About Basic Cookbooks
(You should already have read the general notes on our selection of cookbooks and on interpreting our book listings, as found on our
Good Cookbooks main cookbooks page.)
These are cookbooks that can be--or are mainly intended to be--used by those still learning the elements of sound cookery. They can also, of course, be continuing references long after
one has learned the essentials, and many a master cook can consult them with profit, but we list them here because they are noted for their instructional value.
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Cook's Companion, The
by Stephanie Alexander
Hardback:
Penguin Books Australia
USD $74.50
Price and availability from The Book Depository US site.
Usually ships within 48 hours
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This Australian volume is organized alphabetically by ingredient, and can serve as an introduction to the values, virtues, and uses of each. It's also invaluable if you ever need to knowhow to cook kangaroo or wallaby--we doubt even the old Joy had those--but it's by no means region-specific (except that measurements are Australian, not necessarily the same asBritish, and certainly not U.S., but adapting is no major issue).
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How to Cook without a Book:
Recipes and Techniques Every
Cook Should Know by Heart
by Pam Anderson
Hardback:
Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc)
USD $22.50
Price and availability from The Book Depository US site.
Usually ships within 48 hours
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The title expresses the idea: don't learn recipes, learn cooking. Anderson sets out to give the reader a sound grasp, to be well and truly memorized, of how to cook,technique by technique (even to little mnemonic rhymes). And, to read the reviews, she succeeds admirably.
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Great Food the John ASH Way:
Simple Techniques for Sophisticated
Tastes
by John Ash
Hardback:
Random House USA Inc
USD $(unavailable)
Price and availability from The Book Depository US site.
Sorry, out of stock
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The teaching is divided into three parts: flavorings, techniques, and treatments for familiar main ingredients. The emphasis is on keeping cooking manageable, so that it remains apleasure, and does not become a tedious chore. An interesting feature is Ash's advocacy of moderate oven-drying of fruits and vegetables, so as to concentrate and enhance theirflavors--not to the extreme of "sun-dried" (usually oven-dried) tomatoes, but enough to drive out about half the natural moisture content.
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James Beard Cookbook, The
by James A. Beard
Paperback:
Avalon Travel Publishing
USD $16.78
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When a man has an esteemed annual cookbook award named after him, it's a good sign that his own cookbooks are something special. Beard was truly that overworked word, a dean of Americancooking. This, his mainstay cookbook, is encyclopedic yet accessible; it can well serve both experienced cooks and those just starting out in the kitchen.
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Way to Cook, The
by Julia Child
Paperback:
Alfred A. Knopf
USD $37.39
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Way to Cook, The
by Julia Child
Hardback:
Alfred A. Knopf
USD $54.43
Price and availability from The Book Depository US site.
Usually ships within 48 hours
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La Methode
by Jacques Pepin
Paperback:
Pocket Books
USD $(unavailable)
Price and availability from The Book Depository US site.
Sorry, out of stock
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La Technique
by Jacques Pepin
Hardback:
Crown Publishers
USD $(unavailable)
Price and availability from The Book Depository US site.
Sorry, out of stock
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Click here for our Good Cookbooks main cookbooks page.
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