The Cook's Library

Every cook, and even some lovers of food, but non-cooks, collect cookbooks. I have alot, and I only hope I amass more over the years. Some of them I received as gifts. Some I bought at yard sales. Some are classics and some are unknown treasures. I'm the sort of person who will sit down and read a cookbook cover to cover, imagining the parties I will have, or who I would cook a recipe for, or what time of year something would taste good. I also read food and cooking magazines, and they get a cover-to-cover work out as well. I used to tear out the pages of stuff I want, but now I share the wealth and photocopy and bind my findings, and then leave the magazines at work for my co-workers to play with. But back to the books. Here are a few of my favorites.

The Bible
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck
I have a 50th anniversary copy and just recently received a 1966 edition which belonged to my grandmother, then my mother, and now me!!!

Older than Dirt
What to have for Dinner
Fanny Farmer 1905
My boy bought this for me. I am afraid to open it as it has a leather spine. whoever owned it didn't cook, cause it is spotless, the paper smells so good and old. The typeface, makes me feel all cozy.

The Beloved
"Unnamed"
Fanny Farmer, sometime in the thirties
I have had this cookbook for a little over ten years. It is unnamed because the cover, and the first and last 25 pages have disappeared over the years...I have no idea what it is called.It has taught me all the basics about cooking and is filthy, falling apart and gross. I refuse to get rid of it, and it is the only cookbook that is allowed to stay in the kitchen. (The boy and I had a long discussion of how my books were taking over precious space in our less than 10 x 10 kitchen. The result was my cookbooks were banished to my library, but I got to keep the Beloved by my side)

The One Course
Splendid Soups
James Peterson
I belonged to a cookbook club for a bit, and this was one I picked. I guess deep down, I love soups, because I have cooked my way through this book, delighting in all the strange, homey, casual, decadent soups. Plus it has a lovely clear varnish spoon on it's solid black cover, and playful alternatives along the way with recipes.

The One Ingredient
One Potato, Two Potato
Roy Finamore
This was also a cookbook club purchase...and it's a little moldy cause I have used it alot. I always cringe when I open it up again after a while. But I LOVE potatoes, and they are sooo amazing and versatile. This book is a treasure, and answers everything you wanted to know about all varieties of potatoes, troubleshooting cooking them and every sort of possible way to prepare them from around the world.

I have some of the modern heroes: Martha Stewart, Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain...but the aforementioned are my best loved. What's your favorite?

Don't even get me started on Culinary novels...whew...I am overwhelmed with how many good ones I have read lately...that's a post for another day.