On a recent visit to the Peppercorn cookware store on the Pearl Street Mall, I found myself gawking at the hundreds of cookbooks lining the walls to the ceiling. Who buys all these books? I wondered. And will they actually cook using any of the recipes?
I have a love-hate relationship with the several hundred cookbooks in my collection. I’ve halved the haul after two moving yard sales trimmed it to the essentials. The thing is: I almost never cook using recipes inside any of them. I get ideas from cookbooks, not formulas. When I really need a “recipe,” like for baking, I use Google.
Some of my food books are for reading; others look cool, and a few are precious collections of family recipes. I’m not getting rid of them. My huge collection of local cookbooks will eventually get donated to the Boulder historical folks. One hundred years from now, our descendants may want to know what their grandparents ate in the 1990s.
My first Nibbles column about cookbooks appeared in the mid-80s (for the Daily Camera) when cookbooks, newspapers and magazines were our only source of recipes. After 40 years of writing about food, I must ask the question: Do cookbooks still matter?
When I shared my existential dilemma with friends and acquaintances on social media, their responses reminded me why I love cookbooks and why the printed versions are likely to endure in a digital future. Some friends admit they mainly get recipes from the internet, but many others rose to the defense of recipe collections.
“Cookbooks matter so much,” Kate Lacroix wrote in response. “They do provide a springboard but they often contain great pantry suggestions and some even sneak in some technique. When I redesigned my kitchen, I had a special cookbook shelf built in. I also built a bed. Priorities!”
Award-winning Denver cookbook author Adrian Miller says he owns thousands of cookbooks: “I cook from them until I get the hang of the recipe.” Miller’s suggested reading? Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis.
Many folks recommended specific cookbooks that have dependable recipes including such major classics as The Betty Crocker Cookbook, The Moosewood Cookbook, The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, How to Cook Everything, and the only cookbook I think every cook should own: The Joy of Cooking.
Some of my foodie friends are admitted cookbook collectors, possibly even cookbook hoarders.
“I love everything about them,” wrote Jodie Popma of Slow Food Boulder County. “I have old ones, new ones, complex and colorful books. I use them for menu ideas, primarily. Some of my books are compilations with beautiful pictures, and I have never made a recipe out of them. Others, like How to Bake Everything by Mark Bittman, I use almost weekly.”
Others swear by the recipes in Fast, Fresh & Green, Williams Sonoma Pizza and Pie in the Sky: Successful High Altitude Baking. Plus Priya Krishna’s Indian-ish, John Ash’s From the Earth to the Table, and the definitive Cajun-Creole collection River Road Recipes.
“My must-have, hard copy cookbook is The Tassajara Bread Book.’ I use almost every recipe. Corn bread, muffins, pancakes, etc.,” wrote Heidi Kessler. “I like it because its baseline is whole grains and because many measurements are a bit of this and a touch of that. I like flexible recipes and that’s hard to get in baking. It was a life changer in terms of bread baking.”
My respondents say they experience some cookbook guilt and vow to actually use them as more than décor. As for myself, I don’t worry about having cookbooks next to the stove. I figure that if I have Jacques Pepin, Julia Child, Tony Bourdain and Mom on the kitchen shelf, I’ll never cook alone.
Do cookbooks still matter to you? Do you have any (printed) cookbooks that you actually use when you’re cooking? Let us know: [emailprotected]
Nibbles Index: We Pay For Recipes
According to The NPD Group, we buy about 20 million cookbooks a year, the fourth largest category of nonfiction sold in the United States. “Easy recipes” was cited as the top reason by 60 percent for buying cookbooks. About 39 percent consider themselves to be “cookbook collectors.” None admitted to being “cookbook hoarders.”
Local Food News
- Boulder-born fast-casual concept Pizzeria Locale is officially gone after the remaining Denver locations were shuttered recently by owner, Denver-born Chipotle Mexican Grill. The original Pizzeria Locale — an extension of next door Frasca Food and Wine —
was recently revamped with a new name, Pizzeria Alberico, and a wider menu. - Zoe Ma Ma is moving from its original location at 2010 10th St. to 919 Pearl St., a former Chipotle location.
- Coming soon: Locavore, 2690 28th St., Boulder; Argentos Empanadas, 1030 E. South Boulder Road, Louisville; MeCo Coffee Collective, 1280 Centaur Village, Lafayette.
- Museum of Boulder hosts The Culture of Tea, an international interactive tasting with Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse owner Sara Martinelli at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 20.
- Boulder-based American Homebrewers Association is introducing Home Fermentation Day on August 5 — beyond beer, it includes all fermented foods. Plan accordingly.
Words to Chew On: Immigrating Flavors
“The food in such places is so tasteless because the members associate spices and garlic with just the sort of people they’re trying to keep out.”
— Calvin Trillin, author of Alice, Let’s Eat!
John Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles at 8:20 a.m. Thursdays on KGNU.
