Cookbooks to own

Four of the best

  A young acquaintance of mine recently asked me what I would recommend for a cookbook for a new cook. She wanted to get started on cooking, but thought there are so many cookbooks and food shows and blogs and could not decide what to buy.

  That required some thought on my part. I have several favorite cookbooks among the many I own, and so does Sue. However, this needed to be something useful, and modern for today’s cook. 

  The cookbooks I favor tend to be the ones I have used for years and while I have cooked long enough to be able to update the recipes, that is not good for new cooks and bakers. Also, I think they need to cover the basics and then branch out. Something to answer the questions every cook has and offer ideas for changing a basic recipe easily.

  After much thought, I decided I would recommend first and if you can only get one, that it would be the Better Homes and Gardens Red Plaid. This I think, is the best basic cookbook out today. It covers all the essentials, gives the recipes in easily understood format, and has through the years kept updated with the times and ingredients available now. A Must Have in every kitchen.

  The other book I consider essential is the Joy of Cooking. I own the older edition, but there is a new Joy of Cooking out on the market now. This is really the go to cookbook when you can’t fine a recipe anywhere else. I recently read where it is Chef Bobby Flay’s favorite cookbook. A good recommendation.

  The two cookbooks I would say one should own if you can afford them or someone wants to give you a gift would be Cheap, Fast and Good. The recipes are just that. Geared to today’s lifestyle and great for young people on a budget, and as Sue says, it's filled with good advice and shortcuts.

  The Polly Clingerman The Kitchen Companion is not a cookbook alone, but a cooking book. For beginners and experienced cooks alike. It is a book as the author says that will help you alter any recipe, make sense of recipe books you might have and answer just about any kitchen and entertaining question you might come up with. I find it indispensable in my kitchen.

  Keeping in mind that I am not getting paid to recommend these, I hope this might help some of you pick a cookbook for your self or that friend who is just starting out on a great cooking adventure.