(Part 3) Top products from r/cookbooks

Jane Grigson's English Food (1979) is probably as close as you'll get to an English Mastering the Art. It's as much a history and anthrolpological study of English food as it is a collection of recipes, but its recipes are extensive and excellent.

Elizabeth Luard's The Old World Kitchen (1987), which ranges across the European continent, nonetheless contains a fine, idiosyncratic collection of English recipes in its midst (and is probably the best single-volume reference of old world peasant cooking traditions).

The incomparable Elizabeth David's English Bread and Yeast Cookery (1977) covers every inch of the English bread-making tradition, from milling wheat to presenting at the table. David's attentions were usually focused in a more southerly direction -- the foods of France, Italy -- but she treats the baking traditions of her home nation with as much detail and respect as she does those of more foreign locales

If you want a more contemporary, chef-y book, check out Fergus Henderson's more recent The Whole Beast (2004), which is delicious, detailed, and delectable.

And finally, if you want something a lot more chef-y, Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck Cookbook (2009) will show you contemporary English gastronomy at its most ambitious (but also, maybe, its most pretentious). It sure is pretty to look at, tho.

The first thing I thought about was a book that would explain how to boil an egg :-) . . . Sure enough there is a cookbook that is aimed for those that are just starting out called How to boil an egg: 184 Simple Recipes for One. The only thing I don't see is any nutritional information or pictures to show what the food should look like after its made. The recipes in the cookbook are for one, (but of course you can double, triple, etc. the amounts when making for more people). BTW, it doesn't just have egg recipes: It covers a range of standard ingredients (meat, chicken, vegetables, etc.). The reviews seem to be positive.

I also found this: Cookbook for Beginners. It has illustrations and has information about cooking (what utensils you should use and basic techniques). It doesn't seem to have nutritional information. Again, the reviews for this book are positive.

Delia also makes a basic cookbook for beginners called Delia's How to Cook - Book One. It has great reviews on Amazon. It has pictures of the food although no nutritional information.

My favorite cookbook which I always recommend is: Assyrian Cookbook. The recipes are not difficult and instructions are pretty easy to follow with full colour pictures of each recipe. The food is tasty and every recipe has cooking times and calorie information per serving (although not nutritional information in terms of fats, carbohydrates, etc.).

My recommendation for this person would be get one of the first two (I'd lean towards the second as it has pictures).

I couldn't find a basic cookbook that has full nutritional information. The ones that have this information seem to be categorised as Healthy Eating - dieting books, Muscle building cookbooks or those aimed at pregnant women.

If you are looking for basic cooking information the Joy of Cooking is obligatory.

A couple things I've learned along the way is first to start slow and work through cookbooks. It's easy to keep buying book after book but they are just decoration if you don't know them well. Secondly, be wary of books with lots of pretty pictures! In my experience they are full of single-purpose recipes that don't teach you the true nature or source as you spoke of above.

As far as source recipes I'd second everything mentioned so far but if you are looking to blow people away with Italian and Mexican dishes (my particular favorite styles)... look no further than:

The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan - Possibly my favorite author of cookbooks of all time. This is definitely the one to start with in my opinion.

The Art of Mexican Cooking - Diana Kennedy - If you are looking for real mexican food this book is a great place to start.

Bonus Book... not a cookbook but a great way to learn about cooking

Just found your post, hope I'm not late to the party here.

I just picked up "Patti's Mexican Table", and am loving it. It was part of Amazon's editors picks of "best cookbooks for 2013" list.

I really like her focus on in-season and fresh ingredients, along with simplified cooking techniques. I think I've made 7 or so things in this book, and all of them have come out great - especially the salsa recipes.

I have a number of cookbooks (99% of which were hand-me-downs from random family members) that I don't really use because I prefer the internet, but the two physical books I've gotten the most use out of are these:

How to Cook Everything
-Especially if you're just starting out this book is excellent. It doesn't list tons of complicated recipes sprinkled with cooking jargon. It holds your hand through the simplest versions of many, many recipes and then tells you why you're doing what youer' doing.

The Flavor Bible
-Because while it's better to have experience to be able to just know which flavors work well together, this is just easier. The book has some explanatory stuff in the front, but most of the book is basically a huge index of different ingredients and all of the other things that go well with them. Especially if you're a broke student, spices are going to be the big thing that keeps you from eating bland-ass ramen all of the time (though this book doesn't just cover spices).

Well if his only restrictions are no red meat or alcohol, he's got a lot of options! But if he can only eat chicken, fish and vegetables, then he's going to be a lot more restricted.

I'd look into paleo, or Whole30 (paleo, but also no dairy, grains, sugars or alcohol) diets and just ignore recipes with red meat - a friend on chemo has had a lot of reduction in chemo symptoms that she attributes to Whole30, recommended by her oncologist.

I like the blog Nom Nom Paleo and she has a cookbook too. Here's her list of Whole30 recipes to give you an idea of what that's like:
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/42057515329/the-round-up-30-days-of-whole30-recipes

And here's the recipe index, you can see you can avoid the ones with red meat, or alternatively just focus on the ones made with chicken and fish: http://nomnompaleo.com/recipeindex

In general, though, if he has some basic techniques under his belt he'll be able to make lots of meals that meet the restrictions his doctor has recommended - my favourites for that are:

How to cook without a book

How to cook everything

Appetite

All the very best to your dad and hope he gets well soon!

OK, first you should meet with Musa Dağdeviren. I suggest you to watch video in this page to have an idea of him and also Turkish cuisine; http://www.progettomediterranea.com/Mediterranean-Galley/recipe-musa-dagdeviren.html

I suggest his book: https://www.amazon.com/Turkish-Cookbook-Musa-Dagdeviren/dp/0714878154

Unfortunatelly, I don't know the books I read at school by the name but their appearance. If you can comment your e-mail(or pm, I'm noob at reddit), I can check at this monday and mail you the names of those. Musa Dağdeviren will do for a period of time to survive, he is very precious for Turkish Cuisine.

Thanks, have a good one.

If you're looking for basics, it's hard to beat Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything The Basics.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Cook-Everything-The-Basics/dp/0470528060

It's exactly what you're looking for. It covers the basics of cooking, with 1,000+ photos.

Another go-to recommendation is Jacque Pepin's New Complete Techniques, a fantastic 2012 update of his epic masterpieces La Technique and La Methode, with 1000 new photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Jacques-P%C3%A9pin-New-Complete-Techniques/dp/1579129110

Both books are great. I prefer Pepin's book since it's based solely on classic French technique, but Bittman's book would be better for an absolute beginner.

Instead of some of the generalist books already featured here, let me recommend you two books which are more narrowly focused:

• Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy by Dianna Kennedy
  
  
• Yucatan: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by David Sterling
  
  If you are at all interested in learning about Oaxacan or Yucatan food, you can not go wrong with either one of these books.

Man, I'm really sorry to hear about this. How sweet of you to help her replace it, though!

I own this one, which is amaaaaaazing and broken out by country (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, "Yugoslavia"--yep, it's old, Russia, Poland, and some other ones: http://www.amazon.com/Eastern-European-Cookbook-Shaw-Nelson/dp/0486235629/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I picked it up at a Goodwill a couple years ago, so before you pay Amazon for shipping it's worth checking out a local thrift/used book store. Good luck!

Also Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini: The Essential Reference: 500 Recipes, 275 Photographs. Especially if you're trying to cook with different vegetables. It leaves out the ordinary ones (like tomatoes) but it's wonderful reading.

Mark Bittman's Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying & Cooking is pretty decent. If I can recall it does have info on frozen seafood as well

This one does a really great job at Mediterranean/Lebanese, since one of the cooks is from Lebanon and moved to England. There are lots of gorgeous recipes that are more of a fusion, but check it out:

Honey & Co.: The Cookbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316284300/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_2F2rybXATJKWG

For a more lyrical taste on it, I'd recommend Brillat Savarin's Physiology of Taste

For me, it has to be Delia Smith's complete How to Cook series. I believe there are three books in the series, but you can buy them as a bundle, and the International version is recommended for American cooks who might otherwise find the measurement system unusual.

The recipes in The Mile End cookbook are totally up my alley. How to preserve, smoke, bake, etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Betty-Crockers-Cookbook-Everything-Today/dp/0307098222/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=STDPQRZ99NXBF5M3HA1Z