Favorite cookbooks?

[moreofthat]

Do you use or own any cookbooks that you keep coming back to for amazing recipes? I've purchased more than I care to admit, but only a few have more than 3-5 recipes I keep coming back to. Mine are below. What are yours?

• Power Plates (vegan/macro) - Gena Hamshaw
• Tahini Baby (Middle Eastern) - Eden Grinshpan
• Eitan Eats The World (multinational) - Eitan Bernath
• Relax, Honey (Indian) - Vikram Vij
• The Secret Ingredient ("American" but every recipe has a surprising ingredient) - Kelly Senyei

[+ JEC]

The New Basics

The Best Recipe (Cook's Illustrated)

Other than these 2 (and I own many)....now I print and file in binders my favorite recipes

[+ Just Sayin]

for those of us who have cookbooks on the shelf, I found this app, Cookshelf, which has digitized many of my cookbooks so that recipes are searchable; heck, it even gives the page number of the recipe you want; the developers continue to add cookbooks, but I've found it to be a good way of finding a recipe that's already in your kitchen. https://www.cookshelf.app

[+ ursalex]

Anything by Julia Child.  My favorites are “The Way to Cook,” her magnum opus, and the companion books to her late 1970s PBS series, “JC and Company” and “JC and More Company.”  I still have the paperbound editions.

 

My other favorite is a Time-Life series from the around the late 1970s:  “The Good Cook/ Techniques and Recipes.”  It’s about twenty volumes organized by type of food or occasion and each volume is large size.  The first half of each spotlights various techniques for each food with multiple step-by-step photos; the second half are recipes.  I still use it for reference, especially on techniques, although YouTube videos are probably the way to go.

 

I used to collect cookbooks and had a few hundred.  When I moved in 2020 I purged my collection and only kept the couple of dozen I actually used.  I really regret that purge.  I also have a few thousand recipes I clipped from newspapers or copied from books, organized by topics in file folders.  Even though I do very limited entertaining now, it’s still fun to go through them when I am cooking for friends or to bring.

[Becket]

Prevalent in the South. The Junior League, which is a "club" for rich southern ladies, will publish cookbooks. They gather together a bunch of family and traditional recipes that highlight the culture and society of whatever city in which they reside. May sound a little outdated and even cliquish, but you will find wonderful recipes that would not be found anywhere else. 

I also enjoy the cookbooks created by the New York Times. The copy I have is as big and detailed as some great novels, but there is good stuff inside.

Edited August 17 by Becket

[Becket]

BTW, are @Just Sayin and Ohio St. quarterback Julian Sayin distant cousins?

[Mark_fl]

My mother's family cookbook

Italian red sauce from the old Italian Brooklyn grandmother's in the 50's.

Jewish brisket from the old Jewish Brooklyn grandmother's from the 50's.

Rice custard pudding from same.

Blueberry muffins made with either milk or OJ depending on what it was served with (kosher home)

Armenian Shish kabob from the old Betty Crocker checkerboard book (before they downgraded the recipe in the newer versions)

[keefer]

My husband is an exceptional cook, and our kitchen is littered with classic British books - Delia Smith, Mary Berry, Tom Kerridge (when we attempted to give up carbs for an hour);  whereas I've been branded a notoriously bad cook after what he refers to as the saffron incident (I misjudged a pinch) quickly followed by the star anise incident (how was I to know they meant the small petals and not the full heads) - and thus I've been banished to dishwasher duty.

That said, my favourite cookbook has to be "When French Women Cook" by Madeleine Kamman -- who honours the mentors who taught her to cook from her earliest years through to training at various restaurants throughout her career - telling their stories interspersed with their favourite recipes...   When I was much, much, much, younger I meticulously followed her recipe and made Coquilles St-Jacques for a boyfriend -- and it was a triumph (or, as my husband would say: no one died after eating it)...   

 

[mtaabq]

On 8/16/2026 at 6:56 PM, Becket said:

Prevalent in the South. The Junior League, which is a "club" for rich southern ladies, will publish cookbooks. They gather together a bunch of family and traditional recipes that highlight the culture and society of whatever city in which they reside. May sound a little outdated and even cliquish, but you will find wonderful recipes that would not be found anywhere else. 

I also enjoy the cookbooks created by the New York Times. The copy I have is as big and detailed as some great novels, but there is good stuff inside.

Oh, mah sweet Lord, yes! I lost my copy of "The Pirate's Pantry", which is the cookbook of the Lafayette (Louisiana) Junior League. But the recipe for bread pudding is embedded in my head. I also have "White Trash Cooking", which is a hoot-and-a-half, as well as "Being Dead Is No Excuse", the cookbook with all the recipes one needs for the perfect Southern Funeral. (Mah first husband was Cajun. Dude knew how to cook in the kitchen AND the bedroom!)

[MikeBiDude]

41 minutes ago, mtaabq said:

also have "White Trash Cooking"

Haha me too!

[cany10011]

I keep going back to Eileen Yin-Fei Lo’s chinese cook books and Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets - amazing recipes. I love reading through cookbooks, though I rarely use their recipes. More for inspiration and their stories. 

[nomad]

On 8/18/2026 at 6:20 AM, Mark_fl said:

My mother's family cookbook

Italian red sauce from the old Italian Brooklyn grandmother's in the 50's.

Jewish brisket from the old Jewish Brooklyn grandmother's from the 50's.

Rice custard pudding from same.

Blueberry muffins made with either milk or OJ depending on what it was served with (kosher home)

Armenian Shish kabob from the old Betty Crocker checkerboard book (before they downgraded the recipe in the newer versions)

When should we show up for dinner? Yum 

[nomad]

Blue Ginger by Ming Tsai

Very easy to follow recipes.  Had some great results from it.

[NipLuvr212]

My current favorite is KUNG FOOD by Jon Kung... who also maintains a pretty active presence on YouTube - 

Great serious appreciation of good food, serious technique, interesting flavors and flavor combinations.... and i have a MAD crush on him!

[nomad]

2 hours ago, NipLuvr212 said:

My current favorite is KUNG FOOD by Jon Kung... who also maintains a pretty active presence on YouTube - 

Great serious appreciation of good food, serious technique, interesting flavors and flavor combinations.... and i have a MAD crush on him!

Must love it when he sliced cucumber and carrots.  😆

[+ sync]

3 hours ago, nomad said:

Blue Ginger by Ming Tsai

Very easy to follow recipes.  Had some great results from it.

I don't cook, but I dare say, I would jump at the opportunity to "mix things up" with Ming Tsai.  😛

[nomad]

23 minutes ago, sync said:

I don't cook, but I dare say, I would jump at the opportunity to "mix things up" with Ming Tsai.  😛

Probably a line for that lunch meal!

[+ BOZO T CLOWN]

Bozo's favorite cookbooks:

     

Granny, Aunt Bee, Mr. French, and Alice. Arguably, four of the greatest cooks in TV sitcom history. 
The only one missing is Hazel. Sadly, Hazel never wrote a cookbook. She took the recipe for her mouth-watering chocolate souffle with her to the grave.
Poor Mr. B . 

BTC
🤡

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by BOZO T CLOWN

[Becket]

38 minutes ago, BOZO T CLOWN said:

Bozo's favorite cookbooks:

     

Granny, Aunt Bee, Mr. French, and Alice. Arguably, four of the greatest cooks in TV sitcom history. 
The only one missing is Hazel. Sadly, Hazel never wrote a cookbook. She took the recipe for her mouth-watering chocolate souffle with her to the grave.
Poor Mr. B . 

BTC
🤡

 

 

I'd definitely be looking for the Starsky and Hutch cookbook. David Soul was sooooo purty.

[Becket]

On 8/30/2026 at 5:00 PM, nomad said:

Blue Ginger by Ming Tsai

Very easy to follow recipes.  Had some great results from it.

There was a Blue Ginger restaurant in Seattle that served fantastic Asian food. Wonder if there is any connection.

[nomad]

1 hour ago, Becket said:

There was a Blue Ginger restaurant in Seattle that served fantastic Asian food. Wonder if there is any connection.

No connection.  His Blue Ginger was in Boston from the start until he closed it to focus on TV projects.