Cookbooks

For the longest time my cookbooks lived on the counter, in a basket on the floor, on the dining room table and stacked on a bar stool. They took up valuable counter space in my not too brilliantly designed kitchen, they were in the way on the floor, they got lost in the shuffle on the table and got knocked off the bar stools.

Recently I embarked on a "re-do the livingroom" kick, which still isn't done. To start with I got rid of the tall towers by my tv, one now lives on the other corner of the room but that one doesn't matter. The one that matters is the one that moved to the nook by my kitchen and now holds cookbooks!

I'm just happy to have all the books in one space! Ones I use most often are all lined up on one shelf. They are in no particular order, but the one in the middle (the Les Halles cookbook) is one of my favorites. It isn't written like any other cookbook, but then again it is a Tony Bourdain book! Reading a recipe from that book is like having the man in your kitchen telling you what to do and the pitfalls to watch out for.


I'm also very fond of the Jamie Oliver books, they are seasonal and really focus on the quality of ingredients used. On the far left are a trio of cookbooks that I grew up with. Mom had the Silver Palate books and I had to have them too. The New Basics cookbook has been with me since college and there are chunks of it that are falling out. Martha, in orange, is a requirement for any kitchen. Not that book, but one of her book... The Martin Yan books both came from his visit to Johnson & Wales and one is signed. He was such a fantastic man to watch and listen to.

The shelf below that one holds books that while I don't use as often I find really useful in the moment. The Pioneer Woman cookbook is well worth the money for the food photography alone!

Stacked beneath that are 2 fascinating books by Nigella Lawson and a really fun looking book on baking that I picked up not too long ago. I'd like to round out my baking skills, I make killer cookies and pretty darn good cupcakes but I'd like to get into breads and interesting cakes and things like that.

Stacked on the top of the tower are the big heavy books that are more reference text than anything else. The huge blue one is the text book from culinary school. It isn't all recipes, there is a ton of general information in it too.


The book above it, with the shiny cover that didn't photograph well at all, is the Larousse Gastronomique. It was first published in 1937, since then it has been updated and translated from French to English. It is more of an encyclopedia than a cookbook. The information in it is tried and true. The green book above it takes the place of a large stash of Gourmet Magazines. The James Beard book is another cookbook/encyclopedia selection. It highlights more American leaning food.

The Joy of Cooking is one of those cookbooks that has been around for ages. Every so often it gets updated and a new cover but when you can compare a version from 1943 and 1997 side by side...
The "guts" of the book remains true. The recipes are still set out in a page saving format, the illustrations are simple and the needed information is all there. In the 1943 version there is far more lard used than in the 1997 one. But 1997 has ingredients that weren't in the 1943 version.

In the last two photos there has been a portion of a small grey box. This box is the key to my recipe collection, it is filled with handwritten index cards of recipes that are in cookbooks I'm not allowed to "borrow" from my mother. There are old family recipes, ones from newspapers and magazines, and things I've played around with.

Almost all of the recipes I use in cookbooks have notes in the margin, I have no problem writing in a cookbook. My theory is that anything I think enough to make a note of will only help me the next time I give the recipe a shot.

That final lower portion of the tower has more cookbooks in it too... but not nearly as well organized!

Cheers!