Need Cookbook advice - one you cook every recipe.?

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I have a great book called "Learning to Cook" by Marion Cunningham. Even as a very experienced cook I'm learning all sorts of great things.

I have to say I disagree that most cookbooks have only one or two good recipes. I find that most cookbooks have many good recipes and a few duds. I can tell you that every recipe I've ever used of Julia Child's was wonderful and I have several of her books.

I actually like to get real printed cookbooks and due to digital media these are almost free at used book and thrift stores.

"The Best of Bridge" series has excellent recipes.

No, I have not tried all of them, but any recipes I've made for potlucks have been a huge hit.

Have you ever watched that TV show "Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag"? They test out recipes from a cookbook and then have a guest chef come and try the results and grade them.

The recipe book they used get a "pass" or "fail".

A lot of them fail. A lot of the recipes do NOT work out, or are too difficult to make or don't taste very good.

Surprising.

See if you can research the show (or watch . .it currently re-runs on the Oprah network sometimes) .. and see if you can find a decent reference to a cookbook.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_%26_Kristina%27...

Rather than suggesting a specific book, I would recommend a periodical called Cook's Illustrated. This bi monthly magazine doesn't just give you a recipe, it makes the recipe several different ways and describes the good and the bad of each technique. It's purpose is to 'teach' the reader what can go wrong and why.

I have been reading it since they started printing in the early 90's and learned a lot from, long before I went to culinary school.

You got some really good advice. I used to be really into cookbooks. but now I mostly use e-books and web sites. I bet you could find a web site to use or maybe even Pinterest and have a lot more fun.

I thought Groovy Unicorn had a great idea. So I went and checked out MealPlan. but its $4.

but it got me thinking of getting back into using SparkPeople's meal planner (its free!)

The SparkPeople meal planner which works not from your phone but from your computer, puts together a weekly meal plan that meets the nutritional goals that you set up. You can use thier MRDA goals or set your own. It even allows for a number of restrictions to be plugged in (low sodium, no red meat, vegetarian, no dairy, etc. ) Then it makes a weekly meal plan, with links to recipes. It allows for substitutions. and it makes a grocery list.

anyway, sounds like a great idea. have fun.

I just started using mealime (not misspelled) and it's great. It's an app that creates meal plans and gives you the recipe and makes a shopping list for you. You can put in diet restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, paleo, regular etc) and dislikes as well as allergies. It creates weekly meal plans and the recipes are pretty simple to execute. Oh and it's free. That's a big plus.

I love the older Betty Crocker cook books but they are like from the 70's and some of the food is very "dated" you know instyle back then and they are usually very very hefty books, you'd be cooking for years! I though second your idea of the America's Test Kitchen books, they are full of fabulous recipes that are laid out in a way that anyone can do them. This actually sounds like a great idea to do.

The Joy of Cooking, The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. https://www.amazon.com/Larousse-Gastronomique-Grea...

I've had the Encyclopedia of Creative Cooking for years https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Creative-Cooki...

there are a lot of recipes in it, most are good! It's got pretty much every recipe you'd ever need

The Better Homes and Gardens cookbook is excellent too.