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Summary: A timeless masterpiece
Review: This cookbook belongs in every kitchen! Whenever I'm planning a dinner party or I'd like to try something new, I can always count on the new Joy of Cooking to carry the day. Evidence of its frequent use can be seen by the stains on my copy's pages. This is well worth the money, although a soft cover would probably be nicer to save a few dollars. I highly recommend the penne with vodka sauce recipe on page 309 - it's excellent! Try it with a little more heavy cream to create a creamy assault-on-the-senses delight. By this book, and pass it on to your kids and grandchildren.
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Summary: Ode to Joy!
Review: This is one of those books that I never want to part with. I cook for a living and this book helps to inspire many ideas and gives a great deal of information. At home it is the book that I reach for at least half the time. Most of the time I use this as a guideline, adjusting the recipes as nececary. But that isn't to say that there are not many recipes that I use just as they are.
This is also a great book because it has many samples of foreign quisine, giving you an idea of what they are like. Then you can go out and buy a book that specializes in that area.
To all those that think this book doesn't hold a candle to the earlier edition, I quite honestly get bogged down in the earlier style. But , this is not a failing of that book. Simply, I am just a child of the new generation, different tastes and that sort of stuff. Not a thing wrong with it,it is just not for me.
Anyway, I would recomnd this to any one who doesn't own it, and has any intrest (or reason) to be in the kitchen.
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Summary: Good Enough For Catering
Review: I use alot of the recipes for my lunch catering and get great reviews. I sometimes add or modify to my own intuition and most all the time everything turns out. I have been told the meatloaf is a favorite. I just process the ingrediants and crumble up bacon on the top with a bit more ketchup. Its amazing! This book is really great! I have tried the recipe for the beef dip and that turned out super. I used fresh thyme worked into the meat. I find that fresh herbs or Penzy's spices work making the meal something special. I even like the section on brewing tea. I have made one that was really really good.
Lisa Nary
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Summary: Here is My Take on the Book
Review: I have a different take on this book. I have never used the old Joy. I am a newcomer to cooking. But this is what I see. It is an epic 1200 page book with literally hundreds and hundreds of recipes about all different dishes using a huge variety of food. These have been cross referenced to other sub-recipes such as mayonnaise or similar recipes. It has hundreds of drawings and sketches that show you how meat is cut, where the cuts come from, what kind of pots or pans to use, how to cut food, on and on. My worry is there are so many recipes one will be cooking too much and gaining weight. There is not a real lack of information and in any case it is already 1200 pages long. Just follow the book and you will learn how to cook. Here is my one criticism. In the book it constantly talks about portions. In the modern age I think more information on calories and saturated fat would be good. I think it is behind the times in that one area. But maybe in "Joy" one does not worry about calories. Jack in Toronto
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Summary: Often innovative, always reliable.
Review: Ah, the dear old Joy of Cooking. My mother had one, and my sister and I gave them to each other for Christmas, now that we've moved out of the house. Accept no substitutes. It gives all the basics and the advanced methods for how to cook just about anything, as well as how to select the best ingredients. We've found some really wonderful recipes over the years. Highly recommended.
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Summary: the golden standby. . .
Review: Valued for decades, this useful book contains many recipes easily modifiable to allow preparation and cooking of teenagers, left-wing liberals, spoiled upper-middle-class cafe-lounging brats, and junior police officers. Some are unfamiliar with the heritage and fame of this book. However, the merest gloss of its pages should impress any potential cook of its virtue. It is sure to find a place as one of the cornerstones of any complete cooking library.
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Summary: Buy both the old and the new
Review: When my 1978 "Joy of Cooking" finally split into two halves, I went out and bought the new edition. At first, I was bitterly disappointed. I wanted to make a Southwestern cranberry sauce, and went to the "Joy of Cooking" for a basic cranberry sauce recipe to "tweak". Well, the new edition doesn't have a cranberry sauce recipe. So I bought a new copy of the old "Joy", which is still available (and which I rate 5 stars). However, one should not dismiss the new "Joy". It has recipes for many of the new "basics" like Buffalo Wings, that the old "Joy" lacks. In fact, it is a nice compliment to the old "Joy". Every comprehensive cookbook collection should have both.
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Summary: Best Cook Book Ever
Review: The Joy of Cooking has been in my husband's hands since I gave it as a Christmas gift in 1976. He has used it each and every time he needs a recipe. He is a grand cook and loves to cook. Well, now I must get a NEW Joy of Cooking Book due to the excess use he has given this book over these many years. So anyone reading this description on The Joy of Cooking, take it from me, it is a wonderful book to use and give as a gift to anyone who likes to cook. I have even ussed it, that is when I am allowed to cook. Great Cook Book Ever....
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Summary: Want to really learn to cook... Buy this book
Review: I have purchased dozens of cookbooks over the past 10 years. Most of these were "recipe" books for ethnic, regional, gourmet styles. I considered myself a fairly able cook and used these as guides for specific flavor combinations etc. My wife on the other hand has always been intimidated in the kitchen though she is quite a good cook as well. She purchased this particular book to give herself some confidence. At first I was put off. Why another cookbook? What value could this book provide other than holding up the other cookbooks on the shelf? Then one day I needed to make something I hadn't tried before and in fact rarely ever ate, crepes. I went to the bookshelf, tore through all of my cookbooks and came up empty. Then I reached for what I now lovingly call the white book. There it was, not just a recipe, a detailed discussion of technique, logic behind ingredients, and variations that were tried and true. In short the book told me not just the how but the why. Since that day I have gone back to the book literally hundreds of times. It is the best reference book on cooking technique I have ever encountered. Follow the guidelines and you will do everything better from boiling an egg to making a souffle. If you don't know how to cook but want to learn start with this book. That way you'll avoid getting into bad habits.
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Summary: Not the Joy
Review: The Joy was the first cookbook I owned when I was married in the '60s. I knew nothing about cooking and the Joy explained ingredients and in a lovely, informal manner introduced me to the basic concepts of cooking. Later, when I knew more about cooking, it was not my favorite cookbook for recipes, although there was always a reliable, serviceable recipe for any standard item. If I wanted exotic, imported or vegetarian specialities, I headed for a cookbook that specialized in such recipes. But I relied on the Joy for advice and the kind of companionship in the kitchen denied people who did not grow up with good cooking or mothers who could teach them. The Joy answered questions when I panicked alone in the middle of a recipe from another cookbook. I could turn to "About ___" and relax, knowing if the Joy said an ingredient or a cooking method was supposed to look, feel or react in a certain way, it was true. My daughter grew up using my Joy and learned how to cook from it. Naturally, it was my gift to her when she married. However, it was the new Joy. She can't stand it. She wants the Joy for the old recipes she loved, which are gone, and for the comfort and familiarity the old one gave her. She is now looking for an old copy and threatening to steal mine if she doesn't find one. She'll have to pry it out of my cold... well, you get the idea. I wouldn't give up its grease and flour-stained pages for all the new cookbooks on the market. And as much as I love my daughter, she will only get it when the will is read.
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