binders, too

[ziki]

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LizzieAnn wrote:
Cookbooks make a great collection. Sometimes I just look through them & read the recipes. I especially love cookbooks with pictures!

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ziki wrote:

Yes, right, me too! I threw many notebooks with recipes away because I realized I will never cook them anyhow, nevertheless, I keep on collecting, LOL.

ziki

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..and it results in a cooking binge for a few days or weeks and I fill the fridge and then forget it again...until I read them again next time....LOL
I will have to challenge myself and get to the next level= things I normally do not cook or bake.... Jon the Chef was a great supporter fo rsuch projects, I miss him here.

I also experiment wildly so if something comes out really great I usually can't repeat it


ziki

[Dreammkr]

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BillP wrote:
Here's a two part question: How many cookbooks do you own? And of them, how many do you actually use on a regular basis?

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I have about 40 or 50 and I really enjoy reading them! I use them for the recipe's occasionally, but usually use them for inspiration when I feel creative! I love sitting with a nice hot cup of coffee and just perusing through a good cookbook when I have the time.

I love my cookbooks and could never part with them! In fact, we are in the middle of remodeling the kitchen and part of the plans had to include a special area just for the cookbooks! LOL! My husband can't complain, he loves the end results that he gets to eat!

Dream

[jay_newreader]

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BillP wrote:
Here's a two part question: How many cookbooks do you own? And of them, how many do you actually use on a regular basis?

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Hey Everyone,

I am new to this club and all of you seemed to be veteran cookbook collectors. I still have to start.

I really like Thai food but I am confused as to which is the 1st book I should purchase. If any of you have any ideas please let me know.

Thanks,
Jay

[BillP]

Hi Jay,

Welcome to Food & Drinks! I love Thai food and eat it probably once a week, though as I live near a couple really good restaurants I don't cook it that often.

But I do like to read about it. I highly recommend David Thompson's simply-titled Thai Food, which is pretty much the bible on the subject. It's more than just recipes, it tells the history of Thai cuisine too... great for just reading and learning. It is, however, uncompromising in its authenticity, with recipes involving somewhat hard-to-find ingredients, mortar-and-pestle, etc. But as a reference, it is unparalleled.

If you want something a bit more novice-friendly, Simply Thai Cooking or Quick and Easy Thai feature popular Thai favorites adapted for the American home cook.

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jay_newreader wrote:

Hey Everyone,

I am new to this club and all of you seemed to be veteran cookbook collectors. I still have to start.

I really like Thai food but I am confused as to which is the 1st book I should purchase. If any of you have any ideas please let me know.

Thanks,
Jay

---

Message Edited by BillP on 08-09-2007 10:54 AM

[Razzbaby]

Hi What an interesting question! I bet I've got 150 between soft cover and hard cover cookbooks. There are a couple that I regularly use. One is totally chocolate, the other has everyday type foods--and food prep.

Message Edited by Razzbaby on 09-10-2007 03:47 PM

[jmcnaughton]

I probably own about 40-50 (and my collection is growing by the week). Like other posters, I've purged and then replenished. I also collect from my travels. No matter what country I go to I try to buy at least one cookbook from there. Then there's the diet cookbooks, the crockpot cookbooks, soup cookbooks, eating for one.... It depends on what's happening in my life for what I get a "hankerin' for".

I have a friend who tells me I'm the only person he knows that reads cookbooks like novels. (Oh well, there's a lot worse things I could be doing with my life!!!)

[Razzbaby]

What a great idea of collecting a cookbook! "I am thinking that that was a planned idea. I also collect from my travels. No matter what country I go to I try to buy at least one cookbook from there." I have by accident done that a few times, but now I really wished I'd thought of that too! How fun to be able to re-create a meal you've had somewhere.

[kiakar]

I have read this question many times but never considered I had very many cookbooks. That is until I counted them. And believe me I do not use them all that much. Where did they all come from? But anyway I have 64.

[KathyS]

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kiakar wrote:
I have read this question many times but never considered I had very many cookbooks. That is until I counted them. And believe me I do not use them all that much. Where did they all come from? But anyway I have 64.

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Linda,don't ask me how I ended up over here! HA!
How would you like a cookbook written by an artist? Artful Palettes? The bug got in my ear last week....art-photos, writings, and recipes?...the perfect coffee table read!. What more could you ask for, right? Just a thought that has come to another artist/gourmet-cook-extraordinaire and myself. Think about it!

Kathy S.

[kiakar]

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KathyS wrote:

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kiakar wrote:
I have read this question many times but never considered I had very many cookbooks. That is until I counted them. And believe me I do not use them all that much. Where did they all come from? But anyway I have 64.

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Linda,don't ask me how I ended up over here! HA!
How would you like a cookbook written by an artist? Artful Palettes? The bug got in my ear last week....art-photos, writings, and recipes?...the perfect coffee table read!. What more could you ask for, right? Just a thought that has come to another artist/gourmet-cook-extraordinaire and myself. Think about it!

Kathy S.

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Hey Kathy S., anything you want, honey, you just get it now! Sounds great! Have fun!

[Razzbaby]

As I reread some of the posts, I realized many of my cookbooks are holiday cookbooks. So that's the next part of the question. How many holiday cookbooks do you have in your collection? What are your favorites? Are they cookies and treats or for the main event?

[bluedvls11]

How many cookbooks do you own? And of them, how many do you actually use on a regular basis?

I have about 40 cookbooks + about the same number of cooking/traveling memoirs, which typically contain recipes too + years of cooking magazines + three folders of cut out recipes + two binders of recipes printed from the internet + my family recipe card file.

Besides the recipe cards and printed recipes, I probably use only about 5 of the cookbooks on a regular basis. Although I have made at least one thing from all but the newest cookbooks!

[chana56]

Hm..  I have about 50-60 cookbooks of my own, and an overflowing file of recipes I've collected from magazines, etc.    Then I inherited my mom's collection - she was a chef, and had about 250-300.  Haven't counted them exactly, they're still in storage until I have room for them.  (At the moment: small kitchen, one shelf.)  I'm not counting all the "culinary"  mysteries I have with recipes!

I rarely follow a recipe exactly.   I usually go through the cookbooks, find 3-5 different recipes for something close to what I want, then I start making my own combination of the recipes (switching ingredients, etc).  Only trouble is, I almost never write down the combination, so if it's wildly successful I don't always remember just what I did !! 

I remember my mother sitting and reading cookbooks for enjoyment.  She almost never used one to actually cook.    When I would try her recipes, and would ask her for measurements,  she used to say "it feels right"....not a big help.  The cards I do use are those recipes of my mom's that I succeeded with, and DID write down. 

[Timbuktu1]

l00, and I always make the same old things!

[Serenity528]

Currently too many! I am guessing somewhere between 60 and 120 and that's with donating at least 60 of them. I consistently use about 4 of them.I don't use them all, but what I will do is meld recipes together to create something a bit different. However, they make really great conversation pieces!

[lamuhtaseb]

I own too many to count and generally just get them to read through the recipes.

I have my own style of cooking so I use recipes I find in books as a base then I modify them to my style.

It is a lot of fun and I get a lot of great feedback as I usually have someone I know test my creations to find that they really love them. I have been told that I should seriously consider writing my own cookbook as well as open a deli/restaurant.

Who knows, maybe someday

[LindaEducation]

I own several cookbooks.  I use them more around the holidays or during the milder months when we do more grilling. Actually, my hubby does alot of the cooking and enjoys it.  He is always finding a neat recipe on a canned good or box of food, or on the internet.  He never makes a dish the same way twice.  Like tonight he made a huge pot of chili.  He makes chili twice a month; it never tastes the same, but is always delicious. 

Growing up, my stepmom who was Italian, was an excellent cook.  Before I got married I asked her to write some recipes down for me.  She said, "oh I just throw in a pinch of this or a pinch of that!' I could never narrow her down to an exact amount.  She said it was "her secret" recipes LOL!  My sisters are great cooks but no one has ever aced my stepmom's  lasagna, and I dont think anyone ever will!

[chana56]

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LindaEducation wrote:

Growing up, my stepmom who was Italian, was an excellent cook.  Before I got married I asked her to write some recipes down for me.  She said, "oh I just throw in a pinch of this or a pinch of that!' I could never narrow her down to an exact amount.  She said it was "her secret" recipes LOL! 

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My great grandmother was a cook, and my mother was always after her to give her the recipes....and she gave the same sort of answer......pressed for quantities, she would say "it feels right".  More than once my mom watched her cook, and measured every ingredient as her grandmother added it.  Yet when my mom tried later to make the same dishes, using the exact quantities she had measured, they never came out quite as good!    Go figure.....

[Tigger31]

I own a TON of cookbooks!!! I use about a handfull of them, but I always gotta have more!!! The only ohter books that I own more of than cookbooks is mysteries!!!

Tawnya

[susymac]

My husband, Jan and i are cookbook collectors on a rather big scale....we're way past the 8000 mark...many are antique, our oldest being a British one called "the housekeeper's assistent" from 1790!!...We're living in the netherlands so a great many of our cookbooks are dutch ones...but we also have a huge number of american, english, french, jewish and others from various cultures/languages. we read cookbooks like others read novels....but my most-used, stained and beloved cookbook is a good housekeeping i bought in dorval airport as i left montreal in 2001 to be with my dutch love in holland.