1. The Joy of Cooking by Rombauer & Becker: I've had this since the early 80s and used it VERY often
2. Julia's Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child. THE best potato salad recipe ever. Just ask Jack!
3. Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art by Shizuo Tsuji with an introduction by MFK Fisher
4. The Japanese Kitchen by Hiroko Shimbo
5. At The Japanese Table by Leslie Downer (When I moved back from Japan, I was SO homesick for it I went out and bought these three books because some of the recipes in them were exactly how things had been cooked in Japan. Fantastic, all three of them!)
6. The Cotton Country Collection by the Monroe, LA Junior League. My friend Gaylen gave this to me for my birthday one year; I can remember laying out on a blanket in her yard, sunbathing and lazily flipping through the pages. One of my staples for Thanksgiving, Sweet Potato Casserole, I found in this one.
7. The Frugal Gourmet by Jeff Smith: Yes, he may or may not have done some horrible things, but prior to finding that out, I so enjoyed his shows and books. Every Saturday morning, and old boyfriend and live in love, Michael and I would watch Julia, Jeff, Justin (Wilson, the Cajun Chef) and PeeWee's Playhouse before we'd go do whatever the day had in store.
8. Wild Women In The Kitchen: 101 Rambunctions Recipes & 99 Tasty Dips: My friend MaryEllen gave this to me as a joke, but I love the little stories and recipes.
9. Nantucket Open House Cookbook by Sarah Lee Chase. I think I bought this for my friend Diane, but fell in love with it and kept it for myself. The design of it alone is pleasing to the eye :-)
10. Celebrate San Antonio: A Cookbook by the San Antonio Junior League. Michael (mentioned above) traveled to San Antonio area often for work (Azzy, you know what I'm talking about) and he'd always bring me back something. He knew I collected cookbooks and gave me this...it has a fanTAStic recipe for gumbo in it!
11. Scottish Cookery by Christopher Trotter. Bought this on a trip to Scotland, hey, a girl might need to make a haggis sometime, och aye!
12. Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook: My first MIL gave me this book for Christmas one year...in the book was a note she'd written to me: I got this cookbook at a yard sale. They don't make new ones like this. If you don't want it, just bring it back, okay. The frosting you like is on page 174, white mtn. frosting. Make sure you cover saucepan immediately when you put it on flame. If you guessed by that note that we had a difficult relationship, you'd've guessed right. Love this cookbook!
13. 100 Years of Family Recipes & Memories 1890-1990 by Rosamond Stevens. This book was put together with much love by my Auntie Rosa (MB & Mel's Mom). She not only wrote down all the old recipes, but she included many of her memories of her entire family. I treasure this book!

now i have not read a cook book cover to cover. i have used 1 and 7 and believe it or not there is a cook book called "the white trash cook book" that has some excellent recipes in it. crazy name for a cook book but it is a very good one!

Never read a cookbook cover to cover...don't even know where mine are.hmmm now i wonder what wonderful things i could make :)

What a great collection of cookbooks! I have a few; I open them twice a year and look at the pictures. lol Have a wonderful weekend and Happy TT!

Wow that's a lot of cookbooks, I'm going to have to check them out!

My FAV. cook book is this extremely old book my grandmother got for a wedding present in 1950, the pages are yellow and so fragile, and the instructions refer to "cooking for your husband" I find it so interesting to see how times have changed... i can not remember who the recipe book is by or the title, it has a special place in my mothers kitchen... I will have to check it out again when I visit my parents!

I *love* your blog design.

My favorite cookbook is HOW TO COOK EVERYTHING. We actually keep it on the coffee table and read through it from time to time. The info about vegetables is so amazing! Do you have that one?

I now have 13 cookbooks to buy. Thanks!

Mine's up. Care to drop by?

I'd rather read a cookbook than cook from it anyday...Justin Wilson's is one of my favorites (I sure do miss him and Julia)...Paula Deen's are good too...I especially like the older ones - pre 50's - with household hints and tips on being a good wife!

I loved Justin Wilson and watched him all the time with my dad. His belt and suspenders always cracked me up!

Janet! My very very favorite cookbook is The Joy of Cooking.

I use it all the time. I give it as bridal shower gifts--every household ought to have one. That book is the bible of cooking.

BUT...I prefer the one I bought in the '90s (maybe the late '80s) to the recently revised edition (revised and republished by Rombauer's son)....the older one has some recipes that didn't make it into the new one. Sauerbraten, for one. (Actually, I use both volumes, but I do like the earlier one better.)

Anyway, which edition do you have? Is yours as spotted and torn up as mine?

I have way too many cookbooks. And I love them all. Are you making the sweet potato casserole for our Thanksgiving this year?

Great TT! I LOVE my cookbooks. My favorites are the couple of little community ones that I have bought ove the years.

Is 'dunno' a number? ;)

And I need the book - "how to find a man that cooks" Ha ha

First off, love the graphic!

I, too, am a cookbook nut! And my MOM has that Betty Crocker edition! I had one of the Frugal Gourmet ones, but I sold it at a yard sale since I never used it! The one I use most? Fannie Farmer!

Great list! I love weeinf the pictures with the food its a MUST. I have the wedding edition betty crock, that book even tells you how to boil an egg!

Oh, you can never have too many cookbooks! HAppy TT:)

OK, so what is your FAVORITE meal to cook?

I love my cookbooks!

What did Jeff Smith do?

i'm glad to see there's nothing Rachael Ray on here...she bugs :)

great list!

I love the title of #8. You are so lucky to have one like #13.

I have to confess, even though I have tons of cookbooks, I don't have any of these. Not having #1 seems especially silly, don't you think? Oh well!

Thanks for stopping by my TT!

The Weber BBQ cookbook is excellent.

wow...my mom also has a lot of cookbooks...me i only bought one, from Rachael Ray...haven't started cooking from her recipes YET. haha...maybe i'm just too lazy...=.( anyway my TT is up, drop by if u can =)

Wow, so glad to know I'm not the only one who reads cookbooks like regular books! I even have a section on my blog sidebar called "Perusing Cookbooks" for what cookbooks I'm currently looking at. Just got the new Betty Crocker Christmas one at the library and I've marked a bunch of them. I adore cookbooks, nice to find a kindred spirit!

Have a wonderful day :)

Very good list. I love Joy of Cooking. I have an old edition from the 1970s that my mother let me have. The Wild Women cookbook sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to look out for that one.

I received The Joy of Cooking as a wedding present almost 12 years ago and have yet to use it. Maybe because it just falls closed so easily and it's an effort to even keep it open long enough to find a recipe...

Any favorites?

I collect cookbooks myself. Can't get enough of them!

Happy Thursday!

OH, you're like me. I can read a cookbook cover to cover, just like a regular book. I've hit a dry spell lately, where I just don't have the urge to cook as often, but I find that I still like to browse the cookbooks and see what's out there. Your list just gave me some great ideas!

HEre's a Q for you, do you write in your cookbooks? I almost always do, because that way I can make notes for future reference and so on. But I have friends who wont dare make a single mark in their book.. I don't see the point of that. To me, a cookbook is intended to be USED, in more ways than one!

Great list Janet, thanks!

We(my Gram and me) used to watch the Cajun Chef and Julia and the Frugal Gourmet. What did the Frugal Gourmet guy do? I got a sushi recipe of his from off the Internet, but it is very long and detailed ~ takes forever. Need a shorter sushi one.

My mother makes fun of me because I like to read cookbooks cover to cover like novels. I'm glad to know I'm not alone.

You're one impressive lady! :) (I don't like to cook.)

I probably have used standard red-and-white Better Homes and Gardens one just because I got it for my wedding and learned to cook (well, learned more about it) from that book, though it's so standard I haven't really used it for years. A good list.

Ooh, I want some good Japanese cookbooks...I'll have to check those out!

Have you ever heard of Looneyspoons cookbook? It's a low fat cookbook and a fun read written by two sisters.

Thanks for visiting me TT. I've never seen the movie Trainspotting, btw.

Cookbooks are the best books ever! I can drool all over them ;-)

I need some new cookbooks! I somehow lost my last one in our recent move. I've been using the internet to find new ones now (and old ones for that matter).

I think I use to have The Joy of Cooking. And you can never go wrong with good ol Betty. I think #13 definitely sounds like the best one though--a real treasure!

thirteen cookbooks
to me - someone who does not cook
that is amazing!

I love cookbooks. However, some how the translation always gets scrambled in brain because, even if I follow the directions exactly, my dishes never turn out like the pictures. But my family handles it like champs. They just eat it and smile, pretending like I've just made them a gourmet meal.

I'm sure my family would appreciate it if I picked some of those up!

I love reading cookbooks as well. One of my very favourite cookbookms was written by Vincent Price, ever come across it?

You said you couldn't find your copy of Heat...let me know if you find, I'd love to hear your perspective on it, I find it a real page turner!

Cheers and thanks for stopping by...plus if you get a chance check out my sister blog, she is a great cook!

http://undergroundbaker.blogspot.com/

Cooking is one of the things I aspire to do...