I love digital everything, except when it comes to one thing: books. Cookbooks, regular books, anything like that. I am staunchly old school about this. I read food blogs but I hate using a laptop for the recipe. As a kid there were cookbooks my mother had from 20 years ago that were literally just pages typed by a typewriter that were stapled together. That had the best no-bake cookie recipe that I still use. The page has stained by cocoa spills and who knows what else. It’s one of my favorite memories as a kid and I refuse to use any other recipe. I’ve made my mom drop everything and send me a photo of it, twice.
So, in order to complete my 27 going on 80 training, I’m going to lay out my case for cookbooks and show you the view into my kitchen. It’s small. Large compared to NYC apartments, small compared to Kansas standards, but utterly perfect for me. Also that is the fridge that I spent a whole evening perfectly lining up gold tape to liven up my fridge.
I regret nothing. It was one of the best evenings of that entire spring.
So enter me in my 20’s. I’ve started collecting cookbooks I love and also creating my own digital one that I can eventually turn into my own cookbook. Not because they are all my own recipes, but it’s more of a tried and true hits that I can rely on. Even though almost all of my recipes I’ve memorized, I tend to make up these GREAT meals, but then I did something different and I can never replicate it.
I truly think that there is nothing better than seeing food stains on well-loved recipes and having cookbooks to pass down. My grandmothers unfortunately didn’t have have written recipes. They had everything in their head and I’m sad that a lot of what they made I didn’t get to try. So my mission is to collect what I and the people I love, love to eat!
Call me crazy, but I don’t know what I would make if I was to appear on Top Chef and needed a family recipe for a contest, I’d be screwed. Yes, I do think about this more than I’d like to admit. A GIRL HAS TO PREPARE FOR THINGS THAT WILL ABSOLUTELY NEVER HAPPEN!
So I guess that at the end of the day, I just want you to be able to think long-term about what dish you would prepare for Top Chef and why you should use cookbooks. I really do think that it’s important to be able to literally hand down your own food history. Plus they look pretty!
My mission in 2018 is to get some more of the classics, like Julia Child and The Joy of Cooking, but I’d LOVE to know what your favorites are and what I should get!
Sarah
I also LOVE cookbooks and have started to collect them, but I honestly rarely use them when cooking day-to-day. I only use them when I’m baking something or am cooking something for a special occasion. I love the idea of passing down a cookbook or at least having a binder with my favorite recipes; otherwise I just quick search google for a recipe while I’m in Meijer ready to buy ingredients.
Rachel Heffington
GIRL. I’m 100% a fan of this post, sharing your affinity for old-school cookbooks. I have an embarrassing lot of them which I read and pour over like an ancient treasure map. Definitely get your hands on Julia’s books ASAP – I have learned so much from reading her cookbooks. Other favorites of mine are the Top With Cinnamon cookbook by Izy Hossack, Molly on The Range by Molly Yeh, and actually a Southern Living Magazine cookbook. I’ve used that an UNUSUAL amount actually. I love spying on people’s kitchens and I am THERE for your taped fridge. Get it.
Emily
I read cookbooks like novels so I’m so on board with this. Chrissy’s is wonderful, but I haven’t made anything from it yet! A Cozy Coloring Cookbook is so fun! Again, haven’t made anything from it yet but I love coloring. I’m notorious for buying gorgeous cookbooks, reading them, and never making anything from them. Maybe that’ll change in year 27?
Emily
OH! I forgot another favorite. It’s a huge book but it’s wonderful. The Essential New York Times Cookbook. Get your hands on it if you can!
Rachel
Teach me your photography ways please
Lyddiegal
I love cookbooks too, though I hate falling into the trap of having a cookbook I make exactly one recipie out of. Because that is the truth about most of them! The old family recipes on the other hand, are the ones that need to be cherished. Those coco stains, the hand written notes in the margins, the ones that remind of your childhood… those are the ones that belong in the kitchen.
Chic on the Cheap
Michelle
I literally laughed out loud in reading the “I’ve made my mom drop everything and send me a photo of it, twice”. Ask Jessica over @26 and Not Counting about how many times I have had to send her the Fettuccine Alfredo recipe. 😉 I loved this post! I collect old cookbooks of all sorts. And, have a box of handwritten family recipes, some dating back to my grandmother, and in her handwriting. I like to pick up my cookbooks used, in bookstores, or thrift stores. The old Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks are great. And, depending on the year they were released, some are quite humorous too! Taste of Home are some others I like. Actually, I don’t think I have come across too many cookbooks I don’t love! I own more than about fifty at the moment. And, have a giant ziplock bag, yes you read that right, of handwritten, typed or pages torn from magazines filled with recipes. And, two boxes filled with handwritten cards full of recipes as well.
Julie
I’m 100% with you on books! Physical books and cookbooks are soooo much better than their digital alternatives. Cookbook recommendation – Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson. The dessert recipes are to die for (especially the Key Lime cheesecake, and the chocolate cake, and the bitter orange ice cream…you get the idea :)). And! Since your grandmother’s had mental recipes instead of physical…Check out the book section of antique stores. I’ve got a few cookbooks from the 30’s and 40’s and they have pencil written notes, food stains, and are absolute gems!