I admit it, I have a small problem. Cookbooks and cooking magazines have overflown out of the kitchen, out of the bookcases and all over the house. To make things even sillier, I don't often strictly follow a recipe. I love to tweak, adjust, be inspired. I often read them in bed, imagining flavours and textures and smells. It is a guilty pleasure I'm unlikely to give up.
However, when it comes down to it - these are the best. The favourites with sauce spatters, smears of chocolate and well turned pages. These are the classics that will endure and will be passed on.
My favourite cookbooks
1. The Cook's Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen
My younger sister was horrified to see that there aren't any recipe pictures but this book focuses squarely on the basics, fundamentals and classic recipes with little time for frou frou. It is an excellent resource on almost every food one can imagine, a seasonal guide, buying guide and more all in one.
This is the one I always recommend as a starter book for those moving out of home for the first time. This is the solid foundation to build a lifetime of cooking upon.
2. David Thompson's Thai Food
Fabulous, inspiring, challenging, aromatic. David starts with the basics and hammers you with them - stressing freshness and a thorough understanding of Thai food. This is another fabulous resource book with detailed explanations of thai ingredients and methods. If you're looking for pretty cupcake pictures you won't find them here. The text and sheer volume of information is the star.
3. Gourmet Traveller magazines and website
Besides the useful news and events (even though they are solidly eastern-states focussed) they share a great collection of recipes from the very basic to the challenging.
Different to the more pedestrian and commercial offerings from some other cooking magazines, Gourmet Traveller offers an inspired menu and reviews of great places to eat out.
4. My grandmother's index card recipe collection
A family heirloom, childhood memory and guide to a dizzying array of mostly sweet treats all in one.
I've previously written about cooking and eating as a child and I can't stress enough how amazing the gift of cooking and enjoying food is. My grandmother's recipe collection includes jewelled jam drop biscuits, home-made chutneys, casseroles, puddings and more.
While these are the most used sources of recipe ideas in my house, I don't restrict myself. I also happily browse the web and my bookshelves for inspiration and recipes.
I tend to particularly seek out recipes from Claudia Roden, Georgio Locatelli, Bill Granger, Maggie Beer and the venerable Stephanie Alexander.
While I have serious respect for the work he's done to encourage kids (and adults) to eat "real food" I'm not Jamie Oliver's biggest fan and I can usually happily ignore Nigella Lawson's (particularly savoury) options.
For more great suggestions on how to build your cookbook library, you can also check out the wonderful tips from Cake and Commerce.
I'd love to hear which cookbooks are your favourites - share them in the comments below or catch me on twitter.
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I've owned the Cook's Companion for many years but the recipes don't impress me much. I mostly use when confronted by a new ingredient.
I recently purchased Margaret Fulton's Encyclopedia of Food & Cookey for $9 at Target (RRP would have to be at least $60). I'm pretty sure Target had priced it wrong accidently.
I've found it much more useful recipe wise than Stephanie's book. It has a broader collection of classic recipes.
My other go tos are the Donna Hay Modern Classics 1 & 2. I also like David Herbert's 'Perfect' recipes and his new 'The Really Useful Cookbook' (also bought for a bargin at Target).
I recieved my Grandma's recipe box for Christmas one year. Although there weren't many recipes in it - it is still my favorite cookbook! Thanks for this post - all the books look great.
Emily, what a bargain for Margaret Fulton's Encyclopaedia!
I also have Donna Hay's Modern Classics and really like them. Her photography is always inspiring and drool-worthy too. Her recipes are particularly good for picky eaters - they have great combos that aren't awfully intimidating and are nice twists on already familiar foods.
I am not familiar with David Herbert's recipes but will definitely take a look (oh oh..!)
Picky Cook: I know what you mean - my grandmother's recipes are awesome even though I know I'm not really going to cook any of her old-school savoury dishes unless I'm in major dental agony without the ability to chew... she's very much in the if in doubt, overcook camp - yuk!
Hi Rachel,
I popped on over after reading your comment on Darren's challenge.
I just wanted to let you know that you can find awesome photos via flickr.
Most of my pictures on my blog are taken from there. You need to look for creative commons pictures -if you're not sure what creative commons is, type this in google or go to http://search.creativecommons.org (I hope that's the right link). Also check out what the different kinds of copyright are on wikipedia. But pretty much, you can use stuff as long as you 'attribute' it. Fun.
Good luck
Karenne
Hi Karenne, thanks for the tips! I'm using a plugin to search creative commons pictures on flickr and there are some fabulous ones.
I'm also getting the guts to start taking photos myself - slowly but surely!