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saigemom
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I have a dear friend that is about to get married. She doesn't know how to cook at all. She is the kind of girl that burns toast  She would like to learn and surprise her soon to be dh. She can't afford classes and there isn't really anyone that lives near her that she knows could teach her.
any suggestions on a book?
Any homekeeping manuals you would suggest?
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Paula in MN
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Ahhh, I'm the girl that could burn water. 
I also called my sister ~while I was trying to make a box of Mac & Cheese~ and asked her how much 6 quarts of water was, because I had to put that much into the pan. 
Book smart? yes. Cooking smart? no.
I can't recommend any books. It was trial and error on my part. I still watch a lot of Food Network and read a lot of cookbooks. Maybe you could suggest some of the kid's cooking books? They are very basic and helpful.
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 Paula
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stefoodie
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I'd recommend The Way to Cook by Julia Child because that's how *I* learned as a newlywed. But I realize that was 20 years ago and that there may be newer books that would fit the bill.
I also had Fannie Farmer and Betty Crocker as a newlywed -- they were pretty general and I followed them to the letter at first until I got comfortable in the kitchen and could stray from recipes. There are newer, similar books now but I don't like the presentation as much. I wouldn't recommend Bittmann's How to Cook Everything, for instance, because it covers too much.
What I love about Julia's book was the presentation of Master Recipes and then variations and progressions from there... so that one day I was learning how to make a basic chicken stock and then the next it was how to make various soups using that. And it was so newbie-friendly IMO that I wasn't intimidated at all. (To be fair, I had been experimenting with cooking since I was little, but only really got serious about it as a newlywed; so I wasn't exactly inexperienced in the kitchen.)
A friend recommends The Joy of Cooking as her basic cookbook, but I didn't use that until years later and just tried recipes here and there so not too familiar with layout, etc.
My other "most used" cookbook as in tattered, yellowing, splattered pages, etc. is "The Best Recipe" from Cook's Illustrated. They have many basic/master recipes and variations. There's more "talk" in it though, e.g., explaining how they came up with a recipe, covering why if you used *this* instead of *that* the recipe won't work as well or will work differently, etc., etc. May be TMI for a beginner, though some seem to like it. I think there's a newer edition.
here's a chowhound thread that may help -- there are other threads below it that you may want to peruse too.
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mrsgranola
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I second The Joy of Cooking recommendation. I also have an old Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook that I used when I was young (tweenager) and started venturing into cooking things that weren't my family's usuals. Not sure if that's still in print but it is VERY user friendly.
JoAnna
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sewcrazy
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I love Joy of Cooking also. My kids use it a lot also
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JodieLyn
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Older cookbooks may be more help at cooking from scratch. Many of today's cookbooks (hmm though it has been a while since I looked at the basic books) is that so many of the recipe were buy a can of this and a package of that and then just combine them in this way. Which isn't a bad thing.. if you have access to a can of this and package of that. But when every appetiser was about buying special ingredients at the store or having to hunt up recipes for each thing you were supposed to buy.. it does get a bit much imo. Good Housekeeping was the best of the lot. And it's my favorite cookbook. The one I use is from the early 70's but I really want to get a copy of the one my grammy had from around WWII I believe. It has a lot of the alternative ingredients because of rationing and all that.
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CrunchyMom
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stefoodie wrote:
| My other "most used" cookbook as in tattered, yellowing, splattered pages, etc. is "The Best Recipe" from Cook's Illustrated. They have many basic/master recipes and variations. There's more "talk" in it though, e.g., explaining how they came up with a recipe, covering why if you used *this* instead of *that* the recipe won't work as well or will work differently, etc., etc. May be TMI for a beginner, though some seem to like it. I think there's a newer edition. |
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I was going to suggest The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193361501X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp _sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201 &pf_rd_i=093618454X&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0RTAZF0CVR 2YMWNHR2R3
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Erin
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I'd agree that older cookbooks are very helpful. I was thinking of the Commonsense Cook Book but it's not American. It is a basic book with basics recipes, sounds like the Joy of Cooking may be a similar sort of book.
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guitarnan
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Food Network's How to Boil Water is very good.
I started with Sunset's Easy Basics cookbook.
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saigemom
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burning water! That's so her!
Thanks for the recommendations. I'll check into those.
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florasita
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always always joy of cooking , I wore out my mothers copy she didn't give me a copy until I turned 35yo so when dd now 23yrs had her first baby , they bought a new home etc. I gave her a big nice hard copy of joy of cooking .
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hmbress
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I used to be a personal chef and culinary instructor. Without a doubt, the number one book I'd recommend for a new cook is How to Cook Without a Book.
It's perfect for the new, inexperienced cook, or for the more experienced hobby cook. It is the cookbook even I most freqently turn to myself - not because I need to know HOW to cook at this point, but because it is set up to thoroughly explain and teach a cooking method then gives multiple variations on a theme. Just learning the chapter on sautes and pan sauces will give you something like 60 different dinner ideas once you try every different type sauce idea with every type of meat/poulty/chicken. Check it out!!!
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SimplyMom
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Alton Brown's two books "Gear" and "I'm just here for the food". Also the older (pre-1970) Betty Crocker Cookbooks are wonderful.
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Carole N.
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I was given the Betty Crocker cookbook when I was a teenager. I used it when I lived at home. After I was out of college, I worked in a resort and one of the chefs recommended Joy of Cooking. I really liked it as it has explanations of how to and basic cooking recipes like stock, etc.
Both of these books are older and I think that having a good reference is important in the kitchen. I still go back to my Joy of Cooking when I need a basic recipe or to find ingredients for a certain meal.
However, I do like my new cookbooks as well. They have some great dinner ideas, but as stated, some of them rely on having a can of this or a box of that in your pantry. A newlywed might not have a fully stocked pantry yet.
I have never seen The Way to Cook by Julia Child, but I do know that Stef has a reputation for being quite accomplished in the kitchen, so it may be an excellent choice as well.
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SallyT
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I second The Way to Cook. It's been my most-used cookbook, too, for the last almost-20 years. My next-most-helpful cookbook, though I fear it might be out of print, is Jeanne Lemlin's Vegetarian Pleasures. We're not vegetarian, but the recipes are great and reliable (and can be adapted to include meat) AND the best thing about it, the most instructive thing for me years ago, is that it's set up in MENUS, so that you start to learn not only how to make a good dish, but how to make a good meal -- what goes well with what, from appetizer to dessert. Like Julia Child, she also writes really engagingly and informatively about food itself, how to choose good ingredients, what to have in the cupboard, all those helpful "background" basics which are also part of learning to cook.
I was AWFUL when we got married. Those books, plus a lot of trial and error, taught me so much.
Sally
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teachingmyown
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I love my huge Taste of Home Cookbook. After years of on the job learning, I got this book and really appreciated the instruction in the basics, like different cuts of meet, substitutions for common ingredients and how to cook various vegetables.
It is a nice combination of convenience cooking and cooking from scratch.
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: cooking book manual for beginner?
