There was a time when I didn't really care to have cookbooks, and in actuality, that hasn't changed much. But two key moments exist that have nudged me toward celebrating cookbooks.
The first was when I discovered the Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme thread at eG. What an inspirational thread - so many great creations. Most people stayed true to the book, but why not when you have such an amazing body of knowledge. This was also the first time I had heard of PH.
The second was when the Chocolate Doctor, Kerry Beal sent me a box of books that she picked up at a discount book store. It was a mishmosh of forgotten books including some that I used on a daily basis now (Dessert Circus).
Feel free to click the pics above to see the titles better, but these are the books that I grab for every day. In the bottom pic, you'll see a spine with a knife on it (an Edge in the Kitchen) from there to the right all books I received for Christmas, and Edge is what I am currently ready as I try to hone my knife skills.
Most important book on the shelf: Baking with Julia
Most used: Art of the Dessert, Amernick (because I am so familiar with it)
Most disappointing: Desserts by the Yard (not in my whole collection, just on this shelf)
Most inspirational: Alinea (if only I had a few more hours and a few more dollars)
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6 comments:
Ooo! I love your book shelf! Mine at the moment is rather pitiful. I have a grand total of 7 recipe books and 3 of those are on loan from the library!
I love the whole wheat bread recipe from Baking with Julia, I make it constantly. I also love Nancy Silverton's sandwich book, I've been slowly working my way through all the recipes.
Mine was pitiful before a few months ago and I kind of liked it that way. I'm very picky about my books because most just take up space. I want ones that either give me key recipes or that inspire me. And like Sara said, Baking with Julia is hugely important to me on both fronts.
Hmm! Actually BwJ didn't strike me as the kind of book you'd really like, so I'm quite surprised! Curious as to what made you rate BbtY as disappointing (care to review it? hehe ;)
I think Julia is an important book to me because I learned so many fundamentals from her. I've said many times that I learned to cook from her because I was raised on her TV shows. That's why I'm much more comfortable cranking out a souffle than a meatloaf. And as for Sherry Yard...there is nothing in her book that excites me. Its all the same old same old. But then again I feel the same about Puck, and that's how I felt after Russell Wong (from eG) took me to Spago. Its all fine, but there's a lot of "fine" restaurants out there. Life's too short for fine in my book. And I'm getting very close to doing some reviews and then featuring a certain review website here at the blog...very close.
I have an entire bookcase of cookbooks, so I know what you mean. And I tend to cook out of the same 5 or 6 of them--well, I used to tend to cook out of that many, I've recently only been using Joy of Cooking because of my blog.
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