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CookbooksWhen it comes to meals, it is something none of us can escape. Whether we eat twice a day or 4 times a day, there is a daily need to plan, shop for, prepare, and cook meals. It becomes even more of a challenge when a whole family is involved, finding meals everyone likes that are also nutritious and healthy. Most of us get into a rut - preparing the same 10 or 15 meals in rotation during the month. Whether we don't have time or expertise, there always seems to be an excuse for falling back on the old reliables. This is where the cookbook comes into play. With a cook book, you can experiment with new meals throughout the month. Of course, no one wants to whip up a brand new meal from scratch every single night, but just trying 3 or 4 new meals a month gives you 40-50 new recipes per year. In this guide we will take a look at some of the most popular cook books, both classic cookbooks and celebrity cookbooks.
Finding the right cook bookSo let's start with the idea of finding the right cookbook. Some people ask, what is the best cookbook? I think that depends on your level of cooking skills, the amount of time you want to spend cooking, and the style and type of food you are interested in preparing. Cooking romanting meals for a couple is different from making enough grub to fill the stomachs of 4 kids for two nights in a row. A good place to start is with some of the "classic" cook books, like Julie Childs "The Way to Cook". Designed for the beginner cook, it starts with simple recipes like soup that are hard to ruin, moves on to breads, eggs, and salads, then covers a variety of meat dishes - fish, chicken, beef - and vegetables, and of course desserts. This big 525+ page book was first published in 1989 and is full of color photos. The focus of the book is on European dishes and styles. The hardcover version sells for about $40 on Amazon.com, while a used one goes for under $20.
"The Joy of Cooking" is another classic cookbook. The original was published in 1931 with recipes collected by Irma Rombauer. The "All New" version available today is updated by her grandson and includes more current meals popular today alongside the classics. New topics include vegetarian meals, pastas, pizza, noodles, and more. Coming in at a whopping 1150 pages and over 3000 recipes, this is no lightweight book. Beside just recipes, this cookbook covers things like cutting food, selecting ripe fruits and vegetables, storing food for freezing, and much more -- all tips that newcomers to the kitchen could use a little help with. Cost is $23 for the hardcover edition.
Types of cookbook - Cookbook gift ideasWhile its nice to start with some classic "everything cookbooks", most people usually move on to cook books focusing on their favorite types of dishes. You can get specialty cookbooks on Italian food, vegetarian dishes, seafood, barbecue and grilling recipes, fondues, pasta dishes, chinese food, you name it. Many best-selling cookbooks come from well known celebrities and celebrity chefs (think Food Network), like Rachael Ray, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril, Bobby Flay, Giada de Laurentis, the Iron Chef, etc. A lot of these books are meant to capitalize on the popularity of their stars rather on the recipes or ease of cooking - we take most of these books with a "grain of salt"! If you have tried some of the recipes and meals you have seen on TV and really liked them, then go ahead and check out some of these cookbooks. But if you are just getting started in cooking, we suggest working your way through some of the classics instead of these trendy books. If you are the type of person that likes to browse, we suggest hitting the local bookstore and checking out the cooking aisle - with something like cookbook, reading through a few recipes is often better than guessing at a book online. If you want to shop online for a cookbook as a gift or something, we always recommend Amazon.com as a starting place. They break down their cookbooks into categories like quick and easy, special diets, natural foods, outdoor cooking, regional and international, etc. with a very broad selection of choices in each category. With their user reviews, you can usually get a good idea of the good and bad of most books. And their return policy is fair if you end up with a dud.If you want to skip the books and try some free recipes online, check out some of the sites listed here.
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