Eating From the Ground Up

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Happy Thursday.

I’ve got a real post in the works, but in the mean time, I felt that the scope of the books you all discussed in response to this post just had to be turned into a straight-up list. I’ve done my best to make sure they’re all in there, and although fitting them into categories was a challenge, I did my best. If I missed one, or if you thought of a book that should be in here, feel free to leave it in the comments and I’ll add it in. Thanks so much for building this. What a resource. And so here it is…

The Books that Will Change Everything (according to the wise and wonderful readers of Eating From The Ground Up)

General Cooking (and a bit of miscellany)

The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters
The Breakfast Book, Marion Cunningham
The Betty Crocker Cookbook
The River Cottage Cookbook, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Recipes From the Night Kitchen, Sally Nirenberg
The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Amanda Hesser
Anne of Green Gables Cookbook, Kate MacDonald
Dinner A Love Story, Jenny Rosenstrach
The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook
The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, Marion Cunningham
The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Deb Perelman
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School, Kathleen Flinn
How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman
La Technique, Jacques Pepin

 

Bread

Tartine Bread, Chad Robertson
Whole Grain Breads, Peter Reinhart
The Cheeseboard Collective Works, Alice Waters and The Cheeseboard Collective
The Tassajara Bread Book, Edward Espe Brown
Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book Of Breads, Bernard Clayton
Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois
The Bread Bible, Rose Levy Berenbaum

Desserts

Classic Home Desserts, Richard Sax
Rose’s Christmas Cookies, Rose Levy Berenbaum

DIY, Self Sufficiency, and Preservation

The Mennonite Community Cookbook, Mary Emma Showalter
The Homemade Pantry, Alana Chernila
Forgotten Skills of Cooking, Darina Allen
Wild Fermentation, Sandor Katz
Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon
Well Preserved, Eugenia Bone
Canning For A New Generation, Lianna Krisshof
The Preservation Kitchen, Paul Virant and Kate Leahy
More With Less, Doris Janzen Longacre
Mennonite Country Style Recipes and Kitchen Secrets, Esther H. Shank

Food Writing

An Everlasting Meal, Tamar Adler
Home Cooking, Laurie Colwin
More Home Cooking, Laurie Colwin
How to Cook a Wolf, M.F.K. Fisher
The Supper of the Lamb, Robert Farrar Capon
An Irish Country Doctor, Patrick Taylor
Honey from a Weed, Patience Gray

Health, Special Diets, and Whole Grain Focus

It’s All Good, Gwyneth Paltrow
Whole Grains For a New Generation, Lianna Krissoff
The Healthy Gluten-Free Life, Tammy Credicott
The Food Matters Cookbook, Mark Bittman
Good to the Grain, Kim Boyce
Clean, Alejandro Junger

Vegetarian and Vegetable Focused

Plenty, Yotham Ottolenghi
The Vegetarian Epicure, Anna Thomas
Moosewood Cookbook, Mollie Katzen
Vegetable Literacy, Deborah Madison
The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, Mollie Katzen
Laurel’s Kitchen, Laurel Robertson
Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone, Deborah Madison
The Clueless Vegetarian, Evelyn Raab
The Victory Garden Cookbook, Marian Morash
The New Southern Garden Cookbook, Sheri Castle
Simply in Season, Mary Beth Lind
Super Natural Every Day, Heidi Swanson
Earth to Table, Jeff Crump
Rebar, Audrey Alsterberg

Food From Other Cultures

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hazan
Rao’s Cookbook, Frank Pellegrino
Eat This- It’ll Make You Feel Better, Dom DeLuise
Chilis to Chutneys, Naleem Batra
Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck
From Julia Child’s Kitchen, Julia Child
The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, Jaden Hair
New Thai Cuisine, Nathan Hyam
Easy Chinese Recipes, Bee Yinn Low
The New Persian Kitchen, Luisa Shafia
Land of Plenty, Fuchsia Dunlop
Every Grain of Rice, Fuchsia Dunlop
Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, Fuchsia Dunlop

Food and Politics

Diet For A Small Planet, Frances Moore Lappe
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, Sandor Katz
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
Food Matters, Mark Bittman
Real Food, Nina Planck
Food Rules, Michael Pollan
Animal Vegetable Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver

 

Note: You might see that I’ve linked many of these listings to a site called Betterworldbooks.com. Thanks to Sarah to turning me on to that site, and go check it out! These aren’t sponsored or affiliate links, but I’m just mixing it up a little.

 

Comments

  4. Sounds like a library run is in my near future. 🙂 (I always preview cookbooks before buying so I know if I can use them…food allergies/preferences prevent some.)

  5. for Chinese cooking I recommend all books by Fuchsia Dunlop.”Land of Plenty” on Sichuan cooking, “Revolutionary Chinese Cooking” on Hunan cuisine, “Every Grain of Rice” on home cooking recipes. All very authentic and well written.

  6. The most influential book in my life was Jacque Pepin’s La Technique. I was a young teenager working with less then mediocre tools but with Chef’s help I learned to bone, julienne, and produce marvelous pate choux. More then any other book (or person for that matter) His pictures depicting process not just formula layed the foundation for many happy years in the kitchen.

  8. What a GREAT list!! I just subscribed to your blog (after reading about it – and you – at Gluten-Free Girl & the Chef). and I *just* 2 days ago ordered The Breakfast Book from BetterWorldBooks!

  9. Oh, darn. I didn’t see the list-request post until too late!! LOVE these!! But the book that has changed my cooking the MOST in the last few years is “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day” by Zoë Francois and Stephen Scott Gross. Seriously. I work and have 2 small kids and I manage to make fresh bread usually 2x a week for dinner. Their method is a game changer and we LOVE it. Saves money and I feel so great about making my own bread rather than buying. They also have “Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day”, and I have it and use it often but not quite as often as the original. Love the blog!!

  11. Alana, I have to say that I have found all her books very expert in helping me produce a delicious product, be it pastry, cake, or bread. I have so much more to explore in her books—I tend to get stuck in baking some favorites. It’s so wonderful to know that there’s a whole world of new things to make, to delight my family and friends! Actually, her first book my children and I delighted in using was her Christmas cookie book (years ago) which we used in making cookies to eat as well as to decorate our tree. This was at a time where we were having an especially difficult time making ends meet, and I remember how much joy my daughters and I had in creating little “masterpieces” for our tree. More recently, I find that I use her Bread Bible most often. Especially her recipe for “Wonder Bread”, which I make using almost all whole wheat. It’s so delicious and so easy to make, with an overnight rise in the refrigerator, so you can fit bread-making to whatever schedule works best for you. I have again been going through an especially frugal time, and this bread, along with my little veggie garden, has been a major building block in my food security. This is a subject that I’m very interested in developing, btw, and would be happy to contribute ideas if you wish to devote some posts addressing this topic of how to survive during difficult economic times, not just survive but also to eat healthy, nutritious, and delicious food. I’m really curious what the focus of your new book is!

    • Thank you, Margit. I’m working on this topic quite a bit right now, both out of necessity and interest. My hope is to bring it up in ways where we can all swap ideas on how to make things not only work, but work well! I’m really happy to have you here in the conversation.

  12. There’s one more book that I’d like to add to the list:Classic Home Desserts, by Richard Sax. I think it’s being re-printed. This book is a treasury of recipes that are well-tested by the author, who has written charming and helpful head notes, which add to the pleasure of adding each item to our family’s collection of favorites. For example, there’s a recipe for a fudge chocolate cake, very easy to make, which is so scrumptious that my son-in-law said that it’s the best chocolate cake he’s ever had! Many of these recipes have been loved from the time America was still a bunch of colonies. They’re well worth keeping alive and frequently enjoyed.

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