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1968 ratings, 4.40 average rating, 365 reviews
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published
November 5th 1997
(first published 1973)
by Scribner
binding
Hardcover, 1152 pages
setting
Unknown
isbn
0684818701
(isbn13: 9780684818702)
description
Irma Rombauer collected recipes from friends for the first Joy of Cooking, and published it herself. For this sixth edition, the All New, All Purpose ...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2269)
Read in January, 1991
The day I found out my grandmother was dying was the day I got this book.
She was sick and we were both very hopeful that she would get better. She was lying on the couch in the living room and asked me to boil her a potato. I, being 19, had NO idea how to boil a potato! But I did not want to bother her about it - so I went into the kitchen and started up the pot of water.
Not only did I ruin that cute little potato ... but I saw my grandmother lose it!! She came into the k...more
She was sick and we were both very hopeful that she would get better. She was lying on the couch in the living room and asked me to boil her a potato. I, being 19, had NO idea how to boil a potato! But I did not want to bother her about it - so I went into the kitchen and started up the pot of water.
Not only did I ruin that cute little potato ... but I saw my grandmother lose it!! She came into the k...more
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The 1997 edition is infallible.
The pre-1997 editions are good if you want to can or pickle your own veg, cook opossum, and make aspic.
The fifth edition, ie the 75th Anniversary edition shown in the picture above, contains too much retro-inspired nonsense and does not continue the practical and innovative approach laid out in the 1997 edition.
Basically, the 1997 edition took the heart of the Joy of Cooking, that is, that it is a book that contains all th...more
The pre-1997 editions are good if you want to can or pickle your own veg, cook opossum, and make aspic.
The fifth edition, ie the 75th Anniversary edition shown in the picture above, contains too much retro-inspired nonsense and does not continue the practical and innovative approach laid out in the 1997 edition.
Basically, the 1997 edition took the heart of the Joy of Cooking, that is, that it is a book that contains all th...more
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Read in July, 2001
recommends it for:
knife and spatula wielding omnivores
I would not consider this my "everyday" cookbook but the The Joy of Cooking is a definite must for anyone that takes their cooking seriously, enjoys spending a bit of time in the kitchen, and needs a good all-purpose reference that covers everything from emergency substitutions to complete banquet spreads.
What do I like most about The Joy of Cooking? It is fairly encyclopedic, covering about as broad a range of cooking topics as it can; while most of the recipes are from the...more
What do I like most about The Joy of Cooking? It is fairly encyclopedic, covering about as broad a range of cooking topics as it can; while most of the recipes are from the...more
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In their attempt to modernize the book, the authors omitted many recipes and techniques that are still relevant. Where is Sole Florentine, for heavens sake? And while not many families routinely can or freeze food as a winter survival strategy, there are still times when I would like to know how to do it - when my CSA gives me more corn than we can manage, or when local strawberries are beautiful, fresh, plentiful, and cheap. The lack of ice cream recipes is frustrating, especially given that...more
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recommends it for:
all cooks
Started as a project for my church back in the 1930s here in St. Louis, The Joy of Cooking is now an American classic. It is encyclopedic in scope. If you just want to know how to boil an egg...it's in there. If a friend brings you rudabaga...there's a recipe for that, eel....there's a recipe for that, wild game...there's a recipe for that, triple layer chocolate cake...it's in there too. Want to know which wine glass to use...where to place the forks...or how to do practically anything in t...more
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recommends it for:
historians and zookeepers
i love this old 1973 edition rescued from my mom's basement. the writing style is awesome: you can hear them chiding you for your awkward kitchen skills. heavily uses ingredients that are out of fashion now, so that's historically interesting: lots of parsley, livers, anchovies, tarragon.
the recipes are not all so daunting: some of them are forward-looking to today's minimal cooking in their simplicity and flexibility. saved me many times when my fridge was sadly understocked.
...more
the recipes are not all so daunting: some of them are forward-looking to today's minimal cooking in their simplicity and flexibility. saved me many times when my fridge was sadly understocked.
...more
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Read in October, 1990
I inherited this cookbook, an ancient edition, and have treasured it immensely. At first when I looked through it, all I coud find was things I thought were either icky or dishes I knew I would never make. like the different editions of this book, I marvel at how things and people change.
My old copy is well stained from many a night frantically reaching for ingredients on the other side of its pages, despreately trying to make a better impression with something delicious. I can still re...more
My old copy is well stained from many a night frantically reaching for ingredients on the other side of its pages, despreately trying to make a better impression with something delicious. I can still re...more
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Read in January, 1996
The first serious cookbook I've ever owned. After trolling the early internet for recipes in college, I picked up this little gem and off I went! So much of what I learned about appropriate preparation of vegetables, basic cuts of meat, the benefits of browning before braising, etc. I learned from this very book. My basic understanding of cuisine and food preparation stems from this book. Outside of an embarrassing attempt to entertain in college (start with family), this book has never let ...more
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recommends it for:
everyone who has a kitchen!
Goodness gracious, this book could be called "The Kitchen Bible". It has contains information on anything and everything you could ever want to know about preparing food. I don't understand how anyone can possibly know this much (I think writing this book would be more difficult than writing a dictionary) but I'm sure glad that they do!
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recommends it for:
all people, great and small
I've never looked in the Joy of Cooking and not found what I was looking up. It contains everything I would call my mom to ask and more. Classic.
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Read in January, 2008
This is the best cookbook for idiots like myself, who don't know at what temperature to cook a baked potato.
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I believe it was in the hot buttered rum entry that the authors cheekily said the drink had been known to "make a man see double and feel single." How can you not love that?
This really is a must-have cookbook for anyone interested in the nostalgia of fifties-era dinner parties. All it takes is a few episodes of Bewitched and I find myself in the kitchen, reading this cookbook and dreaming of coq au vin preceded by Martinis and canapes. I use this book more in the winter, wh...more
This really is a must-have cookbook for anyone interested in the nostalgia of fifties-era dinner parties. All it takes is a few episodes of Bewitched and I find myself in the kitchen, reading this cookbook and dreaming of coq au vin preceded by Martinis and canapes. I use this book more in the winter, wh...more
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Jeremy got me this book for Christmas. I have wanted it for awhile because I want to learn how to cook. For real cook, not just follow recipes. It is really cool so far. I read it before I go to bed. The print is a little small. Or I am just gettng old. I like that it isn't just a cookbook, it is a book about entertaining and the art of cooking. I think it is really going to help me take my cooking to th next level.
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Read in November, 2008
OK, this is my second copy of the JOC, the "75th Anniversary Edition." My other version I got shortly after the "controversial" 1997 edition came out. Seeing Dwayne's older 1970s edition, however, I saw that there was a lot of information "missing" from mine: canning, freezing, and general common-sense, economical subsistence stuff, for those of us who love to grow and cook the simple and sublime, to eat to live and love life, and not to show off or be fussy with fo...more
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Read in August, 2008
You bet your sweet ass I'm reading the Joy of Cooking.
I got it for a wedding present and I'm taking a shot at reading it cover to cover.
Did you guys know that the first draft of this legendary tome of American cuisine was written by Irma Rombauer as a way of coping from her husband's suicide in 1930?
That pretty much means that if her husband hadn't eaten a bullet in 1930, milllions of Americans might not have had to eat Tuna Casserole made with Cambell's cream of ...more
I got it for a wedding present and I'm taking a shot at reading it cover to cover.
Did you guys know that the first draft of this legendary tome of American cuisine was written by Irma Rombauer as a way of coping from her husband's suicide in 1930?
That pretty much means that if her husband hadn't eaten a bullet in 1930, milllions of Americans might not have had to eat Tuna Casserole made with Cambell's cream of ...more
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Read in January, 1994
recommends it for:
Everyone who cooks
My husband's friends thought he would get in a lot of trouble for buying me this for a Christmas present, but I loved it then and I still love it now. I look something up in it monthly, if not weekly and often refer to it for my favorite recipes. I'm sure I'll never read the whole book through, but I have read through it countless times.
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of course, this book is brilliant, though i'm likely not to make use of the thousands of meat recipes, and the rombauer love of butter and lard is not really my style. however, it is laid out really comprehensively, and it's easy to get excited about making a ton of food. and i feel like an absolute pro with it, and i like that.
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Read in January, 2007
This is so my go-to cookbook, but usually for cooking things that I'm not using recipes for. And pancakes and waffles. The kids like the chicken cordon bleu, I think I made the turkey meat loaf once. It's good, but you have to add your own flavor. There's just enough recipe to get you started.
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recommends it for:
Anyone With a Kitchen...
Aptly described by other reviewers as an American classic, "The Joy of Cooking" has been in "my" kitchen for as long as I can remember. My own personal copy, which I still own, came to me as part of a prize that I won in a book raffle during college. I somehow managed to misplace the other four cookbooks that were also part of the prize (lost in a move, I believe), but this volume is still around.
More than just an extensive and thorough cookbook, this is a culinar...more
More than just an extensive and thorough cookbook, this is a culinar...more
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recommends it for:
those with a stove.
THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON MY 1985 EDITION.
I love this cookbook more than anything. I have my "moosewood" and my "how it all vegan", but I am a meat eating freak and love love love cooking from the JOY. It even has diagrams of how to skin a squirrel, prepare a fish fresh from the water, how to bludgeon and prepare squid and octopi. I can't explain how indispensable this book has been for me. When I don't know what to do with myself I open it up and study the diagram...more
I love this cookbook more than anything. I have my "moosewood" and my "how it all vegan", but I am a meat eating freak and love love love cooking from the JOY. It even has diagrams of how to skin a squirrel, prepare a fish fresh from the water, how to bludgeon and prepare squid and octopi. I can't explain how indispensable this book has been for me. When I don't know what to do with myself I open it up and study the diagram...more
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