How many cookbooks do you need?
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist


Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Fort Worth TX
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Definitely a food porn addict here... I probably have close to 100, not counting the various "mini" supplements I have as well (like every volume produced of Martha's Everyday Food, lots of the grocery store checkout varieties, and the ones that have come with various small appliances).
How often do I cook? Well, it seems like the more cookbooks I get, the less I cook... so you do the math!
How often do I cook? Well, it seems like the more cookbooks I get, the less I cook... so you do the math!
#32




Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: DTW
Programs: Dirt Status w/ All
Posts: 5,049
None. Not that I cook that much, but when I want to I just use the internet to find a few recipes and usually improvise from there. Worked out well for the gumbo I made a couple weeks ago. Hopefully I remember what I did for next time.
#34
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 196
What makes my cookbook collection truly special for me is that I got rid of tons of cookbooks that I did have. I have a passion and dedication to cooking and was able to bring the number down to 39. I also have created 6 very special recipe boxes. Julia Child was a distant relative so I continue to cook in her honor.
#35
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 558
Food Porn?!?! I LOVE IT!!! You know there are cooking magazines that would feed your addiction and take up less room. Plus you could get the pages greasy if you wished!!!!
We had a bad flood up here in NH that took care of my cookbook collection as it was packed in basement in anticipation of an upcoming move (thank goodness I had sold that place and closed just a couple weeks before and was renting back from buyer!).
What I do now is go through and cull the recipes I want or think I might want. Many cookbooks only have a few.... I think of them as if they are borrowed from friends or library (which I also do) and need to get them back. This helps as I have space constraints since downsizing into a townhouse whose lack of storage I have not quite adjusted to.
I also use the web for recipes. recipezaar is my fave, food network is a close secon after the stuffed shells I made last nite!
We had a bad flood up here in NH that took care of my cookbook collection as it was packed in basement in anticipation of an upcoming move (thank goodness I had sold that place and closed just a couple weeks before and was renting back from buyer!).
What I do now is go through and cull the recipes I want or think I might want. Many cookbooks only have a few.... I think of them as if they are borrowed from friends or library (which I also do) and need to get them back. This helps as I have space constraints since downsizing into a townhouse whose lack of storage I have not quite adjusted to.
I also use the web for recipes. recipezaar is my fave, food network is a close secon after the stuffed shells I made last nite!
#36
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 63
I'm also a food porn lover. I have about 100 cookbooks and have another 100 food books (dictionaries, food history, food anthropology books). I recently culled my bookcase and donated quite a few, but it seems that I always find new ones to replace the old.
#39
Suspended
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 1
Cookbook
My daughter is in a Volunteer Fire Dept. and her husband is the Chief. Anyway, they are selling cookbooks as a fundraiser and they are $12.00. The cookbook is called Blazin' Hot Recipes. These are recipes collected from people within the dept. and relatives/friends. It is a very interesting book and great pics. The dept. is Strang Vol. Fire Dept. in Strang, Oklahoma. If your intersted. let me know. Thanks and take care.
#40




Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: AA LT G (1MM);DL G, UA GM
Posts: 2,028
My collection is limited by shelf space; currently I have about 50 volumes out. A number of ethnic and local spiral-bound cookbooks Julia Child, the new(ish) Gourmet and both Joy of Cooking editions get used. I frequently turn to Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Nancy Silverton's Desserts. My current favorite is Peter Greweling's Chocolates and Confections, gorgeous but not for the faint of heart (I make chocolates every December). Browsing Howard McGee's On Food and Cooking provides many insights that improve my cooking technique.
But more and more I get recipes from the internet, especially food blogs and eGullet.
#41




Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: AA LT G (1MM);DL G, UA GM
Posts: 2,028
Must downsize again
...or get new bookshelves! One of my two cookbook shelves just collapsed, quite gracefully, dumping the oversized half of my collection all over the floor. I guess you can have too much of a good thing
#43
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 366
I have about 20 but dont really read them anymore. I find myself turning more and more to websites like allrecipes or the like.
I actually have a few that were gifts that I dont like at all. I just cant bear to throw away a perfectly good book though
I actually have a few that were gifts that I dont like at all. I just cant bear to throw away a perfectly good book though
#44


Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: MEL
Programs: QF WP, LTG, QP on hold
Posts: 718
I have about 10 feet of shelf space plus a couple of foot-high stacks of cooking books. Must be well over 200 books.
I have 2 folders of handwritten recipes, one labelled "The Savoury Book" and the other "The Sweet Book". Most of these are either years old or from friends. I've also got a lot of clippings and leaflets in those folders.
I also have a directory on my hard drive for electronic recipes. And a folder in my bookmarks "Recipes to try". They'll be transferred to the hard drive directory if they prove good (and if I ever get around to cooking them!).
I'd use the folders or the directory for about 60% of my cooking, google for maybe 5% and the books for the rest.
What I do have problems with is remembering a good recipe and not being able to remember which book it was in!
Audrey
I have 2 folders of handwritten recipes, one labelled "The Savoury Book" and the other "The Sweet Book". Most of these are either years old or from friends. I've also got a lot of clippings and leaflets in those folders.
I also have a directory on my hard drive for electronic recipes. And a folder in my bookmarks "Recipes to try". They'll be transferred to the hard drive directory if they prove good (and if I ever get around to cooking them!).
I'd use the folders or the directory for about 60% of my cooking, google for maybe 5% and the books for the rest.
What I do have problems with is remembering a good recipe and not being able to remember which book it was in!
Audrey
#45
FlyerTalk Evangelist



Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: London
Posts: 19,069
Google search for Rutiga Kokboken ICA doesn't help me (I'm no good with non-Romance European languages)
ICA for me is the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London http://www.ica.org.uk/ which publishes its own books and DVDs as well as having a book store.
What is 'ICA' in relation to Rutiga Kokboken? (I assume kokboken is cookbook)
ICA for me is the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London http://www.ica.org.uk/ which publishes its own books and DVDs as well as having a book store.
What is 'ICA' in relation to Rutiga Kokboken? (I assume kokboken is cookbook)


That's my rule for all books.