Most Unanimously Successful COTM?

Question

I don't often follow these cookbook of the month discussions, so I have a very specific question: which cookbooks have appeared to provide the most unanimously and consistently successful recipes?

I don't mean the most-loved cookbooks, or the most interesting. I don't mean the most popular ones. Not ones containing a few especially stupendous recipes. I mean ones which cause the crowd to report consistent surprising success ("surprise" because I'm not looking for the least incompetent cookbook, where no recipes bomb; I'm looking for ones provoking "oh my god, everything works beyond my wildest dreams", reported by a large swathe of chowhound posters).

I'd actually prefer to hear from silent lurkers over opinionated regulars, because any one person's opinion (however expert) is 1. just one person's opinion, and 2. can't reflect experience with all recipes in all books. If you've been reading along quietly for years, which books hit this mark?

Answer

Perhaps because of low-expectations, but I remember many "happily surprised" comments for the Margaritaviille cookbook (June 2019) and also Chrissy Teigen month (March 2019).

The index that ties to all COTM top-threads (which have links to sections for reporting results) is here https://www.chowhound.com/cookbook_of_the_month_archive

Answer

Two I thought were successful:
Six Seasons
https://www.chowhound.com/post/october-2017-cotm-seasons-1063133?page=2
Deep Run Roots
https://www.chowhound.com/post/july-2017-cotm-deep-run-roots-1059206

Answer

I’d say Polpo was one. It proved very popular, yes, but that was in large part due to people wanting to cook more and more out of it because the recipes were so successful.

Answer

For me it was Jerusalem. I just kept finding more and more to make as I read the threads and it was pretty much all delicious. I still use lots of the recipes regularly.

Answer

I've only very occasionally followed the Cookbook of the Month, but I can vouch for cooking from davidlebovitz.com.

When Lebovitz recently posted about cutting back on posting dessert recipes recipes due to complaints about the amount of sugar in them, I created a spreadsheet to chart how many recipes I've cooked from his website and his books. It's over sixty, including sweet, savory, beverages and condiments. Many of them are household favorites.

For the record, the people who complained about the amount of sugar in his dessert recipes are wrong. He calls for restrained amounts of sugar in his recipes.

I make homemade candy to pass out at Halloween; sadly not this year. Lebovitz's candy recipes have greatly increased my popularity in our neighborhood. My dream is that he will write a candy cookbook.

I very much appreciate that his recipes include metric weights.

Answer

I'm a lurker, and I honestly don't recall which COTMs have been surprisingly successful or not - but I do want to say that I really like THIS post, which has me taking a closer look at some of these. Thank you for the conversation!

Answer

I follow the COTM discussions, but whether I participate really depends on the cookbook and whether it’s a style/cuisine my family will eat (the heathens are picky!). We really liked Bread Toast Crumbs and have been very happy with just about everything we’ve made from it, as well as Alexandra Stafford’s blog. I haven’t really cared for the recipes we tried from Margaritaville or for Melissa Clark’s Dinner in an Instant (aside from the spaghetti and meatballs, that one was a keeper). 

... which brings me to another point: accessibility of the COTM cookbooks. I usually request the interesting ones from our library to try them out before committing to a purchase, but that’s not always possible. COTMs with online presence (especially those selected this year!) are much more accessibly to everyone, and seem to lead to greater participation.

Answer

I agree with the posters who said Fuchsia Dunlop and Polpo (Russell Norman). Also Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.

Answer

Let's see, I'm probably the kind of person whose opinion you don't want, because I'm a regular. But I also cook a lot out of the books, some more than others, of course. And I do think the opinion of someone who actually cooked from a book is worth more than that of someone who just read the reports or browsed through the book.

Deep Run Roots - I had personal reasons for not wanting to like this book (nothing against Vivian Howard, I should add). But when I got it and started cooking, it was one helluva book. The recipes are well-written and work - that is important and I think what you are after. That they also happen to be creative and interesting is the icing on the proverbial cake.

Polpo - That is one I had no interest in and almost sat the month out. Did I really need another Italian book? But I bought it and started cooking, and kept cooking. I think I made over 40 recipes from that book. They were consistently good. It became one of our most popular COTMs for a good reason.

Made in India (and also Meera Sodha's next book, Fresh India) - Surprisingly good. Tight, well-written recipes. (I am less pleased with her latest, "East").

Pok Pok - I cooked a ton from this, and it is very good. 

Mediterranean Harvest - This was kind of a sleeper hit. The recipes are uniformly delicious if you have the patience to make them (they tend to rely on cooking vegetables slowly).

All Fuchsia Dunlop books - As many others have said. Very carefully written, her books are all superb. Every Grain of Rice would be the best starting point. If you get her Sichuan book, go ahead and get the new edition, The Food of Sichuan, instead of the older one (Land of Plenty) that was COTM. 

My Calabria - I don't think I had anything from that book that wasn't delicious. Once again, recipes are well-written and just plain work.

You didn't ask for books I wouldn't recommend, but isn't that just as important? My opinions here might be mighty unpopular.

Ottolenghi books - they are popular, but in most of them the recipes are sloppy. Jerusalem is the one exception. It's a good book.

Mighty Spice - a lot of people loved it, I just didn't get it. YMMV.

Anything by Melissa Clark - going against the grain here, but I just don't feel the love. Every recipe of hers I've made, I've felt like I could have made it better if I didn't follow a recipe at all. In more recent books the recipes have been sloppily written.

Answer

There’s only one cookbook author I’ve found where every recipe is exceptional. That’s Joanne Chang. 

Flour, Flour Too, and Meyers and Chang at Home are outstanding books. That never disappoint. Out of something like 100 books, those are the only ones I’d trust every recipe from. 

Interestingly we’ve found that her recipes from those books are better than what you get in her restaurants.

Answer

As someone who’s been running or participating in online discussions since the dawn of time, I’ve noticed that it’s increasingly impossible to try to constrain a thread via specific questioning. The more specific, the more it’s flouted.

Answer

We have found most of the Ina Garten recipes we have tried to be consistent winners. Most recently, her take on Tuscan Bean Soup is a comforting revelation...

Answer

I admit to not being a consistent COTM participant historically tending to get involved mainly when the chosen books run alongside my own interests - its great to be part of a community that supports exploration of books as wonderful as those of Fuschia Dunlop, Ottolenghi (of which the first book and Jerusalem have been my faves for recipe excitement) The Splendid Table (Lynn Rosetto Kasper) on the food of Emilia-Romagna, Marcella Hazan, Cradle of Flavor recipes from indonesia and nearby (James Oseland) ,Rick Bayless, goddess Paula Wolfert (Southwest France, Eastern Mediterranean and Unforgiveable I think all had COTMS). Recently enjoyed working through the very fine recipes of Istanbul and Beyond and am still exploring Falastin, neither of which in the pandemic were by any stretch successful COTMs but which have been rewarding for me. Unfortunately sometimes I get turned off by the style or voice of successful cookbooks (I did not care for Teigen and her recipes came off as too sweet for me (we have reduced sugar massively) Julie Turshen is another author where I found the voice obtrusive. Website wise particularly like David Lebovitz, both or savory and sweet very reliable - his dessert books are great, my faves of the baking book series along with Luisa Weiss's German Baking Book. Admittedly I am more of a project cook than a get-it-on the table for the family every night cook (tho I am doing that now) so my slow food tastes might not be for all.

Answer

Why not just read the threads?

Answer

Ottolenghi's Jerusalem is the only COTM where I can say I've made more than 5 recipes in the book.

I also liked Hamersley's Bistro Cooking at Home, but I only made maybe 3 recipes in the book, which I own. The beets with orange and tarragon are delicious. 
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chowhound.com/post/february-2013-cotm-bistro-cooking-home-gordon-hamersley-888745/amp

I love the Eggplant Parm from My Calabria. https://www.chowhound.com/post/september-2012-cotm-calabria-vegetables-calabrian-pantry-866188?commentId=7562994
 I haven't made any other recipes from the book, which I do not own. I made the recipe based on what I read in the COTM thread.

Answer

Jumping in here to encourage anyone and everyone to join us in Cookbook of the Month! If you would like to cook with us next month, please cast your vote on this thread: https://www.chowhound.com/post/march-2021-cotm-voting-1096091?commentId=10314620

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