Customer Reviews

The 1997 Joy of Cooking

5 star:		(143)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(33)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I was saddened when I first read the new edition of Joy. The original character of the book, the reasons you ran to the shelf to pick it up, have been brutally edited out of this edition. This was the book that told you how to roast a turkey, make candy or cook preserves. I remember when I was young and I'd picked a huge batch of strawberries, I immediately got out my mother's dog eared copy and made strawberry preserves which were delicious. You can imagine my consternation when I was browsing through my "fancy" new edition, looking for that old recipe for preserves. IT WAS GONE. In it's place were recipes for Pad Thai and Pho. I love Asian food. I have several Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian cookbooks which introduce me properly to those cuisines by discussing their ingredients and the character of the food in detail. Exotic cuisines are not the reason I bought Joy. I bought Joy because I want the basics of cooking at my fintertips and I'm afraid some of those basics are gone. My recommendation: the 20 year old edition is still available. Buy that instead.

While I have dozens of cookbooks with exotic recipes, I've always relied on 'Joy' for those basics (like canning, preserving, freezing, substituting) and tips you can't find anywhere else. Sure, the new 'Joy' has discovered the food processor and microwave, but has discarded many of those tried and true basics along the way. If you want to replace your worn out, dog earred old copy, get the regular 'Joy', not the new, 'enhanced' one.

I liked the new slant of the Joy of Cooking, and thought I'd have a hard time giving up the old standbys from the 1975 ed. but reviewing the index, I realized that I rarely if ever made most of the dishes that the authors eliminated. I do miss the descriptions of different vegetables fruits, and techniques that I don't typically use on a daily basis, and I think this is a deficit in the latest edition, however, looking at the recipes, they are ones that I will more likely use. Another issue that I have with the new edition is the poor typeset. Ingredients are not clearly identified as in the last ed. where they were in bold type and indented, and most of the pages look run-on. I know that there are many more recipes than in the past, but the format and the index are sorely lacking and you really have to have a good idea of the ingredients or the final product to find the recipe you are looking for. The book is quite run-on and difficult to read, ho=wever, the recipes are widely varied and definitely TODAY

I remember joking with my mother about how if you wanted to roast a goat, you could find it in the Joy of Cooking. In other words, it was thorough to a fault, and somewhat esoteric at times. When my mother gave me a copy of the New Joy of Cooking, I was thrilled to see that the thoroughness of the new version had been applied to the tastes of cooks in the 1990s. I have found the cookbook especially helpful in providing instructions on techniques for baked goods and it contains one of the most delicious sets of marinade/rub recipies I have found. I also appreciate how a recipie has been included for almost every fruit and vegetable available in North America - I found an okra recipie to satisfy my son's curiosity after he had read about okra in a book. It was fabulous, and even the okra-haters had to admit that Joy of Cooking had given them a new appreciation for the much-maligned veggie. In response to those horrified by the changes, those of us born after 1965 no longer divide our diets between "our food" (meat, potatoes, etc.) and "their food" (pad thai, tofu, tapas, chorizo, etc.) I appreciate a general cookbook that gives me access to recipies that encompass the full range of my diet. New Joy editors, you will be vindicated and celebrated for this great new volume!

As a long time afficionado of the first Joy, I was wary to buy this one, especially after closely following the making of it. I wasn't sure a collaborative effort among some twenty chefs -- two or three per chapter -- could equal Irma's ability to make good cooking easily understood, even to a rank beginner, as I was when I was first introduced to Joy. The new edition has many good changes. It has greatly expanded the non red-meat sections in keeping with today's lifestyles. Many of the recipes also include ideas for lowering the fat and cholesterol. The problems come in when a beginning cook tries to make something as simple as scrambled eggs, and is instructed to first read "About scrambled eggs" which delivers an interesting, but complicated version of how French master chefs prepare this dish. While I do not doubt the excellence of a true French-style scrambled egg, in my mind the instructions for making scrambled eggs should read "Whisk eggs in a small bowl. Pour into a heated pan, stirring frequently with a spatula, until firm." The original Joy, written from the perspective of a midwestern housewife for other midwestern housewives, made cooking seem easy. If you had a saucepan and a pantry, you had dinner. Irma gave suggestions on how to stretch a budget by turning leftovers into casseroles, and even advocated using canned foods as time-savers. This new Joy reads more like a gourmet cookbook than the "all-purpose" one it claims to be. However, if you already own the original Joy of Cooking, especially an older edition (mine is from 1951!), the New Joy is a fantastic supplement. It may be the only cookbook in which it is possible to find both a recipe for a French rolled omelet, and tuna casserole made with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup.

In our household, we use this book everyday. If we want to do a cheesecake, a roast, a bruschetta, this Joy gets opened. It's got solid recipes that are useful for the beginner.

That said, if you prefer a reference with more charm, more insightful writing, and better recipes, this Joy doesn't add up. It doesn't inform the reader about the current lifestyle that previous editions did. This one is more antiseptic. I'm not sure if that reflects the time we live in or the various writers' vision of the late 90s. In any case, this edition is great for a novice and has a place in all kitchens.

I have owned the 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking since it was published, and have had a love/hate relationship with it ever since. It is the encyclopedia I consult when I want to know about a new herb, a cooking method, or for equivalents and substitutions. But sadly, for all it's thousand plus recipes, I found very few I could really use. Just look up the recipe for a "roast beef sandwich", and you'll see what I mean. The closest thing to a basic beef stew is "Beef Stew Gaston" which starts out whith salt pork. I was not going to cook with salt pork in 1975, and I'm sure glad it has been left out of the new edition. I really like the new edition. It is the one I wish I had when I was starting out. Some of the criticisms I have read here are unfounded. Like the one claiming there is no entry for "potatoes" in the index. There are nearly two columns! Perhaps it is the fault of the type face, which I agree is a little more difficult to read. But then, I now need reading glasses to read just about anything these days. The only recommendations I would give to earn that last star: Make the ingredients bolder so they stand out. And please be sure it will hold up to many years of use.

This is just an ordinary cookbook compared to the original Joy of Cooking. I'm not sure who they thought they were writing for when they wrote this addition, but it wasn't the average, relatively-inexperienced home cook.

I have both editions, and since the original is falling apart I usually consult the newer addition first. Almost always, I find that the information I want isn't in the new addition, but it is in the old edition.

For example, want to know how to roast chestnuts? Has your honey crystallized and do you want to know how to reliquify it? Do you not always have every ingredient you need for a recipe on hand and would you like to know what you can use as a substitute for an ingredient you're missing? Well, the answers to all of these questions are in the old edition, but not the new.

Answering basic kitchen questions is what the original Joy of Cooking excelled at. When this book was updated they added lots of trendy new recipes and took out most of the information that made the original a classic.

The original Joy of Cooking is the basic reference text every kitchen should have. And a fabulous supplement to it -- one that will add to your ability to prepare basic dishes really well -- is Cook's Illustrated's The New Best Recipe. Skip the All New, All Purpose Joy of Cooking unless you want to cook modern, trendy dishes, rather than classic, familiar favorites.

I own this book and my most treasured 1953 edition of Joy of Cooking (courtesy of my Grandma). Both are great books. I think the best all purpose cookbooks I own. I love the simplicity and moderness of this book. The recipes are simple yet superb. You notice a chefs touch in the narrating and advices given. My 1953 edition is more woman to woman talking (not that that is bad, I love that about my old book, just stating the differences). As I wrote above, this book is and excellent source of great recipes, detailed explanations about ingredients, the pastry section is very good....Well, to tell you I've worn it out in three years. By itself, it is a great book, but comparing to the old Joy, I do miss the Ice Cream Recipes, Candy Recipes, Canning Recipes and the countless varieties derived in each section. My old Joy certainly covers other areas overlooked bye this book, old fashion traditions that have taken a less significant toll these days but still, is invaluable for die hard fans like me. I sugest owning both. It never hurt my kitchen having to many a cookbook lying around (except to my husbands increasingly growing tummy). The international recipes in this book are a refreshing and delicious novelty that compliments the old Joy and I do find that certain ingredients (essentially vegetables) are extremely well explained in this book. And the stabilized Meringue is superb on any Meringue Pie....the chocolate Mousse.....the angel Bars.....all the Eggplant recipes...I can go on and on...
By all means buy it and try to get a hold of the old Joy. Both are the reigning Bibles of all purpose cooking in my kitchen.

This is a fabulous book. I strongly disagree with those who stated that the recipies are "difficult to understand." I use this book for at least 50% of my meals. My mother and sister also have this book and agree with me completely. I have used it for everything from basic marinades to complicated pastries, etc. If you really want grandma's beef stew, use the old Joy. That's not what this is. I also appreciate all the expert advice that the author sought.