Cooking the books
February 17, 2007 12:13 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for blogs where people are cooking their way through all the recipes in a particular book or by a particular chef e.g. Kathryn Cooks with Jamie and The Next Nigella. Do you know of any others?
I'm sure someone will get in before me to say that The Julie/Julia project is the granddaddy of them all.
I stumbled upon this one for Rick Bayliss's Mexican Everyday. I can't vouch for the blog, but it's an excellent cookbook.
(And on preview, I was right!)
posted by craichead at 12:33 PM on February 17, 2007
I stumbled upon this one for Rick Bayliss's Mexican Everyday. I can't vouch for the blog, but it's an excellent cookbook.
(And on preview, I was right!)
posted by craichead at 12:33 PM on February 17, 2007
(Oh, and both of our links fail to take you to the beginning of that blog, but you can get there by clicking "Why Julia? Why Julie?" in the navigation panel, or use this link instead.)
posted by daisyace at 12:37 PM on February 17, 2007
posted by daisyace at 12:37 PM on February 17, 2007
This woman is cooking her way through Joy of Cooking. Unfortunately, it's the 1997 version, or I'd be a lot more intrigued.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:56 PM on February 17, 2007
posted by oneirodynia at 12:56 PM on February 17, 2007
This could be an actual AskMe question, but which books would you want to see cooked through?
Other than the original Joy of Cooking, I'd vote for The Best Recipes in the World, or the Gourmet Cookbook.. or maybe someone pulling up the second volume of Julia Child.
posted by lilithim at 5:54 PM on February 17, 2007
Other than the original Joy of Cooking, I'd vote for The Best Recipes in the World, or the Gourmet Cookbook.. or maybe someone pulling up the second volume of Julia Child.
posted by lilithim at 5:54 PM on February 17, 2007
Can someone explain why this is an interesting phenomenon?
I love to cook, and I love to read about cooking. I can certainly understand why someone would want to cook their way through a cookbook that they love, but I fail to see the appeal of reading about someone else doing it.
Am I the only one who finds this sort of writing generally unoriginal and uninspiring?
What's the draw?
posted by Caviar at 8:22 PM on February 18, 2007
I love to cook, and I love to read about cooking. I can certainly understand why someone would want to cook their way through a cookbook that they love, but I fail to see the appeal of reading about someone else doing it.
Am I the only one who finds this sort of writing generally unoriginal and uninspiring?
What's the draw?
posted by Caviar at 8:22 PM on February 18, 2007
No Caviar, you aren't the only one. I didn't care for Julie/Julia at ALL.
posted by pinky at 8:22 AM on February 19, 2007
posted by pinky at 8:22 AM on February 19, 2007
I haven't read "Julie/Julia," but I have to say, I find it interesting to read about what happens when real cooks confront recipes written for books.
It's been my experience that so many things are different in a home kitchen -- you don't have that exact size pan they require, or don't own a certain tool, or are incapable of getting the dough to roll out as thin as is called for -- that reading "What the Recipe Book Intended" vs. "How a Real Person Cooks" is just fascinating.
I'm shocked more cooking magazines and cookbooks don't actually write a recipe as it's cooked by humans, not as it's meant to be cooked in an ivory tower by perfect chefs.
posted by GaelFC at 2:48 PM on February 19, 2007
It's been my experience that so many things are different in a home kitchen -- you don't have that exact size pan they require, or don't own a certain tool, or are incapable of getting the dough to roll out as thin as is called for -- that reading "What the Recipe Book Intended" vs. "How a Real Person Cooks" is just fascinating.
I'm shocked more cooking magazines and cookbooks don't actually write a recipe as it's cooked by humans, not as it's meant to be cooked in an ivory tower by perfect chefs.
posted by GaelFC at 2:48 PM on February 19, 2007
On that note, just every recipe I've ever tried from Fine Cooking (which is my favorite all around cooking magazine) has turned out pretty much perfectly.
posted by Caviar at 8:51 PM on February 19, 2007
posted by Caviar at 8:51 PM on February 19, 2007
One of the things that made the Julie/Julia book intriguing for me was the challenge it presented the author. She was committing to a project that often required her to find obscure ingredients for recipes that have long since fallen out of fashion. Nevertheless, the techniques and core flavor combinations in those same "unhip" dishes form the basis for a vast array of modern cuisine. The book offered a unique glimpse into the history of cooking, which is all too readily ignored by the Rachael Rays of the world.
Personally I find all of that way more interesting than the story of someone who's cooking all of Nigella's recipes, which are perfectly good but probably not central to cuisine in the long term.
posted by shiu mai baby at 10:00 AM on February 20, 2007
Personally I find all of that way more interesting than the story of someone who's cooking all of Nigella's recipes, which are perfectly good but probably not central to cuisine in the long term.
posted by shiu mai baby at 10:00 AM on February 20, 2007
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posted by daisyace at 12:27 PM on February 17, 2007 [3 favorites]