Gift Cookbook Recommendations

Posted on 14 December 2006 under Cookbooks

A couple days ago I’d blogged about a cookbook Mary had gotten me for my birthday. Ms. Squires asked what I would recommend for a general cookbook. My reply started getting a bit long, so I decided a full blog entry would be more appropriate.

Here’s Sandy’s original question. I’ll follow with a more complete reply:

Funny you should write about a cookbook this time. I was thinking with Christmas coming maybe you could give us some direction on cookbooks as gifts. While I know what I like in a cookbook, it sounds like your collection has a much wider variety then most.

What is a good all around, general cook book for people who get tired of cooking dinner?

There are a ton of general-interest cookbooks out there. The old standbys are still viable … Joy Of Cooking, Fannie Farmer, Betty Crocker, Better Homes & Gardens, etc., etc., ad nauseum. For anyone interested in learning the basic dishes (say, a youngest teenaged daughter who actually ate those pork medallions), if they don’t have one of these, any of them will do. But what if someone does know how to cook, as you suggest? These books will broaden horizons a little, but the person you’re buying for still may want a little more.

For example, on Labor Day weekend we went to Arkansas for a Latina wedding. However, the bride, who I know knows how to cook, had been asking me questions about *authentic* Mexican cooking (i.e., not Taco Bell, Chi Chi’s, etc.) Her groom is not from this country, but as she’s from Arkansas and is more acquainted with standard American dishes, she really wanted to learn more about what he was used to enjoying at meals. Our wedding gift to the two of them? A technique & recipe cookbook by Chef Rick Bayliss, recognized as an expert in the areas of Latina cuisine.

Ok, let’s say the person you want to give a cookbook to likes comfort food. We’re talking southern cuisine for that, and anything by Paula Deen or her sons will work. But at the same time, African-American cuisine, a derivative of southern cooking, is coming into its own, and some wonderful cookbooks are currently being being released on this subject. Still, chicken is not chicken is not chicken! Southern or African-American methods of cooking chicken are different from, say, German methods. If your giftee is more that way, cookbooks from Chef John Zehnder of Zehnder’s in Frankenmuth would be the ones to look at.

Anthony Bourdain is the epitome of French bistro cooking in this country, and his cookbook for his Les Halles restaurant in NYC is the best of its kind. We’re talking old standbys like classic roast chicken, steak frites (the right way to make what we know as French fries), the simplest and best tomato salad recipe I’ve ever seen, and a whole lot more. A word of warning though; The book is hilarious, but is also the only cookbook I’ve ever seen that’s laced with profanities. It’s the first cookbook I’ve ever read cover-to-cover, just to see what he’d write next.

For Italian cooking, Mario Batali and Giada Delaurentiis are the real experts, and for southwestern cuisine, Tyler Florence is the one to read. For grilling, grill manufacturer Weber has some amazing cookbooks out there. For game, that is, if your giftee is a hunter/trapper, the recipe book from Dixie Dave’s up in Birch Run is jam-packed with some seriously interesting concepts that aren’t too difficult … including the specialized instructions for cleaning the meats (in pairs, of course) for Rocky Mountain Oysters … This book is available over at Cabela’s in Dundee.

If you really don’t know you’re giftee, or if they’re a bit of a novice when it comes to cooking, get one of those basic, all-around books I mentioned at first. But if you do know them, and you know just what they like to eat, or even what they’d like to try, it’s not too difficult to go a couple extra steps to make the gift of a cookbook just that much more personal.

Read Comments

  1. 14 December 2006 @ 4:12 pm Posted by Sandy Squires

    That old stand by….The Joy of Cooking. That is a wonderful cookbook. It covers a wide variety of cooking along with some detail on prep. This one made for a great gift for the nephew. The real “JOY” of this one was asking a year later if he found the money in the book! Did you happen to catch the original Rocky Mountian Oysters in the meat section. Sweatbreads…one pair serves two.

  2. 14 December 2006 @ 4:17 pm Posted by Sandy Squires

    Sorry about my bad spelling it should be SWEETBREADS not sweat…..

  3. 15 December 2006 @ 8:14 am Posted by Dave

    Sure, but the pan-fried testicle version in Dixie Dave’s cookbook is the one that makes people cringe. Head up I-75, get off at Birch Run Rd., and Dixie Dave’s is at the first intersection, Dixie Hwy. His version is listed on the menu in the appetizers. Let me know how they taste, ok? ;-)