whenever I had a "how-to" question. How to cook hard boiled eggs. How to roast a turkey. How to make chow-chow or piccalilli. How to convert measurements. Whatever my question, Joy almost always has the answer.

The wonderful thing is, the information never seems to go out of date. Yes, I have other cookbooks on crock pot cooking, Julia Child's French cooking for Americans, Tex-Mex and, yes, several of Mark Bittman's books. But my husband prefers the traditional food our mothers used to make and what better source to have ready on the shelf than the Joy of Cooking?