I've been lax about posting lately. Part of it is because I started working on a cookbook review post, and I think I got a little intimidated. I realized I needed to write a post about my approach to cookbooks in general before I wrote about any book specifically. I studied literature, so I always revere the sanctity of the book and the author.
I don't have that many cookbooks. Around 11. And some of them I rarely use (Charcuterie - no space to dry age smelly meat, and Classic Indian Cooking - not sure why) In general, I use cookbooks for three reasons:
1. For cooking, generally it's for inspiration - I have an ingredient, I go to my cookbooks to get an idea of what to do with it. Once I have an idea, I often don't follow a recipe.
2. For baking or more complicated recipes, it's about instruction. I pretty much always follow a recipe for baking. Sometimes I'll add or subtract something, but I follow the recipe where it counts.
3. For reference - This is kind of a combination of both. Often I'll have an idea to make something, and I'll compare recipes and methods between multiple books. Or if I need to know the ratio of stock to rice for risotto. Things I generally know, just need a reminder or some guidelines, or in order to compare one recipe to another.
Some books offer all three things. Some just one or two. Not every cookbook can be the Joy of Cooking - to me the ultimate reference cookbook. But I think that the true mark of a great cookbook is the addition or inclusion of the spirit of the cookbook author. Anecdotes, situations, photos and history all add up to make a book that is a good list of accurate and usable recipes into something that is a pleasure to read and reason to come back to time and time again. This is one of the reasons that I think I vastly prefer cookbooks to recipe web sites. I'll definitely write more about websites later, but my criteria for them will be different.
So for cookbook reviews, I'll be using these general criteria. My next post will be a cookbook review. I bet you can't wait.
*From "The Joy of Cooking" "About Rolled and Molded Cookies"
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