What cookbooks do you carry aboard?

[SVAuspicious]

I'm quite admittedly a happy foodie, so perhaps I carry more books than is the norm. I went through my cookbooks today and weeded out a few I haven't used in the last year. Here is what is left.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child et al. I don't cook from this often but I'm always glad to have it when I do. Sometimes I'll read a chapter on watch.

Joy of Cooking by the Rombauers. I carry a 1973 printing of a slightly older edition. Anything other than the 1997 edition is useful. Those from the 70s and older do a better job of dealing with scratch cooking which may be of interest in the South Pacific and remote Caribbean.

Comings & Goings a nice charity cookbook from the New Annapolitons.

Tastefully Under Pressure from Pressure Magic/Fagor. The pot it came with is long gone, but some useful recipes.

Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew by Lin Pardey is fun to read, marginally useful to cook from, but a good addition to provisioning knowledge.

Cruising Chef Cookbook by Michael Greenwald is generally useful.

Quick Cuisine came with my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker and has been very useful for both recipes and general pressuring cooking. The information has helped me convert a number of conventional cooking recipes to PC cooking.

Recipes for Pressure Cooking by Joanna White also generally useful.

One Pan Galley Gourmet by Don Jacobson and John Roberts has some good ideas, and has helped in planning for rough weather passages.

King Arthur Flour Baking Companion is my go-to baking resource.

Cooking with Firehouse Chef by Keith Young is a tremendous resource for quick and easy and really good food.

Cruising Cuisine by Kay Pastoruis is just plain good.

I'm Just Here for the Food 2.0 by Alton Brown leads to meals on the table a startling amount for a book that comes with punch-out refrigerator magnets. Who knew?

On Food & Cooking by Harold McGee is the most accessible resource on food science I have found. It's good reading if you are a foodie, and a quick way to figure out what is happening in a recipe so you can manage substitutions.

The blue notebook - my own collection of clippings and recipe cards over the last 35 years.

For dinner tonight we're have shrimp fajitas. What will be on your table?

[eryka]

Books? You mean, actual paper books? How quaint!

I think I've only bought one cookbook since we moved aboard, mostly I download recipes from the Web. I use MasterCook software, which lets me search through it's recipe library, plus my personal ones that I've added. For example, I can look for recipes that use an ingredient, like canned tuna that don't require some other ingredient, say, celery - a handy feature when we were trying to make do with whatever had arrived on the mail boat that week!

In paper, though, I have aboard:
2 notebooks of my personal recipes
Lorna Sass: Vegetarian Cooking under Pressure
Moosewood: Lowfat Cooking and Sundays at Moosewood
Nava Atlas: Soups for All Seasons
Jeanne Lemlin: Quick Vegetarian Pleasures
I also keep Anne Vanderhoof's An Embarassment of Mangoes as much for the recipes as the story, and I have 2 no-name Caribbean cookbooks that we picked up in Barbados. I thought McGee's On Food and Cooking was a blast to read, but not really worth the limited shelf space aboard.

[eryka]

Oops meant to add links to my 2 "go-to" websites, myrecipes.com and cookitfrozen.com

[SVAuspicious]

I like Embarrassment of Mangoes also.

On the web:
Cooking for Engineers
Epicurious
Tastespotting
Foodgawker
Recipe Zaar (now food.com)
Budget Bytes

On my iPhone:
Epicurious
Crock-Pot
RecipeFinder

[RainDog]

Surprised no one has mentioned AllRecipes.com - the top web site for recipes, food and cooking tips for an online site.

For sure second "On Food and Cooking".

I have finally given up my "Joy of Cooking" in favor of "How to Cook Everything". Similar in scope, but much more up to date.

Another must have for me: "Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking".

[svHyLyte]

Take a look at:

Amazon.com: The Galley K.I.S.S. Cookbook (9780961840600): Corinne C. Kanter: Books

Great reference.

FWIW,,,

[eirzul]

Small and helpful book - Amazon.com: Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday… and there is also a smartphone app.

[miatapaul]

Originally Posted by SVAuspicious

I'm quite admittedly a happy foodie, so perhaps I carry more books than is the norm. I went through my cookbooks today and weeded out a few I haven't used in the last year. Here is what is left.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child et al. I don't cook from this often but I'm always glad to have it when I do. Sometimes I'll read a chapter on watch.

Joy of Cooking by the Rombauers. I carry a 1973 printing of a slightly older edition. Anything other than the 1997 edition is useful. Those from the 70s and older do a better job of dealing with scratch cooking which may be of interest in the South Pacific and remote Caribbean.


I'm Just Here for the Food 2.0 by Alton Brown leads to meals on the table a startling amount for a book that comes with punch-out refrigerator magnets. Who knew?

On Food & Cooking by Harold McGee is the most accessible resource on food science I have found. It's good reading if you are a foodie, and a quick way to figure out what is happening in a recipe so you can manage substitutions.

What is it about the 97 version you don't like? I have it, and a 2 part paperback version from the 80's and one from the 30's from my Grandmother, I think the second pressing. My biggest bone is that it is falling apart and started to shortly after buying it. It is actually the only cook book in my home kitchen the rest are in storage.

I like Alton's Brown he is one of the only real cooks left on food channel but have not seen any of his cook books except for the one that he did on the road on his motor cycle.

Harold McGee is awesome! I got another one similar in layout, less scientific but interesting to read from my father for Christmas this year. "Food Lover's Companion Fourth Edition" kind of a cross between McGee and Repertoire de La Cuisine(lists ingredients, but not amounts or how to cook it). I have enjoyed it.

I generally don't use cook books unless it is baking or something I have never done before.

[bubb2]

I commit all the recipes I enjoy to memory so they always with me. Now that I am older I find that recalling those recipes can be difficult at times. I have found that gravy and cheese sauce are your friends in times of memory lapse.

I am also a big believer in that no recipe that uses more that two pots should ever be used underway.

[SVAuspicious]

Originally Posted by miatapaul

What is it about the 97 version [of Joy of Cooking] you don't like?

The '97 version came out during an upheaval in the family "business" and was a major diversion in the approach Irma Rombauer initially took. Later versions have returned to the fold. In the '97 version JoC moved to the 'master recipe' approach, much like Julia Child used in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but didn't pull it off. The master recipe for cookies with 14 variations is an example, and the cookies just don't make it. There was an emphasis on microwave ovens and food processors that was overdone (not to mention awkward on most sailboats, clearly not their marker).

Later additions have shifted back to the more classic approach. The 75th Anniversary Edition, like those of old, is not only a great reference, but a joy *grin* to sit and read. My JoC, like MtAoFC, has been a great companion on many a night watch.