I thought I would share my cookbook stash control method. I have a small shelf in my kitchen where I keep my current favorite dozen (or so) cookbooks. Sometimes the current favorites get out of control, and they will be stacked on top of each other haphazardly. The other cookbooks go on a shelf down in the basement. Yes, the basement. The stairs are right next to the kitchen, so it isn't a huge ordeal to run down and grab a cookbook once in a while. Every year or so, I take a look at the garage shelf and ask "do I really want this(these) anymore?" The cookbooks most likely to disappear this year are the Time/Life Cooking series. OMG what was I thinking. I bought them one by one about 25 years ago. At the time I was smitten with technique, and man-oh-man, these books have technique. I don't think I could get $1 apiece for them at HPB at this point.
Anyway, while I'm writing, what if I tell you what's on my 'current favorite' shelf?
- Entertaining, by Martha Stewart (this one is ancient, and a little large for the kitchen shelf, but the recipes are HUGE, and helpful for potluck dishes or book group treats)
- The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, by Molly Katzen (I have loved this book since she published it, which was about the time I graduated from college. good grief)
- 4 Barefoot Contessa books (at home, family style, in paris & back to basics)
- Fields of Greens, by Annie Sommerfield
- The Greens, by Debbie Madison (both of these Greens books are from chefs at The Greens restaurant)
- Chez Panisse Fruits & Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters
- Joy of Cooking, by Irma Rombauer (have I told you I own three copies of this book? 1954, 1960, 1971, 1981. There is a reason for this: Donald received the 1981 one when he got married the first time, I got the 1971 one when I graduated from high school. and I picked up the 1954 one in about 1985 because the recipes have a different feel to them. They are just a little more hand-made)
- Little Meals, by Rozanne Gold (I don't remember where I picked this one up, but I wanted to try it out again)
- 3 Bowls, by Seppo Ed Farrey (Vegetarian Recipes from an American Zen Buddhist Monastery - everyone has three bowls, a large, a medium and a small, and the meals are designed to fit in the bowls. Weird, but it's a good source of vegetarian recipes)
- Tassajara Cooking, by Edward Espe Brown (he wrote a series of books from the Tassajara monasteries, and is another good source of vegetarian recipes)
