What Are Your Favorite Cookbooks?
Almost every cook has favorite cookbooks that are probably dog-eared, stained, and well-used. Melissa Clark tells us about the five cookbooks she couldn't live without and why they stand out for her. Clark is a New York Times Dining Section columnist and cookbook writer, and her most recent cookbook is Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can't Wait to Make.
Five of Melissa Clark's Favorite Cookbooks
Chez Panisse Desserts – “The combinations are fresh. I learned so much about not just how to bake but about how to think about combining flavors in baking and really pushing myself in that direction.”
Other notable dessert books: Baking with Julia, which Dorrie Greenspan wrote with Julia Child. Rose Levy Berenbaum’s The Cake Bible.
James Beard's American Cookery – “There has to be a James Beard book on this list. James Beard was the man who really started teaching America to look at our own food culture…. He taught me the basics of how to cook…. What I love about his American Cookery is just learning from the man who brought American cookery to the forefront and gave us pride in our own cuisine.”
Another James Beard book Clark recommends: The Theory and Practice of Good Cooking.
The River Cafe Cookbook by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray – “That book taught me how to make Osso Buco, taught me how to make kale pesto… It is immediate, it is seasonal, it is what’s outside growing, what you can get.”
Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking – “When I first picked up Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook, I didn’t know what nigella seeds were, I barely knew what a cardamom pod was.... She evokes the flavors and the sense of all these dishes that are foreign and holds your hand as you cook them.”
Diana Kennedy’s The Cuisines of Mexico is another really great cookbook that teaches for basics of a foreign cuisine.
Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking – “She really taught me modern, simplified French cooking. I discovered that book when I was really just getting serious about cooking. It was the time, it was the place, it was her voice. She understood French cooking and could tell me, an American, how to make it taste like it tastes in Paris, and I love that.”
Which cookbooks are your favorites? Let us know! Leave a comment or you can Tweet us a photo of your favorites—tweet @LeonardLopate and use #LLcooks. You can also post a photo on our Facebook page.
@LeonardLopate @goodappetite "The All New Joy of Cooking"--a grad school gift that made me feel like a real grown up cook #LLcooks
— tricia matthew (@triciamatthew) October 1, 2014
@LeonardLopate @goodappetite My go-to cookbook has to be @bittman's "How to Cook Everything" - used it so much the spine is broken!
— E Tang (@micnicmama) October 1, 2014
@LeonardLopate @goodappetite License to Grill - Chris Schlesinger #LLcooks
— Jon Hochstat (@JHochstat) September 30, 2014
@LeonardLopate take your pick #LLcooks pic.twitter.com/qTjReUOCmo
— Briana Kurtz (@bkfaf) October 2, 2014
