Cookbooks This Home Cook Actually Used

It’s December, and already the lists of this year’s best cookbooks are filling my inbox. They come from bloggers, The New York Times, and a few notorious collectors, such as Celia Sack, owner of Omnivore Books. My personal collection includes about 100 books full of recipes and techniques, much of them sourced from used bookstores, eBay, garage sales, and family members’ pantries. So instead of presenting my favorite new books, I give you the cookbooks I actually cooked from in 2010. A couple were duds, one or two old favorites, and others surprising finds. But they’re all lined up along my white hutch, stained, scribbled on, and much loved. 

The Tassajara Bread Book, by Edward Espe Brown (Shambhala, 2005): I’ve been baking the Tassajara yeasted bread since one of the monks at their retreat center in Carmel Valley sent me home with a loaf a few years ago. The challah recipe is excellent too. I’ve probably learned the most about breadmaking from this book, thanks to its helpful illustrations and almost lyrical instructions: “Turn, fold, push. Rock forward. Twist and fold as you rock back. Rock forward. Little by little you will develop some rhythm.”

Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian (Clarkson Potter, 1999): When my friend Alisha invited everyone over for a North African potluck night, I didn’t know where to begin. I’d made Jaffrey’s ghee a few times, but it wasn’t until I sweetened her couscous with a little sugar, currants, and almond milk that I fell in love—and discovered Moroccan cookery.

The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters (Clarkson Potter, 2007): This is the book that taught me to roast a chicken to perfection, shock blanched greens, and braise short ribs. My best dinner parties are born from these pages.

The Art of the Cookie, by Shelly Kaldunski (Weldon Owen, 2010): OK, shameless promotion here, but I wrote the first 15 or so pages of this book. I also made some of the prettiest sugar cookies out of it.

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, by Marion Cunningham (Knopf, 2008): Biggest. Disappointment. Ever. The meatloaf? A complete failure. Oatmeal cookies? Like dry cake. I’m sorry, Fannie, but this one’s going to the back of the cookbook shelf. 

The All New Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker (Scribner, 1997): These pages have soaked up more than their fair share of gravies, jams, butter sauces, and cake batters. I probably consult this tome more than any other, at least when I come across an ingredient I’m unsure of or a technique I’ve never tried. From these pages, I played with spice rubs and tagines, and it’s the one book I turn to (before even considering going online) to look up internal temperatures when I’m preparing fish and large pieces of meat.

Jamie’s America, by Jamie Oliver (Penguin, 2009): The measurements are in grams and handfuls, which somehow forced me to both use a food scale and my intuition. I made the one recipe that doesn’t call for large gobs of butter: A Southern pecan salad that was just divine.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison (Broadway, 1997): Her apple galette is a classic and has become my standby for a quick dessert to put together when people come over. I also turn to her when I have a fridge full of random produce and don’t know where to begin. It turns out that most anything can be roasted or turned into a gratin. 

Tassajara Dinners & Desserts, by Dale and Melissa Kent (Gibbs Smith, 2009): On my resume, under skills and interests, it reads “I make a killer carrot bundt cake.” The recipe (minus a few personal tweaks) can be found on page 183.

Eat Well, by Charity Ferreira (Williams-Sonoma, 2008): My grandmother was diagnosed with dementia this year and can no longer hold down a conversation. But for some reason, she still remembers this warm spinach salad I made from my friend Charity’s book. Grams may no longer know my name, but she’s clearly still thinking about this salad along with the almond polenta cake I served for lunch on a warm summer day in 2009.

Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads (Ten Speed Press, 2007): Soakers, bigas, and final doughs—it’s all too much for my little brain to handle. I tried the challah, cinnamon raisin, and whole wheat, but the results just weren’t worth the trouble of reading recipes like they were secret scientific formulas. I’m hoping Santa’s wrapping the Tartine Bread book this Christmas.

Baking, by James Peterson (Ten Speed Press, 2009): The almond flour sponge cake has never failed me, and the vanilla butter cake turns out perfect cake bonbons.

Betty Crocker’s Cookbook (Golden Press, 1980): I stole this from my mom’s cupboards when I moved out of the house to go to college. Most everything calls for lard, and the pictures are terribly dark, the food very plastic-looking (see cheese-pineapple boats). But the classics, such as chocolate chip cookies, are amazing.

La Technique, by Jacques Pepin (Quadrangle, 1976): My new favorite pie dough can be found on page 374. It’s also perhaps the most low-key recipe in the book. This next year, I hope to get over myself and take advantage of this classic’s step-by-step photos and learn some real butchering skills. I’m looking at you, double rack of lamb.

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