How many cookbooks do you have?

[mamadelbosque]

So, I'm having a convo with my DH... mostly it started cause' he asked what I'd like for christmas and I named off a couple more cookbooks... and now he's saying I have "too many cookbooks" (jokingly. Kind of. :p). And he's claiming that "most people who cook only have a 1-3 cookbooks". Personally, I disagree. I say lots of people have lots of cookbooks. He claims not (for instance he claims his grandmother only has 1!! And doesn't believe me when I tell him *my* grandmother had lots!!)

So. I'm making a poll. How many cookbooks do *YOU* have? 

[la mamita]

1-5 isn't an option to click on for some reason.

I have 4 right now: a Cheesemaking book, a Moosewood book, the Joy of Cooking, and an Amish & Mennonite cookbook. Besides that, I mostly find recipes online.

eta: i moved abroad and took everything in two suitcases, so these were the only ones i took. i'm sure I'll build up my collection once I get back in an English-speaking country.

[tinuviel_k]

I have 40 cookbooks right now, though I know I am getting a few more for Christmas. I hope... There is one in particular that I want.

[Llyra]

I think I own about 12. Which I consider to be not nearly enough. That's mostly because I don't have any money to spend on books, though-- at any given time, I have at least 15 cookbooks out of the library. I know for a fact I have 15 of them out, right now.

[onlyzombiecat]

I voted I own 6-10 but I really only use 2 or 3 of them. I mostly find new recipes online these days.

My mother probably has 20-30 cookbooks and uses none of them.

I don't know if my grandmother ever used a cookbook. I think she just cooked the same stuff all the time.

[Arduinna]

1-3? He is kidding right?

I'm not going to go count all mine but I have over 100 in my inventory list and that isn't all of them, I haven't finished it.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by onlyzombiecat 

I voted I own 6-10 but I really only use 2 or 3 of them. I mostly find new recipes online these days.

This. And anyway, DH does most of the cooking nowadays. He almost never looks up recipes. He just wings it and just about everything tastes great. I mostly use my cookbooks for baking.

[Smokering]

I only own about 10, but that includes two blank books that I've filled with recipes from library books, magazines, friends' recipes, and my mother's extensive collection of recipe books. Mum owned heaps - maybe 60-70? But I'm pretty sure she kept some of them for a single recipe. I used to have more, but I only have a tiny space in my kitchen for keeping them, so I culled. I use the Internet a lot for recipes too, and the library on occasion.

[wurzelkind]

Shall I say the truth? ;)

Waaaaay too many (over 70) but I love each and everyone of them and regularly thumb through each one for inspiration. My most loved and used ones are coming from Jamie Oliver, Tessa Kiros and Every Day Food Magazine for cooking. For baking I love the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and one from a swedish author called Leila Lindholm.

BUT I am also buying a hell o' cooking magazines each month as well and am keeping most of them - MArtha Stewart Living, Every Day Food, Jamie Oliver Magazine (noticing a theme there? ... ;) ) , delicious.magazine UK and several german ones...

I cooking, I food and it brings me so much joy to cook or bake for other people and see them devour it. There's really nothing better than that! 

Edited by wurzelkind - 11/28/10 at 3:14am

[ollyoxenfree]

I voted 75 to 100, although there's only about 40 on my bookshelves. I know I have at least one box of cookbooks that weren't unpacked after our last move. The ones on my shelves are my "go to" books. I also have 3 shelves of magazines too. I'm still buying them although I have slowed down a lot. In the past year, I've bought 3, I think - most recently Apples For Jam by Tess Krinos. The other 2 were vegetarian/healthy eating. 

I use about 10 of them on a regular basis, and the others when I need something specific like recipes from an ethnic or regional specialty or for a holiday etc. 

I usually buy a local cookbook when we travel somewhere new because they are a great souvenir. These days though, if I want a new recipe, I usually find it on-line. 

Edited by ollyoxenfree - 11/28/10 at 6:13am

[HollyBearsMom]

You husband wont like this! 

I easily own over 200.  We are all casual cooks and/or professional chefs in my family.  I personally owned well over 100 and then when my dad died I got another 50+.  When mom mom died a took a collection of authentic Asian cook books (translated) and a collection of Italian ones (not translated) plus some first edition Gourmet.

Since I am more of creative cook and rarely bake I don't dig out many cookbooks these days to actually cook with, they are more for reading/enjoying and for inspiration. What is on my counter right now is "rustic european breads from your bread machine", "great good food" and "the microwave gourmet". I have space in my immediate kitchen for about 5-6 books and then in my breakfast nook there are a few shelves filled with cook books and the rest are on display in my mudroom along with my collection of Le Creuset cookware, antique bowls and depression glass.

I also have a few 3 ringed notebooks that are filled with newspaper cuttings.  When I saw a recipe I like I would cut it out  and paste in the books.  They are organized by apps/entree/desserts. However these days I manage them all online. So much easier!!

Oh and I used to get so many cooking mags!  I have them organized by season (spring/summer and fall/winter) with separate boxes for the big food holidays (easter, thanksgiving, christmas).  Makes it much easier when I am looking for inspiration or a specific recipe. These days I only get Cooks Illustrated and do all the other online. 

[MisaGoat]

I would have to count. I love cookbooks! I have many and I have a wishlist too. I have gotten rid of some lately that I don't like or use much. My husband did request that I put some in the basement and rotate the cookbooks. We also have magazine subscriptions to cooking magazines. I would like to get shelving in the dining room to store the cookbooks. I enjoy reading them.

[Annie Mac]

I put 40 - 50, but it might be more. I'd have to count. I don't use ALL of them ALL the time, but I definitely do refer to many of them from time to time. I do use the internet a fair bit. Cookbooks have the advantage of being easily browsable, which provides inspiration.

[laohaire]

The Internet kind of changes the game a bit. I can think "hmm, I'd love to make bread pudding, how would I do that?" and just search for a recipe. If you take that away, then you really have to own enough cookbooks to cover the bases. And 1-3 just isn't going to do it.

So he can argue "well, you have the Internet, there you go." But one thing about cookbooks is, you come to like a certain book's style, use its ingredients, trust its methods. Not quite the same as doing a search on allrecipes.com. Also, the Internet is self-published - so there are some really awful recipes out there.

I have a 1 inch 3 ring binder where I hole-punch and store my go-to recipes. These include recipes I learned from MIL, ones I converted from cereal boxes or magazines, and recipes I developed myself. Also the good ones I find from the Internet. This is my most important book.

.

And then I have the books. I have somewhere between 10-15 cookbooks (probably closer to 10, though). I do trim them down. If a book ever just had one or two recipes, I'd just copy them to my binder and pass it along. Of the books I have, I think I could get them down to 5 and feel like I had the important ones. One of the 5 chosen ones would be The Encyclopedia of Country Living.

[chezlyryan]

I voted 6-10 and I use half of them frequently.  I have a Rachel Ray one that is my go-to cookbook. 

[Contrariety]

I have a few that I keep on hand and use regularly.  I usually pick one or two up every time I go to the Library.  At home I have:

Betty Crocker's Bridal Edition

JOY of Cooking

Nourishing Traditions

Pioneer Woman Cooks

Lickety Split Meals (That Zonya's Healthbites nutritionist lady)

Ball's Home Canning

Country Wisdom and Know-how (not a recipe book, but it has a lot of recipes)

and two really old cookbooks I don't remember what they are called but have lots of good simple, non processed food recipes.

[SpuglyRoo]

I selected 20-30 but that is just the beginning of that collection.  I use them frequently and have several more I am interested.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I'd always like another one.  That doesn't include the several thousand recipes I have stored on my computer in my electronic cookbook (my BigOven program).  That would definitely span several more cookbooks.  I think that if you use them, and aren't putting yourself in debt collecting them, and they aren't filling up your house to the point that you might need to call in professional help to get through them, then you can't really have too many.  I'm sure that he isn't complaining about the cooking that comes out of those cookbooks

[velochic]

I have more than 100 based on my quick counting.  These are not all full-blown, 200+ recipe cookbooks.  That count includes books on entertaining, books on preserving, regional cookbooks (like those published for church fundraising), small 50-page specialty cookbooks, the country-wisdom-type books (Storey, Reader's Digest, Foxfire, etc.), books about dressing wild meat, and drinks books.  I have about 50 cookbooks that are the full-blown hardback, best-seller cookbooks.  I also have books about the history of food with recipes - that includes several different histories of ethnic foods, not just modern western food.  I also have cookbooks in several languages (we're a multi-lingual household) that are quite specialized.  What I didn't include are about a dozen hand-written books and books that have cut and pasted recipes and various homemaking tips.  I have some from dh's family (they are not in English) and my own.  I have 2 small cookbooks that are my hand-written recipes and entertaining tips that I plan to give to dd when she grows up.

Just off of the top of my head I can think of about 2 dozen cookbooks that I couldn't live without.  They're mostly ethnic, TBH, but I think that if someone loves cooking, they'll have a lot more than just a few cookbooks.  Us foodies like to read them like novels.    Novels that we like to read over and over again.  Sometimes it's not just about the recipes... they are inspirational for creating your own recipes.  Perhaps your dh doesn't realize that there is so much more than just recipes in cookbooks.

[jeanine123]

There are probably close to two dozen around my house right now and I'm hoping we add some more this Christmas.  Can't claim them all as mine though, some of them are my 7 year old son's.  He loves the Barefoot Contessa and loves reading her cook books.  He's practically got them all memorized.  We also have probably three dozen Food Network and Rachael Ray magazines around here too.  This also includes the 3 1" ring binders I have packed full of recipes from various magazines and the internet.  We also have 90 Barefoot Contessa shows on our DVR along with half a dozen 5 Ingredient Fixes and Rachel Allen Bakes! each.

[catnip]

Over 100, almost all vegetarian, mostly vegan.