For the Love of Cookbooks

It's National Cookbook Month and I'm sharing my favorite cookbooks and telling you why I hate food blogs but love food-themed Substacks.

I collect cookbooks?

I know I could look-up just about any recipe online, but I can't give up my cookbooks. I love sitting down with a stack of cookbooks and planning a holiday meal or dinner party. Sometimes, if I'm feeling bored or anxious, I'll pull a favorite cookbook off the shelf and just read it. I love the photos. I love to daydream about making the dishes. Sometimes they inspire me so much I get up and bake something.

To me, cookbooks are so much better than cooking blogs. Is it just me or have they gotten impossible to navigate? First there's the pop-up ads that always seem to crash the website at the very moment I'm rushing to check how long the brownies are supposed to bake. By the time I reload the website, I have burnt bricks of chocolate.

I also hate the long, drawn-out stories before I get to the actual recipe. Don't get me wrong. I love a good story behind a recipe. Heck, when I share my recipes, I usually tell you a story, but what I hate about most food blogs is that the story is usually so peppered with keywords to ensure it's SEO status that it no longer makes sense. 

That being said, I do have to say that I LOVE the Food and Cooking Substacks I subscribe to. There are not annoying ads on them and the stories that are told are honest-to-goodness real-life stories and I love that. Right now, two of my favorites are Emily Nunn’s The Department of Salad: Official Bulletin and The Camont Journals with Kate Hill.

A curated collection of cookbooks and Substacks make my cooking life easier. If my cookbook doesn't have it, maybe I don't need to make it. has become my motto. Honestly, that just about sums up my view of the internet and the state of the world anymore. Who needs to add any extra irritations to their life in the form of pop-up ads? Who wants so many choices that they become frozen and unable to make dinner because they are simply too overwhelmed by the sheer number of sheet-pan chicken recipes they can make? Or, more likely, have spent so long looking up recipes that they run out of time to actually make anything? (Guilty as charged.) I'm simplifying my life and the fewer choices I give myself the better.

So, in that vein, I thought I would share some of the cookbooks I use the most consistently. The ones that have been workhorses for me, that I can depend on good getting good results from every time. These are the cookbooks that have scribbled notes in the margis about how long my own oven takes to bake something or an ingredient I've added or subtracted, The ones with splashes of sauces and slightly rippled papers. The ones I imagine my daughter will inherit one day and treasure because my handwriting is on the pages and she will be able to get a taste of her childhood if she uses the recipes.

The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker

If it's not in the Joy of Cooking maybe it's not worth cooking. This is the first place I look when I want to make something basic. My favorite recipes from this cookbook are the Irish-American Soda Bread (p. 772), the Dairy-Free Chocolate Cake (Vegan) (p. 932), Tres Leches Cake (p. 967), and the Peach Custard Pie (p. 879)

The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

There are a ton of Pioneer Woman cookbooks out there, but the first and second are my favorites. We love the Cinnamon Rolls (p. 36) and the Perfect Pot Roast (p. 120), and the Pizza Crust (p. 108).

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

This is the book I pull out when I need to learn a new technique or am trying to improve one of my basic cooking skills. I love Bittman's methods for making rice and baked potatoes. I know! These are basics, but I love that I have benefit of Bittman's test kitchen so I can get perfect results, every time.

Barefoot Contessa by Ina Garten

Like Ree Drummond’s Pioneer Woman empire, there are a ton of Barefoot Contessa cookbooks out there, I love the first three the best but the one that's falling apart from continued use is the first. I'm fairly certain I get invited to potlucks and dinner parties because I bring Pan-Fried Onion Dip (p.53).

Handmade Gatherings by Ashley English

This book is so fun! One of these days, I'm going to actually throw one of the seasonal parties, as outlined in the book, complete with the crafts but until I do, I love making the Pistachio-Crusted Asparagus with Feta Vinaigrette (p. 12) for Easter and the  Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (p. 218) for Christmas.

Which cookbook or Food Substack do you cook from the most?

Happy Cooking and Reading!

P.S. Thanks for reading. If you are new here, please be sure to subsribe,

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