Ed Behr, editor for one of our favorite food quarterlies The Art of Eating, has attempted something few of us are brave enough to do: he has voluntarily whittled his cookbook collection down to the nine most essential. Find out what made Behr's list and tell us what would make yours after the jump...
The Art of Eating, No. 79: Ed Behr's Most Essential Cookbooks
Behr's list shouldn't be misinterpreted as his recommendation for must-have cookbooks for all home cooks, as many other lists are doing this time of year. Instead, his list intensely personal and reflects Behr's own history, tastes, and interests as a cook. He went through his collection asking, "Which would speak to me most directly and personally - would inspire, provide variety, even some surprises?"
And here they are:
1. French Provincial Cooking by Elizabeth David
2. Vieilles Recettes de cuisine provencale, by C. Chanot-Bullier
3. When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman
4. La Cuisine alsacienne by Pierre Gaertner and Robert Frederick
5. Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray
6. Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan
7. Giuliano Bugialli's Foods of Naples and Campania by Giuliano Bugialli
8. Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli
9. Provence the Beautiful Cookbook by Richard Olney
By his own admission, Behr is biased toward French and Italian cooking, particularly the kind found upon leaving the major cities and making friends with the locals. Behr's love for each of the cookbooks listed above and the foods contained within them is evident in his lengthy description of each book - descriptions that read less like dust jackets and more like a toast at a best friend's wedding.
Why nine cookbooks? Behr says he wanted to include only seven, but just couldn't do it. Even as it is, Behr says "the list leaves me feeling exposed; I might rethink."
If you had to narrow your cookbook collection down to just a few, which would you be sure to keep?
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Related: Store Review: Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks
(Image: Flickr member smallestbones licensed under Creative Commons)
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Roundup - Magazines, Cookbooks, Frugality, cookbooks, Art of Eating, Ed BehrRelated Links
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my favourites are:
Joy of Cooking 75
The New York Times Cook book
Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Everyday Italian
The Making of a Cook , by Madelein Kamman
Appetizer , Nigel Slater
view jaudre's profile
My favs (inpo):
- Joy of Cooking 75
- Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday
- Rick Bayless Mexico: One plate at a time
- At home with the Barefoot contessa
- Happy Days with the naked chef
view cweingarten's profile
I only use my cookbooks for baking. So mine would include:
The Joy of Cooking (1967 edition)
The Ukranian Daughters Cookbook
another old old old Ukranian book that I can't remember the name of
The Best of Bridge
Local Breads
I think that's it.
I have a couple community church cookbooks that I have collected. They always have the best recipes for cookies and quick breads. Plus I love how they always incorporate a silly sense of humor into them. Always filled with silly puns.
view revolution9's profile
Baking Illustrated (Cook's Illustrated) - my fave, as a hapless baker!
Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Child)
Simple and Healthy Cooking (Pepin)
And, the one made up of clippings and cards, accrued over years. Does that one count? :)
view Nora Rocket's profile
How to Cook Everything (Bittman)
A couple of the big Bettys (1950, early '60s)
Better Homes & Gardens big cookbook
The collected one, like Nora Rocket's
view Joan A.'s profile
glad to see a shout-out for Rick Bayless Mexican Everyday! I moved to a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, and that cookbook helped a novice cook like me fall in love with the local markets there. It's my favorite.
view emilykc's profile
my cookbook (clippings, internet recipes, photocopies)
veganomicon
joy of cooking
vegan with a vengeance
vegan lunchbox
vegan cupcakes take over the world
how to cook everything
vegetarian cooking for everyone
yellow rose recipes
I definitely count my green notebook (1st choice, above) as a cookbook!
view jillrenee in boston's profile
vegetarian cooking for everyone
cook's illustrated The Best Recipe
the Indian Vegetarian
donna hay's Modern Classics 1 & 2
artisan bread in 5 minutes a day
lots of family recipes and magazine favorites
and a new fav: The splendid table's How to Cook Supper
view jooleeyet's profile
BH&G's cookbook (first one I ever owned!)
My mom's collection of recipes
Orangette (ok, so a blog, not a book but she's coming out with one)
How to be a Domestic Godess (Totally inspiring photos)
The vegetable cookbook whose name I can't remember.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
Certainly I would want to keep How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Madhur Jaffrey's book on global vegetarian cooking (I forget the name). But I get a lot of my recipes online (from blogs like this, Food Network, etc.) and from magazines, so I would definitely need to include my two binders: one is recipes to try, and the other is tried and loved.
view erin79's profile
I echo the need to keep my binder(s) - I have two and find myself cooking from them more and more frequently. Besides that, I think I'd have to have:
-Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
-The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook (Jack Bishop)
-Super Natural Cooking
and because I have a sweet tooth:
-Baking: From My Home to Yours
-The Perfect Scoop
view mel.d's profile
Joy of Cooking
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Fresh Every Day: More Recipes from the Foster's Market
The Foster's Market Cookbook
Mexican Everyday (Rick Bayless)
The Perfect Scoop (David Lebovitz)
Baked (quickly becoming a favorite)
Sunday Suppers at Lucques
view jon (in Columbus)'s profile
The Joy
Veg Cooking for Everyone
My boxed set of Elizabeth David's Penguin classics which I'm cheating a little by counting as one when it's actually 5 paperbacks
Sunday's at Moosewood
Sunday Suppers at Lucques
150 Best American Recipes
view Dana V's profile
Most of my books are dessert/baking or Asian. I'm a student living pretty far away from home and when I put my things in storage every year and fly back, these are the four books for which I sacrifice luggage space.
Nigella Express
Baking From My Home To Yours
The Perfect Scoop
Martin Yan Quick & Easy
I also pack the file on my desktop marked 'recipes' (via usb) & my notebook, which is actually a small photo album stuffed with index cards.
view strmtrprbthngst's profile
My recipe box
Better Homes & Gardens (admittedly two versions, one from the '70s and one from after 2000)
15 Minute Single Gourmet (Paulette Mitchell)
Student's Vegetarian Cookbook (Carole Raymond, 1st ed.)
Food Fast (Donna Hay, Marie Claire version)
Those are the ones I turn to when I'm looking for ideas.
I also have the textbook On Cooking (Sarah R. Labensky, Alan M. Hause) which is really more of a reference book than a cookbook.
view Shana Lee's profile
The Fanny Farmer Cookbook
the New Moosewood
James McNairs Pies
Australian Women's weekly Italian Cooking Classes
Soup of the Day
I was recently gifted Donna Hay's Modern Classics and I think this will go heading in to the rotation regularly as well! :)
view miriamjudith's profile
my current favorite is ellie krieger's 'the food you crave'.
view abigailbelle's profile
My mother's recipes in a recipe box.
America's Test Kitchen...magazine and online (really great to dork out to...they go through all the cooking chemistry)
I'm hoping to bulk up on more...will take all of your recommendations above!
view splim's profile
Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon. Lots of tasty recipes and very well-organized and well-indexed. You can browse by a particular grain or vegetable. Plus, it's so funny I can read it like a magazine!
view matchbookhymnal's profile
My faves:
Nigella Lawson - Nigella bites
Nigel Slater - Appetite
Jocasta Innes - The pauper´s cookbook
Jamie Oliver - Happy days with the naked chef
And of course my four big binders with recipes collected over the past 30 years; I have loved cooking ever since I was in highschool.
Even though I own lots of cookbooks, I keep buying them, and love discovering new authors such as Tessa Kiros
view Juliadrusilla's profile
Silver Palate cookbooks, Russo and Lukins, the first one and the "good times" one (lamb and apps and veggies)
The New James Beard, (1981) for the offal section alone!
(liver, ox tail, brains, oh my)
Cuisine Rapide, Pierre Franey and Bryan Miller After checking this out of the library for years, I just got my own copy, for five dollars!
The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum everything in this book is great. When I worked in the industry, this was my go to book for kick ass cakes.
The Silver Spoon--my Christmas present last year.
All of these can be obtained from a library or picked up used. Check a friend's shelf and borrow it, if they will let you. Sometimes, everything old is new again and these are good classic books. Check them out
view lawoman's profile