Joy of Cooking (Hardcover)

by Irma S. Rombauer (Author), Marion Rombauer Becker (Author), Ginnie Hofmann (Illustrator), Ikki Matsumoto (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Since its first private printing in 1931, The Joy of Cooking has been teaching Americans how to cook. Craig Claiborne calls it "a masterpiece of clarity" and Julia Child says it's the one book she'd keep if she could only have one English title on the shelf. The nearly 5,000 recipes are handily organized by meal and ingredient, and no cooking instruction goes unexplained, so you can finally understand the difference between poaching and braising. The book includes nutritional information as well as an extremely helpful list of measures and equivalents. You'll find a version of every recipe your mother ever cooked, along with straightforward instructions for cooking more exotic specialties such as turtles and muskrats.

Review
James Beard

The classic work, which covers the entire gamut of kitchen procedures and is easy to use.

Cecily Brownstone

Important as is the information in this encyclopedic cookbook, it's the imprint of Irma Rombauer's and Marion Rombauer Becker's personalities that makes Joy of Cooking the best loved cookbook to come out of these United States.

Julia Child

...it is definitely number one on my list...the one book of all cookbooks in English that I would have on my shelf -- if I could have but one.

Craig Claiborne

The finest basic cookbook available. It is a masterpiece of clarity.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 928 pages
• Publisher: The Bobbs-Merrill Company; 1975 Revised edition (May 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0026045702
• ISBN-13: 978-0026045704
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,020 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Original and Best, October 9, 2001

By	Christian P. Johnson (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

(But don't buy the spiralbound!)

I'd been looking for the old, good, real Joy for a while, and found it in the spiral-bound format at a certain unnamed competitor of Amazon. Bought it on the spot, and almost immediately regretted it - what thin, cheap paper! It's like trying to read Kleenex. I left it at my beach share for the summer and the humidity alone made the thing swell noticeably.

Now, as for the contents: Joy is not for the contemporary "beginning cook," since microwaves have ensured that today's beginners know nothing at all about cooking (indeed, judging from some of the comments here, they barely seem to handle the concepts of "reading" or "visualizing without pictures"). The value is for the cook having both basic skills and the inclination to educate him- or herself. Irma and daughter Marion make wonderful companions, providing a strong, sympathetic editorial voice throughout. (Unlike the dreadful 1997 rip-off perpretrated by greedy, grave-robbing grandson Ethan, who consigned the actual writing over to a 40-odd-person committee - and it shows.) Especially helpful are longish sections detailing cooking processes and ingredients, which provide a cook with the wherewithal to vary recipes as needed.

The recipes themselves are mostly classics, with some for the ambitious and others that are perfectly suitable for day-to-day. A few even reflect changing diets, with lower-fat and -calorie variations, but the emphasis is definitely on standbys.

This is a book to learn with and to treasure. Just do yourself a favor and get the hard-cover!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a joy forever, December 15, 1999

By	b-fahrn (Asheville NC USA) - See all my reviews

I use a well thumbed, 1946 edition with lots of pencil notes in my mother's handwriting. My daughter saw it and asked if she could have it because my cooking is notoriously "creative" and she could not believe that I certainly do use it at least for startoffs. I ordered her a new copy from Amazon. She is now overseas as a missionary and says it is extreemly useful because it EXPLAINS how and what, regardless of where you live or what is selling in the local market. It includes almost everything (except foreign or exotic)but has fascinating comments and little histories. If you want a straight forward, practical and somewhat old fashioned (very few quick mixes or prepackaged ingredients)this is a great all time PLEASURABLE book to use. Not a book with pictures, but several variations on the same page with cross references.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thirty years later, it's still the bible, January 11, 2006

By	desert traveler (New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This is my second copy of Joy of Cooking. I had the 70's printing, but it must've gotten lost during a move. I thought I was buying the 80's printing when I recently ordered it from Amazon, but I got another 70's one. But that's fine; It's still the bible. My mother swore by the 1952 Betty Crocker Cookbook, I cook according to Irma Rombauer.