Our Cookbooks: What We Use and Why

New (Occasional) Blog Series

I love cookbooks. Sitting on the couch on a Saturday or Sunday morning, coffee in hand and NPR on the radio, there'll most likely be a cookbook on my lap. Friends and loved ones know how much we love cooking and cookbooks, so they often ask us about recipes and cookbooks. What do we use? What do we recommend?

Workhorses, Auxiliaries, Hobbies, Acquisitions

The more I've thought about those questions, the more I've wondered about the cookbooks we have and use. That's an important distinction, too. We have 28 cookbooks, but regularly use only 12. These 12 are our workhorse cookbooks. The other 16 are auxiliaries, references, used occasionally for a recipe or inspiration.

That's not all, though. There are also the 8 hobby books for brewing, cheese making, canning and food preserving.

All told, that's 36 food-related titles on our shelves right now. And don't even get me started on the cookbooks we want to get…

That brings us to this new series on Antsaint: "Our Cookbooks".

In this occasional series, we'll discuss the cookbooks on our shelves. Why do we have the cookbooks that we have? How do we use them? What do we like about them? Where do we find them lacking?

This occasional series will run throughout this year and 2011. Don't worry, every week won't be about cookbooks; I plan to post about cookbooks no more than twice a month.

Here's how it'll break down.

• Our 12 Workhorse Cookbooks: From their permanent spot overseeing the kitchen, I rely on 12 cookbooks day by day, meal by meal, nom by nom nom nom nom…
• Our 16 Auxiliary Cookbooks: Shelved in the living room, 16 reference cookbooks are great, ahem, food for thought. We also bust out these cookbooks for special occasions, new dishes, entertaining, seasonal cooking, etc.
• Our 8 Hobby Cookbooks: In addition to regular cooking, Jodie and I brew beer, make cheese, and dry, freeze and can foods. 8 books help us out.
• Our Uncountable Acquisitions: I don't need (or want) to snag every cooking title in print, but there are other cookbooks I want to add to our library. Here we'll discuss which titles, and what sets them apart from what we currently have.
• Our Individual Cookbooks: Where relevant, I'll also discuss and review specific titles in individual posts.

It's going to be a fun, droolworthy nom-nom-nom time. If you have particular questions or titles you'd like me to address, comment below or drop me a line.

Bon appetit, and happy cookbookery!