Thursday, September 27, 2012

Cookbooks I Own

I am a very conservative book buyer, mostly because of my budget, but also because elf my perfectionism. I have just a few baking books, and I consider the ones I have to be very worthwhile.

The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book I'm a big fan of ATK. I don't always agree with their assumptions, but they're recipes are always well tested. A good place to begin any recipe research.

James Beard's American Cookery This is James Beard's masterpiece. Just about anything you want to know about traditional American cooking and its history.



JOY OF COOKING This was a gift, and a welcome one. I use the 1975 edition, but I would trust the 2006 edition. Again, an important source for traditional American cooking.



Baking with Julia: Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best Bakers I love this book, and it's quite cheap now. I don't necessarily love the butter cake recipes, but the Lemon Loaf is a go-to cake for me. It us also very strong on pastries and breads. If you cook through the book, it's a great education.

Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food I have the Kindle edition, which is under $10. A very, very smart book. I've learned a lot from this book about applying science to cooking.


The Quick Recipe Since I bought the Ring bound ATK series, this is one of the only single-subject ATK books I kept. This is the original source of the Best Pumpkin Muffins Ever and No-Bake Cheesecake. It has several more quick and very yummy baking recipes.

CookWise: The Hows & Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed This is a new book, and I've only made a couple of recipes from it: Touch of Grace Biscuits and All-Time Favorite Sour Cream Cornbread. They were both amazing. Very well organized and written (sadly, better than the more recent BakeWise).

I make a very small amount of money if you buy the books through these links, but don't feel pressured.


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6 comments:

  1. AlysiaSeptember 27, 2012 at 12:04 PM

    When I received "the Joy of Cooking" as a wedding present, I thought, "What a dumb cook book. there are no pictures." I don't even remember who gave it to me... but it is my favorite cook book. I mostly love it because it doesn't just give me a recipe. It will give me information about the food I'm eating, different ways to prepare it, and only every once in a while will I find something I want to cook that it can't help me with. I will say, that the recipe for everything I've tried don't always turn out to be my favorite, but they are a great starting point.

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    1. The Cake FlakeSeptember 29, 2012 at 1:59 PM

      I learned the secret to Joy: Cockaigne is code for favorite recipe.

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  2. Sunny DawnSeptember 29, 2012 at 8:07 AM

    The Geek cookbook looks awesome, Melanie. The things I don't learn from you...I put it on my wishlist for XMas, since I'm on a very strict budget right now. Girl, when this diet is over, I want you to bake me a chocolate cake. I'll pay ya!

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    1. The Cake FlakeSeptember 29, 2012 at 1:52 PM

      I posted a raw fruit cake that you should be able to enjoy on your diet.

      Delete
  3. UnknownSeptember 30, 2012 at 4:52 PM

    Melanie, i just added "Cooking for Geeks" to my Amazon wish list! Hooray for geekery in the kitchen. :) great post. -shannon @ a periodic table

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    1. The Cake FlakeSeptember 30, 2012 at 6:15 PM

      It was your list of cookbooks, especially The Loaner Collection that inspired this post. So many of my favorite cookbooks are loaners, and I didn't know how to write about them.

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