How many cookbooks do you have? - Page 2

[GardenStream]

I'm guessing I have 20-30.  It's definitely not more than 50.  I very rarely use most of them.  I would guess that only 5 or 6 get used regularly.  Of course, I added another one to my Christmas list this year. 

[serenbat]

50+ and I use them!  plus search on line all the time too

[Sol_y_Paz]

Not near as many as everyone else here.  But then again when I feel I am getting too many books I start to donate.  

[GardenStream]

This thread inspired me to clean out my cookbooks.  I had 38 and I'm going to donate 20 of them.   I'll be down to less than 20 after this.  I find that with the ease of internet searches, cookbooks just aren't all that useful to me.  They really have to be something special for me to keep them.  

[BetsyS]

I'm in the over 100 crowd, too.  I read them like novels, browse through them for inspiration, and I generally love my cookbooks.  I own very few books that aren't cookbooks.  And, of course, I have a couple on my Christmas list.  LOL

[sunnysandiegan]

The category 1-5 wasn't available to choose in the poll, so here it is.

We own two official cookbooks:

Joy of Cooking

Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book (which is really old, actually...LOL)

We also have a KitchenAid stand mixer and Vitamix. Both appliances came with cookbooks (KA is tiny) and we use them.

An old crockpot came with a cookbook and we use that with our new crockpot, which didn't.

We use all of the above sporadically.

We both cook (DH more than me) and we tend to use the internet for finding new recipes, but we refer to the cookbooks for recipes we already like and for learning new (to us) techniques that are really old-fashioned techniques that are harder to find online quickly. I have a "notes" section of my email program and I use it mostly for storing online recipes and recipes friends have shared via email. I also have a few "thrown-together" collections of recipes in binder form that I am slowly going through and typing into the "notes" or pitching. This process halted when we installed a wood shelf in our kitchen that easily holds our entire collection of anything remotely related to cooking instruction. LOL

[leigh2006]

Originally Posted by 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". 

DH and I have a similar conversation from time to time.  Like when I named off three cookbooks I would like for Christmas :)  He doesn't cook, so...

[leigh2006]

Oh, and I voted 20-30, but if I counted them all, it could be more!

[lil_miss_understood]

I voted 50-75 but I'm pretty sure there are more than that... and there are others I don't have but would like to have. Many.

Also, I don't use the vast majority of those, since we went gluten, casein and egg free 2 1/2  years ago. So functionally I have about 5.

[cristeen]

I voted 100-200, because i'm not gonna go count them. I guarantee its at least 100, but it could possibly be more than 200.

I have a 3'x3' bookcase that is just cookbooks, bookends on the top of it for more, a shelf in the sun porch for low carb books, and all sorts of magazines floating around. Not to even mention the box of culled cookbooks that haven't made it to the used book store. I did a lot of culling to get it to the point most of them would fit on that bookcase, and it's time to cull again. Oh, and i recently filled a large FRB w cooking mags and mailed it to an MDCer who would use them.

I have lots of specialty books, specific to cuisine or dish. I easily have half a dozen each for Chinese and Russian, i have books on cheesemaking, books on bread, books on candy, ice cream, mushrooms, garlic, etc. Some were given as gifts, some i inherited and many i've collected over the years. When i get in a mood, i'll flip through the books i've never used to determine if there are any recipes that speak to me, and cull. I've gotten rid of at least 2 big boxes in the last 5 years.

My personal recipes, the ones i wrote, the ones i make and like get typed into my cookbook program. I hope one of these days to be able to self publish my fave recipes for family and friends.

If anyone is feeling the lack of cookbooks, you can pm me. I have a box full of them i'm happy to part with FFS.

[ButtonGirl]

I do love cookbooks but I must say I find most of my recipes online nowadays. Vegetarian Times and AllRecipes are my main favorites lately. :)  (We're not vegetarian, but trying to be more so...and really trying to stay more and more away from processed food, which means lots more cooking!  Thanks goodness for Canadian year-long mat leave :)

[stillmarissa]

I have around 30-40 although I recently overhauled my collection and got rid of about 20  that I don't use (mostly ones gifted by well-meaning relatives).  I was vegetarian dairy-free for 11 years so most of my books reflect that.  Since the birth of my son in Oct. 2010 I have re-introduced meat into my diet and cut out gluten.  This really threw me for a loop trying to find cookbooks and recipes that accommodated these new changes.  I have been getting a lot of great ones off of glutenfreegoddess.com but I prefer books over the internet.  Has anyone found good books for meat-lovers?  How about ones for slow-cooking/crockpots?  All I seem to find use a lot of processed ingredients and the "healthy" one focus on being low-fat (not my definition of healthy eating).  Also, I am looking for some gluten-free cookbook recc's.

Here are the goto books in my collection:  

Passionate Vegetarian - Crescent Dragonwagon (my first and all-time favorite)

Vegan Planet - Robin Robertson (also fabulous)

La Dolce Vegan, Garden of Vegan - Sarah Kramer (fun stuff)

Rachel Ray 30 minute Get Real Meals - (her recipes rock my tastebuds)

The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook - Cathe Olson

Simply in Season - Lind and Hockman-Wert

Some Mennonite and Amish cookbooks (great country cooking comfort food)

Deceptively Delicious - Jessica Seinfeld (I love browsing it but have to created anything yet)

Lastly, I agree cookbooks are entertaining reading and sources of great inspiration for us foodies.  There is so much more to them than just the recipes.  have you ever read the forward, get to know the author and reading through becomes like taking a stroll with a good friend.

[Smidge]

6-10, but I only open about 3, so the other ones are getting gifted this Christmas :)

[cocoanib]

maybe 4

[nerdymom]

I voted in the 11-15 group. We live in an apartment and space is money! That being said I don't have as many as I would like. There are a number that I wish for, including "The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook" which is constantly wait listed at the library right now (all those people wanting to save $ by baking bread, grr!). I read cookbooks for entertainment, inspiration and recipes. All of the books I have, I use, except one. If I only use a recipe or two out of a book then I copy those recipes onto large note cards and store them in my recipe box. The one exception is an old church cookbook that my grandma gave me. There is only one recipe in there that I use, but the book was hers and she passed away this year so that book stays.

On the subject of the internet, I don't print recipes from online because I ALWAYS end up needing to make changes. Rarely do I find a really solid recipe that I don't alter. I copy down all online recipes to index cards and if I don't like it, well then I've not wasted much paper. If I like it then I file it in my box. I don't trust the web for recipes typically, and it isn't convenient for me to quickly look things up when I have a question. It's easier to pull out my trusty Martha Stewart, BGH, or NT.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

I voted 16-20, BUT...I didn't count the 100 or more back issues of cooking magazines that I keep and use as cookbooks as well(like Cooking Club of America and Food Network, they're practically cookbooks in themselves). 16-20 is just what I have for full-on cookbooks, I actually downsized my collection in the last year.

[mamadelbosque]

OP here, I too like the web for recipes... but quite frankly, If I'm just looking for something new to try I'd much rather page through a cookbook than try to sort through millions of recipes online, many of which are duplicates, or include crap that I refuse to use (ie cake mixes, cans of soup, etc), or just plain sound awful... Maybe its just cause' we don't have high-speed internet, IDK. I do like the web if I'm looking for a specific recipe  (ie, General Tsos' Chicken, Chicken parmesan, baked alaska, etc), cause' then I can search for that *ONE* recipe and find one I like. But just to sort through when I don't really know what I"m looking for? Takes way too long. :shrug

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by mamadelbosque 

OP here, I too like the web for recipes... but quite frankly, If I'm just looking for something new to try I'd much rather page through a cookbook than try to sort through millions of recipes online, many of which are duplicates, or include crap that I refuse to use (ie cake mixes, cans of soup, etc), or just plain sound awful... Maybe its just cause' we don't have high-speed internet, IDK. I do like the web if I'm looking for a specific recipe  (ie, General Tsos' Chicken, Chicken parmesan, baked alaska, etc), cause' then I can search for that *ONE* recipe and find one I like. But just to sort through when I don't really know what I"m looking for? Takes way too long. :shrug

I find the same thing with recipes from the web, although there are a couple of reliable blogs and sites that I like. I tend to search them first, and then do a wider search if I don't find something or want more inspiration. I've used Epicurious.com as a resource for years, because I find the "comments" attached to recipes are usually very helpful. A lot of people have already tweaked the recipe, and it gives me a fairly useful guideline for trying it myself. 

But yeah, my go-to for a new recipe is to search my cookbooks, magazines and clippings first for inspiration. Particularly since my cookbooks are already aligned with my preferences eg. fresh ingredients, regional or ethnic specialties, clarity of instructions, suggested variations or substitutions etc.