For me there are really two different types of cook books – the ones I use on a day to day basis and then the ‘chef’ books – aka food pornography, which are lovely to look at, but when do you ever use them (except maybe for fancy dinner parties).

My all time favourites are by a British food writer Nigel Slater, who does great day-to-day recipes and talks about food in a way which really makes me want to cook it.

The two books of his I use all the time are called Real Cooking and Appetite.

He describes “Real cooking” as being “about making ourselves something to eat that involves a bit of simple roasting, grilling or frying. Nothing complicated. Nothing that is not within the grasp of a novice cook. But it is cooking, rather than opening a packet or a tin.” It’s a book I turn to all the time.

Appetite is a real ‘how to’ book and rather than just having a recipe for something Slater will offer a load of alternatives so you might say I fancy Roast Chicken tonight and he will say ok, this is how you do it, and also here is a number of variations of things you can do. This is a book about cooking — not following a recipe. Indeed, the recipes are very vague in places, stating “a handful” of this, and “a pinch” of that. It’s all about helping the reader develop their own skills as a cook. This is unfussy, everyday sort of food, the sort you want to cook after a horrid day at work, with an emphasis on using quality, fresh and seasonal ingredients.

Both of these books I would thoroughly recommend for both beginners and experienced cooks.

Kathy, when I was about 6 or 7, my parents bought me a cookbook written for children. (Don’t worry, it wasn’t sexist. I really wanted to learn to cook! And I had a basement full of lego and matchbox cars, too.)

But I was disgusted with the book, because even though it was supposed to be written for children, it didn’t give information like whether or not you put the lid on the pot, how often you needed to stir a recipe, etc.

At the time, I would have loved to have a cook book that was REALLY for beginner’s, and taught me exactly what I needed to do. My mother is a GREAT cook, so with her help I worked it all out…but I still wonder how most people who try to learn out of cookbooks on their own ever manage. I suppose the advent of cooking programs on television really helped out there.

John, thank you for your comment, because you reminded me that I do have two books to recommend after all, and I thought I didn’t.

The Tassajara Cookbook (and the Tassajara Breadbook) are excellent. The first cookbook focusses on vegetables, and it explains in very basic terms how to cook almost any vegetable you can think of in a bunch of different ways. It is much more of a book on “how to learn to cook vegetables” than a recipe book per se.

And anyone who wants to learn to bake bread by themselves owes themself a copy of the Tassajara Bread Book, too.

They are two of my favourite books—if I could take 5 books to a desert island, at least one of them would be a cookbook by Edward Espe Brown from the Tassajara Zen Center.

Shaula:
You mention in your comment that people learning to cook nowadays have the advantage of cooking programs to teach them. Unfortunately, however, the majority of shows on the air right now are lacking with regard to teaching the essential basics. What ever happened to the Two Hot Tamales and David Rosengarten? Enough with the fluff and entertainment! Give us back the basics, like how to cut an onion and how to wash spinach!

Hi Amy, Welcome to startcooking.com!  I hope you like the Joy of Cooking.  It truly is like an encyclopedia!  Another one of my favorites are the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks by Ina Garten.  All the recipes in her books are really fantastic!  But I rush to add they are not for the beginner.  She also has a show on TV which is very good.  (My one word of caution is that she uses too much salt for my taste.) Cheers!

Thanks KGW!  These are great suggestions!

Thanks Liz for your list.  It already sounds like you are well past the novice stage!

Thanks Yin!  You are going to LOVE Boston!  I've lived here since I graduated from school and could never imagine living anywhere else!

Good luck with your studies.