Desert Island question: If you could only have one cookbook...

[Jenise]

...for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Good Housekeeping's Step-by-step Vegetarian Cookbook.

I've made more dishes out of this cookbook than any other I own, and many of them have remained regular favorites.

I would down load all of the existing FLDG discussions, and all the RC files. Regards, Bob

[Jenise]

I would down load all of the existing FLDG discussions, and all the RC files. Regards, Bob

How sweet, there IS a trove of good stuff here. But I'd have to go with Larousse Gastronomique: but I can't decide whether to take the '88 version or the recent edition. Uh oh, I smell smoke....

Maybe sweet, Jenise, but extremely practical.

What a range of cuisines! And the interaction between posters is highly educational. And, of course, all my CIA notes are online here as well.

But thank you for the sweetness -- cheered me up it did.

Not a cookbook but an accordion folder that I have my favorite "go to" fast and "excellent" rated recipes. If I HAD to choose a cookbook, it would be the one I received as a wedding gift in 1963. It is stained, falling apart and with lots of comments on recipes I've tried. Just because of memories only!

"Mastering the Art of French Cooking." My standard go-to reference. Problem is that it doesn't really cover tropical fruits and vegetables which are all one would be likely to find on that island...

Stuart, have you read "Julie and Julia" yet?
I know it's kind of a "chick" book, but since you like MtAoFC, I know it wil keep you laughing. I couldn't put it down.
Ines

Laroousse Gastronomique, of course. It's so big and so comprehensive that I assume it would give me a clue as to how to cook those pesky coconut crabs.
Ines

Tough, tough, tough...for all purposes and comprehensiveness, probably Julia Child "The Way to Cook." On the other hand, the cookbooks I've been reaching for most frequently over the last couple of years have been Simple French Food by Richard Olney and Foods & Wines of Spain by Penelope Casas. Of course, this is all assuming food deliveries, decent climate and a good kitchen on our desert island. Otherwise I'd want something with clear instructions for netting and curing fish, foraging for wild edibles and so on!

Mrs Field's Best Ever Cookie Book.

For all the other courses, I'd just wing it.

:-)

Ines, no I haven't, but now I will.

I read the Julie/Julia Project blog from about Day 3. Some days it was so funny I had tears streaming down my face from laughing so hard. I picked up the book for my best friend (who is quoted in it), but still haven't read it myself. Thanks for the reminder, Ines!

The New York Times International Cookbook.
(I must assume that all the utensils mentioned in the cookbook as well as ingredients would be available on this island, too. If so, when does the soon-to-be-shipwrecked-ship leave 'cuz I'll be first in line!)

ok i agree with larousse; but i want the really old edition from the 60's.

[Jenise]

Mrs Field's Best Ever Cookie Book.

For all the other courses, I'd just wing it.

I guess we now know what your favorite course is!

What kind of cooking equipment does this Island provide? Then I will decide the book.

Joy of Cooking

Mrs Field's Best Ever Cookie Book.

For all the other courses, I'd just wing it.

:-)

I guess we now know what your favorite course is!

I didn't get to this size by breathing !

:D

My late Grandmother's recipe box. She was the queen of Swedish soul food. Funny how distinctly, after thirty years, I can remember the taste of meatballs (no gravy, that would be wrong), or the sweet scent of the rye bread baking, or our yearly potato sausage dinner on Christmas Eve. Nostalgia.

No, we did not do lutefisk.

[Jenise]

My late Grandmother's recipe box. She was the queen of Swedish soul food. Funny how distinctly, after thirty years, I can remember the taste of meatballs (no gravy, that would be wrong), or the sweet scent of the rye bread baking, or our yearly potato sausage dinner on Christmas Eve. Nostalgia.

No, we did not do lutefisk.

What a lovely tribute. Almost hate to admit that it was only last year that I learned that Swedish meatballs do not normally have a gravy/sauce.

Tell us more about the yearly potato sausage dinner.

Yes, put it on your "Read Now" list. It is beyond funny, but then you already know that from the blog. It's probably the funniest book I read this year, along with "Getting Stoned with Savages" by J. Maartin Troost.
Ines

But Larousse is dry...

I think I'd lean to Mastering the Art of French cooking...

Or maybe one of Marcella's classics....

Or maybe...

See. It's an impossible question.

b

[Jenise]

Larousse dry? Oh, I don't think so! I find it hugely entertaining. Which is why I lean toward the '88 version, it's so antiquated and daringly tongue in cheek at times. I love to just read it. The newer version is much more matter of fact, however useful.