Do you still use cookbooks?

Rocklobster said:
.I have been into Indian as of late and although my wife can only tolerate it once in a while I already have my next two meals from Rick Stein's book marked and ready to go when she is..lol
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My husband's idea of Italian cooking is meatballs and spaghetti in a tomato sauce or spaghetti and a tomato meat sauce both with too many random ingredients and an overcooked sauce. I am curious to see his reaction to authentic Italian cooking - simple, minimal ingredients and what I call clean - the ingredients are honored and chosen because they play well together.
Between George's doctor appointments, my hairdresser appointment, Mom's physical therapy class and meeting friends last night for po'boys I have not gotten as far along as I would like in Marcella's book. I have my pen for margin notes, a separate note pad for ingredient list and my laptop for researching sources. I know I can order just about anything online, but I would like to make my initial purchases of imported (read more expensive) specialty items from an authentic Italian grocer. There are a few specialty shops in Lafayette, but we they are not strictly Italian. It would be great if we had a Little Italy community. I see a trip to New Orleans in the near future.
 
ElizabethB said:
I am curious to see his reaction to authentic Italian cooking - simple, minimal ingredients and what I call clean - the ingredients are honored and chosen because they play well together.
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I haven't got Marcella Hazan's book but her reputation is rock solid.
Recently, my two sons have been trying to perfect some of the simplest (and most delicious) Italian pasta dishes. Carbonara, Amatriciana and all'arrabiata. Just by chance I came across some Italian chefs, narrating in Italian, on youTube. With subtitles, and by watching the videos carefully, we've got a much, much better idea of what the "real thing" should be.
The two things that stick in my mind are (a) using the pasta water and (b) mixing the sauce with the pasta before serving, rather than piling the pasta on top.
 
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karadekoolaid said:
The two things that stick in my mind are (a) using the pasta water and (b) mixing the sauce with the pasta before serving, rather than piling the pasta on top.
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Those are two tips I picked up somewhere and adopted. It amazed me how much difference both techniques made in my pasta dishes. Simple things really matter.
 
I've finally got my Christmas present from 2021 - or at least, half of it. (there were two books)
I categorically told my wife that I did NOT want any multicoloured sneakers, T-shirts from Marvel comics, shirts, socks or anything vaguely to do with clothes. I've got enough :laugh: :laugh:
So I had to choose a few books from Amazon, Thing is, they got stranded in Cincinnati.
Anyway, this is a monster of a book - 800 pages long. The author has lived half his life in India and half in the USA.
I've cooked 5 of the 660 so far, and they've all been revelations. Yesterday, I made Paneer cooked in a hot Bell Pepper sauce (no pics, I ate everything) which was a revelation. Paneer rates in the same category as tofu, ricotta and polenta for me. Basically tasteless, but add the right condiments and it's great.
Only 655 to go...
660 Indian recipes.jpg
 
Morning Glory said:
Correct. And its a fascinating story: Joy of Cooking - Wikipedia.



Editions of (The) Joy of Cooking, from the 1st printing in 1931 to the most recent edition, published in 2019:

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WOW!!!! You must've been buying Joy of Cooking for a long, long, long time. Didn't know that it was out that long ago!!!! I wonder if all of the recipes from the past are included in newer editions. :eek:
 
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karadekoolaid said:
I've finally got my Christmas present from 2021 - or at least, half of it. (there were two books)
I categorically told my wife that I did NOT want any multicoloured sneakers, T-shirts from Marvel comics, shirts, socks or anything vaguely to do with clothes. I've got enough :laugh: :laugh:
So I had to choose a few books from Amazon, Thing is, they got stranded in Cincinnati.
Anyway, this is a monster of a book - 800 pages long. The author has lived half his life in India and half in the USA.
I've cooked 5 of the 660 so far, and they've all been revelations. Yesterday, I made Paneer cooked in a hot Bell Pepper sauce (no pics, I ate everything) which was a revelation. Paneer rates in the same category as tofu, ricotta and polenta for me. Basically tasteless, but add the right condiments and it's great.
Only 655 to go...
View attachment 105514
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He should have named it 666 curries. :devil:

CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
I haven't got Marcella Hazan's book but her reputation is rock solid.
Recently, my two sons have been trying to perfect some of the simplest (and most delicious) Italian pasta dishes. Carbonara, Amatriciana and all'arrabiata. Just by chance I came across some Italian chefs, narrating in Italian, on youTube. With subtitles, and by watching the videos carefully, we've got a much, much better idea of what the "real thing" should be.
The two things that stick in my mind are (a) using the pasta water and (b) mixing the sauce with the pasta before serving, rather than piling the pasta on top.
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Any chance you are talking about ItaliaSquisita and Luciano Monosilio and co.?

 
Some of the books I've been reading. The top two have been used a lot recently - especially the 'Curry Compendium' which is my newest acquisition and is fully focused on BIR-style restaurant processes and cooking. 'The Curry Guy Bible' also has a lot on that topic and I flip between the two.

'The Food Lab' is a really great book that applies a lot of scientific approach to cooking and why things happen the way they do. It was after reading this that I really nailed how to cook hamburgers properly amongst many other things.

The Bocuse book is nice to flip through, has a great treatment on cooking techniques but I feel the recipes are a bit too advanced for me at the moment and don't lend themselves so much to home family cooking. If I was exec chef in a restaurant, perhaps this would be more pertinent and I'm sure that's more its target demographic. Nevertheless I have tried a couple of the recipes out and it has some great ideas for plating/presentation, but if they are 'level 10' then I am a 'level 3' at best, and have very far to go (not that I really want to be a restaurant chef, but one day I want to be able to produce the odd dish that's as good as those shown); it's inspiring though.

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karadekoolaid said:
I've finally got my Christmas present from 2021 - or at least, half of it. (there were two books)
I categorically told my wife that I did NOT want any multicoloured sneakers, T-shirts from Marvel comics, shirts, socks or anything vaguely to do with clothes. I've got enough :laugh: :laugh:
So I had to choose a few books from Amazon, Thing is, they got stranded in Cincinnati.
Anyway, this is a monster of a book - 800 pages long. The author has lived half his life in India and half in the USA.
I've cooked 5 of the 660 so far, and they've all been revelations. Yesterday, I made Paneer cooked in a hot Bell Pepper sauce (no pics, I ate everything) which was a revelation. Paneer rates in the same category as tofu, ricotta and polenta for me. Basically tasteless, but add the right condiments and it's great.
Only 655 to go...
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You're lucky, I've been eyeing that book but it's impossible to find here in Portugal. It sells for upwards of 100€ too 😬
 
I use recipes from my cookbooks that I have either scanned or typed out for the computer.
 
vernplum said:
'The Food Lab' is a really great book that applies a lot of scientific approach to cooking and why things happen the way they do. It was after reading this that I really nailed how to cook hamburgers properly amongst many other things.
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I have The Food Lab Shame on me, I have not read it. To do list. Thanks for reminding me.
 
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