Over the last couple of years I have occasionally posted a recipe for my cooking through my collection series. I have really enjoyed that series and have often thought about posting more about my cookbook collection.
You see I have a rather large cookbook collection. See that bookshelf in the picture above. Yes, that one with all the books on it, those are all cookbooks. And I may or may not have a few more upstairs on another bookshelf.
I think I have a cookbook problem. A problem of collecting them anyway.
I will say that my collection has taken 20+ years to accumulate. Before I got married I bought two cookbooks and my collection has grown from there. Some I have bought new. Some have been given to me as gifts. Some of them are quite old and have been given to me by family members, and many I have picked up at used book stores and sales.
When you add that all up it equals at least 100 cookbooks, maybe more. I really have not counted them in a long time, but it is a lot.
I have read through many of my cookbooks. I love to read them like books. And I use my cookbooks, but not like I should for the amount I have. So, this year I am turning my cooking through my collection series into a weekly series. Each week I will feature a recipe from a different cookbook and I will give a brief review of the cookbook.
I am really excited about this new series. First of all it will force me to use my cookbooks more. Maybe encourage me is a better way to say it. Encourage always sounds better than forced.
I am also hoping it will help you all find some new recipes and cookbooks that you might love. Many of my cookbooks are newer and a few are from my favorite bloggers, so those will be fun to share about.
And because a lot of my collection contains older cookbooks, I am hoping to bring back some recipes that have been lost and forgotten. Recipes most people today know nothing about. So many recipes and cookbooks written today are complicated and more gourmet. My plan is to highlight some older recipes because so often those are simple, yet very budget and family friendly.
I have already made four recipes out of four different cookbooks, so I have a good start already on this series and can’t wait to share the first recipe next Monday. I hope it is a series you all will enjoy.
Now, please make me feel better and tell me that I am not the only one with a cookbook problem…… 🙂
I, too, love reading cookbooks! That’s how I learned to cook as a young wife. I enjoy borrowing cookbooks from the library and sometimes purchasing one I feel I’ll use a lot. Looking forward to hearing more about your favorite cookbooks. I still turn to The Joy of Cooking often!
You are not alone, I am the “proud” owner of over 300 cookbooks, they are in three bookshelves, two in the kitchen and one in a hallway. Over the years, people have given me gifts for every occasion, I myself would buy one if I went on a trip as a souvenir of that trip. I have recently started giving them away, selling them on eBay, gave some to a woman who had a flood in her kitchen and lost all hers. I wish I could say I have made at least one thing out of each book, but I can’t, still end up using the same 5 cookbooks. I do love to look through them though and it seems I have infected my daughter with this illness, she has a substantial amount already, at least I know she will be happy to inherit them. Looking forward to your new weekly series.
I love to read cookbooks like books too! It is so fun and enjoyable! I have a lot of cookbooks, but not that many. I have very limited space, so I do try to limit them. Looking forward to this series!
I sure am looking forward to this series! I, too, have many cookbooks-but, not too many! 😉
Cookbook reading is always fun. I’m a collector also when taking trips come home with one from the area usually a church cookbook from that area visited. These cookbooks are tried & true & I have two from our city I continue to use with post a note flags all the time. I’ve copied & put in a binder my favorites too to save time looking up recipes.
When I got married at the age of 29,I had lived on fast food , TV dinners and boil in the bag pouches.I had no idea how to cook anything.I was my Daddy’s little tom boy and could do anything a boy was supposed to know.My Mom taught my sisters to cook but I wasn’t interested.When I married,I had to have a cookbook to make anything and that made me into what my sister call’s a cookbook junkie.The top of my kitchen cabinet’s are lined with cookbook’s and I have stack’s of them in my bedroom.I also have 8 1 inch binders for recipes that I have printed from blogs and recipe sites on the internet.You are not alone in this. I have met a lot of other cookbook junkie’s like myself at yard sell’s,thrift stores and flea market’s.
I just went through my cookbooks yesterday! I will NOT be counting them! I’m afraid to know how many I have. I did make quite a large pile to get rid of though! I still need to go through all the printed recipes that do not fit in my binder! Another day!!!! Looking forward to the new series!
I love cookbooks. I don’t have nearly as many as you, but I do love reading them. The ones I’ve “purged” I’ve missed because I love the photos and even just reading techniques even if I don’t use the recipes.
You are not alone in the over abundance of cookbooks! I have been purging 🙁 but I still have a 6′ x 4′ bookshelf full! My birthday is in November and I got 4 new cookbooks; I got 3 new ones for Christmas! I love cooking and I love cookbooks!
Wow – this is really cool!
You certainly do have a lot of cookbooks and your mission is just. 🙂
I am currently cooking my way through Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food as detailed on my blog.
Enjoy your journey!
I have6 Bookshelves full of Books and Cooking magazines. I am glad to know that I am notthe only one that reads cookbooks cookbooks like some people read novels. When i started my collection I would not keep it unless I found at least one recipe that my family liked …I too have gotten them for hoildays at yard sales fleamarkets thrift stores etc…my magazines. .I subscribe to them when I can get them at a cheap price like $5 yr.
I have well over 300 cookbooks and really need to get them out and start using them. My problem is that with Pinterest and the internet and wonderful blogs like yours I don’t really need to use cookbooks to find amazing recipes. But your post has me thinking that I too may be missing out on some wonderful “OLD” recipes. So I think I will join you in cooking at least one thing from at least one of my cookbooks every week. Thanks for the post and the idea!
I am glad I have inspired you to use your cookbooks more. I agree with the internet and Pinterest cookbooks are less needed, but I still find I love my cookbooks, especially the older ones with recipes that you don’t always see now.
I love this idea and is something I think I will try to start doing this myself, one cookbook at a time. I love cookbooks and don’t have as many as I could – only due to lack of space.