Cookbook Shelf

A feature of Robin Garr's World of Creative Cookery,
in association with Amazon.com Books

This is the Cookbook Shelf book store of Robin Garr's World of Creative Cookery, operating in association with Amazon.com Books. Thanks for looking in!

NEW JOY OF COOKING NOW AVAILABLE! The old classic that we inherited from our mothers is now brought up to date in an all-new edition. Click here to go straight to the review and order button.

As a longtime wine and food journalist with a reputation for independence, I've chosen to link with Amazon.com because I believe it enjoys a well-earned reputation for honesty and good service that I can support. Under terms of my agreement with Amazon.com, I will objectively review selected cookbooks and books about world/ethnic food and cookery, dispensing both praise and criticism as I see fit. Hotlinks from each review will go directly to Amazon.com for handling.

Most books are sold at 20 to 30 percent discounts from the publisher's price, and all are sold with the Amazon.com money-back guarantee; you also have my personal guarantee that I'll go to bat for you in the very unlikely event of any dispute. Payment may be handled by credit card (click here for details about online shopping security) or by telephone. Books are all shipped Priority Mail, and with the exception of special-order items specifically mentioned below, are normally sent out within two or three days. Please check prices when you get to the Amazon.Com order page. In most cases you will find them marked down an additional 10 to 20 percent beyond the prices listed here; the lower price is the amount you will actually pay!

All the cookbooks reviewed below are in my own collection, and I use them regularly. I'll add reviews often, so please check in from time to time. I hope Amazon's reputation, and mine, will make this page the first place you look to discover, and purchase, good books about the creative world of international cookery.

Review Index

American and General Cookery

James Beard's American Cookery

The Joy of Cooking: The All-Purpose Cookbook New!

The Joy of Cooking

The New York Times Cook Book

The New New York Times Cookbook

Enola Prudhomme's Low-Calorie Cajun Cooking

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen

Asian Cookbooks

The China Moon Cookbook

Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine

The Key to Chinese Cooking

The Original Thai Cookbook

The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook

Fish Cookery

James Beard's New Fish Cookery

French Cookbooks

The Cuisine of the Sun

Healthy and Low-Calorie Cookery

Pierre Franey's Low-Calorie Gourmet

Indian Cookbooks

Classic Indian Cooking

Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking

An Invitation to Indian Cooking

Italian Cookbooks

Cucina Fresca

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

The Regional Italian Kitchen

Mexican Cookbooks

Authentic Mexican

Quick Cookery

Cuisine Rapide

The New York Times More 60-Minute Gourmet

20-Minute Menus

Soup and Bread Cookbooks

Beard on Bread

Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Complete Book of Soups and Stews

The Village Baker: Classic Regional Breads from Europe and America

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups

Vegetable Cookbooks

American Wholefoods Cuisine

Greene on Greens

Madhur Jaffrey's World-Of-The-East Vegetarian Cookbook

World Cookbooks

Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook

Cookbook Reviews

American and General Cookery

James Beard's American Cookery, by James Beard.
Paperback. List: $21.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $19.76 -- You Save: $2.19 (10%)
Hardcover, 896 pages. List: $16.98 -- Amazon.com Price: $16.98
James Beard, along with Julia Child, can fairly be described as a leader of the renaissance of advanced, serious amateur cooking in the U.S. that came about after World War II. This volume contains his presentations of all the best in American cuisine from Maine to Hawaii.

New! Joy of Cooking: The All-Purpose Cookbook, by Marion Rombauer Becker and Irma E. Rombauer. Paperback. List: $14.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $11.96 -- You Save: $2.99 (20%)
This is the widely publicized, all-new 1997 revision of Marion and Irma Rombauer's classic, with much new information and a more modern approach, catching up with the end of the Twentieth Century while retaining a lot of the cozy feeling that makes Joy the cookbook equivalent of "comfort food." As with its predecessor (below), it's a far cry from "gor-may," but when it comes to the basics and finding quick, straightforward answers to your cookery questions, it's hard to beat.

Joy of Cooking, by Marion Rombauer Becker and Irma E. Rombauer. Paperback. List: $12.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $11.65 -- You Save: $1.30 (10%)
Hardcover. List: $26 -- Amazon.com Price: $23.40 -- You Save: $2.60 (10%)
When we become serious about cooking, we tend to grow away from Joy of Cooking as the too-simple guide that our mothers used to create the food of the Fifties. But you know what? It's still an excellent basic guide when you want to turn back and look up a particular technique.

The New York Times Cook Book, by Craig Claiborne. Hardcover, 799 pages. List: $30 -- Amazon.com Price: $27 -- You Save: $3 (10%)
I laughingly call this book, and its sequel below, "The Upper East Side Joy of Cooking, but they remain two of the most well-thumbed books in my personal cookbook collection.

Craig Claiborne's The New New York Times Cookbook, by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey. Hardcover, 751 pages. List: $15.99 -- Amazon.com Price: $15.99
More of the same, only different, here we have Craig and Pierre knocking out one dish after another again, every recipe reliable and most of them easy enough to be quick yet challenging enough not to be boring.

Enola Prudhomme's Low-Calorie Cajun Cooking, by Enola Prudhomme. Hardcover, 268 pages. List: $19.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $17.96 -- You Save: $1.99 (10%)
Paul Prudhomme's sister Enola runs a wonderful Cajun family restaurant on the outskirts of Lafayette, La. It's not clear whether he taught her to cook or she taught him, but they both make wonderful food and write about it in clear, direct detail that will pass their secrets along to you.

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, by Paul Prudhomme. Hardcover, 351 pages. List: $23 -- Amazon.com Price: $20.70 -- You Save: $2.30 (10%)
"Sophisticated" food-lovers tend to look down on Chef Paul's K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, partly because it's so famous and partly because it's so self-consciously downscale, with long lines waiting for dinner and a regimental seating procedure in which you share tables with strangers whether you want to or not. Never mind. The man is an incredible cook, and it shows in his restaurant's fare. His book spells out the details, with startling rations of butter and fat, so you can make an etouffée as good as his. Try it, you'll see.

Asian Cookbooks

The China Moon Cookbook, by Barbara Tropp.
Hardcover, 518 pages. List: $24.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $22.46 -- You Save: $2.49 (10%)
Paperback, 518 pages. List: $14.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $13.45 -- You Save: $1.50 (10%)
Not true Chinese but "fusion," Barbara Tropp's little China Moon restaurant in San Francisco has always been a sentimental favorite for me because she likes, as I do, to "fuse" concepts from different cuisines to create new originals. You'll find a lot of them in this thick cookbook.

Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine: The Fabulous Flavors & Innovative Recipes of North America's Finest Chinese Cook, by Susanna Foo. Hardcover, 352 pages. List: $35 -- Amazon.com Price: $31.50 -- You Save: $3.50 (10%)
New in my collection, Ms. Foo's book hasn't quite found its place in my regular "rotation" yet, but I believe it will. Though it appears to be a bit of a "coffee table" cookbook with its large format, glossy photos and sizable price, but wrapped around the photos you'll find some awfully good recipes.

The Key to Chinese Cooking, by Irene Kuo. Hardcover, 532 pages. List: $14.99 -- Amazon.com Price: $14.99
A long-time favorite, this solid, thorough book offers a good starting point for a Westerner eager to learn Chinese cookery, and it's not a bad reference book for experienced cooks as well.

The Original Thai Cookbook, by Jennifer Brennan. Paperback., 318 pages. List: $13 -- Amazon.com Price: $11.70 -- You Save: $1.30 (10%)
Small in format but efficiently organized, Brennan's book is about as good a basic, inexpensive reference to Thai cuisine as you'll find, with quick, useful descriptions of ingredients, techniques and service.

The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook, by Gloria Bley Miller. Paperback, 926 pages. List: $20 -- Amazon.com Price: $18 -- You Save: $2 (10%)
Recipes, recipes, recipes: You want 'em, this thick volume has 'em. Owning this book is a little bit like living in a Chinese restaurant with a gigantic menu ... let's see, what shall we have tonight ...

Fish Cookery

James Beard's New Fish Cookery, by James Beard. Paperback. List: $16.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $15.26 -- You Save: $1.69 (10%)
As with most of Beard's books, this one is magisterial, with all the basics and a step or two beyond, organized in a useful format with recipes for all the basic species of fish and shellfish placed together, then subdivided by cooking technique.

French Cookbooks

The Cuisine of the Sun: Classical French Cooking from Nice and Provence, by Mireille Johnston. Hardcover. List: $9.98-- Amazon.com Price: $9.98 + $0.85 special surcharge.
This book, and the sadly out-of-print Cuisine of the Rose featuring Burgundian cookery, is among my very favorite cookbooks. The recipes are generally not for the beginner, or for the dieter; they're relatively complicated, but unerringly reliable, and they produce delicious results.
Availability: This item usually shipped within 4-6 weeks, but PLEASE NOTE that it might not be available at all. Items occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock. Amazon.Com will notify you within 2-3 weeks if they have trouble obtaining this item.

Healthy and Low-Calorie Cookery

Pierre Franey's Low-Calorie Gourmet, by Pierre Franey. Paperback. List: $14 -- Amazon.com Price: $12.60 -- You Save: $1.40 (10%) Franey's doctor told him to lose weight, so he came up with scores of new recipes for low-calorie renditions of his mid-Atlantic Franco-American dishes. Now he shares them with us. Not my favorite of his books, frankly, but if you want to count calories and continue to enjoy creative cuisine, this book's as good a starting point as I know of.

Indian Cookbooks

Classic Indian Cooking, by Julie Sahni. Hardcover, 541 pages. List: $25 -- Amazon.com Price: $22.50 -- You Save: $2.50 (10%)
Another of my favorite cookbooks, this one (like Marcella Hazan's Italian cookbooks) is aimed at exactly the level I enjoy: The recipes are difficult enough to be challenging, without being so complicated that they keep you in the kitchen all afternoon; they're apparently authentic, and they're told in a chatty style that teaches you a thing or two and makes you feel that you know the author personally.

Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, by Julie Sahni. Hardcover, 511 pages. List: $25 -- Amazon.com Price: $22.50 -- You Save: $2.50 (10%)
As above, this one is a sequel from Sahni that's just about as enjoyable as the original. If you live in the provinces, though, be aware: Some of the recipes may call for exotic ingredients that are hard to find outside Indian markets in major cities.

An Invitation to Indian Cooking, by Madhur Jaffrey. Paperback., 285 pages List: $13 -- Amazon.com Price: $11.70 -- You Save: $1.30 (10%)
An excellent introduction to Indian cookery, this one from Jaffrey offers a good selection of authentic dishes that may be a little easier and quicker to put together than most of Sahni's. That's good news if you want curry in a hurry.

Italian Cookbooks

Cucina Fresca, by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman. List: $16 -- Amazon.com Price: $14.40 -- You Save: $1.60 (10%)
Save this one for summer cooking: Focusing on the fresh delights of the Italian garden, it contains entirely cold dishes. Most of them won't keep the cook out of the kitchen, but they definitely reduce the heat in the dining room.

Marcella's Italian Kitchen, by Marcella Hazan. Paperback. List: $19.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $17.96 -- You Save: $1.99 (10%)
If I could take only one cookbook to a desert island -- a decision that I would hate to have to make -- this would be the one. Any close reader of my World of Creative Cookery will know that I make more dishes out of, or inspired by, Hazan's books than any other. If you like the recipes I post on the Web, I think you'll like hers. 'nuff said.

The Regional Italian Kitchen, by Nika Hazelton: Honi Werner, Illustrator). Hardcover. List: $9.98 -- Amazon.com Price: $9.98.
The Italian cookbook I generally grab when I'm not using Marcella's is this excellent edition. You may learn a little less about life and living in Italy from this one, but for straightforward, authentic and easy-to-prepare Italian dishes from the Piemonte to the toe of the boot and on to Sicily, this one's hard to beat.

Mexican Cookbooks

Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico, by Deann Groen Bayless, John Sandford, Rick Bayless. Hardcover, 384 pages. List: $27.50 -- Amazon.com Price: $24.75 -- You Save: $2.75 (10%)
I love Rick and Deann Bayless's Frontera Grill and Topolobampo restaurants in Chicago, and I love their approach to ethnic fare: First, learn everything there is to learn about a particular cuisine; then, and only then, give it your personal spin. The book, like the brother-and-sister restaurants, is fine.

Quick Cookery

20-Minute Menus, by Marian Burros. Paperback. List: $12 -- Amazon.com Price: $10.80 -- You Save: $1.20 (10%)
She's not kidding. Interesting, creative meals -- an entree and a vegetable, most often -- that any reasonably competent cook can have on the table in 20 minutes. Here's the proof of the pudding: When my wife (who's an excellent cook but doesn't like cooking) takes a rare turn in the kitchen, this is the book she usually uses.

Cuisine Rapide, by Bryan Miller and Pierre Franey. Hardcover, 372 pages. List: $24.50 -- Amazon.com Price: $22.05 -- You Save: $2.45 (10%)
I bought this book out of admiration for the authors, Franey of "60 Minute Gourmet" fame and Miller, who was the best restaurant critic The New York Times has had in recent memory. The book's OK, too, with serious yet quick dishes that put innovative spins on (mostly) American and continental fare.

The New York Times More 60-Minute Gourmet, by Pierre Franey. Paperback. List: $12 -- Amazon.com Price: $10.80 -- You Save: $1.20 (10%)
Although I've somewhat moved on beyond this book (and its out-of-print predecessor, "The 60-Minute Gourmet," because the recipes are generally more traditional New York City French than innovative, I'll always have good memories of it, because it was through relentlessly following and learning Franey's techniques that I refined my own ability to put almost any meal on the table in an hour or less. Here's to the memory of this happy fellow who died in 1996.

Soup and Bread Cookbooks

Beard on Bread, by James Beard. Paperback, 228 pages. List: $15 -- Amazon.com Price: $13.50 -- You Save: $1.50 (10%)
Lighterweight than most of Beard's books, this slim volume still includes scores of good bread recipes and a basic approach to bread-making techniques that will serve any new baker well.

The Complete Book of Soups and Stews, by Bernard Clayton. Paperback. List: $13.00 -- Amazon.com Price: $11.70 -- You Save: $1.30 (10%)
Clayton's practically a neighbor, based in Bloomington, Ind., just up the road a piece from my home town in Louisville, and he and I used to have regular columns appearing on the same day in Louisville's Courier-Journal. That's not why I like his books, though. It's simply that they're good. We've made many a hearty winter soup out of this volume, and some cooling summer soups too.

Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads.
Paperback. List: $20 -- Amazon.com Price: $18 -- You Save: $2 (10%)
Hardcover, 748 pages. List: $30 -- Amazon.com Price: $27 -- You Save: $3 (10%)
As thick and full of recipes as Beard's bread book (above) is light, this is the bread-making book that you should have if you're having only one. Hundreds of recipes range from simple to extremely complicated, but all share a keen eye for organization and detail that breaks the process down into step-by-step procedures that any intelligent cook should be able to follow.

The Village Baker: Classic Regional Breads from Europe and America, by Joe Ortiz. Paperback, 320 pages. List: $19.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $17.96 -- You Save: $1.99 (10%)
Not Yet Available: You may still order this book. Amazon.Com will ship it to you when it is released by the publisher.
Luckily, I got the hardcover edition of this book (which is apparently no longer in print) a couple of years ago, and it has flour and water stains all over it from frequent use. These are not, by and large, simple quick breads but faithful re-creations of peasant and country breads from all over the Western world, many requiring starters or sourdough. Not for the beginner, but if you're serious about bread, you'll love it.

Twelve Months of Monastery Soups, by Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourrette. Hardcover, 198 pages. List: $25 -- Amazon.com Price: $22.50 -- You Save: $2.50 (10%)
Availability: On Order; usually shipped within 1-2 weeks. I got my copy from Quality Paperback, but Amazon is selling it for less. An odd concept ... I think of monasteries as places where penitents subsist on very basic fare. These soups, however, while largely simple and primarily vegetarian, are far more than that. We've enjoyed a dozen soups out of it already, including Lima Bean Soup and, very loosely translated, Brussels Sprout Soup, and haven't yet hit one we didn't like.

Vegetable Cookbooks

American Wholefoods Cuisine, by Nikki and David Goldbeck. Paperback. List: $14.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $13.45 -- You Save: $1.50 (10%)
If The New York Times Cookbook is the "Upper East Side Joy of Cooking," then this one is the "Vegetarian's Joy of Cooking." It's so flatteringly similar to "Joy" that it's even got a similar page layout and illustrations; but the recipes are all meatless (although issues of meat and fish storage are addressed in the appendix).

Greene on Greens, by Bert Greene. Paperback., 432 pages. List: $16.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $15.26 -- You Save: $1.69 (10%)
Got a vegetable? Don't know what to do with it? Bert Greene will tell you in this attractive, useful cookbook that's divided into chapters covering just about every member of the vegetable kingdom in alphabetical order. For such healthful fare, a surprising number of the recipes are heavy on oils, butter and cheese, but hey ...

Madhur Jaffrey's World-Of-The-East Vegetarian Cookbook, by Madhur Jaffrey. Paperback., 460 pages. List: $22.50 -- Amazon.com Price: $20.25 -- You Save: $2.25 (10%)
Another of my favorite cookbooks, this large volume spans all of Asia, from India through China to Japan and Southeast Asia, offering hundreds of delicious vegetarian recipes the way the peoples of the East enjoy them. I'd call it indispensible even if, like me, you're not a vegetarian.

World Cookbooks

Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook, by Kristina Mast Burnett (Editor) and Joetta H. Schlabach. Spiral Edition, hardcover, 332 pages. List: $16.95 -- Amazon.com Price: $15.26 -- You Save: $1.69 (10%)
A lovely little cookbook written from the heart by folks who really care about eating well while treading lightly on the Earth, and learning some things from non-Western cultures in the process. Recipes, mostly contributed by Americans of all sorts of ethnic backgrounds, are generally tasty and easy to prepare; some contain meat, while many are vegetarian. For a sample, see my modification of its Marak - Somali Camel Stew. (Relax. It's made with beef.)

Home: Return to Robin Garr's World Cookery Page.

Wine Tips and Tasting Visit Robin Garr's Wine Lovers' Page.

Wine Book Reviews and Ordering Info: Go to Robin Garr's Wine Bookshelf.