Joy of Cooking

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Book of Basics
Review: This is a great cook book for the average-Joe or Jane home chef - nothing too fancy, but tons of excellent, easy to follow recipes for all your favorites.

Rating:
Summary: Hit or miss
Review: Before the revised Joy of Cooking came out, I read an article describing one of the editors (I forget which--not Ethan) responding to the test kitchen's disappointment over the blandness of garlic chicken by saying that "well, maybe we can instruct people to mash the garlic into the chicken when they eat it." I've had cause to think back to that anecdote often. I've sampled probably about two dozen of these recipes, and it's been a real mixed bag: prime rib: fantastic; pork roast: dry; pie crust (and fillings): great (this section solved any of my previous pie difficulties: spaghetti carbonara: a complete disaster (I've made it twice: if you cook the entire mixture over medium heat, as instructed, your eggs will scramble repulsively); ditto for "classic meatloaf" (2/3 cup of ketchup + 1 cup of bread crumbs=mush); pancakes: excellent.

I think that these recipes are inconsistently and inadequately tested. I'm probably going to pick up a copy of Fanny Farmer and see how that goes. I do like having a big tome of a cookbook on hand, and this one is okay. Just make sure you try out these recipes yourself before you spring them on company.

(Another point, not content-related: my copy already looks like the heirloom editions of Joy of Cooking I see in my friend's houses: the binding has fallen off. Not too sturdy).

Rating:
Summary: THE Cookbook to have if you only have one
Review: This cookbook covers not only the basics in a clear fashion, but also lots of more complex operations (turtle soup from scratch, cleaning & cooking game, clambakes, etc.). The recipes are well written, they work, and they usually offer a number of possible substitutions for those who hesitate to experiment.

I started cooking at eight. My parents had a copy (still do, although it's falling apart)and I learned a lot from it, even though I come a family of good cooks on both sides. I got my own copy when I moved into my first apartment in college, and it's still my favorite cookbook 26 years later.

I own 100+ cookbooks, and this is *the one* I get for friends who are just starting out, or who express amazement at scratch cranberry sauce. (If you think cranberry sauce from scratch is hard, you *need* this cookbook, now.)

I'm with Julia Child on this one. It's simply the best.

If you have a kitchen, buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Not a reference book
Review: This books' recipes are well organized. For example, they give you basic sautee chicken recipes and ask you to refer to sauce A, B, and C to complete the dish. So you can mix and match to your own tastes.

However, this book is not very well written. The section on artichokes for example, is completely confusing. One major minus to this book is that its instructions are in paragraph format, making following them almost impossible. The instructions would be better if they are shown step-by-step.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Cookbook Ever
Review: I learned to cook from this book (I am 50 years old) and have "worn out" 2 books and am using the third now! I have many other cookbooks (I love to cook), but find myself going back to "Joy" over and over. I also give this book to new brides because it really does teach you to cook. The recipes range from very simple, basic dishes to very complicated show-off types of foods as well. It also has menus, nutritional information, garnishes, etc. and answers to almost any culinary questions you may have. In my opinion, its the best all-around cookbook on the market.

Rating:
Summary: Essential to any kitchen
Review: I've worn out several copies of several editions of Joy of Cooking over the years. This is THE basic cook book, the perfect gift for a newlywed, or a newly single guy. The best part about this book is that it tells you how to do everything - from the simplest roast to elaborate sauces. I have nothing but good things to say about Joy of Cooking.

Rating:
Summary: Nice collection, crummy paper
Review: The book is a delightful collection and no kitchen should be without it. However, The pages are of poor quality paper and the printing is similar to photocopy quality. The spiral bound is even worse, being printed on paper similar to newsprint. I think I would have been happy to pay a bit more for better quality materials in this book. I saw the hardbound book at a local store and didn't think is was much better.

Rating:
Summary: The Old Reliable
Review: My father is an excellent cook by birth and grace; I have to work at it.

The 1936 edition of this cookbook (which he still has, rebound in leather) is still his #1 cookbook. The 1975 edition is still mine. I have over 100 cookbooks, but other than Julia Child's landmark work and specialty ethnic cookbooks, this is the one.

It may offer more detail, explanation, and recipes than you will ever use (even most Southerners don't cook 'possum anymore!) but, beginners, persevere! The key for absolute beginners who've been raised on fast food and microwaves: block out some time to read the introductory and general chapters FIRST. Then you will have the framework to use the book as it was intended to be used. And it will pay big dividends. So you think some recipes are old fashioned . .. so skip those, and concentrate on her excellent recipes for grilling fish and poultry, vegetables, etc. (Personally, I like to have the old fashioned cooking available for "comfort food" when I'm sick and tired of chi-chi nouvelle with no sustenance to it.)

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest cookbooks ever written in English
Review: I grew up reading the 1964 and 1975 editions of Joy. Joy is not a cookbook for people who just want some trendy recipes. Joy is a work for people who want to really understand food and cooking. It is a tour de force. It is so logically laid out and so explicit that anyone who is willing to actually use it the way it was intended (reading the Pointers for Success and The Food We Eat, etc.) who has any aptitude at all can become an excellent cook. I collect cookbooks and am a vegetarian and if the choice were to give all the rest of them or to give up Joy, I would give up all the rest, because Joy teaches the basics of food preparation. Some people criticize it because it has recipes for making the things people usually buy at the store, like cream cheese and yogurt, or things one cannot imagine wanting to make (raccoon? Ugh!) but I believe this only adds to its value because it leaves one prepared for anything. The success ratio of the recipes is extremely high; in a lifetime of cooking I have only come across one or two which disappointed me. The recipe for buttermilk waffles is so good that having gotten used to them, my husband will never eat another non-Joy waffle again. The only caveat I have is to buy only the hardback edition. I would recommend Joy highly to novices who really want to learn how to cook and are not afraid of having to read and exert mental effort. Joy is a national treasure.

Rating:
Summary: Understand HOW Things Cook!
Review: I have a number of cookbooks, and the old Joy (not to be confused with the dismayingly lower fat New Joy) remains among the first five on the shelf. Whatever I need to know how to cook, Joy will tell me (though I really don't think I will ever have to singe and pluck my own fowl).

What I have found over the years is that this is THE book for interesting men in cooking truly well. The CHEMISTRY of the cooking is so well explained. This tends to be of interest to men, and, in fact, is interesting to me, as well. Once the chemistry of what one is trying to do is understood, the knowledge transfers to one's own cooking innovations.

If I could have only one cookbook, this would have to be it, though I'd miss a couple of others. My other staple cookbooks are Laurel's Kitchen (for vegetarian fare), the old, old, Good Housekeeping cookbook (not the illustrated one), and McCall's, which is what I would recommend for those setting up new households (and for Lindy's NY Cheesecake, which is still the best I've ever made OR tasted).