# A personalized cookbook questionnaire.



## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

What was the first cookbook you bought? Why?

What is your favorite cookbook? Why? 

What is your most used cookbook? I ask these two questions in this order because what's my favorite and what I use the most are actually different and I bet if you think about it, yours will be too. Why do you use it the most?

What is your most recently purchased cookbook?

What is the cookbook you would most like to have? 

What cookbook are you most embarrassed to have bought?


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## katbalou (Nov 21, 2001)

1. ma cuisine, escoffier.
2. modern priscilla cookbook, must be from the 20's. was my mom's, from her mom. purely sentimental value - and some decent recipes.
3.has to be a few baking cookbooks - from king arthur's flour to the glutenfree gourmet. everything else is in my head.
4.vincent price - a treasury of great recipes.
5.can't think of any.


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

And my answers:

What was the first cookbook you bought? 
The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines: China, Greece and Rome I've even bought three copies over the years.

Why? 
I've liked food and cooking things early on in life. The Frugal Gourmet quickly became a favorite program in the 80s because he had a lot of energy and excitement about what he was doing. Cooking made him happy and his happyness was palpable. Those kinds of people have always interested me. Anyway, once I land my first real job and my first real place of my own, I have to feed myself. My favorite foods at that time were Chinese and Greek. And I liked Jeff Smith's work. So I picked up this book in paperback. 

What is your favorite cookbook? Very difficult question and probably for everyone to limit it to one. At this moment i think it is Steven Raichlen's How to Grill

Why? 
I learned a lot from this book. Great presentation of information and how to do it as well as hints for personalization and extending the dish. And he knows his flavor profiles.

What is your most used cookbook? 

Probably the Joy of Cooking, the evil 1997 edition.

Why do you use it the most? I've recently picked up the later edition as this book's spine is broken. While it might not measure up to earlier and later editions, JoC is probably the backbone of any home cook's library. You might not cook its recipes, but it will tell you all about the food item and a good way to cook it. Lots of technique info as well. Very useful. When I'm going to try something new, I almost always look at JoC to get a basic understanding of what's going on with the dish.

What is your most recently purchased cookbook? Real and Healthy Chinese Food Recipes This is an electronic cookbook, a PDF. 

What is the cookbook you would most like to have? This is a really odd one I got from the library early on in my cooking career. I don't remember the title or author It was to teach a young college male how to run a kitchen for himself(equpping, stocking cleaning cooking). it including chaining dishes through the week like buying a whole chicken, cutting it into parts. making stock from the bones, using the cuts for different meals and a soup during the week. Very simple, very basic, very on the cheap. I don't remember what it was called but it was a really well thought out book for its target. I'm sure it's out of print now but it would be ideal to give to nieces and nephews, even some newlyweds.

What cookbook are you most embarrassed to have bought? Real and Healthy Chinese Food Recipes. It was through clickbank, who do a lot of vanity press and self-publish books at stupid prices and lots of their authors spam left and right about it. But I got a good discount as well as some "free" chinese reference books (ingredients and cooking theory). Not super high quality, somewhat inconsistent, but not too bad. And I was able to hack it into text format which is much friendlier on my PDA than the PDF format.

Phil


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## phatch (Mar 29, 2002)

You went right for the big guns with your first book. I'd forgotten that Vincent Price was an epicurean and had written a cookbook. Classy guy and a fun actor. Vincent Schiavelli, another actor was a guest cook on Frugal Gourmet once and has written some cookbooks and food articles. Even got a James Beard journalism award once. I've never seen any his books though I just looked them up on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/104-8153965-...Mozilla-search


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## mezzaluna (Aug 29, 2000)

What was the first cookbook you bought? The New York Times Cookbook. Why? I had been given The New York Times International Cookbook as a gift and liked it very much.

What is your favorite cookbook? Can a loving parent choose a favorite child?? The Way to Cook by Julia Child. Why? It has a lot of basics and the illustrations are very helpful.

What is your most used cookbook? Lately- The Betty Crocker Cookbook. Why do you use it the most? I've been cooking "homestyle" dishes for my mother-in-law: mac and cheese, turkey tetrazzini, chicken pot pie, and I needed "unfancy" recipes for her palate.

What is your most recently purchased cookbook? One of Giada Di Laurentiis's cookbooks.

What is the cookbook you would most like to have? One with all of my grandmother's recipes and kitchen wisdom. Sad to say, this book doesn't exist.

What cookbook are you most embarrassed to have bought? The South Beach Diet Cookbook.


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## katbalou (Nov 21, 2001)

phil, 
i was a freshman at J&W when i picked up the escoffier - i think i paid $8:roll:. the vicent price i covet as i gave a copy to someone a long time ago and didn't realize i should have picked up my own copy.
kathee


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