The one cookbook you can't live without.

[Pete]

If you all out there are like me, you own way too many cookbooks and continue to buy more all the time. With all the cookbooks I have, I still find myself refering to the same 3-4 90% of the time. The one I use most is probably "Sauces" by James Peterson. He does a great job in one book that could easily fill two or three volumes. I haven't found a better reference cook devoted to one subject. It is also a history lesson in sauce making that I find to be fascinating. As a reference book I challenge you to find a classical sauce that he doesn't cover. Even if I don't use his recipes often it gives me a starting point to create many of my own interptations of many of the great classical sauces. So, what is the one book you couldn't do without?

I always find myself referring to "The New Professional Chef" for answers and basic recipe ideas.

there are two books for my which are my fav
they are from a great English chef called Rick Stein,Taste of the sea and fruits of the sea,amazing books modern classics!!!!!

[m brown]

"

[This message has been edited by m brown (edited November 02, 1999).]

[m brown]

"whats cooking at moodys diner"
from oyster stew to 100 good cookies, a great little book.
"delmonicos cook book"
has every recipe ever written to its date, around 1887.
"battinas best desserts"
great ideas.
"dendoovens restaurant and hotel dessert book"
indespencable for the professional pastry chef at any level.
(cookbooks are like flowers, you can't love just one. or is it potatoe chips, you can't have just one.)



[This message has been edited by m brown (edited November 04, 1999).]

"cakes men like" is one of my favorites..from the 50's. It's a scream...

but seriously, One cannot live without Larousse Gastronomique.

I must say there are two. The Joy Of Cooking Revised and James Beard's Cookbook (one of his first basic books). Will look into the Sauce book! Thanks for the info! I own approximately 35 cookbooks and more than not I go to Joy of Cooking and James Beard's book.

Very true Carol, the Larousse is the bible.
It would be great if it was online or on disk.

[judy]

A long time ago when I opened my first restaurant a friend gave me a book called "Alices Restaurant"
This became my bible. Not particularly for the recipes but for the great attitude this chef had for food.Nothing could get too bad with that book by my side. I lost it and learnt to cope!!
I have read all Alice Waters books and they are a constant source of inspiration but none like that first one.
Elizabeth David is great and The passionfruit tart from "Quaglinos" is to die for, or so my customers reckon.

[m brown]

Carol, I would love to know an example of the cakes men like.

Mbrown... I'll pull the book and find one or two favorites... it's so funny, really... so 50's.. do you have an email or a fax? I'm also a huge fan of pastry books by some women I know from LA.... (from Spago) Nancy Silverton's work is amazing.

[This message has been edited by carol wallack (edited November 04, 1999).]

[m brown]

To look at, the Charlie Trotter Dessert
book is wonderful. Nancy's book is great to use, and the Cake Bible is a wonderful easy to follow cake guide.
so many books..........

[Jim]

I consider the Culinary Handbook (Charles Fellows, 1897) my bible. It is 4000+ recipes strong, with little room for the novice. It is fundamentally a guide versus a true collection of recipes. It was later revisited by Jeff Smith/Craig Wollum in 1991. The author is probably one of the most understated contributors of contemporary cuisine; his philosophy is "I'm in America, I cook American food." He was in Chicago at the turn of the century, in the heart of it all. He was a friend and colleague of Charles Ranhoffer (Delmonico's) and it is in the same class as The Epicurean. I found an original copy after searching every used book store for a 100 mile radius for years; I finally got it from an antiquarian book dealer in Portland, OR.
The things we'll do for books....

what do you think of a chef using a former assistant's recipe and calling it her own? I worked eons ago for one of Chicago's top pastry chefs. A few years later while I was pastry chef at a restaurant on the North Shore, this chef and her husband spent some time hanging out at the restaurant between gigs. I had converted Rose Levy Beranbaum's lemon poppyseed poundcake to passionfruit because one of the owners was a passionfruit freak. (It really is wonderful in poundcake) This chef had my cake, and we even used it when I worked for her briefly a little later. Now it is in her brand new cookbook with no acknowledgement that she had seen me make this cake. Am I too sensitive? Does it matter that I no longer cook for a living and am highly unlikely to write my own book? I learned TONS from her, and I used some of her recipes as a chef, but it bothers me. What do you think.

I love James Peterson! In addition to "Sauces" and "Splendid Soups", his "Vegetables" book is on the top of my list and I often refer to "Fish and Shellfish". Not only are his books incredibly informative, but he's got a fun sense of humor as well. I'm reading a book right now that, although it does contain recipes, is not really a cookbook. "Tender at the Bone" by Ruth Reichl(editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine) is a comedic look at how food shaped her world from childhood to the present. Worth reading!

To Linda re: your passionfruit cake recipe. I think that would bother me. I honestly don't know how I would handle the situation, though. My fiance thinks you should "Thank" her for paying homage to your recipe in her cookbook. Just a suggestion...maybe she doesn't remember where the recipe came from. Do you think this is a possibility?