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Why aren’t the recipes for this book available on ckbk?
We are building our collection of cookbooks all the time. This book is on our wish list, but it is not yet available on ckbk.
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Authority on Italian food and opera
The first edition of this indispensable primer was written by Irma S. Rombauer in 1931 and has been updated countless times since, often with her daughter Marion and subsequently by other relatives and new editors. This is among the first books any American home cook acquires and is a valuable instruction manual on the basics of ingredient selection, preparation and cooking. Recent editions did harm to some of the book’s quirky charm by standardizing concepts that defy standardization. The original Rombauer versions (epitomized by the 1975 edition) of this book teach the reader—often a stranger in the kitchen—how to cook but also how to think creatively and intuitively. Many Americans of a certain age refer to The Joy of Cooking as “Mother Rombauer.”
Blogger
I list this last because I NEVER use any of the recipes in it, but I look at it all the time. Get the oldest copy, the earliest edition you can find. It's a piece of history, and will remind you of whence we came! The older copies have instructions like how to skin a squirrel, and how best to cook a possum. If you choose to use any of the recipes, it will teach you that you shouldn't trust most recipes. Half a teaspoon of salt in a casserole? For decades, this was the go-to cooking reference for our nation, which is why our cuisine was scorned the world over. But it was the life's work of Rombauer, and the continuing work of her daughter, and is of priceless anthropological value. It should be on every cookbook shelf in the nation.
Specialist food producer
This book was given to Margaret by her mother when she complained to her mother that in married life she now had to cook. Being brought up in South America and the Bahamas, Margaret's early life did no include the necessity to cook. The kitchen was the domain of the kitchen maids! So this book was sent from Nassau to Margaret in the UK with blessings from her mother saying you will find instructions on how to cook Sunday lunch in here. Still Margaret's most hated meal to cook, she hates the balancing act of presenting so many different components to table at the right temperature.
Baker and food writer
The Joy of Cooking (1896) is the kitchen bible for many home cooks in America, still a bestseller. I found a battered, coverless but complete 1943 edition at the Strand Bookshop NYC in 1993 and somehow still have it. When I wanted to know the traditional way to bake a chocolate brownie, make cornbread, it was the book I went to. Rombauer called it a “record of our American way of life”, back in 1943, and it’s remarkable that she recorded it so thoroughly.
Editor-in-Chief, Fine Cooking Magazine
My mom gave this book to me when I left home for college and kept calling her every night to ask basic questions, like “how do I roast a chicken?” Not only does it cover those basics, it’s also got instructions for oddball tasks like how to cook a squirrel or skin a beaver tail. Not that I’ve ever needed to do either, but who knows, one of these days that knowledge might come in handy.
Editor of Profile Leader and author
This spiral bound version was a wedding present from a childhood friend who knew that until I left for abroad to study for my Masters degree, I had never ever stepped into the kitchen. It was a lifeline during my first years of marriage — when Britain was still not yet the food nirvana it is today and eating out still quite the luxury — especially the recipe for spaghetti bolognese.
Food writer
I grew up with this bible of all possible recipes, it is no nonsense and has a recipe for everything. It works. I have never lived in a house without it, the page marking the temperature and measurement equivalents is permanently bookmarked. It is the first book I bought for my own house when I left home.
Baker
A classic in our kitchen,and of course generations of cooks. I read dessert recipes over and over as a young baker. There was so much to explore and learn and this book was a solid foundation for so many techniques.
Food writer
The American ur-cookbook, and the first place I look if I need to understand how to do something simple, like making gravy or cooking sugar. Highly unglamorous, but probably the most useful cookbook I own.
Food anthropologist
I seem to have several JCs: Julia Child, Joyce Chen and J of C. They are equally tattered and this one held together by duct tape. My only brownie recipe is covered in chocolate: you can lick the page.
Grocer, baker and founder of Green & Black's
My mother taught me to follow a recipe from this book when I was 9 years old. It tells you everything you need to know in a coherent order. Concise, simple comprehensive
Food writer and podcast producer
The OG of cookbooks; I think I started reading this cookbook when I was nine. Comprehensive, easy to follow, and solid recipes. I still go back to this again and again.
Food writer, author and broadcaster
A book that has not only stood the test of time, but that, in its eight editions dating from 1931 to the present, has catalogued the changes in cooking in America.
Founder and owner of NYrture Food
I know this is such an old-school cliche, but I really do turn to this book a lot for tried and true standards to which creative twists can be added.
Chef, recipe tester and author
First cookbook I was ever given. It’s a first edition, handed down me and although the pages are worn and yellow, I love it.
Writer and Food Consultant
I grew up with this book and it's still on my shelves. I go to it for the basics -- pancake batter and cookies. A classic.
Journalist & food blogger
It's a classic, my go-to book for the basics, and it's a vital contribution to an overall well-rounded kitchen.
Chef
Who doesn't have this book - it's how I learned to cook prime rib the right way (and so much more)
Author
One of the first books to work in “culinary chat”, having more text than ingredients and ratios.
Author
For clarity and scope of cooking in the US, this encyclopedic classic is still essential.
Food writer and broadcaster
Latest edition, plus earlier editions with recipes for condiments, jams, preserves etc.
Baking instructor and author
I learned to cook from an early Rombauer edition, but each update has been priceless.
Food journalist
Joy of Cooking--any edition pre-1990s ( mine is 1979—before all the low-fat nonsense)
Blogger, Chinese Grandma
An American classic, the 1975 is the edition to have, the last one edited by Becker.
Publisher
THE classic American cookbook – from which millions (including me) learned to cook.
Chef, Author, Culinary School Director
Always a first go-to reference, even for classic French dishes!
Author and consultant
Should be everyone's first book - unpretentious and helpful.
Culinary historian
Essential reference guide for standard American dishes.
A Food Historian Cooks
For helping me understand American cooking
Owner and executive chef, DW Bistro
This is everyone’s Bible!
Obituary writer and former restaurant critic
Durable.
chef/author/entrepreneur
Food writer
Executive chef and co-owner, Le Pigeon and Little Bird
Culinary Consultant, Route to Market LLC
Fermentation blogger and educator
Editor
Food columnist of LA Times
Chef, restaurateur, food writer
Writer, editor and photographer
Chef and restaurateur
Director Bibendum Wine
Writer, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet Magazine
Professor of American History and author
Chef
Author
Honorary curator of the culinary collection at the Schlesinger Library
Chef/Owner Pok Pok Restaurants
Author and food historian
Editor
Consultant and writer
Writer
Publisher of Appetite
(Formerly) Operations Manager at Keith McNally restaurants in NYC
Executive Chef, Eat First
Co-founder, FOOD-X
Author and lecturer
Food writer and author
Fermentation revivalist
Consultant and writer
Academic, food activist and author
Chef
Food & Travel Storyteller
Director, Fales Library and Special Collections
Executive Chef and Partner
Blogger, Life’s a Feast and Plated Stories
Author
Writer and composer
Chef
Food writer
Author and editor
Chef and cookbook author
Food historian
Host of Platypus (San Francisco pop-up)
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