Cookbook Recommendations

[SweetMissDaisy]

Hi!
I'm looking for some recommendations for good cookbooks ... what are your favorites?
(Don't worry about them being "new")

 

[ducks4you]

EDIT: Don't know why but I thought you were looking for recipes!!
I would recommend looking around for the OLD Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I have one that I bought in 1980, and another published about 10 years ago. They have CHANGED many of their recipes and not for the better.

ANYWAY, I'll still leave the rest of this post, in case anybody wants to do try the recipe.
I've been trying out okra recipes--remember my GLUT?!? This is a variation of the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, which recommended vegetable shortening, a bag to "shake and bake" with, and cooking on a skillet.

Fried Okra (with bacon grease and Cajun Seasoning)
Ingrediants--
2 cups okra, sliced no larger than 1/2 inch wide
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons (minimum) Cajun seasoning (your choice)
1 pound bacon (your choice)
1 egg
3 tablespoons half and half

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F
2) Place the whole pound of bacon in a Dutch Oven, cover and bake
3) Let bake for 20 minutes, check, turn when one side is brown and crispy
4) Check again 10 minutes later. Continue to check every 5 minutes or so, to prevent the bacon from burning
5) Remove bacon from Dutch Oven
6) Slightly beat one egg and mix it with Half and Half
7) Coat okra with mixture
8) Mix thoroughly flour, cornmeal and Cajun Seasoning
9) Coat okra with flour mixture
10) Pour coated okra into the Dutch Oven with the bacon grease
11) Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F
12) Cover Dutch Oven with lid, and let cook for about 10 minutes
13) Uncover and flip okra
14) Monitor, to prevent burning
15) Spoon out okra onto a plate with paper towels

I have tried several receipes, but I like the taste of the bacon grease the best. Also, I ended up throwing away the extra vegetable shortening, when I cooked the okra with that, but the bacon grease gets soaked up by the flour mixture--less waste, easier to clean the Dutch Oven.

 

[chris09]

Are you looking for a actual cook book?
If so I would recommend
Better Homes and Garden Cook book

Ball Blue Book canning and recipe book.

Putting Food By

Amish Friends Cookbook

Chris

 

[wifezilla]

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

 

[jojo54]

I don't seem to use my cookbooks much anymore - it seems easier to google a recipe I want.

 

[freemotion]

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

I second that. I took that book to bed with me two winters in a row and read it cover to cover twice. It still lives next to my bed and I reference it a LOT.

Yup. I'm a nerd.

 

[schmije]

I love my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. I also often use Joy of Cooking, Ball Blue Book, and Putting Food By.

I have a couple of the AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) yearly cookbooks that are a lot of fun. I'm not sure how you get them unless you're a member. I got one through our membership and the other at a garage sale.

I also really like any cookbooks that were put together by church or school groups. They always have the best ideas.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I also like Better Homes and Gardens and Joy of Cooking for basic recipes and the Ball Blue Book for canning.

You can always go to your public library and look at the cookbooks before you buy one. My wife is all the time bringing home cookbooks from the public library. We'll try a few recipes out of it before we decide if we want to buy the book.

 

[chris09]

Here is one of the Better Homes and Gardens cook book on line at Google Books.

Chris