Discussion post: how do you use cookbooks?
I wanna hear from you
Hello my beloved MessHeads. I am on a handful of deadlines this week (for my “real job” and also sort of for “grad school”), and am coming to you with a discussion post instead of a screed about, I don’t know, Thanksgiving tablescapes?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments about HOW YOU USE COOKBOOKS! Do you “read them like novels before bed”? Do you use them as coffee table books/lifestyle inspiration/a welcome distraction from the ills of the world? Do you use them to learn about other cuisines or use them to plan weeknight dinners? What do you want out of a cookbook? What will actually make you spend over thirty hard-won dollars on a new cookbook? How often do you actually cook out of them? What cookbooks are on your holiday wish lists? What makes a “good” cookbook?
As a home cook/cookbook lover/substack c0ntent creat0r I am so curious how you all might respond to these questions and would love to hear your answers in the comments. Also I think it could be a fun way to say hello especially if you are new here :)
If you’re jonesing for Thanksgiving recipes, make sure you didn’t miss last week’s dream menu. If you’re craving a highly specific (to me) gift guide, THAT’S COMING NEXT WEEK!
Happy Friday—
xoxo marian
Cookbooks offer surprising nuggets of info that you cannot get elsewhere. Some are reference books, some are inspiration, some are friends.
What I find so interesting is this: people will spend $3O for an entree but are on the fence about a cookbook that costs the same or a little more. A good book yields many delicious meals and hours/days/years of happiness.
I am a bit biased....
First things first: I try to borrow a cookbook from the library so I can give it a test drive before I buy it. I hate buying a cookbook only to learn that the author's taste buds don't line up with my own.
Sometimes I will read them like a novel. Recently, I read _The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen_ by Bee Wilson like this (of course, all of her essays helped with that). Sometimes I browse them to get inspired or to remind myself what's in them or to learn something new. I have oodles of cookbooks, but honestly probably have cooked out of about 10 of them. Some I bought because of the author; some because of the breadth of recipes in them; some because they were recommended.
What I like out of a cookbook (other than the tastebuds matching): Blurbs about the recipe without getting too far afield. Pictures of the finished dish. A list of ingredients ahead of the directions. Warning notes about how the recipe commonly goes wrong. Maybe information about recommended substitutions, especially if it is a cookbook for less-experienced folks. A font that is large enough to be legible for most people. (I hadn't looked at a cookbook for years because they made my head hurt. Now, on the other side of eye surgery, I can read easily, but my experience makes me sensitive to accessibility issues.)