At Elizabeth David's Table: Classic Recipes and Timeless Kitchen Wisdom "When I go back and read her books now, I feel I plagiarized them. All of it seeped in so much, it's embarrassing to read them now." Alice Waters [more inside]
posted by puny human on Mar 7, 2011 - 11 comments

Take oysters, parboile hem in her owne broth, make a lyour of crustes of brede & drawe it up wiþ the broth and vynegur mynce oynouns & do þerto with erbes. & cast the oysters þerinne. boile it. & do þerto powdour fort & salt. & messe it forth.

Three European 14th Century cookbooks: [more inside]
posted by thirteenkiller on Dec 27, 2010 - 46 comments

Looking for a new project? Wish you were a better cook? Why not try cooking every recipe in a cookbook? Originally started by Julie Powell of Julie & Julia fame, people now register domain names for anticipated cookbooks in advance of the release date. As daunting as it seems to tackle the entirety of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, that challenge seems to pale in comparison to the epic quest of cooking all 1000+ recipes in the Gourmet cookbook. For the chef who wants a different sort of challenge, there are the particular demands of Heston Blumenthal's $250, 11.6 pound molecular gastronomy bible, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook. While the bloggers cooking through Alinea are working with isomalt and sorghum flour, the daring souls blogging Nose to Tail are wrestling with noses, tails, and all the offal parts in between. If this seems like a lonely road, maybe you'd like to join one of the group baking projects such as Tuesdays with Dorie or The Bread Baker's Apprentice.
posted by hindmost on Jan 16, 2010 - 47 comments

For Men by Men, the Stag Cookbook helped those who had previously tried their hand at cooking, but "weakened under a fire of feminine raillery & sarcasm." Contributors included: William Jennings Bryan, Warren G. Harding, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Jules Jusserand, Reed Smoot, Jerome Kern, and Houdini.
posted by OmieWise on Jun 8, 2009 - 106 comments

If geeks talked about cookbooks the way they talk about RPG books, the results would not be pretty.
posted by Artw on Jun 19, 2008 - 51 comments

Ted Allen interview! The food and wine expert on Queer Eye has a new cookbook out, and he talks to Slashfood about...well, everything: favorite foods, music, books, beer, birds, and other things.
posted by braun_richard on Oct 20, 2005 - 15 comments

The Company Cookbook. Have you ever attended a company potluck? Did you vote on recipes and create a cookbook to send as promo to unsuspecting clients? Warning: If you select to read this post, you take "pot luck" - what was available, not knowing for sure what you might receive. (But be sure that, with this cookbook, it will include shredded cheese). And as a bonus, things you shouldn't bring to the company potluck.
posted by tidecat on Sep 27, 2005 - 13 comments

Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project "...an online collection of some of the most important and influential American cookbooks from the late 18th to early 20th century." Includes scanned, searchable, and downloadable copies of such titles as "The Virginia Housewife, Or, Methodical Cook," "Practical Sanitary and Economic Cooking Adapted to Persons of Moderate and Small Means," and "Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent."
posted by tpl1212 on Aug 5, 2005 - 7 comments

An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century. Because you never know when you'll need to make Marrow Without Marrow (Which No One Will Suspect), forget how to grease your Chicken Called Madhûna, or need to rustle up something for the in-laws (A Dish Praised in Springtime for Those with Fulness and Those with Burning Blood).
posted by obiwanwasabi on Apr 15, 2002 - 16 comments