When we were talking about cookbooks last week, not one of you mentioned the most popular cookbook author
The current list of best-selling cookbooks is dominated by authors with good looks, television contracts, chic recipes and food empires.
Phyllis Pellman Good, though, appears on no culinary show; nor does she own a catering company, restaurant or magazine. A slight, 57-year-old Mennonite with round glasses, Ms. Good has created books full of instruction for dishes like ham loaf and cheeseburger soup based on recipes from women around the country. But her books have sold more in the United States than the combined works of the popular Food Network hosts Ina Garten, Giada De Laurentiis and Jamie Oliver.
You blue-state snobs never heard of her, right? Yeah, go back to your brie.
“What we learned is that there are people out there who have always cooked,” said Christopher Kimball, the founding editor of Cook’s Illustrated, who two years ago introduced Cook’s Country, a magazine with emphasis on dishes like deviled eggs and grasshopper pie. “They are not ‘discovering’ cooking; they’ve been cooking every day. This might not be true in New York or San Francisco, but it is true for huge sections of the country.”
“I think the food media has been responsible for creating this whole world of faux food, and this is a media largely consumed by people who eat out six times a week,” he added. “We are not all served by thinking of food as a special-occasion product.”
In honor of Ms. Good, I made a stunning meal tonight: Sabbrett’s hotdogs with the option of mustard or ketchup, Shop Rite’s finest potato salad, and a melange of frozen vegetables sauted in butter and salt.
Apt. 11d 
I have one of the Fix-It cookbooks. And I have made things from it.
Clearly, I’m not doing my elitist blue-state liberal job right!
Crock-pots rule. Seriously.
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I just used my crockpot today, first time in a while. I’d been on a pressure cooker jag. But the whole high-heat thing seems to be problematic, if you believe certain cancer diet types, (I’m a two year breast cancer survivor) and I thought I’d try the slow cooker again.
But I don’t care for most crockpot recipes. Tonight’s was a version of a recipe that came with the unit (for Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic) – with a leek, lemon juice and olive oil. Delicious.
Love the earlier cookbook thread – Amen to Mark bittman – have you looked at his “Minimalist Cooks” Series? I have Minimalist Cooks Dinner and use it regularly.
Deborah Madison’s _Vegetarian COoking for Everyone_ is fabulous – it doesn’t have the tricky/fussy problems of the Greens cookbook. I gave it as a wedding shower present this year. It’s encyclopedic, the way Bittman’s “Everything” is – you can look up an ingredient and get lots of variations.
Clifford Wright is erudite, chatty and prolific – he’s great on Mediterranean food. Claudia Roden, of “The book of Middle Eastern Food” and “The Book of Jewish Food” is also entertaining to read – both books are full of stories – and her recipes work. I’m Lebanese-American and I use her recipes to check the proportions of things I learned to make by “feel”.
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OK, the joke’s on me–because I grew up with Mennonite cookbooks and Mennonite food, and almost recommended one of Phyllis Pellman Good’s cookbooks.
But–for the best cookbook in that genre, I recommend the More-with-Less Cookbook. It’s a little less classic–less meat, less fat–but for most of us, that’s an advantage.
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Au contraire! I actually did mention her elipitically when I discussed crockpot cookbooks I hate. I have one of her books and almost every recipe involves condensed soup or some other prepackaged salty item, and it makes the food taste terrible. I just don’t get it. I don’t like creamy soup with chicken items. If you want a copy of it, I will be happy to send it to you to get it out of the house. I hate to throw books away, but I HATE IT!
But I can’t say enough about my fresh food crockput cookbook–Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker–I’ve made 2 recipes this week from it. No soup goes in. Sometimes a jar of salsa, or something like that. Recipes: Japanese-style beef curry rice; beef in guiness;morroccan chicken thights with chickpeas and cumin; North Indian chili; Tuscan beans with herbs; Thai pork with peanut sauce; pork spareribs with pineapple and ginger. All in easy, easy crockpot style. Can cook while you are out with kids at park.
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beef in guiness. mmmmm. I have to get on this slow cooking bandwagon. Lisa, you made my mouth water.
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I heartily second the recomendation of the “More With Less” cookbook. One of my most treasured wedding presents is a copy of MWL with tons of handwritten notes from the gift-giver. It’s the original “Crunchy Con.” manual. About 1/3 of the book is copy talking about sustainable, environmentally-friendly shopping and cooking. But with all of the canning/gardening/jam-making hints and Christian teaching, it’s still very Red State.
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I love Bitman’s The Minimalist Cooks at Home. In planning his recipes he also thinks about clean-up, and so avoids recipes that “spatter”. But, the best part is that after each recipe he has a bunch of suggestions for substitutions and additions, so you don’t get tired of the recipes as quickly. How to Cook Everything has the same advantages, but I find the size overwhelming.
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I have a copy of the “Fix It And Forget It Cookbook” – I asked for a crockpot recipe cookbook for Christmas one year and my auntie gave me “Fix It.” Might I add I live in an ultramarine part of a blue state.
I find myself adapting the “Fix It” recipes because so many of them are based upon salty condensed soups, and high-fat foods. High blood pressure runs in my family so I really try to watch my salt intake.
A crockpot cookbook I like is Jyl Steinback’s The Busy Mom’s Cookbook, even though I’m not a busy mom. Mable Hoffman’s Crockery Cookery is good too, but some of her recipes are not safe – you can’t cook a roast or large cuts of meat in a crockpot as the crockpot will not heat them through in time.
I’ve found that Trader Joe’s Simmer Sauces (curry, masala, etc.) are wonderful for crockpot use. Layer chicken and any veggies you want to use in the crockpot, add TJ’s simmer sauces, and cook. I *heart* TJ’s.
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I love the More-With-Less cookbook – I do not exaggerate when I say it changed my life and the way my family eats. I also enjoy Cook’s Country magazine – the recipes are for meals like the ones ladies used to bring to church potluck dinners when I was a kid, or like my grandmothers would have made if either of them could cook.
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Crock-pots do rule. My kids think you can’t make anything chicken without one. I’ve got them developing a week’s worth of menus, and I’ve known them to crock-pot (if one may use that as a verb) two or three days straight.
As for Fix It and Forget It… I got one off a sales table. I marked several recipes with sticky-notes. And I’ve never fixed one of them. Having a hyperlexic and an Asperger’s in the family means dealing with their limited tastes. I do work on expanding their horizons, but ’tis a slow process. Since you all have mentioned it, I am going to look again, and also work on limiting the ones that use lots of canned soups or mixes.
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Cheeseburger soup?????!!!!!!!???
Oh, dear god.
Anyone remember Peg Bracken – the I Hate to Cook Book? That seemed to have tinned mushroom soup with everything. I remember that from my childhood. Not that my mum, fortunately, took any notice. But as a writer, she was entertaining and funny. Bracken, I mean, not my mum.
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Could someone please send me the recipe for chili that was in the I hate to cook book by Peg Bracken. I lost my book and want to make it for a chili cookoff tomorrow!!!
Thankyou
1/18/07
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