I snapped this picture on Sunday as I was gathering up the books I'd pulled out over the weekend and preparing to return them to their shelves. The picture struck me as both lovely and meaningful as representative of my cooking life at the moment.
The New Best Recipe is appropriately the base of this pile. It is my bible, my go-to source for everything from the best chocolate chip cookies to my once a year prime rib roast. Their recipes are precise and fussy, but I know that everything I cook from this book will turn out perfect.
The Art of Simple Food, by the amazing Alice Waters, is what I aspire to be. I love reading this book just for the way she describes cooking. Truth be told, I haven't loved everything I cooked from her book but I adore the thought process behind everything.
Ruhlman's Twenty is a recent fun addition to my collection and has given me the confidence to do some new stuff in the kitchen, including deep frying. The premise of the book is that there are only 20 skills/ingredients you need to master in order to be an expert chef. I have a long way to go!
Finally, Jim Lahey's My Bread was one of the cookbooks I put on my Christmas list this year after I discovered the no-knead bread technique. I know I'm coming about 6 years late to this party as it was apparently all the rage way back in the mid 2000s, but better late than never!
2 comments:
I love your cookbook reviews and recommendations! I've been trying to get Nick to do 'Cookbook Reports' for the blog since he checks so many of them out from the library, but so far he hasn't seemed interested. I think it would make a lovely addition to the blog. Thanks for posting!
Just saw this... I'd be happy to do a cookbook report! I have also started checking them out from the library too instead of succumbing to the impulse urge every time I hear about a good one.
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