Confessions of a Cookbook Addict
It isn’t rational. I have more soup recipes than I would ever use in a winter, more cookie recipes than I could reasonably use in a year, and more pot roast recipes than I will probably use in a lifetime. And there are so many other recipe sources, from the internet to my mother. But then, I have an irrational love of books and an equally irrational love of food. Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that I drool over the cookbook aisle in every bookstore I visit, and that, cheapskate though I am, I often can’t bring myself to leave without making a purchase.
Still, when I returned from the SBL/AAR conference with Great Vegetarian Dishes by Kurma dasa, “one of the Hare Krishna movement’s most celebrated chefs,”* I began to think that I might have a problem.
Then I read this article:
Sally LaRhette, 75, has over 3,000, and she’s not letting up anytime soon. In fact, one of the reasons she moved to her Natick home was for extra room to house her collection. Daniela Coleman, 38, of Jamaica Plain has 250 books in her kitchen and another 100 or so boxed up in her mother’s attic. Jane Kelly, 49, of Wayland, owns around 850. The 75 she uses most often are in the kitchen, hundreds fill a large bookcase in her office, and the remaining ones are stored in the basement.
While some may wonder how anyone could possibly need, want, or use this many volumes, food lovers admit to pangs of desire when roaming the cookbook section of a well-stocked bookstore.
As it turns out, I have a long way to go. Since I don’t have a “problem,” I guess it wouldn’t hurt to place an order at Amazon.com. I think I’ll get Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, by Julia Sahni. And The New Best Recipe — Jabbett seemed to like that. And Myra Kornfield’s The Voluptuous Vegan (I’m enjoying The Healthy Hedonist). And maybe. . .
. . .maybe I should sleep on this. I am a cheapskate, after all.
(Cross-posted to Apikorsus Online)
*The book includes “over 240 recipes from around the world,” including a lokshen kugel recipe attributed to the author’s mother. Draw your own conclusions.
‘The Voluptuous Vegan’ is a fantastic cookbook. Some recipes are quite elaborate but well worth the effort. I like the fact that she organizes the book in menus. Recipes are great.
Thanks. That’s the second positive review of it that I’ve heard.
My husband doesn’t like The Healthy Hedonist because some of the recipes are very poorly kitchen-tested (if at all), but I think it’s a fun, inspiring cookbook so long as you’re willing not to trust its every word. (Sometimes I’m overly trusting of recipes, especially when I plan on reviewing them, or the book, on Kosherblog.)
Happy to endorse The New Best Recipe. Got it for Chanukah. Even if you never cook a thing from it, it’s really fun to read and look at. And you can use it to kill intruders.
Browsing is the best part of owning a cookbook. (That, and killing intruders.)
I fondly recall watching “Cooking with Kurma” on PBS. That’s where I first discovered “ghee.”
FYI, I noticed that OU-Dairy ghee is available at Whole Foods.
I love buying cookbooks and I have a binder full of recipes, but the problem is that I don’t like to cook, and when I do get inspired and look up a recipe, I almost never have all the ingredients. I wish I creative enough to know how to subsitute ingredients that I may have, but no such luck. So I usually stick with the three same spices (salt, pepper and garlic) and the same boring dishes.
Has anyone used the recipes in the My Most Favorite Dessert Company cookbook? I’m an excellent cook, can follow any recipe, but have had nothing but disastrous results -
DebraG, if you check the reviews for My Most Favorite Dessert on the Amazon website, you will find that most, if not all, of the reviewers have the same complaint.
Thanks for the affirmation! I thought I was losing my touch.
Shabbat Shalom
Jabbett: Good to know about the ghee. Have you found that there’s any real difference in taste between ghee and butter?
Speaking of weird Indian ingredients that Kurma dasa likes to use, does anyone here have experience with asefoetida? Is it available with a hekhsher? Does it require a hekhsher? Does it smell as awful as they say? How does it taste?
Greens: I can see how that would be a problem. I happen to enjoy cooking, but I often find myself attracted to recipes that involve more work than I’m willing to do. So I just sit around reading the recipes fondly.
DebraG and Suzanne: That’s quite awful.
Frontier Foods Corp has asafoetida – and while their website doesn’t label it as kosher, this website says that it is. The KSA’s website lists Frontier Foods as a certified company, so a few emails should be able to straighten the matter out.
elf, when a recipe calls for ghee, I would recommend using ghee, not substituting butter. Ghee has different properties for cooking. I imagine that using a substitute wouldn’t be disasterous, but it would certainly effect the quality of the dish.
Asefoetida doesn’t smell terrible, it’s just strong. Treat it like you would garlic or onion(i.e. would you put a clove of garlic or onion right up to your nose and smell it?). Also, use it sparingly: a little bit is usually more than enough. I find it to be a very delicious way to season my food, however, too much will overpower every other ingredient and make the dish taste terrible. If it helps you understand the taste of it any better, it’s used as a substitute for garlic and onion in Indian cooking.
Also, if you can find another kosher version of asefoetida (also called “hing” in Hindi) I would use it, because I am not terribly impressed by the quality of the Frontier version. I’ve used other versions bought in India, and they are much nicer (though less likely to be kosher, I’m sure).