Favorite can mean anything from “I use this a lot” to “this is terrifying but I look at the pictures and sigh.”
For instance, when I started cooking in earnest I used Jamie Oliver’s books quite often, as well as Gourmet Every Day. And I’m sure at least 30% of my love of Italy comes from paging through the Williams-Sonoma Savoring Italy book over and over and over. Tom Douglas’ Seattle Kitchen has a recipe for the only teriyaki chicken I’ve ever truly enjoyed. What are your faves?
Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Chrissy Teigen Cravings, Ed Lee Smoke & Pickles, the Bob’s Burgers Cookbook (really!), Esquire Eat Like a Man (even if the title sucks)
It depends! For actually cooking it's Betty Crocker's Cooking for Two cook book (love the meatloaf recipe!). But for general fascination? It's my vintage/antique cookbook collection I've bought in antique stores. A few of them are from the late 1800s/early 1900s like Miss Parloa's New Cookbook and Marketing Guide, The House and Home (two volumes, dated late 1800s and talks about how women can easily do any job except 'hard labor' such as being soldiers or firefighters), and one of my favorites... The Century Cookbook and Home Physician - that one I think is late 1800s also and it is fascinating to look through. Vincent Price's cookbook is really interesting too.
The first cookbook I really relied on was Beth Hensperger's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Set it, forget it, and yield enough for several days. A more recent fave Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat reorganized how I thought about building a dish beyond primary flavors. There's also my mom's faded copy of Gourmet Quick Kitchen.
Honestly - Cravings by Chrissy Teigan. The recipes are no fail and just consistently delicious. Both books have been a pleasant surprise. But I also really liked Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbooks so maybe I have not such a sophisticated palate? (Seriously though-her recipes are really very good for simple/healthy food).
Bravetart and Sister Pie are definitely my favorite baking books, and for general cookbooks I really like both Smitten Kitchen cookbooks and both of Julia Turshen's cookbooks.
Joy of Cooking is pulled out for every holiday. I still love Moosewood and Julie Katzen, and was lucky to meet when I helped catered her Berkeley wedding in 1983. Paula Wolfert is an amazing chef so her books are keepers. Silver Palate, Volume 1 is still pretty great.
Julia Child Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Chrissy Teigen Cravings, Ed Lee Smoke & Pickles, the Bob’s Burgers Cookbook (really!), Esquire Eat Like a Man (even if the title sucks)
It depends! For actually cooking it's Betty Crocker's Cooking for Two cook book (love the meatloaf recipe!). But for general fascination? It's my vintage/antique cookbook collection I've bought in antique stores. A few of them are from the late 1800s/early 1900s like Miss Parloa's New Cookbook and Marketing Guide, The House and Home (two volumes, dated late 1800s and talks about how women can easily do any job except 'hard labor' such as being soldiers or firefighters), and one of my favorites... The Century Cookbook and Home Physician - that one I think is late 1800s also and it is fascinating to look through. Vincent Price's cookbook is really interesting too.
The first cookbook I really relied on was Beth Hensperger's Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Set it, forget it, and yield enough for several days. A more recent fave Samin Nosrat's Salt Fat Acid Heat reorganized how I thought about building a dish beyond primary flavors. There's also my mom's faded copy of Gourmet Quick Kitchen.
Honestly - Cravings by Chrissy Teigan. The recipes are no fail and just consistently delicious. Both books have been a pleasant surprise. But I also really liked Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious cookbooks so maybe I have not such a sophisticated palate? (Seriously though-her recipes are really very good for simple/healthy food).
Bravetart and Sister Pie are definitely my favorite baking books, and for general cookbooks I really like both Smitten Kitchen cookbooks and both of Julia Turshen's cookbooks.
Joy of Cooking is pulled out for every holiday. I still love Moosewood and Julie Katzen, and was lucky to meet when I helped catered her Berkeley wedding in 1983. Paula Wolfert is an amazing chef so her books are keepers. Silver Palate, Volume 1 is still pretty great.