Joy of Cooking: Fully Revised and Updated

"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.

I have 3 issues of this book because it's amazing. I got my first edition decades ago...it's held up to even my chaotic cooking...and the information inside is educational in both recipes and random informational value about not just food, but the history of it...I've even read it like a non-recipe book, just to learn how certain recipes came to be, and other such learning moments. It's more than just a great cookbook - it's a great book in general that happens to be packed full of recipes. They teach you to cook meats I'LL never cook, but it's very interesting to read about how to if times ever got so bad that I had to eat wild meat. lol Great writing, great recipes, and highly educational...I just bought the original, first edition as a Christmas gift for my niece, who recently got her first big job in another state, and is learning how to cook on her own while living far from home. I learned to cook, can, and so on from this book in the early 70s, so it seemed like the perfect first recipe book for her to learn from, too. She doesn't know it yet, but she's getting this for Christmas this year...and her mother is a bit jealous - now she wants to borrow my copy so she can learn more from these terrific authors. This book is invaluable - you'll never need another cookbook with Joy of Cooking in your kitchen!

I love this book. I often give it as a gift for showers or weddings. Good reference book for the simplest cooking methods!

every kitchen needs this; It's my kitchen bible.All the women in my family have used "Joy: for more years than I can remember Sensible recipes; Perfect gift for a new bride and her groom

My family has used the Joy of Cooking for decades. So, it is my gift to a new generation of newly weds.

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 servings 2.) 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 juice One 16-ounce can kidney beans, with their liquid One 16-ounce can Great Northern beans, with their liquid One 16-ounce can pinto beans, with their liquid 6 tablespoons ancho chile powder 2 tablespoons ground cumin 1 tablespoon black pepper 1½ cups water or one 12-ounce bottle dark beer Simmer for about 3 hours, covered, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Season to taste with: Salt and black pepper Hot pepper sauce 3.) Picadillo, p. 514--in the headnote to this recipe, we misspell 'tostadas'--it should be tostadas, not tostados 4.) 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.

I'm an Englishwoman living in the UK, who's been cooking for over 50 years and consider myself an experienced and adventurous cook and I love this book. I have the 1975 edition and while it reflects it's time by using some convenience foods in some of it's recipes, overall it's a very useful book. It has clarified some questions I had about US ingredients and I expect it will do more. As well as a "how-to-do" book it's a fascinating read. I like the lay-out of the recipes - the ingredients are printed in bold type and interspersed in the method, which is a system I like (others may not like this but each to his/her own). Now I have this book I feel my culinary education is complete - I have the book that teaches me how to cook a bear!!!!

Very good book

The recipes, followed to the letter, are top notch! There are so many recipes in this book it has yet to happen that I have not found a recipe I've hoped to find in the index.

So glad I found again this book I grew up with. Works well on Kindle, you can look through it for ingredients and recipe names.

アメリカの友人の家で見かけて、購入しました。 日本と計量方法や温度表示が異なるので、その点だけ慣れれば（アバウトでいいです）、思いがけない、しかも簡単な料理方法に出会えます。