[jasonfodor]

I feel like most of ya'll learned from parents/grandparents...neither of mines cooked much or were around much, were busy with their careers.

I'm starting out, so I'd would like to start with 2-3 cookbooks .  Online recipes are fine also, though I feel more compelled to using it if I buy it.

Would like at least 1 book on healthy meals, and would like a diverse cookbook with different meals.

My only issue is I live in a small college town, so I am looking for a cookbook without the exotic ingredients, basically just have a a Kroger and Wal Mart to work with here lol.

 

[phatch]

These books will have some recipes that have more exotic ingredients but most of the recipes are common and straight forward content.

The joy of cooking

The best recipe

 

[jimyra]

If you have little or no experience in the kitchen I would recommend:

[h1]Betty Crocker Cookbook, 12th Edition: Everything You Need to Know to Cook from Scratch (Betty Crocker's Cookbook) Loose Leaf - October 11, 2016[/h1]

This may start a rash of comments but this is a good primer in cooking in the home. I still have a 60's edition duct taped together that I refrence occasionally.

 

[nate]

I was on a short Pinterest kick a while back and wanted to make a library of my favorite cook books. I didn't get too far but I will attach a link, hope it helps. I will probably add some of the books that people mention on this thread to it .

https://www.pinterest.com/natesanford/cookbook-library/

 

[chefwriter]

The Joy of Cooking would be my only suggestion but the Betty Crocker is also a good choice. Both should be easy to find and will be very useful. 

      The JoC has been revised several times so the older ones have slightly different information in them but the revisions are mostly related to modern tastes. The basic recipes are the same so what ever copy you get will be useful. To save even more money, you can often find them cheap at garage sales and used bookstores. 

 

[chrislehrer]

Joy is excellent as noted.

I think Julia Child, The Way To Cook is spectacular, because she uses photos and very clear prose to show you what she's doing, what to expect, and why.

James MacPherson's Essentials of Cooking is also solid, but less comprehensive in some ways.

I strongly recommend watching every Jacques Pépin TV show you can find on YouTube. All of his books are excellent, and he is an extraordinary teacher.

To sum up, I suggest these three:

Julia Child, _The Way To Cook_

Jacques Pépin, _The Complete Techniques_


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pete]

Joy of Cooking is an all all around great cookbook for beginners and we've had numerous discussions about it on here. My suggestion would be to try and find earlier editions as I, personally, find them to be better than later editions but they are all great books to have. Another classic that I still think is a great book for a home cook just learning to cook is the old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I'm talking the old one that was bound in a 3 ring binder. Lots of great information for someone just learning to cook.

Both of these books focus on simple steaight forward home cooking. Most recipes are for things many of us grew with...in the US so lots of wasy to find ingredients.