(Part 2) Best cooking, food & wine reference books according to redditors

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We found 1,169 Reddit comments discussing the best cooking, food & wine reference books. We ranked the 226 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Top Reddit comments about Cooking, Food & Wine Reference:

u/ender4171 · 99 pointsr/Cooking

For learning methods and the science behind cooking I would say The Food Lab by J Kenji Lopez-Alt. It is a textbook of cooking methods, analysis, and expliantion of the science of how cooking works and how to get the best (or just different) results from recipes. It also contains a ton of excellent recipes.

For just recipes, I would say The New York Times Cookbook by Craig Claiborne. It has hundreds of incredible recipes from a variety of cultures. Some of them are quite complex, but most are very approachable for cooks of all levels. It is not an advanced cookbook for the most part, but has a lot of solid classic recipes. One does need a basic grasp of cooking terms and techniques to get the best out of it.

u/food_monster · 85 pointsr/shittyfoodporn
  1. Acquire tarantula
  2. Dip in batter
  3. Deep fry
  4. Spinkle with food dust
  5. Barf

    Source
u/kleinbl00 · 57 pointsr/AskReddit
  • Go to a park. Talk about people behind their backs. Stage fights. Enjoy the weather.

  • Go hiking. Even if it's just on a baby trail. Spending time with each other in nature is one of the coolest things you can do.

  • Visit museums. Even ones you would never go to for fun. Mutual disgust is almost as much fun as mutual joy.

  • Cook together. Buy a recipe book (I'm fond of [this one](http://www.amazon.com/French-Cooking-Ten-Minutes-Adapting/dp/086547480X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240422047&sr=8-1 "for the truly light-hearted"), [this one](http://www.amazon.com/York-Times-Cookbook-Craig-Claiborne/dp/0060160101/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240422076&sr=1-2 "for those with 6 hours to dedicate to lobster butter") and [this one](http://www.epicurious.com/ "for the truly cheep")) and try new things.

  • go to art walks. First Thursday in some places, first tuesday in others. You'll find them.

  • go to farmer's markets. Try new food. Sample everything. Come home with a vegetable you've never seen before and try to figure out how to eat it.

  • read to each other. Find a good book, hang out on the couch, and take turns reading chapters. The other person can knit, chop vegetables, whatever. SURFING THE INTERNET IS NOT ALLOWED.

  • plant a garden. Tend it together. Eat what you make.

  • crosswords. No shit. You learn a lot, you get to be collaborative, and it makes you smarter. Just avoid that douche Frank Longo.

    That'll get you started. You'll figure out pretty quickly what's a fun way to spend time together and what isn't. I recommend active entertainment - something that requires you to participate (rather than watching a movie or something passive like that). Focus on mutual experience, where the experience is built by you, rather than inhabited by you. You'll do fine.

  • then have sex. I mean, the dude went on a fucking art walk with you. He went to a goddamn museum. He let you read something ghastly like Jane Austen to him. Throw him a bone. He'll be a lot more open to cuddly shit like this if he knows he's got a blowjob coming.
u/OriginalStomper · 40 pointsr/funny

Texan here. If you don't already have one of these, you need it. https://www.amazon.com/Homesick-Texan-Cookbook-Lisa-Fain/dp/1401324266

u/Sashivna · 33 pointsr/povertyfinance

Learn to cook. Learn how to use herbs and spices to develop better flavors.

I learned to cook at an early age primarily by using the 1980 Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook that someone had given my mom. It's really dated, but the illustrations and methods explained are really hard to beat. To this day, I'd recommend this cookbook to any novice. I own a lot of Good Housekeeping Cookbooks, and still think this particular edition is the best "teaching" cookbook.

Kid me wanted to try out all kinds of interesting things, but didn't have access to any non-basic ingredients (to include wine) and my mom wasn't going to spend extra money to get them either. That didn't stop me. I learned to substitute and experiment (bless my family, really). That process taught me the art and the science of cooking. I had to learn early on not to disregard a recipe because I didn't have saffron (and I still don't have saffron) or some other odd ingredient. Learning flavor "families" helps. Taste things. In my area, we have Sprouts that has bulk spices available, so you can buy a tsp of something if you just want to try it before you spend 6 bucks on a jar, or whatever.

As u/Iriltlirl said, stock your fridge/pantry with staples, but staples you'll eat. If you don't like black beans, don't buy a bunch and leave it sitting in your pantry for 10 years. I have always maintained a solid pantry, even in my very poor days. Don't be afraid to buy meat in the family size packs when you can and they're on sale -- they're usually a better price. Separate it into freezer bags and freeze. Some people even put the marinade/spice rub on before the freeze, then it's ready to go when you thaw it.

If you're in a place where it's feasible, start your own herb garden with things you like. Many are perennials, so they come back year after year. What to choose is personal. If you've got a green thumb, start with seed, as it's cheaper. Fresh herbs will make almost anything stand out.

u/KKsofierce · 17 pointsr/Cooking

I've only ever subbed it with parsley, but buying a food substitution bible is a good kitchen investment! I love mine to death.

u/Handicapreader · 13 pointsr/DixieFood

Pick which recipe you like best.

Flavor of the South

Meeting Street [Shrimp] Meat

...and to answer your question if you're from Charleston, SC you have Charleston Receipts in your kitchen and used it!

The original recipe

u/shnookerdoodle · 10 pointsr/AskCulinary

Also not a chef but here are some good theory and technique books:

Larousse Gastranomique -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Larousse-Gastronomique-Hamlyn/dp/0600620425

The focus is obv iously french cooking techniques and application etc.


Leith's cooking Bible -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leiths-Cookery-Bible-3rd-ed/dp/074756602X

Prue Leith is highly respected in the U.K for her culinary school...this book gets used a lot in my house

The flavour thesaurus -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flavour-Thesaurus-Niki-Segnit/dp/0747599777

Once you have techniques you can look to build on them creatively so theory of what flavours work together is pretty crucial.

u/ummmbacon · 8 pointsr/Judaism

cRc standards? Star-K? There are a few, most of it is minor but you should know them and know what applies for you. Also, your community minhag may also dictate some of these things.

For example, some allow using the same dishwasher for meat/dairy since the water isn't yad soledes bo and there is an agent like lye (mentioned in S"A) in use.

>What basics do I need?

Depends on how often you eat various items, I very, very rarely eat meat so I have very few meat items for example.

But I have a large variety of parve items.

Overall you will want separate kli rishonim for meat/dairy/parve but not like 1:1:1, since you will cook different things in them. Also sponges and scrapers and serving utensils.

I would walk through a typical menu for you and see what works, like do you only have a dairy pot for vegetables or other sides and will that come to be a problem when you are making a meat meal?

Since I mainly eat parve I can duplicate a lot of my dairy since it isn't usually an issue. I have an instapot and I have 3 interior pots/liners/steam catchers for Shabbat meals.

You will also want knives for cutting that are parve/dairy/meat this is a fantastic meat knife and is really cheap and all the chef's I know recommend it. It's great for chopping/cutting.

You might also want to check out the books Kosher Kitchen which talks a lot about the details, but your community might be more lenient than that book in some places here and there.

But overall I'd go through and start with thinking about how you want to use your kitchen then apply the rules of kashrut and see if it is an issue.

Also, get some heat resistant color tape, so you can correctly label your items.

At some point, you might also look at if your stove/other items can be kashered for Pesach and if you need like a sperate burner just for Pesach (I have to do this since my place has a glass stove top)

u/essie · 8 pointsr/Homebrewing

I was recently flipping through my copy of La Cucina and noticed several recipes using hops as a main ingredient (some use shoots, while others use the actual flowers). Since I recently pruned my cascade plant, I thought it would be fun to try out the recipe for hop shoot risotto. It turned out great—the hop shoots have an almost buttery texture (somewhat like roasted garlic) with just a hint of bitterness.

For anyone interested, here's the recipe (I only had three ounces of hop shoots, so I adjusted the recipe accordingly):

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 10 oz tips of bruscandoli (hop shoots), cleaned and chopped into pieces
  • 5 cups Vialone nano rice (I used Arborio)
  • 6 cups broth (beef or chicken)
  • Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • salt and pepper

    Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add the parsley, garlic, and hop shoots. Let cook for at least 15 minutes. Add the rice and stir, raising the heat to cook it a few minutes, then add the broth a little at a time, waiting for the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more. Continue gently stirring; a little before the rice is finished cooking (it should be al dente) taste for salt and add cheese, pepper, and butter. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the risotto rest for 2 minutes before serving.
u/slugposse · 7 pointsr/suggestmeabook

The Fanny Farmer Cookbook is an excellent source not just for recipes, but for instruction on basic techniques that recipes will assume you know--like what it means to fold in egg whites, for example.

Home Comforts goes in depth on hows, whys, and different schools of thought about housekeeping. It's a bit on the intellectual side, which will appeal to some people more than others.


If you need help in creating housekeeping routines, staying on task, or digging yourself out of a mess, the Flylady website or her books might work for you, but not everyone responds to her writing style which in on the bossy, "keeping it real, y'all" side.

u/gspm · 6 pointsr/food

I dropped the Chana Masala recipe in /r/IndianFood. Pretty much my favourite Indian dish in the home rotation.

The basmati was pretty basic, with coconut milk subbing for half the water, and using brown basmati to make it healthier (cooking time and water demand both increase).

Chicken korma was lousy. Had a jar of korma in the pantry that I picked up in a moment of "I wanna make Indian but going full on and making 5 dishes at once is a pain so I'll grab this to cut some corners". Made it to get it out of the pantry, and man, first time I have tried a non-curry paste packaged Indian food in my cooking in years and it was so unflavourful. Never again!

For the Okra, here is a scaled down recipe from Suneeta Vaswani's Complete Book on Indian Cooking. The original recipe calls for 2 lbs of okra for 8 servings, I used half a pound and made enough for four side servings (doing the math, to me 2 lbs of okra would make 16 servings). The fresh green chili made it the spiciest thing on the table.

Sindhi-Styl Okra in Green Masala


1 cup cilantro leaves

1/2 cup chopped onions

1 green chili (eg serrano) cut into pieces

1/4 inch of peeled gingeroot (protip, freeze the ginger, shave it with a microplane, forget peeling it, making melty ginger dust)

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp oil

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

1/2 tsp corriander powder

salt to taste

1/8 tsp cayenne (whatever, eyeball a bit)

1/8 tsp turmeric (whatever, eyeball a bit)

1/2 lb okra (250 g), tops and ends trimmed

1/2 a medium potato any variety, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick

  1. Food processorify the cilantro, onions, chiles, ginger and garlic until smooth.

  2. Saute the cilantro puree in the oil in a saucepan over medium heat for 6 to 8 min, until the puree stars to dry a little.

  3. Add tomatoes, corriander, salt, cayenne and turmeric and mix well. Cover with a tight fitting fild and cook over low heat until tomatoes are soft enough to be mashed with the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes)

  4. Stir in about 1/3 cup of water. Cover and bring to a boil.

  5. Add okra and potatoes to the "masala" and mix gently. Cover and simmer until vegetables are cooked, 12 to 15 minutes. Add a little hot water if vegetables are not tender and the masala dries out. You should end up with a thick masala cover the veggies.


        • The leftovers made a second appearance a couple of days later with a fresh Aloo Chaat (spicy fried potatoes in a mint chutney) and a fresh red lentil dal.
u/atomic_bonanza · 6 pointsr/vegan

I could slap your beautiful face right now. But it's okay, because I know some kick ass cook books that will show you how to make yummy vegan food. Betty goes Vegan is a cookbook that vegan-izes classic american dishes. Also the Veganomicon might as well be the vegan bible when it comes to cooking. Every recipe I've tried in this one has been delicious. Personally recommend the Spiced Sweet Potatoes and the Herbed Scalloped Potatoes because they are pretty easy to make.

Also The Sweetest Vegan is a fantastic food blog that also has amazing food on it. It's another one where everything I've tried has been amazing. I haven't tried out anything on Vegan Dad but I know a bunch of vegans who love his stuff. He also has a cook book out but many of the recipes are online. The Vegan Stoner is good because he/she makes recipes that are cheap and fast. Another one that I haven't tried out too many on but I know is popular.

For raw eating I would head over to Fully Raw Kristina I buy food from her fully organic co-op and she is a huge sweetheart. She has several recipes and tips on her youtube page and she also has her own website with some other information. Also if you can't find the answer to a question you have about eating raw you can easily contact her via email.

u/tungtingshrimp · 6 pointsr/FODMAPS

My stomach is as weak as they come but my son’s stomach is ironclad. I would focus on providing a well rounded diet high in healthy fats, protein, fruits and vegetables without regard for the FODMAP and just pay attention to how food affects him.

See if you can get this book from your library - I used it to help guide good food choices. https://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/0965260321

u/quickgold192 · 5 pointsr/AskHistorians

La Cucina has several, actually.

u/orpheus090 · 5 pointsr/Cooking

I can't recommend Taste and Technique enough. The dishes require skill but are also pretty accessible so they are designed to show you fundamental techniques you should be acquiring in the kitchen. The way it's written can be more explanatory as opposed to just outlining a recipe so I find it helpful to make typical recipe list to work with when I try out new dishes from the book.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1607748991/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_zKOyzbBXPY7KZ

u/TheGuyWithTheBalloon · 5 pointsr/Judaism

How beginner are we talking, and how hard do you want to jump in?

Artscroll's The Kosher Kitchen is a great overview and breakdown of the complex halachos involved. Here is the CRC's guide for kashering a kitchen. You can also get in touch with you local Chabad, and they'll usually be happy to come out and kasher everything for you.

If you're tight for space, it might be best to pick a gender to preference. I'm lactose intolerant, so when I was short on space, I only had a few dairy utensils and everything else was meat. Once everything is kashered, it's much easier.

u/drakmordis · 3 pointsr/funny

I agree. I have a book called "The Science of Good Food" that has been indispensible in teaching me about the fundamental principles of cooking. I cannot recommend the book enough (thus, the Amazon link)

u/EnsErmac · 3 pointsr/pittsburgh
u/smurfe · 3 pointsr/AskCulinary

If you could of looked earlier, this would keep you busy for the entire flight.

http://www.amazon.com/La-Varenne-Pratique-Anne-Willan/dp/0517573830

Like Pepin's book (which I have to) but 100% better

u/soap_is_cheap · 3 pointsr/Dallas

If you don’t mind cooking, this is a neat one to try:

https://www.amazon.com/Homesick-Texan-Cookbook-Lisa-Fain/dp/1401324266

u/bethyweasley · 3 pointsr/vegan

Since we are all a little lazy... Here are links to all of the books in my stack:
Betty Goes Vegan (my mom got this one for my boyfriend - so not strictly mine - in hopes that he would cook for me. I am pressing the tofu right now at his request, so far so good)

Vegan Eats World

Eat Drink & Be Vegan

The 30 Minute Vegan

Thug Kitchen

The Lusty Vegan (my sister bought this one for me)

One-Dish Vegan

Fresh From the Vegan Slow Cooker

Vegan Brunch (second most used, the muffin recipes in here are crazy easy to customize)

Vegan Yum Yum

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups (not blatantly vegan, but almost entirely so)

The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (My most used, and longest owned, the best of all. All super simple ingredients, only non-vegan ingredient mentioned is honey on occasion)

u/Concise_Pirate · 3 pointsr/KitchenConfidential

Glad you're excited, but where do you work that this is considered fancy? Dairy Queen?

Check out this book, it will blow your mind.

u/guest13 · 3 pointsr/FoodPorn

I hear ya. I didn't get into the habit of making food to look as amazing as it tasted till after I worked in a few restaurants, I still get lazy most of the time and don't dress stuff up. Particularly when its just me eating it.

Taking you at your word of knowing nothing about cooking, despite some evidence to the contrary in an image above, I typed out my standard advice to someone looking to know more about cooking:

  • If you want to learn more about cooking, Alton Brown's books/shows are a fantastic resource because they also tell you the how and the why that is missing from many contemporary cooking shows.

  • A good resource for recipes is a copy of the Three Rivers Cookbook.

  • About the only things I learned working as a line cook at a few places were: some pretty sweet knife skills, how to tell the done-ness of meat by touch, and that I NEVER want to work in another kitchen for the rest of my life. But I still like cooking for myself / my friends.
u/clickcookplay · 3 pointsr/Cooking

James Peterson's Cooking is a great place to start. I've given it as a gift to several friends and family members and they have loved it. At $26 it's a steal for all of the content that the book covers. Peterson's What's A Cook To Do? ($6.46) is a great little reference-tips & tricks book to have on hand as well. As is his Essentials Of Cooking. You can't go wrong with any of James Peterson's books. Last but not least The Food Lovers Companion ($11) is a must have culinary dictionary/encyclopedia. I don't know if any of these are used in classes, but they are great educational books to get started with and they won't break the bank.

u/hondasliveforever · 2 pointsr/vegetarian

I have used Good Time Eatin' in Cajun Country and have enjoyed some of the ideas in it. Unfortunatley, not everything tastes as good as it could be... I honestly have used ideas from this book, but applied them to my use of the following meat-focused Cajun cookbooks: Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen and The New Orleans Cookbook. These two have great tastes for spices and I just substitute the meats with beans, tofu, tempeh, whatever suits my fancy!

u/TentacledKangaroo · 2 pointsr/rawzerocarb

Maggots, mealworms, cockroaches, superworms, crickets, etc. are decent sources of protein and fat and are quite nutritious when properly farmed. Apparently they weird out even the raw ZC folks (which I find rather ironic).

I suspect there are better sources than maggots. Hornworms comes to mind. They're apparently a prized delicacy to the insectivore species. That said, there are Nordic delicacies that include maggot-riddled food, so... :shrug:

If you're interested in eating insects in general, ignore the haters and have a look at the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook.

u/DronedAgain · 2 pointsr/AskMenOver30

Yes. And you can cook in order to have left overs.

Buy this book used, it tells you how to make EVERYTHING, even cocktails. It'll walk you through making a good burger to making a complex meal, and you'll succeed if you follow the directions. The first part of the book is pictures of the recipe, so you can "shop" for what to make.

When I was a bachelor way back, I asked several ladies which cookbook to buy, and they always recommended this one.

Once you get the hang of cooking - about a month - you'll be good to go.

u/photoguy9813 · 2 pointsr/Cooking

https://www.amazon.ca/Taste-Technique-Recipes-Elevate-Cooking/dp/1607748991

I bought his sometime ago, and learned a lot from it. I do food photography and it's gave me inspiration on to plate and present as well.

u/[deleted] · 2 pointsr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon
  1. 6 Mice will be assassinated.
  2. I could alway beat them to death with this tombstone of a book or cook up something fancy/tempting and fill it full of death.
  3. Heres some cheese!
  4. "Sthufferin' Sthuccotash!"
u/FlowerPowerVegan · 2 pointsr/AskVegans
u/blackmarketbeagles42 · 2 pointsr/90daysgoal

Books

  • All About Roasting, Molly Stevens - I just want to roast everything, this is my bible. The roasted carrots and beets alone want to make me cry and I've gotten several non-beet people to eat the all.
  • Joy of Cooking - My reference book for basic stuff
  • Food Substitution Bible - For every thousand times I go, "Huh, I don't have that...what the heck do I replace it with?" and it is fairly international reference


    Sites

  • Smitten Kitchen - I want to be her when I grow up. Seriously.
  • Chocolate Covered Katie - For all my healthy desserts
  • Budget Bytes - Thanks to y'all!
u/potatoscientist · 2 pointsr/Frugal

Dried mushrooms, shiitake and others, whole or sliced. Dried noodles of all kinds . Miso paste, white red or brown, for miso soup, dressings, sauce bases. Sauces and vinegars. Coconut milk. Produce and seafood can be very good; go to the busiest store (fastes turnover). This book may help, perhaps you can order from library or buy a cheap used copy:
[http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Grocery-Store-Demystified-Guides/dp/1580630456]

There is also an Indian Grocery version if you are so lucky to live in a "Little India" city.

u/The_Year_of_Glad · 2 pointsr/pittsburgh

In addition to the other stuff already mentioned, maybe a copy of the Three Rivers Cookbook (vol. 1, 2, or 3) and something Mr. Rogers-related?

Edit: Can also get the cookbooks directly here. And there's a fourth volume I didn't know about...

u/PurpleWomat · 2 pointsr/Cooking

There's a book called 'The Asian Grocery Store Demystified' that is pretty good, at least as a starting point. Helped me a lot.

u/ZenInTheArtOfTofu · 2 pointsr/castiron

Not trying to discredit you at all, I’m just taking to opportunity to spread the history of my little pocket of the world. Charleston and LA are actually much more similar than you’d expect food wise! Both areas have heavy European/French influence, but Charleston is also intertwined with the Gullah culture which is a very specific niche of Creole. I mostly see sauces with that brown gravy or a French white wine and cream sauce being used here.

Edit: If anybody see this and has interest in learning more about the history of cooking in Charleston/the Lowcountry I’d recommend picking up a copy of the Charleston Receipts Cook Book. It has a ton of recipes that are hundreds of years old!

u/the_mad_scientist · 2 pointsr/Cooking

I'd say good tools, like a simple knife set, a mandolin slicer but some books will be a must.

I'd suggest Anne Willan's tour de force cookbook La Varenne Practique, which is a fantastic cookbook that covers a wide variety of knowledge of "how to" from one of the best out there. I just noticed that this book is really expensive and I bought it for about $75 a few years ago. Search and find a used copy.

Lastly, I'd suggest some cooking classes. They are really great and aren't just for teaching novices, they teach basic skills to different cuisines. My GF bought me classes in Turkish, Chinese and Moroccan cooking. They were awesome classes.

u/holy_shit_history · 2 pointsr/Cooking

Charleston Receipts, the authority on posh white people food from the Carolina coast.

https://www.amazon.com/Charleston-Receipts-Junior-League/dp/0960785426

u/casagordita · 2 pointsr/Cooking

My #1 all-time favorite: Rima & Richard Collin's The New Orleans Cookbook. Their jambalaya is to die for.

Also a favorite: Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen.

Both books have both Creole and Cajun recipes and techniques (basically, city and country cooking) but there's a lot of crossover. It all works for me!

u/Derevko · 2 pointsr/personalfinance

I second the in-home licensed daycare. I couldn't be more pleased with the person we found for our daughter and it was probably half the price of the institutional daycare centers. We ended up paying $150/week for one child (7am-5pm, California). Besides being cheaper I found she got great personalized attention and found that our daughter was probably much better behaved and socialized than some of our friends' children (who went to a more expensive institutional daycare or no daycare at all). Make sure its a licensed daycare and get references. Ours can recommended from a trusted coworker, and luckily we have a family member that works for CPS that did a background check for us as well. You should be thorough checking out anyone that you're going to trust your child(ren) with.

The only other money saving tips I make sure to pass on to my friends with kids are:

  1. Breastfeed for as long as possible. Not only is it better for the baby(ies), formula is damn expensive. Take advantage of a lactation consultant if at all possible. For me, insurance covered the first visit and I found it really helpful.

  2. Make your own baby food. I got the book Super Baby Food and it was great. It let me know at what age it was appropriate to introduce various foods and how best to prepare fresh fruits and vegetables for freezing and reheating. I would spend a weekend making all kinds of pureed food, freeze them in ice cube trays, then have homemade baby food for the rest of the week. It was much cheaper than buying jar after jar of baby food and I was sure that she was getting healthy food. An immersion blender and the "Magic Bullet" were great tools for this. Both were available at Costco for cheap (if you have a membership or friends/family with a membership and can ask for them as gifts)
u/beso_negro · 2 pointsr/AskCulinary

These were cookbooks I found continually helpful while working at a fine-dining Italian place:

La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy - 900 pages with a background on each recipe. Very helpful for research and creating dishes.

Encyclopedia of Pasta - Invaluable if you're doing fresh pasta. Provides a thorough explanation of each shape.

The Silver Spoon - a monster with 2000 recipes, but a great reference book. I think it claims to be Italy's oldest cookbook(?)...

I think these are a great starting point if you're in a serious kitchen - best of luck!

u/onlyupdownvotes · 2 pointsr/cookingcollaboration

For the love of all things holy, learn how to make appropriate substitutions. Substitution is white magic that enlivens bare cupboards or makes boring recipes sparkle. It is also a black magic that turns stomachs and causes unmentionable failures. The Food Substitions Bible is the best, but web resources can work you up to the same knowledge. When all else fails, google.

u/am2370 · 2 pointsr/AskWomen

There's a book by blogger Lisa Fain called The Homesick Texan. When I moved from Houston to the eastern seaboard, my mom sent me this as a birthday gift. I've managed to satisfy some serious homesick cravings by the recipes in this book. Best and most specific one is the tomatilla salsa recipe that is modelled after the 'green sauce' served at Ninfa's in Houston. I love it.

Edit: Actually, there's a theme emerging here, because she also gifted me this Luby's 50th Anniversary Recipe Book, which has been awesome as well. If you've ever been to Luby's (southern style cafeteria, mainly for old Texan fogies), you won't forget their fried fish or mac n cheese.

u/tujhedekha · 1 pointr/vegan

The Betty Goes Vegan Cookbook will be out in February. They're the genius folks behind the Meet the Shannons blog, where they veganize all the comfort food from the Betty Crocker cookbook. Relies on a lot of processed vegan foods though. The blog has a ton of recipes too. Enjoy!

u/GraphicNovelty · 1 pointr/AskCulinary

There's a whole lot of cookbooks in that space of "you know how to cook already, here's a slightly more advanced set of recipes" that you can dive into. Deep-diving into a single cookbook for a while will expand you "outward" and give you an understanding of a particular cuisine or technique and let you stock your pantry around that.

Just speaking personally about what i've done.

Taste and Technique: Recipes to Elevate your Home Cooking was one that i cooked a good deal of recipes from and it seriously upped my game. It's French/Pacific Northwest recipes that use (relatively) easy to find ingredients and provide seasonal variations on most of the dishes.

If you have access to a decent spice market, Ottolenghi's books are pretty good for expanding your repertiore. Jerusalem and Plenty More.

If you have access to good produce, i know people that rave about Six Seasons but i haven't used it yet. I also like Lucky Peach's power vegetables but the ironically kitschy photos are a little off putting (but the recipes are super solid).

People need to break this mentality that cooking knowledge needs to be "deep" like you're going to level up until you're gordon ramsay. Cooking knowledge past the basics is better thought of as "wide" wherein you expose yourself to a variety of techniques and cooking styles and work them into your repertoire, where it becomes an expression of your personal craft.

u/jk3us · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

I have http://www.amazon.com/Science-Good-Food-Ultimate-Reference/dp/0778801896/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269548718&sr=8-1 which is pretty neat. It explains what different foods are and what happens when you cook them in different ways. I can't compare it to that other one, but you may enjoy this one as well.

u/drewsaysgoveg · 1 pointr/vegetarian
u/GrayPenguin · 1 pointr/Cooking

Alton Brown is great. The Betty Crocker cookbook is great too. I also like the Fannie Farmer.

This is a repost of a post of a comment I made, but it should work great for you too. The key here is that this kind of meal is really hard to mess up.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/xfjkv/seeing_a_lot_of_need_quickhealthyeasycheap_meals/

Speaking of really hard to mess up, Crockpots. You don't even really have to "cook". Just get the ingredients, throw them in the pot for 4-8 hours, and you're done.

u/gorgeous1251 · 1 pointr/Cooking

i found this useful

u/stereotaxon · 1 pointr/Frugal

As a vegan, I thought I knew about vegetables so it was really great when I started going to asian markets and finding all sorts of fruits and veggies I'd never seen before.
I found this book helpful:
The Asian Grocery Store Demystified

u/aggie1391 · 1 pointr/Judaism

You need to find a rabbi and start reading, really. Kashrus is a great start, but also a hard one. Don't expect to be perfect right off the bat. R' Forst's The Kosher Kitchen is a fantastic start for that. There's also shabbos, which really means you need to move to a Jewish community and be within walking distance of a synagogue. In the meantime, find people who can host you on shabbos and holidays (which we're in the clear on for several months). And really I'd just recommend a conversion reading list like this one. It has the basics that one needs to know and is a fantastic start to living an observant Jewish life.

u/oddlyDirty · 1 pointr/seriouseats
u/riotide · 1 pointr/NeutralPolitics

I really enjoyed The Food Lab and continue to go back to it. After you've had some time with it, check out Taste & Technique. It's another great home cook cookbook, and like The Food Lab, it looks great on a coffee table.

u/Grueling · 1 pointr/Cooking

I always had a thing for The New Orleans Cookbook

It's more or less my goto cookbook for Cajun.

u/weltburger · 1 pointr/AskCulinary

This is vegetarian and does the no-onion and no-garlic thing, but it's quite big and covers a lot of material - a good starting point. It really teaches a lot about the what and the whys of Indian food. It was written by the (American) personal cook of the Hare Krishna founder, she followed him around all over India when he travelled there, learning recipes from his hosts.

u/NeuralLotus · 1 pointr/Cooking

While I agree with the other users on here who are saying that it isn't as useful for cooking around allergies, it is a great book that can enhance someones cooking. It doesn't really have recipes, or much on how to cook. It is mainly an index of food pairings. It also does have blurbs and other stuff that might get your mind thinking about food in a creative way. But it is definitely more of a supplement to other information.

I'd say that you should get her a book that has recipes for dishes she isn't allergic to. Or, you could get her a book about food substitutions, since that would let her create her own recipes and not just be stuck with the recipes in a regular cookbook.

This book apparently is good for substitutions, although I haven't read it, so I cant say myself.: http://www.amazon.com/The-Food-Substitutions-Bible-Ingredients/dp/0778802450

There is also an excel spreadsheet of food substitutions from Alton Brown somewhere on the internet. I think I have it on my computer as well, but I can't seem to find it. If you can't find it on the internet, let me know and I'll see if I can find it on my computer. It's not the most extensive spreadsheet ever. But it could at least help a little bit.

Edit: I just figured out why I can't find it on the internet myself. I was confusing things. It's not a spreadsheet. It's actually a book that Alton Brown wrote. Well, part of the book is substitutions, anyway. I was just remembering a spreadsheet I saw once that compiled all of the information in it. The book is here: http://www.amazon.com/Im-Just-Here-Food-Kitchen/dp/1584792981

Since it does cost money, though, I'd suggest going with "The Food Substitutions Bible". It seems to be a lot more comprehensive. Or you could get both. But I, personally, would choose "The Food Substitutions Bible" over Alton Brown's book, due to it's breadth and the fact that it has won an award from the IACP.

u/aasdel · 1 pointr/Cooking

Leiths Cookery Bible : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leiths-Cookery-Bible-Prue-Leith/dp/074756602X Leiths is one of the main cookery schools in the UK, like le cordon bleu if you want.

u/tropicalpuffin · 1 pointr/Judaism

Congratulations on observing kashrut!

Rice and veggies, wraps, so many options! I recommend looking through food blogs to get ideas, and then if the recipe needs it- make it kosher!

One great kosher food blog I love is Kosher in the Kitch

also, if you need any more information on the laws of Kashrut, or a good guide (as it can be confusing at times), here are two:
How to Keep Kosher

The Kosher Kitchen

u/Boinkology · 1 pointr/food

A good cajun/creole cookbook will give you a bunch of different gumbo recipes, and some history and why they are different.

I am partial to The New Orleans Cookbook

http://www.amazon.com/The-Orleans-Cookbook-Rima-Collin/dp/0394752759

u/HungryC · 1 pointr/Cooking

Books. Has he/she mentioned a cookbook or food reference book lately that he/she wants? Good cookbooks are awesome as gifts, since most cooks don't often have time to make it into a bookstore. Just as long as you get a good one (no Rachael Ray or Sandra Lee bullshit).

If your chef friend doesn't already have one of these books, any of these are a good gift:

Food Lover's Companion

On Food and Cooking

River Cottage Cookbook

French Laundry Cookbook

Also awesome, a subscription to Lucky Peach magazine.

What kind of restaurant/cuisine does your friend cook for? I have suggestions for more cookbooks if you want, but a little bit more information would be helpful.

Edit: Forgot to mention Art Culinaire, a hardback quarterly for chefs and cooks.

u/faerielfire · 1 pointr/tonightsdinner

Thanks! Recipe from the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook ('80). Link

u/of4strings · 1 pointr/Cooking

Cook books are great. Lie cheat and steal when looking at recipes. Make them your own, dont go stealing books off of the shelves of others.
Check out, the Professional Chef by the CIA and the Food Lovers Companion. They make for great reference and learning material.

u/raspberry_swirl116 · 1 pointr/IndianFood

Complete Book of Indian Cooking: 350 Recipes from the Regions of India by Suneeta Vaswani:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Indian-Cooking-Recipes/dp/0778801705/ref=la_B0034OXJZC_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464899978&sr=1-1

Her book Easy Indian Cooking is also good.

u/kl2342 · 1 pointr/houston

No idea on shipping time but here's some free "Don't mess with Texas" schwag.

eta maybe this cookbook? The Homesick Texan blog has some fantastic recipes. If your pen pal likes to cook then at least send her the blog link if not the book.

u/WhiskeyHeart · 1 pointr/Cooking

Ah so cool. Chinatown is so tasty. SF china town in particular is a lot more friendly then most so don't be afraid to ask restaurant chefs/waiters and locals what it is you're eating. First off, start walking around the grocery stores and googling the items. Same with items on restaurant dishes/ingredients. It help build up your knowledge slowly over time.

I'm also going to go against traditional advice of recommending 'every grain of rice'. I'm going to recommend "the complete book of japanese cooking" by emi kazuku which is sold commonly in used bookstores and online for like $3. It has a visual index of common ingredients in Asian groceries and essential Japanese pantry items along with great intro recipes.

I also found this. The Asian Grocery Store Demystified. I haven't read this but its an illustrated guide on the top 400 most common ingredients, what region/culinary tradition they are from, and how to use them. Looks pretty useful.

u/NoraTC · 1 pointr/Cooking

While the classics are classic for a reason, they have a dirty little secret: they reflect the food tastes of the time in which they we written. I almost never cook anything from Mastering the Art anymore, because tastes have moved on.

Today, I would start a new cookbook collector with How to Cook Everything, any edition. 20 years ago, it would have been Joy of Cooking. 40 years ago Fannie Farmer. 60 years ago, Betty Crocker, which now doesn't even turn up on Amazon on the first search page. I own all those cookbooks - and a ton more, but Bittman is where to start now, IM (rarely)HO, because he reflects general tastes, techniques and availability of today. I wouldn't part with my Escoffier, but I read it for taste inspiration, not recipes these days.

This afternoon, I was editing my cookbook collection to make room for some more advanced books in a few areas and to eliminate some dated ones, so the topic is fresh on my mind. I will never part with some older books that have the stains and happy memories of many successful uses and some fun litigation from my book publishing days, but cooking is a dynamic art. Knowing how to develop a tin type will not make you a better digital photographer.

u/Litpunk · 1 pointr/booksuggestions
u/absolutpalm · 1 pointr/Charleston

Amazed this hasn't been suggested yet - Carolina Gold Rice, a bottle of Firefly if you can transport it or a copy of Charleston Receipts if you wanna go real old school CHS.

u/podkayne3000 · 1 pointr/Parenting

Buy the Purple Book baby food cookbook and a manual food grinder. I can't really cook and never a single jar of baby food.

EDIT: Link to the baby food cookbook:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/0965260321

Note: I'm a terrible cook and get confused by complicated recipes. So, this is the first place for any type of recipe. I would say, save money by skipping other baby books and get this instead.

u/maustin1989 · 1 pointr/cookingcollaboration

Just stumbled upon this sub and am excited to participate! I think this will be a fun little project for next year. :)

  1. What do you like to cook? I like to cook very simple recipes. I am trying to sustain a Keto/Low Carb diet and find that many recipes are overly complicated fake food that use ingredients I don't normally keep to try and fake the delicious, carby stuff. Before I kicked carbs (mostly) I was definitely a meat and potatoes girl. Now I guess I'm more of a meat and cauliflower girl ;)
  2. Who is your favorite chef (famous or family)? Famous: Julia Child, family: my mother. Both share some similar characteristics in that they are fearless in the kitchen and overcome mistakes as learning opportunities. I don't think I've ever seen my mom screw up a recipe in a way that she couldn't salvage. She cooks simple recipes that are always delicious and carry much of her mother's history and heritage in them. If I'm half as good a cook as her, I'll be pleased. I still have a long way to go in terms of fearlessness and skill.
  3. What is your favorite cook book and why? Though I've never cooked anything from it yet- Charleston Receipts. It's a collection of historic recipes from Charleston, my home town. Many recipes are things I wouldn't necessarily make (calf's head anyone?), but my mom tells me my grandmother tried that one once and never again! I love the history and stories that go along with the recipes.
  4. What are you looking to learn? I'd like to be more comfortable with technical skills and knowledge, pairing of different flavors and have a few go-to recipes in my back pocket that are sure to impress if company drops by.
  5. Do you have any recipes that you would like to make but are afraid and why? I don't know why, but I'm afraid to make any kind of roast in the oven. It's a big monetary commitment to buy a big ole' roast of any kind, should I cook it in my crock pot or the oven (and will it fit?), when do I have the time to babysit this thing all day?
  6. What ingredient do you just not like and could you be persuaded to try it if the right recipe came along? Tilapia. I hate the smell, the taste, the texture. Maybe in a fish taco with a bunch of other crap to cover it up?
u/kazekoru · 1 pointr/ArtisanVideos

Only a little while, but it's my dream to be a chef [small-time, I'm not overly ambitious. I just want a small bistro!] one day. I started to work work just last year, but I've been doing personal studying for almost three years now.

As Ken Dryden said it - you need to spend more time just playing around with your choice of profession and just spending some off time in trying to do stuff, and seeing what works. Whenever I have time, I mess around with recipes and techniques, so I've learned a lot. Also, someone gave me this one year, and this thing has been ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

u/ctec_astronomy · 1 pointr/HealthyFood

I love cookbooks and collected many over the years but the one book I have returned to over and over is the Bible from Leith's cookery school. I have gifted this many times and I am on my forth or so edition.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leiths-Cookery-Bible-Prue-Leith/dp/074756602X

u/quelar · 1 pointr/Cooking

The New York Times Cook Book

It has the basics for just about everything, great reference for cooking meat, making sauces, and any other food staples. I take it and adjust to my liking and we're gold!