Favorite Cookbooks and/or Kitchen Related Literature

[KetchupKing]

All of the Keller books are good, as is to be expected, but I like Bouchon Bakery best. Sebastien Rouxel does, in fact, know a thing or two about baking.

I'd actually like to solicit advice on a good Italian cookbook.

I just started How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Dr. Buwei Yang Chao. She wrote the book in the US with the help of her linguist husband, Yuen Ren Chao, and daughter during the Second World War while he was teaching Chinese to American soldiers. She's the origin of the terms pot sticker and stir fry.

I debated for so long about kellers books. Im sort of a skeptic when it comes to these cookbook style by famous chefs etc. Will give it a shot though.

[dAviD]

All of the Keller books are good, as is to be expected, but I like Bouchon Bakery best. Sebastien Rouxel does, in fact, know a thing or two about baking.

I'd actually like to solicit advice on a good Italian cookbook.

I just started How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Dr. Buwei Yang Chao. She wrote the book in the US with the help of her linguist husband, Yuen Ren Chao, and daughter during the Second World War while he was teaching Chinese to American soldiers. She's the origin of the terms pot sticker and stir fry.

I grew up in an Italian family and New York...
so I tend to skip cookbooks in that style just because it's such a part of my life and cooking vocabulary.
there's nothing like working a crazy shift in a kitchen and then getting screamed at in Italian by your great grandmother on how's your preparing her pork and lentil stew wrong....and too many lights being on.....lol.
anyways,
Maria Hazans cookbooks are definitely a straight forward easy read in Italian cooking .
I still reference it because they are written in a way that allows a little or allot of expression by the cook without changing the fundamentals of the recipe. or just follow the recipe and most of them are pretty on point. plus a paper back copy easily fits in a knife kit and the cheapest hell I got my last copy for $1.
there's another one.....but I forget the name and I'm at work still....

Thai food by David Thompson is also maybe the craziest cookbook/history of a country though cuisine. I absolutely love that book.

[Drewski]

Thai food by David Thompson is also maybe the craziest cookbook/history of a country though cuisine. I absolutely love that book.

I picked it up a while ago. Its daunting to say the least (from a Canadian home cook perspective, anyway).

[MisterJames]

The Food Lab - Better Home Cooking Through Science - J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Truly Mexican - Roberto Santibanez

The Ancestral Table - Traditional Recipes For A Paleo Lifestyle - Russ Crandall

Charcuterie - Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn

Greens Glorious Greens! - Johnna Albi & Catherine Walthers

The Collard Patch - Mary Lou Cheatham & Paul Elliott

[Energizerbunny]

Not a cook book but I use the app Paprika 3 Pro and its awesome I love it.

It stores your recipes and also if you have ever gotten annoyed when looking at recipes online because of all the ads etc.
This app downloads the recipe into a regular format thats easy to read. In addition if you want to double or triple a recipe it does the math for you.

Don't work for them just really love the app it made my life alot easier.

[dAviD]

Not a cook book but I use the app Paprika 3 Pro and its awesome I love it.

It stores your recipes and also if you have ever gotten annoyed when looking at recipes online because of all the ads etc.
This app downloads the recipe into a regular format thats easy to read. In addition if you want to double or triple a recipe it does the math for you.

Don't work for them just really love the app it made my life alot easier.

I'm definitely going to check that out because the ad stuff drives me crazy. I understand that it's the way that a lot of websites make money so that they can actually have a website but still sometimes they go crazy with it.

kind of out of left field one of my favorite things to do over the last couple years is use Google photos to take pictures of recipes in my cookbooks and that way I have it available to me on the go without having to rewrite everything into a notebook like we used to do back in the day. It also makes it really easy to share a recipe because my handwriting sucks so even if I were to share a recipe with somebody they probably couldn't read it anyway.

[Szyclops]

Thai food - David Thompson
All Under Heaven - Carolyn Phillips
Really authentic recipes, and greatly laid out. Both of these don't have a ton of pictures but the flavors are ON POINT.

Food Lab - Kenji Lopez-Alt
Great techniques in here and well laid out.

Anything by Vegan Richa, for those in your family that are not a fan of meat, this chef has been a blessing when I have to cook for them. Awesome recipes.

[martine]

I was recently gifted the cookbook from State Bird Provisions in San Francisco, and have been using it a lot for inspiration. Love the focus on pickles/aioli/dips that pack a lot of flavor and complement the main dishes.

[Jbpruner]

Zuni Café Cookbook - Judy Rodgers
Mozza - Mario Batali & Nancy Silverton
Pok Pok - Andy Ricker
Ideas In Food - Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot
Honey & Co - Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich
Prune - Gabrielle Hamilton
Alinea - Grant Achetz
Sushi Chef Sukiyabashi Jiro - Shinzo Satomi
Le Pigeon cooking at the Dirty Bird - Gabriele Rucker & Meredith Ericson
Le Manoir au Quat Saison - Raymond Blanc
La Repetoir de la Cuisine - Louis Saulnier
White Heat - Marco Pierre White
Franklin BBQ - Aaron Franklin & Jordan Mackay

Jesus... You have "white heat".... That thing is legendary. Most pro guys dont buy to many cookbooks... But "Kitchen Confidential" and "White heat" are must haves. Exept you cant find "White heat" anywhere anymore lol

Haha! I have two copies of white heat. I've also worked in kitchens for 20 years and see it both ways. Some guys don't buy any cookbooks and some have hundreds. In the second camp, I don't use them for recepies per se but inspirational. Good choices by the way OP.

[Jbpruner]

I was recently gifted the cookbook from State Bird Provisions in San Francisco, and have been using it a lot for inspiration. Love the focus on pickles/aioli/dips that pack a lot of flavor and complement the main dishes.

Great restaurant. Thier second restaurant, the progress, is pretty awesome too.

[killerloop]

Root by Rob Howell, not too bad some interesting recipes

[jmnorris]

It's been a while since the previous post in this topic, but I have one that may not be well-known. The Gourmet’s Cookbook by Caroline Bodóczky, Judith Elliott, and Kemenes Inez. Translated from the Hungarian Az ínyesmester szakácskönyve by Elek Magyar, 1932. Basically, recipes collected by a journalist from various Hungarian chefs. It's not always a paradigm of clarity but is considered a highly valuable resource for traditional Hungarian cuisine.

[snowhater98]

The Wok by J Kenji is fantastic

[trancher]

The Wok by J Kenji is fantastic

Thanks for the recommendation, snowhater98. By the way, welcome to the forum!

[XexoX]

The Wok by J Kenji is fantastic

Thanks for the recommendation, snowhater98. By the way, welcome to the forum!

Be sure to actually look at a copy of the book before buying it. I find it difficult to read. The layout is hard to follow, the format/layout of the recipes is not consistent, some of the fonts are not easy to read, and others have said that instructions are repeated, and at least one place says more information about this is on page XXX, when that is the page you are on.

There may be good information in the book, but I just can't get past the poor design/layout of it to find the information. Just glad I didn't pay full retail for it.

[TC207]

For anyone dealing with inflammatory type chronic illnesses and/or food intolerances the Sweet Laurel “Sweet”(mostly baking) and “Savory” cookbooks are awesome.

I’ve really been enjoying Alison Roman’s “Nothing Fancy” for easy but super tasty meals for company recently.

A fantastic read if your into hunting and random and adventurous acts of cooking is Steven Rinella’s “A Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine”. He gets obsessed with an old Escoffier cookbook, and decides to cook this massive feast, all with hunted, foraged, and scavenged ingredients. It’s quite entertaining. His (MeatEater’s) cookbooks are all pretty on point for wild game as well.

[XexoX]

Does anyone have this book? I found a recipe for hot oil by Kian Lam Kho, years before this was published, but now the recipes I find on-line have either a 1/4 cup of Sichuan peppercorns (花椒) or a 1/2 cup. Just wondering what the book says. Thanks!

[mjgillen]

One of my favorites and a classic is "Five-Star Favorites.. Recipes from Friends of Mamie and Ike"