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How Many CookBooks do you Own vs Use? - Page 2

post #21 of 54
10/3/10 at 8:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coconut Chronicles View Post
Just counted and I have 138 cookbooks give or take (I didn't check to see what was upstairs). I seldom follow a recipe from start to finish but I buy cookbooks to inspire me and give me new ideas/tricks.
That.

I can't bring myself to get rid of most of them, I love them all. I was thinking about rotating them. I love to peruse them and make my menus for the week.

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post #22 of 54
10/3/10 at 5:29pm
I have about two dozen... half of those I use regularly. I use a soup bible weekly, a gluten free baking book multiple times a week, the Rebar cookbook a few times monthly, Nourishing Traditions a couple times a month. I have a great Asian cookbook which covers traditional recipes from ALL of Asia which I love and use monthly as well as Wild Fermentation which I go back to for ferment measurements, and a bean bible for ideas of good meals with beans. Some are more seasonal like canning, cordail and liquior recipes, dehydrating recipes, putting food by, and Wild foods cookbooks. A couple I am a bit sentimentally attatched to... like " The Farm" cookbook , and a Red rose cookbook of grandmas with all of the clipped out recipes and personal notes. A couple could go... like a couple of Moosewood and a vegan lunchbox.
post #23 of 54
10/3/10 at 6:45pm
Thread Starter 
Oh, see, I read Soup Bible and now I just have to have it. I love my cookbooks for the most part but they take up so much room and i don't use half of the recipes in them.

I do like the idea of putting pages in a sleeve since I could wipe them off. I am a good cook but a messy cook.
post #24 of 54
10/3/10 at 7:25pm
The soup Bible is probably my favourite cookbook ever. Every single soup in there is good. There are recipes in there that make a yummy meal when you are scraping the bottom of the barrel and are in between grocery shops... but somehow are still delicious and don't taste like watered down chicken bones!lol My mother made terrible soups( and my dad insisted that real men don't eat soups!).
Add in the NT style home made broths and some good bread.... fit for the pickiest eater, and makes for full bellies all around.
post #25 of 54
10/3/10 at 11:33pm
We have about 50 cookbooks and I hate them. I've never used a single one. DH thinks we need to have them and refuses to part with them until he "goes through them all." (He doesn't cook. I do.)

We also have cookbook software on our computers--anything we love I put into "Our Cookbook" and I refer back to that or find new things online. I love looking online for recipes--any recipe I could ever want is out there and takes up no space in my house!
post #26 of 54
10/4/10 at 3:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by clutterwarrior View Post
I have a bookshelf dedicated to just cookery books!

The total figure does include a set of about 70 mini cookbooks..which don't take up a lot of room.
What's a mini cookbook? sounds cute!
post #27 of 54
10/4/10 at 3:39am
Yeah, I like the binder with sleeves idea too. Will have to do that!
post #28 of 54
10/4/10 at 3:40am
does anyone have a good Indian cookbook? they seem to be either too involved or not what I want to make...
post #29 of 54
10/4/10 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Essie View Post
does anyone have a good Indian cookbook? they seem to be either too involved or not what I want to make...
I like Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking and Indian Spice Kitchen. Both are excellent and easy to follow.

post #30 of 54
10/4/10 at 12:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Essie View Post
I don't know. I've been wondering what other people do. You can use a binder and use those clear sheets for the pages.
That's exactly what I do. Sometimes I bring my laptop into the kitchen, but it takes up too much room and is difficult to move around, so the binder is perfect for me. Plus the sheet protectors can be wiped down, taken out, moved around...
My binder is a cute, thin one. I'm considering making a nice cookbook on shutterfly, or something like that too.

Regular cookbooks, I don't have too many, maybe 7 or 8 and a small stack of Cooks Illustrated magazines.
post #31 of 54
10/4/10 at 1:28pm
I have about 50 cookbooks and many, many food magazines. I don't use them all, but I'm loathe to part with any. I never know when inspiration will strike and I'll pull one off the shelf. I have cooked from most of them or used them as reference to learn about particular ingredients or cooking methods.

Recipes clipped from magazines and newspapers and printed off the computer go into multiple pocket file folders from an office supply store. I have 3. One holds main dishes (seafood, chicken, pork, lamb, beef, pasta, vegetarian). One holds lighter fare (beverages, appetizers, egg dishes, salads, soups, perserves). One holds baked goods (cookies, muffins and quick breads, yeast breads, fruit-based desserts, pies and tarts, cakes).

When I travel, I try to find a good local cookbook as a souvenir.
post #32 of 54
10/4/10 at 2:13pm
I have 1 massive go to cookbook. I also have a ton of lose recipes on papers and cards.
post #33 of 54
10/4/10 at 2:25pm
I have a lot of cookbooks, and I use most of them... some are mostly for reference, others I keep for one or two specific recipes, and occasionally try other stuff in them... Once in a while (maybe once a year?) I go through and try to pare them down a bit... but I'm constantly adding to them from the goodwill (ours gets an amazing amount of neat cookbooks!!!)
post #34 of 54
10/5/10 at 2:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Coconut Chronicles View Post
I like Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking and Indian Spice Kitchen. Both are excellent and easy to follow.
Thank you! Are there several versions of M. Jaffrey's cooking?
post #35 of 54
10/5/10 at 5:25am
One? I don't know where it is now that I think about it, lol.

I have ALL recipes saved on my PC (backed up as well!). I have them in a main recipe folder, and then separated out into desserts, main courses, breakfast, etc.
post #36 of 54
10/5/10 at 8:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Essie View Post
What's a mini cookbook? sounds cute!

They are put out by two companies here...Family Circle and Womens Weekly. They measure about 5 x 6 inches and are quite thin so you can stack a lot in a small space.

This is a pic of one I found online.

http://www.oztion.com.au/vshops/item...=10621468&tid=
post #37 of 54
10/5/10 at 10:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Essie View Post
Thank you! Are there several versions of M. Jaffrey's cooking?
I think she came out with an updated edition awhile ago if that's what you mean. She has quite a few books. I have two. The one I mentioned and Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking. Both are really excellent cookbooks that I reference a lot (DH is a huge fan of Indian cooking). Quick & Easy is cheaper than Indian Cooking if you are looking to spend a little less.
post #38 of 54
10/5/10 at 1:09pm
I have about 15-20. I purged and got rid of about 15 sometime in the past last year or two. As part of the purging process I let myself buy one book that I really enjoyed and had checked out of the library at least 3 times. I use some of them constantly, some occasionally, and I have couple that I placed "on probation" that I couldn't quite get rid off, but I could now. I also have a couple more I would love to buy
post #39 of 54
10/5/10 at 1:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trghig View Post
I have 1 massive go to cookbook. I also have a ton of lose recipes on papers and cards.
May I ask what is your massive go to cookbook?
post #40 of 54
10/5/10 at 3:43pm
It looks like I have about 40 cookbooks. There are a handful that I use all the time which tend to have cooking fundamentals instructions as well as recipes (like Alton Brown). I have a cookie book with lots of additional notes taped in from my experiments for my Amazing Allergy Girl. A stack of internet print outs also tend to have these sorts of substitutions scribbled in on the side. (I started adding dates to these notes which make them sciency and historical. )

Another subset of my cookbooks is historic recipes. Again the text around the recipes is very interesting and useful. I like when they have the original recipe so I can compare redactions.

What I should get rid of are the well intentioned spur of the moment books bought usually from the bargain shelves at the bookstore. I've only ever used the vegetarian cookbook once and never even cracked the lower your cholesterol one.

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