Comments on: Are cookbooks a thing of the past?

By: James

James — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:13:36 +0000

It’s great to hear the debate about how best to use cookbooks. I’ve created a website (http://www.mycookbooksonline.com/) that contains the recipe names and ingredients from actual cookbooks – and allows you to personalise your search to the cookbooks in your kitchen. You can create a shopping list for the right ingredients at the right quantities depending on how many people you’re cooking for. The best thing is that you get to cook from the actual cookbook rather than a sheet of printed paper… It’s at beta testing stage (i.e. I only have a few cookbooks in there at the moment). If it’s not too cheeky to ask on this blog, I’d love to hear your feedback for the concept and the usability of the site. Many thanks in advance, James

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 02:03:37 +0000

I love to cook, but I’m fairly new to it. I still don’t have a lot of experience, so I like to browse for recipes to try. The internet is easier for searching for a specific recipe to try, but cookbooks are way better for browsing. I like recipe websites, but they won’t take the place of Joy of Cooking, or even my (very first cookbook) Betty Crocker’s Cooking Basics!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:05:23 +0000

I’m a bit of a foodie and I love actually reading through real live books. I spend ten or more hours a day in front of a computer screen for my job and I think my eyes and brain would fry if I spent recreational time reading electronic documents, but the real reaoson is the tactile and visual pleasure to be had from a tangible book. It always puzzles me that shedding books is recommended for uncluttering. I wouldn’t try to cook following a computer screen in my kitchen and I think a book is an easier way to use recipes than a collection of printouts, which would get pretty tatty I expect. To me, reprinting receipes again for each use is environmentally unwise and a lot more hassle/clutter than opening a book. Cookbooks unclutter my kitchen – I get rid of the ones that are useless or don’t appeal to me.

By: Megabeth

Megabeth — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:21:23 +0000

I write a vegetarian cooking blog called Veggin’
and use both the web and physical cookbooks for inspiration.

I have recently donated most of my cookbooks and just kept the vegetarian-centric ones. (I do keep Joy of Cooking around, though. I can never remember how long I need to cook an egg to make it hard-boiled.)

I also head to the library to check out cookbooks. That way, they are only around for a limited time, they don’t take up shelf space, and I save some money. I do pick up vintage cookbooks at the library book sales because many of the recipes can’t be found on the web. (And, I know the money is going back into the library.) Some of the vintage cookbooks are works of art and a glimpse into past cooking techniques and ideas.

I also have a three-ring notebook where I store the recipes I pull out of magazines and other sources. I don’t have the bulk of magazines sitting around and I can still thumb through the notebook for inspiration.

By: Brittani

Brittani — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:29:22 +0000

Very interesting site ! Good work ! Congratulations ,

By: JPMartin

JPMartin — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:37:26 +0000

By keeping recipes online in a blog, you have ready access (using the search) to any dish that you want to whizz up! Just ask my wife (http://www.mariasmenu.com/)!

By: Kalena

Kalena — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:54:31 +0000

I would also recommend Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything” which is easier to read and more modern than “Joy.” The Silver Palate cookbooks are also old standbys for finding great, tested, entertaining-type recipes.

Anyone else like the Zucchini & Chocolate blog? (or is that Chocolate and Zucchini?)

By: Sue

Sue — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:09:09 +0000

I rely on the “Joy” also, and have several of Marcia Adams’ autographed Cooking in the Heartland books. When I find a winner recipe, I put recipe card with it in a photo album, and that sits out on the shelf.

By: radish

radish — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:03:44 +0000

Huh, I have never once cracked open Joy of Cooking book – i’ve never found it to be useful or helpful. But I know I am in the minority. I do however swear by my Martha Stewart cook book as I find it to be very helpful with not just getting the basics down, but also getting a flavor I like. Martha’s layout is also impeccable. But in general, I agree, I rarely crack open a cookbook and even wonder about the usefulness of my magazines. the other websites that are terrific are William Sonoma (offer great recipes) and Martha Stewart’s site, where like on Epicurious, you can add recipes to your own ‘inbox’ but also allows you to tag your recipes for easier search and categorization, whereas Epicurious just alpha lists your recipes — a practice that after awhile can become as cluttered as having a bunch of cook books on your kitchen shelves.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 09:32:50 +0000

I read cookbooks like other people read novels, and I am very careful to only keep the ones that are actually any good. Unfortunately my husband like to browse the discount racks and constantly brings home the cheapo faux ethnic ones. Sigh. Joy of Cooking and New Best Recipe (Cook’s Illustrated) are the absolute defaults, though!!!!

By: Meg from All About Appearances

Meg from All About Appearances — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:30:15 +0000

There’s not much counter space in our kitchen, so I usually keep both the laptop and the cookbook out of the kitchen, though maybe nearby on a table (which I suppose may or may not be considered “in the kitchen” since we have a fairly open floor plan).

In a few cases, I’ve printed out the recipe from the computer, but I usually just slap stuff together without following a detailed recipe. I get ideas for what ingredients to combine and then start putting stuff together until it tastes good.

By: FatLady

FatLady — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:35:58 +0000

I get most of my recipe ideas from online sources now. Once I realized that about myself I was able to divest myself of cookbooks I’ve dragged around for YEARS. Exceptions: the very basic “Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook” (the loose-leaf one) which I actually use and”Good Housekeeping Illustrated” which was a gift from my mother. I have a couple others but their days are numbered–too many recipes begin with “1 stick of butter!”

Epicurious is my favorite cooking site. I love to read other cooks’ comments. All the substitutions & changes have made me less “precious” and more relaxed about my own cooking.

By: N. & J.

N. & J. — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:32:29 +0000

We mostly use the internet for the same reason that some people use cookbooks. Recipes posted online have been tested and you can read multiple people’s reviews so you get an idea for modifications and how well a recipe will work. For the cooking inept like my fiance and I it’s perfect.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:46:53 +0000

I love cookbooks! I borrowed a more upmarket one from our library and want to try so many things in it that I am going to have to get myself a copy. The internet is useful but anyone can post whatever recipe they like – whereas cook book recipes have been triple tested and tried in different circumstances to ensure they work every time.

I don’t keep recipe books I don’t use but I menu plan with them in front of me so they get used… I would use two or three different ones in an average week and I have about six to eight all up, all of which get used… (except one that my DH wont part with but never uses)

By: Meg from The Bargain Queens & All About Appearances

Meg from The Bargain Queens & All About Appearances — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:54:47 +0000

I rarely cook… but I still have a few cookbooks that I love and haven’t gotten rid of. Mostly, I just use them for ideas when I can’t figure out what I want to get at the grocery store.

You might also say that they’re decoration. I have a bookcase between the kitchen and living room that displays the cookbooks, a few containers of dry food stuff, a few bamboo steamers (purely decorative now that I have an electric one), and a jar of chopsticks. A smaller bookcase nearby also displays a tetsubin with matching tea cups, some smaller containers of dry food stuff, the salt and pepper shakers, and two bowls of fruit.

By: unabashedly analog

unabashedly analog — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:02:08 +0000

Oh, yeah, my laptop’s in my kitchen anyway- as the jukebox.

By: unabashedly analog

unabashedly analog — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:56:34 +0000

When friends come over to hang out with you, do you all sit around and stare at your laptop? My friends like to come to my house, and we sit around the kitchen table and talk. Invariably, their eyes will find a cookbook from my collection- in plain sight- and they will reach for it… several hours later, often after whipping up something delicious from “the chosen book,” the friendship has once again grown, and we have had a splendid time.

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:58:32 +0000

While I use the web often for new recipes, my husband and I cook at least 2 new recipes a week, so we use both the web and our cookbook collection (fairly extensive) frequently. I recently decided that receiving the magazine Cooking Light is a waste, as the recipes never start before page 100 in every issue (= 100 pages of fluff/advertising before I see a single recipe). To me, it initiates less clutter to purchase the annual Cooking Light cookbook at the end of the year, since we use a lot of their recipes.

By: Fritz

Fritz — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:48:01 +0000

Sometimes you need a thing in the middle: A lot of receipts are stored in personal cookbooks. You write your receipt on an piece of paper and keep it in a pile in a kitchen corner.

On MeinBackbuch.de (small german site, baking only) you can type in your own receipts, use receipts from their database and generate an personal Cookbook as PDF-file (with index). You can take it with you on USB-media or simply print your own cookbook.

Maybe thats a solution for you.

By: chris

chris — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:15:18 +0000

In my family (we are in the UK) we have certain cook books and cooking shows we refer to as “Food Porn” much for the aspirational way in which they are shot.

Nigella is one of the cooks that does this well.

Her cook books like many of Jamie Olivers are a thing of beauty and stand up as works of art in their own rights.