I suffer from a chronic condition – one that afflicts me, each and every day. Possibly there’s a clinical name in some diagnostic guide, for all I know, but I refer to it simply as “cookbookitis”. You get the idea, I think.
Admittedly, I’m a book person and always have been. Our front hallway is lined with shelves full of all kinds of publications – fiction (and non), hardback, soft-cover, even loosely categorized, by subject area and author. So a natural extension of my book “thing” is the obsession with cookbooks. Obsession isn’t exactly the word I would use, but others in my household have, on occasion. I prefer to think of my interest as more moderate and thoughtful in nature, and a lot less manic and addictive: a “fascination” perhaps.
It’s true I’ve got an extensive collection – 75 at last casual count though that doesn’t include the dozen, give or take, scattered around – by the bed, on the coffee table, in the car and other non-cooking focused nooks and crannies. I hesitate to admit that this personal mishmash of titles, vegetarian to classic French, is just a starting point for my fascination. When the kids and I go to the library, they come out with novels and mysteries – me, I’ve got an unwieldy stack of cookbooks. Currently 15 checked out in all – a lot, even for me.
My point in revealing these personal habits is not any sort of confession or first step to recovery, but to highlight the quite practical reason behind my fascination. It’s like this – just as my self-described “starving” teenager’s query, “what’s for dinner?” collides head on with this home-cook’s culinary version of full blown writer’s block, a trusty cookbook is really all that’s needed to break through the impasse, saving the day with ideas for a quick, tasty and starvation abating meal. Okay, maybe it’s not always quite this simple, but I do believe that browsing through a well-written cookbook once or twice a week is often all that’s needed to inspire really delicious, quick and starving-teenager-satisfying meals.
If you haven’t actually read a cookbook recently (and when I say “read” I mean more than just thumbing through the recipes), you might be surprised to discover that many cookbooks are positively well-written, with humor, valuable information and even charming anecdotes about life outside the kitchen. An added bonus, for anyone who’s fascinated with (dare I say obsessed?) photography, the latest crop of photo-oriented cookbooks feature some of the most beautiful and creative images you’ll find anywhere.
You probably don’t have a collection anywhere near the size of mine – most cooks, less obsessed, wouldn’t. No worries, just head to the local public library where you’ll find stack after stack (around 641.x) organized by country, dietary focus, technique, type of food and more. Allow yourself plenty of time for browsing. The process is beautiful: you check out a stack today and return them for another next week. If you find one that’s really great, perhaps it’s worth a purchase.
This week as I ponder my bag of farm fresh vegetables, I’ll select a couple of volumes off the shelf – perhaps the classic Alice Water’s tome – Chez Panisse Vegetables. On page 101, I find all manner of information about the Chicory family (of which escarole, expected to arrive in the weekly farm bag, is one). I learn that though these bitter greens are wonderful eaten raw, their “sturdiness makes them highly suitable for braising and grilling”. Their flavor and substantial structure pair well with rich and flavorful foods in salads – cheese, nuts, smoked fish. The text contains helpful storage and preparation information as well, followed by recipes complete with suggestions for variation. If all of this isn’t enough, the artistry of Patricia Curtan’s vegetable prints renders this humble kitchen text a volume lovely to behold.
Favorite cookbooks from my collection, in no particular order:
The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters
Chez Panisse Vegetables, By Alice Waters, and the cooks of Chez Panisse.
The Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook Series
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison
World Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey
The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook Series, by Ina Garten
The Silver Palate Cookbook Series, by Julie Rosso and Sheila Lukins
The Indian Vegetarian, by Neelam Batra
How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman
Note: most of the preceding authors have multiple titles worth checking out.
Recent acquisitions:
D.I.Y. Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Food from Scratch, by Vanessa Barrington
The Complete Book of 400 Soups, consultant editor: Anne Sheasby
Simple Italian Sandwiches: Recipes from America’s Favorite Panini Bar, by Jennifer and Jason Denton with Kathryn Kellinger
Clean Start: Inspiring You to Eat Clean and Live Well, by Terry Walters
Street Food of India: The 50 Greatest Indian Snacks – Complete with Recipes, by Sephi Bergerson
