Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Craig Claiborne's Recommended Cookbook Library

So after writing the piece below, I opened up Craig Claiborne's A Feast For Laughter to use as my next review fodder. If you recall, I previously made fun of Craig and his kooky-booky cover art, but it turns out I was so, so wrong to do so. The book is split into three parts, the first of which is the memoir, which I will read and review later, and the last of which is his 100 favorite recipes of all time, which I will make and review later. The middle section, however, is entitled "My Recommended Cookbook Library," to which I said, out loud, "Holy SHIT" and scared the cat. He has paragraph reviews of each book, but I'm going to put the list of the books themselves here. (If someone knows that this is copyright infringement, will you let me know? The book's out of print and it's for review purposes.) This list was written in 1982. Categories are Claiborne's, comments are mine.

General
The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion R. Becker, 1979
The New York Times Cookbook, Craig Claiborne, 1961 (Craig, seriously? The number two spot goes...to yourself?)
The Gourmet Cookbook, Volume I, the Editors of Gourmet Magazine, 1959 (which I immediately and thoroughly coveted upon learning of its existence)
The James Beard Cookbook, James Beard, 1959
The Complete Asian Cookbook, Charmaine Solomon, 1976
The New James Beard, James Beard, 1981
Paula Peck's Art of Good Cooking, Paula Peck, 1966
Better Than Store-Bought, Helen Witty and Elizabeth Schneider Colchie, 1979
The Chez Panisse Menu Cook Book, Alice Waters, 1982

American
James Beard's American Cookery
, James Beard, 1972
The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, Fanie Merritt Farmer, 1986
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Marion Cunningham, 1979
American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones, 1975
The American Heritage Cookbook, 1969
The West Coast Cookbook, Helen Evans Brown, 1952
The International Chili Society Official Chili Cook Book, Martina and William Neely, 1981
Uh, Junior League and regional books; he names a couple but recommends them wholesale.

Caribbean and Latin America
The Flavors of Carribbean and Latin America,
Alex D. Hawkes, 1978

Chinese
The Chinese Cookbook
, Craig Claiborne and Virginia Lee, 1972 (Again? He also claims it "is the best Chinese cookbook in print.")
Pleasures of Chinese Cooking, Grace Zia Chu, 1962
The Great Tastes of Chinese Cooking, Jean Yuch, 1979
Florence Lin's Regional Cookbook, Florence Lin, 1978
The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook, Gloria Bley Miller, 1970

French
Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, Julia Child, 1961
Simca's Cuisine, Simone Beck, 1972 (This has been on my wish list for awhile now.)
The Art of Charcuterie, Jane Grigson, 1968
A French Chef Cooks at Home, Jacques Pepin, 1975

Greek
Greek Cooking for the Gods
, Eva Zane, 1970
Greek Cooking, Lou Seibert Pappas, 1973
Cooking and Baking the Greek Way, Anne Theoharous, 1977
Greek Islands Cooking, Theonie Mark, 1974

Hungarian
The Cuisine of Hungary
, George Lang, 1971

Indonesian
The Indonesian Kitchen
, Copeland Marks, 1981

Indian
An Invitation to Indian Cooking
, Madhur Jaffrey, 1973
Classic Indian Cooking, Julie Sahni, 1973
Cooking for the Maharajas, Shivaji Rao and Shalini Devi Holkar, 1975

International
Foods of the World Series
, Time Life Books (Of which he says The Cooking of Provincial France is the worst volume. He does not also say that it happens to be the most famous volume because it was written by MFK Fisher, whose books he recommends later in the list. Huh?)
Elizabeth David Classics, Elizabeth David, 1980
The Four Seasons, 250 Original Recipes from One of the World's Great Restaurants, Tom Margittai and Paul Kovi (I wouldn't mind owning this one, either.)
Cooking for One is Fun, Henry Lewis Creel, 1976
A Treasury of Great Recipes, Mary and Vincent Price, 1965
The Dumpling Cookbook, by Maria Polushkin, 1976
The Saucier's Apprentice, by Raymond Sokolov, 1976
Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing, by Rytek Cutas, 1976

Italian
The Classic Italian Cookbook: The Art of Italian Cooking and the Italian Art of Eating
, Marcella Hazan, 1976
The Fine art of Italian Cooking, Giuliano Bugialli, 1977
Italian Regional Cooking, Ada Boni, 1969
The Complete Book of Pasta, Jack Denton Scott, 1968
Italian Family Cooking, Edward Giobbi, 1971
Italian Food, Elizabeth David, 1958

Japanese
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art
, Shizuo Tsuji, 1980
At Home with Japanese Cooking, Elizabeth Andoh, 1980

Mexican
The Cuisines of Mexico
, Diana Kennedy, 1972

Middle East
The Complete Middle East Cookbook
, Tess Mallos, 1980
Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco, Paula Wolfert, 1973

Scandinavian
The Great Scandanavian Cook Book
, Karin Fredikson, 1967
The Swedish Princesses Cook Book, Jenny Akerstrom, 1936 (what a title!)

Spanish
The Food and Wines of Spain
, Penelope Casas, 1982

Turkish
The Art of Turkish Cooking,
Neset Eren, 1969

Vietnamese
The Classic Cuisine of Vietnam
, Bach Ngo and Gloria Zimmerman, 1979

Vegetarian
World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking,
Madhur Jaffrey, 1981

Baking
English Bread and Yeast Cookery,
Elizabeth David, 1972
Art of Fine Baking, Paula Peck, 1961
Beard on Bread, James Beard, 1973 (Also one of my favorites.)
The Complete Book of Breads, Bernard Clayton, Jr., 1973
The Complete Book of Pastry, Sweet and Savory, Bernard Clayton, Jr., 1981

Canning, Drying, Preserving
The Ball Blue Book
, The Ball Corporation, 1975
The Pleasures of Preserving and Pickling,, Jeanne Lesem, 1975
The Green Thumb Preserving Guide, Jean Anderson, 1976

French Cheese
French Cheese
, Pierre Androuet, 1973

Desserts
Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts
, 1977
The Joy of Cheese Cake, Dana Bovbjerg and Jeremy Iggers, 1980

Foraging and books on the out-of-doors
Stalking the Wild Asparagus
, Euell Gibbons, 1962

Wine
Alex Lichine's New Encyclopedia of Wine & Spirits
, Alex Lichine, 1974
Frank Schoonmaker's Encyclopedia of Wine, Frank Schoonmaker, 1964
The New York Times Book of Wine, Terry Robards, 1976
The Joys of Wine, Clifton Fadiman and Sam Aaron, 1975

Reference
Dictionnaire de l'Academie des Gastronomes
, 1962
Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne, 1961
La Technique, Jacques Pepin, 1976
Cooking Techniques, Beverly Cox with Joan Whitman, 1981
Chinese Technique, Ken Hom with Harvey Steinam, 1981
The Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery, 1948
The Food of France, 1958
Food, Waverly Root, 1980
The Food of the Western World, Theodora FitzGibbon, 1976
Bouquet de France, Samuel Chamberlain, 1966
The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery, AJ McClane, 1977
La Repertoire de la Cuisine, Louis Saulnier, 1967
Composition of Food, Agricultural Handbook No. 8 USDA, 1963 (Um, is it just me, or is that kind of hot?)
Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton, 1968
Escoffier's Le Guide Culinaire, Auguste Escoffier, 1980
The Escoffier Cook Book, A. Escoffier, 1941
Encylopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, 1910 (Apparently this edition is considered to be better than others. Claiborne recommends it for chef research.)

Reading
The Physiology of Taste, Jean A. Brillat-Savarin, translated by MFK Fisher, 1971
The Art of Eating, MFK Fisher, 1976
The Glorious Oyster, Hector Bolitho, 1960
Table Topics, Julian Street, 1959
The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook, Alice B. Toklas1954
Food in History, Reay Tannahill, 1973
The Taste of Country Cooking, Edna Lewis, 1976
Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food, Jean-Francois Revel, 1982

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