Cookbook tips

[mistymoon127]

So, I'm helping a friend write a cookbook. Trying to think of grievances I have with past cookbooks.

What DON'T you guys like in a cookbook?
What DO you like?

What sorts of cookbooks would you like?
What are you looking for when you buy a cookbook?

Comments

[buffingjilly]

I really like it when the cookbooks have basic references in them, like the cooking time for meats, what certain shorthanded things mean, the difference between certain cuts (like, julienne vs chop, or sliced, or diced etc)

Though I guess you could get those all online.

In the end, I like it when the cookbook is thorough on directions, most. I've had QUITE a few that aren't. If you want, I"m going home this weekend, so I can ask my mommy? She has tons of them. O:

[mistymoon127]

I got time, more of a month long research project :)

[garnet_phoenix]

I like to see witty writing in cookbooks; funny anecdotes, some well-placed puns and jokes, etc. Just because it's a practical piece of literature doesn't mean it should be written like a lab report.

Also, it helps if the recipes are reachable within my budget. Pet peeve is when cookbooks advertise about how delicious, easy and quick their recipes are but then you find out just buying the spices alone costs a quarter of your monthly rent D:

Best cookbook I've ever encountered: Isa Chandra Moskowitz's "Vegan with a Vengeance". I read it sometimes just for pleasure because she writes well, and the recipes are open to adaptation if an ingredient here or there is a bit too exotic.

Oh yeah, and coloured pictures of nommy finished products. I like those :3

[maryn_neondream]

Seconded on the pictures. I don't know what it is, but I always like a recipe with a picture better than one that doesn't have one.

[buffingjilly]

It's true! I do, too, which I guess makes me a loser, but it's nice to be like "o hay there's a rough estimate of what it'd look like."

[mistymoon127]

Thanks guys~<3

[eternitian]

I don't like it when every recipe in a cookbook requires me to go out and buy a strange ingredient that I've never heard of and invariably have trouble finding. That's okay every once in a while, I guess, but for everyday regular use, it's not practical.

[mistymoon127]

You mean not everyone has fennel and leeks and special cheeses on hand? /gasp

*scribbles down* <3