What percentage of your cookbooks have you actually cooked from?

Question

I know there are people that have lots of cookbooks (read eGullet sometime, there are numbers in the 6 figures). But how many of those have you actually cooked from? Do you try to cook your way through a new book you buy, or just flip through it for inspiration?

I have about 10 recipe books myself, plus a Cook's Illustrated magazine collection. My biggest success has been Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, but I'm sure I've only made 1% of it by recipe count.

I have sort of a latent fantasy to cook every recipe in every one of my books, but I know it's hopeless. That's the kind of thing people make movies about, apparently.

Answer

But if I did do a whole book of recipes, make it a Marcella Hazan book, per favore!

Answer

Interesting question, joel. I'd say I've tried at least one recipe from each of them. As to ones that I've used "heavily" through the years, my go-to cookbooks...a very small number, actually, maybe four or five of them.

I will use recipes for baking, but other than that, after so many years of cooking, mostly I use the books to either seek inspiration re what to make for dinner on a particular night, or to refresh my memory re the qualities of different ingredients from those cookbooks that give good general information on cooking, rather than recipes only.

I limit myself to about 30 or 40 cookbooks in the house, to keep the clutter down. I have a small pie-safe I use to house my cookbook collection and that's what about it accommodates. It's been full for a long time now, so when a new cookbook comes in, one has to leave to make room for it. It's been interesting to realize which ones go and which ones get to stay...by now it's filled pretty much with the "classic" general cookbooks...JC, JB, Elizabeth David, an old Betty Crocker, Fannie Farmer; some of the masters such as Marcella Hazan, Madeleine Kammon, Bugialli, Elizabeth David, and then some New England regional standards. Trendy cookbooks or the latest "rock-star's" latest release don't do much for me.

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Joel, I would say I have made at least one recipe from all the many dozen cookbooks. When we re-modeled our kitchen 10 years ago, I had a 6 shelf buil-in bookcase made to hold all my books. BUT, my books are more than just recipes. I often eat alone and like to peruse various books while I am eating or use them to plan an upcoming meal, etc. I would say I "touch" at least one cookbook for every meal I eat alone.

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I have over 500 at this point and would say have cooked at least 1 recipe from maybe 20% of them. There are about 15-20 that see heaviest use. I fall into and out of love with books so it's a sort of evolving situation.

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Funny you should ask that question. I have two shelves of cookbooks (probably around 20 not including my magazine subscription to BBC Good food), and although I've read through all of them, I can safely say that I have 3 of them that I use very regularly! I mean like using them at least 3/4 times a month.
My main problem is sourcing the ingredients, not really an excuse with the internet and online shopping though.

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I go thru phases- cooking the heck out of some books, and then moving on to another. I will often return later and try things I missed. I did have sort of a "What was I thinking?" moment, recently when I threw out some books. Most of those books featured local recipe collections featuring condensed soup! or 4 ingrediants! or "Grannie Edna Mae's Stir 'N Dump Chop Suey!"- sure to be a hit at the church supper! or 28 different kinds of jello mold!

The book I have used the most, over the years, is "Saveur Cooks: Authentic American" (1998). There is NOTHING that isn't terrific in this book.

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I can't boast a large cookbook collection but my PC recipe file is 100 lifetimes long. The only book I have cooked, baked, roasted, grilled and basted my way through is from my copy of The American Country Inn and Bed & Breakfast Cookbook by Kitty & Lucian Maynard. The worn and stained pages are a testament to the hours I've spent cultivating a breakfast service and rep. That book took me thru some serious paces and I have written to more than half of the B&B owners thanking them and sharing my experiences working thru their tried & trues. 

Sadly, I lack the time and patience to repeat this kind of commitment but it was an exciting time when I was head over heels in flour & butter and clients to serve.

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We tend to cook from the more practical ones and hardly at all from the celebrity chefs/cooks. For instance, we've every one of Nigella Lawson's and never cooked a dish. And then we've every one of Delia Smith's and they are falling apart from overuse (but then we have been using them for 30 years)

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What percentage of your cookbooks have you actually cooked from?

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