Questions tagged [cookbook]

Specific questions about cookbooks. Please do not use for recommendations on what cookbook to use.

While we don't have a firm "cookbooks are off topic rule", most questions people want to ask about them fall into the classic Stack Exchange closing reasons. Note that we do not accept big-list questions or "best one" questions. So following types of question on cookbooks are likely to be closed:

  • "I want to start with cooking X, please suggest a good book for that"
  • "Which is the ultimate cookbook on X"

If your question is of a different type (not a recommendation which book to read), you can ask it. If it is in a grey area, the moderators and other users will work with you in formulating it in a way which can get good answers instead of getting closed.

We are currently experimenting with allowing questions about book recommendations if they are specific enough, so the problem is not "lists of books meeting my criteria are easy to obtain, which one to pick" but rather "I can't be sure that even a single of the potential books meets my very specific criteria, can somebody confirm that some book does meet them". If this is what you need to ask, please try to be specific in listing objective criteria.

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What cookbooks do you always come back to?

Like me, there are probably a lot people on here that have a lot of cookbooks, but I find I keep coming back to the same 1 or 2 books to give me the basis of most of the stuff I cook. For me, I find myself coming back to the Jamie At Home book and…
lomaxx
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Resources that explain the science of cooking?

I have been cooking for a while now, but its mostly what I picked up watching others cook. Now, I am an engineer by profession, and it seems there ought to be a reason for cooking food the way it is done. I'm curious to understand the science of…
Sripathi Krishnan
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Are there books describing the general principles of cooking?

Perhaps my question is too weird, but whenever I read a book on cooking, it's just a list full of recipes. There are a lot of examples but there are no explicit laws or general principles of cooking - here I must admit that I don't browse this kind…
Red Banana
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Can I learn to cook from a book?

I want to improve my cooking skills and have considered following a number of books that call themselves cookery courses (e.g. Delia's complete cookery course, Ballymaloe cookery course). Can I really learn to cook from a book or should I consider…
Russell Gallop
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New takes on recipe format

I'm working on a cookbook that is designed to make it easier to master the steps that go into a recipe, and understand the timing, especially when trying to get multiple items to 'line up' so they all complete around the same time to serve a…
renegade
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How do I cook for just one person? any good cookbooks?

Being single again, I'm thinking it's time I learned how to cook for myself, problem is knowing how to cook, and buy, buying being a significant part of the problem, in quantities that will be just enough for me, and having it be healthy and not all…
xenoterracide
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Dominique Ansel book - ambiguity in the recipe

I have this book https://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Can-Bake-Simple-Recipes/dp/1501194712 at home. And I wanted to try the "White Chocolate Glaze" from page 253. But I am baffled about this step: Make the syrup: Combine the glucose, sugar, and 60…
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Online freely available cookbooks

As a programmer, I'm used to have a lot of online books for learning about almost everything. I'm sure that there are some cookbooks hidden in the web... but I've found just a few of them... I know that there are a lot of great websites teaching…
dolma33
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I love "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". Can someone recommend similar books for other cuisines?

Mastering the Art of French Cooking does a fantastic job of teaching what you need to do to cook all of the classic French recipes and why you need to do it the way that is recommended. Can anyone recommend similar books for Northern and Southern…
richcollins
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Julia Child - Mastering the Art of French Cooking - OK for Kosher?

My fiancee and I love to cook. We love cookbooks, but often find that they are useless in today's internet world where all the recipe sites exist. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a classic, which is not just a list of recipes (as I have found…
Jason
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Is Ciao Bella's "Rosemary and Olive Oil Gelato" savory?

I am about to make ice cream (for dessert) from The Ciao Bella book for Gelato and Sorbetto and was thinking about trying the Rosemary and Olive Oil Gelato. It says something about being savory, but it has the same amount of sugar as most of the…
bob
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What does Joy of Cooking mean by "canned spaghetti"?

My sister was browsing through her Joy of Cooking (the 1975 edition, her copy printed November 1983) and found several recipes that call for things like "1 can spaghetti: 24 oz." or "2 1/2 cups canned spaghetti". We can't for the life of us figure…
Marti
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Which food writers do you take to bed?

Which food books (and I'm thinking books on food and cooking rather than recipe books) do you find on your bedside cabinet rather than on the kitchen shelves? McGee on Food and Cooking: An Encyclopedia of Kitchen Science, History and Culture keeps…
FordBuchanan
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Good book on English/British cuisine

I am looking for a good book on British cuisine, and I have a specific type of book in mind. I tried looking on Amazon, but I couldn't determine whether a given book offers what I want. I am looking for a book which is more of a good read than a…
rumtscho
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Are there any cookbooks specifically designed for restaurant-level chefs/cooks?

It's fair to say most cookbooks are designed for the home cook. Not just in terms of quantities but also in terms of technique; it's very common to see recipes - even those written by giants in the catering world - edited "so you can prepare them at…
WackGet
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