Joy of Cooking: Fully Revised and Updated

My comment to friends is "If you can only have one cookbook in your home, it should be 'The Joy of Cooking'! It is the most complete and in-depth "teaching" cookbook I've ever seen, and I own many general and specialized cookbooks. My first "Joy of Cooking" was a gift in 1954, prior to relocating to get married. I still have it and also have the latest one. This most recent purchase was a gift for a friend who had never heard of the book, but is enthralled with it.

"Joy of Cooking" is probably on your mom's shelf at home in an older edition. The original cookbook bible of American home cuisine by Irma Rombauer has been a pillar of home cookbooks since the Bobbs-Merrill published edition in 1936. Later the book was updated by her daughter Marion and there have been nine editions (the very first, a privately published book.). I have one of the older wartime editions from my mother-in-law. The book is chatty and yet has a lot of good advice for the home cook as well as some recipes that today you would never make, even for a Facebook Page devoted to retro (and dubious) cuisine. Irma Rombauer's history is a brave one--she was widowed in her fifties, her husband was tragically a suicide and at first, she created this book privately out of her own notes. But it became a life's work and to this day, her family is still involved in its publication. By the way, it's true the TABLE OF CONTENTS doesn't work. Kindle editions must be the red-headed stepchildren of publishers. So often, tables and drawings are rendered too small and not able to be zoomed larger. In this case. the t.o.c. didn't make it to final release or someone THOUGHT (wrong) the book would be searched or the hyperlinks used instead. I hope they update it.Badly needing an update, this ninth edition took almost a decade to produce and the recipes are tested. The sections on "batterie de cuisine" --your equipment and on nutrition and technique are updated and useful for the starting cook. The chapter has good advice based on new science on healthful foods and reading nutrition labels. The diagrams for table settings for formal and informal dinners was retained but updated. And more microwave recipes are included, which was needed as they are now standard in almost all kitchens.I personally love the chapter on party planning--children's parties, brunches, clubs, afternoon tea. There is some chatty and helpful hints for most occasions, as well as menus, which even if you don't copy outright, you can use as "yeast starter" for ideas of your own.If you use the Kindle edition, the menus are hyperlinked to the recipes themselves. I normally don't like Kindle cookbooks for reference books, preferring the print copy, but in this case, I can heartily recommend the Kindle edition, especially if you are the kind of person that pulls up recipes on your phone or Kindle or PC.There's also a section on "cook for a day, eat for a week." This may be the hidden treasure, because a lot of family spend a good deal of money on take-out, carry-out and eating out. Not only is take-out food less healthy and more apt to have too much salt and fat, it can get boring. You can add more nutritious and varied foods by cooking your own--but who wants to cook after a day's work. Even if you share the cooking, it's a burden and everyone is over-scheduled and tired. These recipes will fill your refrigerator with lots of good things you can reheat. And you can make several dishes, say, one vegan or vegetarian for the one person at home who refuses to eat what everyone else is having.There IS an index to the dishes that are vegan, though I would not recommend this book alone for vegans as it's for omnivores.Old funny things that required cans of soup are gone, replaced by whole food, Asian, Middle Eastern and Hispanic favorites. like Shakshouka, Migas and overnight steel cut oats. There is also a section on drinks for entertaining.I was absolutely thrilled with the update of this classic. I tended not to use my old edition very much (I won't open a can of soup in any recipe) so this book is a welcome classic come to new life. Highly recommended.

The book has recipes for every occasion, and they are generally very easy to follow and don't require long preparation times. They are simple and go out pretty well. I have had my book for 15 days now and made about 5 different recipes, all of which turned out very tasty. Great for day-to-day cooking.

I’m a fairly experienced cook and have collected many cookbooks over the years but finding in retirement the desire to simplify and downsize a bit. This book fit the bill perfectly. Everything I’ve made from this cookbook has turned out beautifully. Really well written. There is additional information about ingredients and techniques included with each recipe that beginning cooks will find very helpful. The recipe for Texas Chocolate Sheetcake alone was worth the price of this book! Also, I really appreciate that these recipes have been thoroughly tested as opposed to random recipes on the internet that have disappointed me so many times. Go ahead and get this book and you’ll be set!

it arrived in nearly perfect condition! i love this cook book!! i’m so lucky i finally got it to add to my collection. cooking/baking is my biggest passion. this book has been on my list for a very long time!

I had never heard of this book until recently, after I purchased a used copy of The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook from 1980 (It was our family cookbook when I was growing up as a kid).One day, I got a craving for Potato Salad and decided to look in the book for a recipe. Unfortunately, the index only had Hot German Potato Salad, not American-Style, and I decided that I needed a book that would have recipes when I couldn't find what I was looking for in The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.Joy of Cooking kept popping up in the search results, and after some research, I decided to buy it - fully aware that there were some errata issues (see H. David Natkin's review from November 18, 2006).Seeing as how it had been eight years since this edition of the book had first been published, I figured they must've gotten the errata issues sorted out.Unfortunately, for me, that was not the case. Also, I would like to say that my review focuses more on errors in the cookbook rather than the content, which is absolutely fine.I purchased my copy on October 26, 2014, and received it on October 31, 2014. I received an 11th printing.The day it arrived, I immediately went to Joy Kitchen, the official website for the book, and downloaded the errata provided on the site (the same one mentioned in the comments section of H. David Natkin's review).After about an hour of comparison, I found that my copy contained at least one major error. There were also several instances where the wording in recipes in my copy was slightly different than what was listed in the errata.So, I decided to email the team behind the book. Here is the explanation provided by Megan Scott:"The errata on the site was compiled by Maggie, one of our editors, shortly after the 2006 edition came out. As often happens with a book of this size, several errors were found fairly quickly, and we sent in corrections. However, in some cases, we later decided we weren't happy with the corrections as they stood--either there was something else missing (in the case of the Beef Stroganoff, for instance, we had to send in another correction after realizing that we never instruct the user to add the beef back to the pan--at least not in a clear, concise way) or we didn't think the corrected text was clear enough (in the case of the Orange and Onion Salad, we added in "1/4-inch" to be clearer) or we felt the text was awkward and could be better (Standing Beef Rib Roast).Unfortunately, the errata on the site is not up to date ... Your copy of the book, since you purchased it 8 years after the initial publication, is one of the most corrected printings of the book ... Below, I've listed the few corrections that may not be in your copy of the book (because we haven't had another printing since the 13th, and thus no opportunity to send in corrections).1.) Braised Lentils with Sausage, p. 258--yield should be 8 servings2.) MacLeid's Rockcastle Chili, p. 513--two corrections to this recipe below (corrected text underlined):Remove all to a Dutch oven or <u>large pot; stir in bacon and</u>:One <u>28</u>-ounce can whole tomatoes, with their juiceOne 16-ounce can kidney beans, with their liquidOne 16-ounce can Great Northern beans, withtheir liquidOne 16-ounce can pinto beans, with their liquid6 tablespoons ancho chile powder2 tablespoons ground cumin1 tablespoon black pepper1½ cups water or one 12-ounce bottle dark beerSimmer for about 3 hours, covered, stirring occasionally toprevent sticking. Season to taste with:Salt and black pepperHot pepper sauce3.) Picadillo, p. 514--in the headnote to this recipe, we misspell 'tostadas'--it should be tostadas, not tostados4.) Cooked Cranberry Relish, p. 221--last line of recipe should read 'Let cool and serve, or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.'"So, if you buy this book in 2014, it will likely have some errors. The errors listed above, as far as I understand (after receiving Megan's response), pertain to any printing lower than the 14th.Any errors should be corrected with a ballpoint pen and not a pen (or highlighter) with free-flowing ink, as they cause bleed through on the pages, which are very thin. Pencil should be avoided, too, because it can smudge.Also, I recommending researching how to read the Printer's key (or number line) so you can figure out which printing you have (and whether it'll contain the errors listed above or in the outdated errata provided on the Joy Kitchen site).Usually, to determine which printing you have, you look for the highest number in the Printer's key/number line (mine is 20) then look for the next lowest number (mine is 11). In my case, that means I have an 11th printing of the eighth edition. Here's another example: If the highest number in the line was 22 and the next lowest number was 13, that would mean that you had a 13th printing of that certain edition.With all that said, I don't regret buying this cookbook at all. It will probably fill the void when I can't find a certain recipe in my Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook from 1980, so I'm sure it will pay for itself over time.On a side note, If - after reading this review - you decide you want something smaller or simpler, I highly recommend the newest edition of The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook: America's Bestselling Step-by-Step Cookbook, with More Than 1,400 Recipes as a second option (I've already bought a copy to replace my 1980 edition). But, with 4,500 recipes, you'd be surprised not to find what you're looking for in Joy of Cooking.I hope this helps.