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Cookbooks

post #1 of 11
3/6/11 at 8:58pm
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Any recommendations for good cookbooks? I'm trying to eat better meals and want to cook some good stuff. I'm getting a smoker this summer, so I'm going to buy Charcuterie and definitely re-read Piob's sausage & meat thread. Here's the list I'm thinking about getting for now:

Momofuku (Chang)
French Laundry, Bouchon, Ad-Hoc (Keller)
Charcuterie (Ruhlman)
How to Cook Everything (Bittmann)

Anyone have any other examples of good cookbooks, or have any personal experiences with any of the above books?
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post #2 of 11
3/6/11 at 9:33pm
Others will give you great recomendations, as they did so for me in this thread. I would suggest getting a subscription to Cook's Illustrated while you're at it. It's a fantastic publication with great product reviews for the home cook and technique demonstrations. Their recipe's are often above average as well.
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post #3 of 11
3/6/11 at 9:57pm
The Complete Robuchon Ad Hoc Coulpled with the Babbo cookbook, I cook 90% of my dinners at home with these.
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post #4 of 11
3/6/11 at 10:05pm
the silver spoon
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post #5 of 11
3/6/11 at 10:39pm
I have all of the Keller cookbooks, and they are fantastic. I used them more food porn than actual cooking though. The Momofuku one is also fantastic. A couple more:

Craft of Cooking (Tom Colicchio)
Les Halles Cookbook (Anthony Bourdain)
The Foodie Handbook (Pim Techamuanvivitt)

Another one that's not really about cooking but more about an ingredient: The Cheese Plate.
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post #6 of 11
3/7/11 at 6:18am
As recommended by kwilk: The Professional Chef, used by the Culinary Institute of America.
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post #7 of 11
3/7/11 at 6:47am
I like:
Julia Child's The Way to Cook
I Know How to Cook published by Phaidon
Gullah Home Cooking the Daufuskie Way: Smokin' Joe Butter Beans, Ol' 'Fuskie Fried Crab Rice, Sticky-Bush Blackberry Dumpling, and Other Sea Island Favorites by Sally Robinson
Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition
The Taste of Country Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition by Edna Lewis
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post #8 of 11
3/7/11 at 7:34am
I tend to prefer cookbooks that are more like reference books, rather than stylistic collection of recipes. Think an encyclopedia rather than a novel. Here are my favorites:

The Joy of Cooking
Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child et al)
La Technique (Jacques Pepin)

I also cook a lot of Chinese food - the Wei Chuan series is fantastic. It is generally by province (Sichuanese, Cantonese, etc.) and explains ingredients and techniques.
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post #9 of 11
3/7/11 at 1:30pm
For a rather authentic italian cookbook I would go with: "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan
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post #10 of 11
3/7/11 at 1:35pm
The Silver Spoon - the only Italian cookbook you will ever need.
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post #11 of 11
3/7/11 at 2:30pm
kind of depends on where you are as a cook and where you want to be. unless you're already fairly experienced, the only books on your list that i'd consider are ad hoc and bittman. the others are good books, but they'll sit on your coffee table. if you're a decent basic cook, i'd add the chez panisse books. maybe simply french for the occasional big-deal meal when you want to cook like matt. also Patricia Wells' books are very good. for italian, marcella's great. have not been impressed with silver spoon, sorry. it's kind of like a collection of Italian bon appetit recipes. nothing wrong with that necessarily, but the food isn't particularly italian.
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