The other day it occurred to me that I certainly have favorite cookbooks/websites that I go to (beside TTOL) when I am looking for new ideas for dinner. Figuring that we all might find a new favorite - I decided to start this poll.

My favorites -

Website:
First choice is always http://www.epicurious.com. I love the reviews, as they help narrow down the most successful recipes. Next would have to be http://www.finecooking.com. While this is a paid membership site, anything I've cooked off there is divine.

Cookbooks:
I own every Craig Claiborne cookbook and probably go to one of these first. Everything always turns out. I do have at least another 50 other cookbooks that are souvenirs from world wide travel. For a foodie, opening up a cookbook from Belgium, South Africa or Australia makes for a fun weekend night meal.

What about you guys? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Hands down my favorite cookbook: Yankee Magazine's Favorite New England Recipes...
Compiled by Sara B.B. Stamm & the Lady Editors of Yankee Magazine... really good stuff here!
Out of print now, so you can only get used copies...
Favorite recipes website: www.allrecipes.com...

an old favorite food website of mine is chowhound.com, until cnet bought it out, but it's still a good forum for restaurants and has a board for cooking also. as for favorite cookbook, i have many... some of my favs are barefoot contessa. i'm a big fan of ina garten.

I've gotten some great tips and answers to difficult questions on chowhound.com.

All of the above!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> It gets confusing sometimes because I get daily recipes and when you open one recipe you see another and another. It's becoming a job!! I'm frickin' retired!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> But, really love to read them.
A great Italian site is on www.about.com. Kyle Phillips' recipes are good, with history and many are his wifes' Elisabetta, who's Italian. He lives in Tuscany. His background is also interesting. American father who taught at the U.of Tuscany and Italian mother. I get the recipes/history lessons each week and look forward to them. I even communicate with him, personally. I have many recipes of my grandmothers stored in my head (but am putting them in print) and we talk about the 'old' Italy vs. the new. Very different and interesting.


<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> Contessa

I don't really have a favorite, but I like Recipezaar because they have a list of new recipes that changes every day. I browse it and save recipes that interest me to my online cookbook. After I've tried one, if I like it, I then save it to my MasterCook cookbook on my laptop. The problem is that I hate to follow a recipe, so I seldom make the recipes I save <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

I hear you. Cooking should be creative and fun. A recipe is merely a guideline.
It doesn't have to be adhered to in cooking......now baking is another story.
I can get creative with pies,cobblers etc. but cakes.....not so good. You really can't mess around with cakes because they're more of a science. Creativity and science don't always mix! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />
Your style of cooking is just like mine. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />


<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" /> Contessa

The original JOY OF COOKING. The absolute best cookbok ever written and still the only one I ever refer too

Hey Brian,

Your Yankee Magazine Favorite New England Recipes reminds me of one I have "The Lily Wallace New American Cookbook" published in 1963! My mom always cooked out of this one and I got it for not only the recipes, but sentimental reasons too.

I'll have to look for yours.

Chowhound is a new one for me... I'll have to check it out, thanks!

I too love Ina Garten - clear directions, good flavors, nice presentation.

[quote]contessa said:
I hear you. Cooking should be creative and fun. A recipe is merely a guideline. [quote]


That is so true... we just got back from Cabo San Lucas and while there, we had these fabulous "Cowboy Beans". None of the recipes sounded like what my palette remembered, so I printed out three different recipes and mixed and matched and added a little of this and that. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

Another gem - absolutely without a doubt the best waffle recipe written. I add in a little grapefruit zest and they taste and smell amazing.

I love the magazine "Taste of Home". There is a picture for every recipe which I really like. Last rainy day we had, I sat on the couch for hours going through old issues, I just love it.

I hear ya, Contessa!! I'm retired too and inundated with recipe emails, but I'm not quite ready to opt out! I'm getting stuff from MyRecipes.com, SouthernLiving.com, and CookingLight.com. I like reading the comments before I make something. Also I like Stephanie's Kitchen (she's on hiatus right now).

I swear I will NOT buy another cookbook, because everything I could ever want is online! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

I will... there are just some recipes you can't find online...
I got a first edition Fannie Farmer Cookbook at a garage sale years ago...
DEFINATELY NOT Heart Healthy! (a lot of recipes use LARD!)...
But some are very old tried and true recipes you will never find online!

I love the old cookbook versions...
My copy of "Joy of Cooking" is the 1942 version!
well worn and stained pages! It came from my Grandmother...
FYI... the first edition of "Joy of Cooking" was published in 1931... and it's worth a small fortune... in the $2500 range...
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail..._-anonisbn-_-na

Well, I will have to be the first to admit that I use the Food Network website the most. And I have way too many cookbooks but I can't seem to part with any of them...

My favorite cookbook is a toss-up between my own recipe file and Joy of Cooking (1975 - the 2006 edition is good also, but avoid the 1997 edition).

Websites: Recipezaar, cookingforengineers, and tastespotting.

We have found that every recipe we've tried from the Virginia Hospitality cookbook by the Jumior League of Hampton Roads, Inc., 1310-C Todds Lane, Hampton, VA 23666.

We received their Bicentennial Edition in 1988 but see that the copyright dates back to 1975. It may still be available but I'm not sure.

That is a great cookbook Kimmers, I have to say that Hampton Roads/Tidewater has a lot of great cooks and restaurants that are unsurpassed.

You're so right..baking is a science! I always measure the flour to baking powder, etc, but then I just eye the other ingredients, like vanilla. Seems to work pretty well, and being a "dump and pour" cook I just don't measure some of the things.

I seem to always end up on the Food Network site...some good suggestions here, I need to broaden my searches!

Is (excuse the spelling) Il Giardino still open in VA Beach? What about it's sister restaurant in Norfolk?

Il Giardino is still open; however, La Galleria closed, it was taken over for a brief time by another owner but with all the new and exciting restaurants in downtown Norfolk it just couldn't hold on. Downtown Norfolk has gone through a major overhaul in the past 5-10 years and Granby Street is again alive and well.

I swore too, but after a recent love fest with Rick Bayless's "Mexico - One plate at a Time" on loan from my local library, I now "need" that one too. I'm close to needing therapy for this! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

www.allrecipes.com is fabulous....use recipes with 4 or 5 stars

chef jeff

La Galleria never was one of my favorites. Glad to hear downtown is better. I left in 1999 and it was getting good then. Thanks for the update.

I would say that these days I rarely use my cookbooks-I usually go to the Foodnetwork Site, specifically the Barefoot Contessa, as others here.