The Cookbook Item

Feb 23 08:38 UTC 1993

Here's a place to discuss cookbooks, both recent purchases, and
old favorites.  You can brag about how large your cookbook collection
is, too.

response 2 of 85:

Feb 23 13:54 UTC 1993

I'm not at all surprised you'd appreciate the descriptive or 
prose part of a cookbook.  You've always impressed me as a 
"classical" type of person with a flair for the arts.  Me,
on the other hand, I like to play kitchen chemist and gravitate
toward cookbooks which blend ethnic cusines and unlikely ingredients
to come up with something new.  The narratives aren't what I'm
drawn to.

Leslie, next time you're in the cookbook section take a look at
"Cooking with Herbs" by Tolley.  A little bit of history, travel,
gardening, and a lot of wonderful recipes.  A bit pricey at $40
but a very nice book to have available, especially if you grow your
own herbs.

The last cookbook I purchased was "Cold-Weather Cooking" by Sarah
Leah Chase.  A wonderful collection although (like her colleagues
Russo and Lukins) she tend to go well over the 30% suggested fat
content.  But that's where you get to customize a recipe and make
it your own.  I've also read that Russo ("The New Basics") is busy
putting together a new book with a healthy gourmet theme.  

response 4 of 85:

Feb 28 21:07 UTC 1993

[Speaking of cookbooks, when's the Grex cookbook coming out in print?  :-)]

response 6 of 85:

Mar 1 16:03 UTC 1993

Dang, and I paid full price for it last year.

response 8 of 85:

Mar 2 18:03 UTC 1993

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, maybe, just maybe  .......(thinking here) ...... uh, the
Grex Cookbook Could be introduced into the New Center application
process as a "go with."  ...... hmmmmmmmm ........ 
  
creative thnkers couold run with that idea .......

response 10 of 85:

Mar 7 14:41 UTC 1993

I have my own version of an 'on-line' cookbook with recipes I've saved to
my computer from AOL and other places [haven't gotten many from here yet
since its long distance...].  I've put it into book form and now there are
3 books in print [mine, one I made for my parents and a modified one-->
vegetarian version for part of a christmas present I gave to my friends
[the Gursins, for those of you that may still remember them...].  If I
think of it, I'll bring it along with me when Imake it up to MI next weekend...

response 12 of 85:

Mar 17 23:23 UTC 1993

I haven't tried them, but the guy who bought it for me did and
said they were good.

response 14 of 85:

Mar 23 18:11 UTC 1993

I ran across a cookbook the other day in Kitchen Port that came packaged
with a CD.  The title was something on the order of Romantic Dinners for
Two.  The usual war-horse music pieces were present, by a mostly under-known
string orchestra.  The whole thing was shrink-wrapped so I was unable
to read any of the book.  I'd suspect that anyone buying this probably
knows precious little about cooking and even less about music.  But
probably subscribes to Cosmo, faithfully. ;-)

response 16 of 85:

Apr 15 20:56 UTC 1993

Julie Rosso's new cookbook, _The Good Food Cookbook_, is now 
available around town.  I bought my copy today, at Kitchen Port.
Not quite as exotic as the rule-breaking _New Basics_ but an
interesting collection with an emphasis on lower fat cooking.

For those who are into autographed copies, Russo will be at
Kitchen Port on Saturday, April 24, for a book signing.  11:00
to something like 2:00, if I remember correctly.

response 18 of 85:

Nov 11 00:50 UTC 1993

Well, I've been on another cookbook binge for the last couple
of months, yet neglected to mention any of them here.  Just
last week I got a book by the authors of "Bread Machine Magic."
It's called "The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints,"
and gives lots of problem-solving and troubleshooting
techniques for bread machine owners.  I haven't perused it
too thoroughly yet, but it looks very helpful.

I also recently bought "The Bad For You Cookbook," but I find
I am uninspired by it.  I was hoping for an antidote to all
the food police I feel surrounded by lately, but it just
hasn't lit my fire (probably too many recipes with mushrooms
in them--I *hate* mushrooms).

Then there's "The Back of the Box Cookbook," which collects
many of those classic recipes clipped from Ritz cracker or
Cornflakes, or Rice Crispies etc. boxes.  They include the
long sought after Mock Apple Pie recipe that used to be on
the Ritz boxes (but which hasn't been printed in awhile).

Well, there are a few more I could talk about, but I'll save
them for next time.  I think I'm drowning in cook books!

response 20 of 85:

Jul 17 12:19 UTC 1994

I bought _The Back of the Box Gourmet_ (mentioned in #18) on Friday.
Neat book!  It seems like the kind of book someone could collect up
really easily and publish it solely as a moneymaking venture, which
would be fine, but actually the author seems to regard these recipes
as beloved bits of Americana.  He's written an intro for each recipe
that talks a bit about the history of the recipe or of the company that
makes the product.  Did you know Hellman's mayonaise started at a
Mr. Hellman's delicatessen in NYC many years ago?  Their mayo was so
popular that people used to come by and buy it instead of trying to
make their own at home.  Eventually, the mayo became the whole business.
This is described in the intro to a "mayonaise cake" recipe.  The idea
of a mayonaise cake sounds Really Gross until you think about the
ingredients in mayonaise: eggs, oil, and lemon juice, all of which are
normal cake ingredients.  The cookbook says the final cake doesn't
taste at all mayonaise-y, just moist.

I can't wait to make some mock apple pie!  There isn't enough lead time
to do it for today's Grex birthday picnic, but one o' these days I'll
make some and bring it to a Grex event....  :)

response 22 of 85:

Sep 11 12:42 UTC 1994

There is now a "Back of the Box, II" cookbook out.  I haven't
purchased it, but I browsed it in the bookstore.  Looks like fun,
but I'm trying to keep my cookbook purchases to a minimum for awhile.

response 24 of 85:

Feb 12 14:25 UTC 1995

It might have been the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.  Or book 4 of the
Donna German series of breadmaker cookbooks.  Hm.

By the way (you may already know this) when you bake bread, the yeast
eats the sugar in order to form the carbon dioxide bubbles that make the
bread rise.  So, just because you're eating a loaf of bread that started
with, say, two tablespoons of sweetener doesn't mean that you're actually
eating a whole two tablespoons of sweetener in the finished loaf.

Also (and this is also probably a topic you know more about than me, and I
could well be wrong here) I've read that sweetener is sweetener -- it's
still basically one form of sugar or another.  So substituting another
sweetener for white sugar isn't the same as avoiding sugar.  But I might be
remembering wrong, or for hypoglycemia it might be helpful to use a type
of sweetener that takes longer to digest.  I don't know.  I'd be curious to
learn more.

Good luck with the radical diet change -- those are never easy!!