Len's News, Notes, and Stuff

Good Cookbooks Have Named Authors

I spend money on cook­books even though there are free recipes online, and free recipes in papers and mag­a­zines.  I spend money on cook­books with named authors even though the com­pi­la­tions by Best Cook­ing Ever Mag­a­zine are cheaper, and com­pi­la­tions titled Best Asian Food Ever are easy to find.  Why do I do this?  Because cook­books by named authors are better.

Bet­ter how?  Fair ques­tion.  I find that the recipes are bet­ter, that’s the most impor­tant thing.  I find that I learn more from them, that’s some­thing worth keep­ing in mind.  And finally, I enjoy read­ing them.

When you put your name on some­thing, you are stak­ing your rep­u­ta­tion on the qual­ity of that item.  In the case of cook­book authors, they’re not only stak­ing their rep­u­ta­tions but also their future income.  If you buy one of their cook­books and the recipes suck, you’re not going to buy any of their other ones.

So why are the recipes in cook­books with named authors usu­ally bet­ter?  Because a good author will have tested and tweaked the recipes until they work well and give the results they want to pro­duce — and which you want to pro­duce by fol­low­ing the recipe!  Yes, they are skill­ful and knowl­edge­able, but they have also put in the time and con­sid­er­able effort to fine-tune the recipes.  Com­pi­la­tion recipes will not have ben­e­fited from this kind of effort.  Free recipes you find online or in a mag­a­zine or news­pa­per also likely will not.

For exam­ple, I tried a free recipe for pump­kin muffins that was pretty hor­ri­ble.  I didn’t real­ize it until I was halfway through the recipe and the process that who­ever worked for the news­pa­per where I got the recipe from clearly had no idea what the hell they were writ­ing.  The ingre­di­ents list and the instruc­tions did not match — an ingre­di­ent appeared in the direc­tions out of nowhere, late in the game and with­out not­ing how much to add.  Thanks for noth­ing!  But wait, that’s exactly what I paid for that recipe, so why am I com­plain­ing about get­ting what I paid for?

Then what about learn­ing?  You learn lit­tle or noth­ing from a com­pi­la­tion cook­book that just lists recipe after recipe, with or with­out pretty pic­tures.  I pre­fer cook­books with­out pretty pic­tures over­all, but what I love about real cook­books is the author telling you what’s going on behind the scenes.  Why is some­thing done a cer­tain way?  What’s the his­tory behind this dish?  What are we aim­ing for with this dish or that dish?  What can be sub­sti­tuted, and what can’t be?  Why?

Com­pi­la­tion cook­books are exer­cises in econ­omy.  They are meant to be cheaply pro­duced so that the pub­lisher can make a quick buck.  They’re really not there to edu­cate you.  But a good cook­book by a good author is an edu­ca­tional expe­ri­ence.  You will learn from the chef.  It’s like a lit­tle tuto­r­ial, and read­ing and try­ing the recipes will actu­ally make you a bet­ter cook or chef your­self.  But fol­low a canned com­pi­la­tion recipe or some­thing you clipped online or off a news­pa­per, and chances are you’ll learn very lit­tle.  You may get good at fol­low­ing that recipe, but chances are you won’t have learned any­thing really transferrable.

Now what about sub­jec­tive enjoy­ment?  I like per­son­al­ity.  I like it when a book has per­son­al­ity because the author has per­son­al­ity.  Every chef in the world — you, me, the celebrity, the guy at the local restau­rant — has a per­son­al­ity that comes forth in their cook­ing and in their words.  I enjoy read­ing the anec­dotes, the words of wis­dom and and words of admo­ni­tion from named authors.  It’s like being there with them.  You get a sense for who they are.  You get a sense for what they value.  You get a sense for how they think.

And do you know what that means?  It means I know which book to pick up for ideas when I’m look­ing for a cer­tain kind of approach, or if I’m feel­ing in a cer­tain kind of mood and have a cer­tain kind of atti­tude in mind for what I want to make.

You don’t get that from com­pi­la­tions and free recipes, because they are by nature devoid of char­ac­ter and per­son­al­ity.  And per­son­ally, I get very lit­tle enjoy­ment from being around peo­ple or items with­out personality.

Hav­ing a named author on the cover is no guar­an­tee of a good cook­book.  Lack of a named author, though, is close to a guar­an­tee that what you have in your hands is soul­less, bland, and will do lit­tle to improve your skill and knowledge.

In my expe­ri­ence, good cook­books have named authors.  That’s why I’ll look a lit­tle harder, spend a few bucks, and get good cook­books from good authors.