Cook book buying addiction?!

Swan_2

lostinrates wrote: »

. Its not so unfamiliar to me,i was lucky enough to be brought up by a woman who had spent some time in the middle east, and in other places. We ate a very varied diet from a range of cultures and cuisines from disparate parts of the world, but i think it must have been magical to 'discover' these wonderful tastes for the first time, it must have been culinarily exciting!

yes, very lucky to have a mentor

I sometimes wonder if my early culinary success was sometimes because no-one at that time knew what the dishes were actually meant to taste like :rotfl:

Swan_2

edenbank6 wrote: »

I confess I too share this addiction. For reasons NOT -sadly-including being ridiculously wealthy my collection is split between two homes and I've just realised that the number falling into the "of course I need to ship them, they're the absolute minimum essential " category was 80. I dread to think how many there are in total.

For me Simon Hopkinson is a culinary god, I love his stuff and he revels in being a cook not a chef. Also beloved is my extremely battered Robert Carrier's Great Dishes of the World.

I would also give a bit of a thumbs down to the Ottolenghi - instead pick up something by Elizabeth Luard or Claudia Roden.

The advantage of two sites is the chance to infiltrate from one to the other with "but I've had this for ages darling!":D

ha ha the two homes I am envious

Elizabeth Luard & Claudia Roden, two of my idols, I have several of their books, not only good for recipes, but wonderful to read, the research & history are absolutely outstanding

lostinrates

Swan wrote: »

ha ha the two homes I am envious

Elizabeth Luard & Claudia Roden, two of my idols, I have several of their books, not only good for recipes, but wonderful to read, the research & history are absolutely outstanding

I love cook books that feed you history and culture with the food. The symbolism on plates is so much part of it, in our own cuisine too. E.g. At this time of year learning about the correct number of marzipan balls on a simnal cake etc. its part of our cultural inheritance, and something i like to enjoy about other peoples'.

katieowl_2

Ottolengi was on my list as I was looking for a vegetarian book to use at work, and I heard there were quite a few good veggie recipes in that, and also was recommended the new HFW. I opted for the Hugh, and to be honest I was quite disappointed? I thought it rather ordinary, and not really any different really from the meat free meals we've been eating over the years anyway. I really want to have a look at the Ottolengi in person before I buy it (from the cheapest seller of course!)

Claudia Roden is fantastic, and so is Elisabeth Luard (recently bought a couple of hers) but would also suggest if you like those you check out Patience Grey (The Centaur's Kitchen, and Honey from a weed) and of course Elizabeth David.

Kate

sillyvixen

i love cook books - i tend to buy them from charity shops and jumble sales myself - and if there is a new cook book i want i put it on my christmas/birthday list - my brother will usually get a book token for said book!! my mum insists he gets something to unwrap to go with it (box of chocs, candle etc) but this year she found a copy of Mrs beatons Household management from the 1950's in a jumble sale for next to nothing and gave it to my brother to wrap with a book token. the best pressie ever and i got to buy the book i asked for and so much more ... better than chocs or other tat!!

fattybumble85

Did Claudia Roden do the Arabesque book? I had it on my amazon wishlist before getting it from the library. It was so good I still want to buy my own copy!
I too am a cookbook-aholic! The sad thing is im not much of a cook! I love reading them in bed and imagining the things I could (but won't) make. I have all of Nigellas, jamie Oliver, the Leon books as well as various delia, wagamama, WW, etc. Even today, I ordered Hughs Veg from the book people! Though to be fair, after flicking through it really does look fab. I may even make something from it!

fattybumble85

Oh and one of my absolute faves is a Julia child's book that I found in a local charity shop for 50p. The ingredients alone scare me, never mind the actual cooking! It's a great read though, 50p well spent I say!

edenbank6

Swan wrote: »

ha ha the two homes I am envious

Think of it as double housework.:eek:

BUT extra cookbook space!

BitterAndTwisted

No cook-book addiction here, although I do love looking at other people's when I visit their homes.

I have a "1000 Recipe" book with no pictures bought from Woolies many, many years ago. I use this mainly for checking the quantities required for something I've made before.

Rose Elliot's "Complete Vegetarian Cookbook" which is all a veggie person will ever need, really. Plus her "Bean Book" as a paperback which I acquired before I got her "Complete" one in a CS. This is now looking for a new home.

Claudia Roden's "Mediterranean" book with some lovely inspirational photos.

And a bread-maker recipe book which a friend bought for me in a CS recently as I'd just got one second-hand. This has some really fun ideas, some of which I have actually used.

I also have an indexed ring-binder with recipes gleaned from here or the the net or which have been passed on to me by friends.

wm3010

I am definitely an addict but fighting it by being strict and culling relatively regularly. I also have a Good Food subscription which I suspect prevents me buying many more books as I wait for my monthly "fix"!

I just wondered, for those of you who have 100s of books, which are the few that you always come back to and use the most?