Cookbooks

Here's my list of great cookbooks we own, in alphabetical order by first author, with commentary. (For K-W readers: many of these are available at KPL or WPL, at local bookstores, or at Vincenzo's.) We have something like ten linear feet of cookbooks, and we've tried to be selective in our purchases. Many of them are good but not great and hence are not on this list: a number of Thai books, a motley collection of other Asian cuisines, some from Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Bruce Aidells: Hot Links and Country Flavours

Aidells has a very successful sausage-making company in the Bay Area; I've seen some of his meat for sale at Premier in Buffalo and at Fairway Market in New York. This is not only a book on how to cook with sausages, but how to make them. He goes through the US by region and suggests sausages and recipes; since just about every ethnic group has a pocket somewhere in the States, most of the rest of the meat-eating world gets dragged in as well. A very readable book.

Rick Bayless and Deanna Groen Bayless: Authentic Mexican

The Baylesses own an excellent restaurant in Chicago, Frontera Grill (there's a spinoff at which we haven't eaten yet). This book isn't entirely authentic: there are some Bayless creations that marry traditional methods with a nouvelle sensibility. But it is all done in a spirit of respect and love, and with detailed, precise directions. Real Mexican food is fabulous in a way that Taco Bell and store-bought bottled salsa can only hint at, and it is so rare in Canada that you really must cook your own. His followup book, "Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen", is a good source of what one might call fusion ideas, as well as some more authentic recipes (including one for black mole which I'm dying to try but can't find the ingredients for). There's a more recent book on salsas which looks like a quick knockoff, and not worth it.

Huntley Dent: The Feast of Santa Fe

There are a lot of bad Southwestern and Santa Fe cookbooks out there, from coffee-table monstrosities to can-of-soup coupon-recipe collections. Dent appears to have a good grasp of local history and of the diversity of local customs. The food is wonderful, though getting supplies to do it right may be a bit of a problem, depending on where you live. (We bring ours in from Santa Fe and from California.)

Carol Field: The Italian Baker, Celebrating Italy

"The Italian Baker" is a detailed look at breads, rolls, pizza and foccacia, cakes, and cookies from many regions of Italy. Field has travelled in Italy cadging recipes from master bakers, successfully adapting them to the home kitchen. "Celebrating Italy" goes through the year chronologically, visiting local feasts, describing the atmosphere and celebration, and printing a few recipes from each. It's as much fun to read as it is to cook from. We have her books "Focaccia" and "Italy in Small Bites" (the latter covering merende, what some would call tapas or appetizers), but while they are good, they are not exceptional. Her recent book "In Nonna's Kitchen" may be a good source of comfort food but we haven't spent enough time with it to find out.

Marcella Hazan: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

This book is a combination and augmentation of her quintessential texts, "Classic Italian Cooking" and "More Classic Italian Cooking". She has lost some of her fussiness (she no longer advises one to peel chickpeas for soup, or rants about what some people put into lasagna) and the recipes are lower in fat and sugar. Solid and comprehensive. The recent "Marcella Cucina" is more of a mixed bag, but has great photographs.

Maida Heatter: New Book of Great Desserts

Maida's books make the best desserts we know of: they nearly always work no matter how intricate they are, and she is constantly reassuring you and telling you what things should look like, or to continue at this point or that despite the appearance of failure. We have a reputation for dessert-making that is due entirely to her. We also have "Great American Desserts", which is as well-written but not as interesting, and "Great Chocolate Desserts", which is more specialized, but still of high quality. Note: recently her publisher has taken to repackaging recipes from her earlier books in newer editions. Be warned.

Barbara Kafka: Microwave Gourmet

This was the book that convinced us to buy a microwave. Kafka is candid about what the microwave cannot do, eloquent about what it does well, and brings a refined sensibility to her adaptations of traditional recipes. The last third of the book is a mini-encyclopedia of how various ingredients work in a microwave; you can bring your produce home from the store and look it up. Her recent books "Roasting" and "Soup: A Way of Life" are more specialized; solid, but really, how much roasting are you going to do?

Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker: The Joy of Cooking

The classic. A solid introduction to cooking, and one that has kept up to date with modern technology. When faced with attempting something new, I look it up here first before going to more specialized sources. It's a little weak on the more unfamiliar "ethnic" foods, and one shouldn't take it as the final authority on anything, but it is indispensable for the novice and expert alike. Note: the most recent edition has been rewritten by committee. It is more even and authoritative, but devoid of personality. Get a used copy, and look for the recipe on cooter to make sure.

Julie Sahni: Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking

Whenever friends ask for a vegetarian cookbook, I recommend this one. Sahni's books do justice to the incredible diversity of Indian cuisine and to the range of legumes, nuts, seeds, spices, and vegetables used. Her instructions are clear and the recipes work wonderfully. Her "Classic Indian Cooking" covers the sort of food found in North American Indian restaurants, while "Moghul Microwave" shows how to take advantage of new technology. Avoid her recent book, which oversimplifies the cuisine for lazy people.

Lorna Sass: Cooking Under Pressure

The only pressure-cooker cookbook I know of that takes the appliance out of the '50's. Risotto in six minutes of pressure, no stirring, with a texture that is almost indistinguishable from the real thing (which requires twenty-five minutes of continual stirring). Chicken and lentils in twelve minutes of pressure, stews in half an hour. This book lets us leave work at half-past-four and have a meal good enough for company on the table at six. The followup "Classic Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure" suffers from not enough familiarity (or engagement) with the truly great vegetarian cuisines of the world, but there are some nice recipes in "The Pressured Cook", though the spicing is suspect. Take these as starting points for your explorations.