Cookbook facts for kids
A cookbook is a special kind of book filled with recipes. It's like a guide for cooking! These books usually group recipes by the type of food, like desserts or main dishes.
Today, many cookbooks have colorful pictures. They might also give tips on buying good ingredients. Some even suggest what to use if you don't have a certain item. Cookbooks can teach you many things. This includes how to cook at home or even recipes from famous chefs. They can also show how food connects to different cultures.
Contents
What Kinds of Cookbooks Are There?
Cookbooks that help you with basic kitchen skills are sometimes called "kitchen bibles." These books first appeared a long time ago. They taught people not just recipes but also how to manage a kitchen. They were often for homemakers or household helpers. Famous examples include The Joy of Cooking from the USA. Others are La bonne cuisine de Madame E. Saint-Ange from France. The Art of Cookery was popular in the UK and USA. Il cucchiaio d'argento is from Italy. And A Gift to Young Housewives comes from Russia. These books became important guides for their national foods.
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Cookbooks can also tell stories about the people who wrote them. They show what life was like when they were written. For example, during the time of factories and new inventions, many cookbooks started including recipes for quick, ready-made foods. This shows how society was changing. Some cookbooks are also like step-by-step guides. They teach new cooks basic ideas and cooking methods. In families, people often collect old family recipes into their own special cookbooks.
In Western countries, cookbooks often group main dishes by their main ingredient. For example, all chicken recipes might be together. But in Japanese cookbooks, recipes are often grouped by how they are cooked. This could be fried foods, steamed foods, or grilled foods. Both types of cookbooks also have sections for things like soups or sweets.
Cookbooks from Around the World
Cookbooks about food from other countries come in two main types. One type is a cookbook from another culture, simply translated into a new language. The other type explains recipes from a different culture for a new audience. These books often explain the ingredients and cooking methods. They might also share stories about the culture behind the food. This helps readers understand the recipes better.
For example, Cocina Criollo is a popular Puerto Rican cookbook. It was written by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli. It includes traditional Puerto Rican dishes like mofongo and pasteles. This cookbook became very popular in the United States. It has been printed many times, including in English.
Cookbooks for Professional Chefs
Professional cookbooks are made for chefs and students learning to cook. They are often used as textbooks in cooking schools. These books have recipes and techniques. But they also cover things like how to serve food and how a kitchen should work. They often deal with very large amounts of food. For example, they might show how to make sauces by the liter. Or how to prepare meals for many people at a big event.
Some famous professional cookbooks today include Le guide culinaire by Escoffier. Another is The Professional Chef by the Culinary Institute of America. But these types of books have been around for a long time. In medieval times, there were books like Taillevent's Viandier.
Cookbooks on One Topic
Many cookbooks focus on just one thing. This could be a specific ingredient, a cooking method, or a type of dish. For example, there are books just about curries or pizza. Some books are even for a special group, like recipes for kids. Jack Monroe, for instance, writes cookbooks with low-cost recipes.
Popular topics for these single-subject books include grilling or barbecue. There are also many books on baking or outdoor cooking. Some books even try to copy recipes from popular restaurants. This is called "recipe cloning."
Community Cookbooks
Community cookbooks are a special type of cookbook. They are also known as compiled, regional, or fundraising cookbooks. These books often share recipes from home cooks. They show local traditions, family recipes, and even local history.
For example, Sondra Gotlieb wrote cookbooks about Canadian food culture. She visited homes in different regions. She collected recipes and learned about how people cooked. She also observed their traditions. This helped her create a full cookbook based on Canadian communities. The company Gooseberry Patch has been publishing community-style cookbooks since 1992.
Cookbooks by Famous Chefs
Cookbooks can also share the food of a specific chef or restaurant. Many of these books are written by chefs with popular TV shows or restaurants. They often become part of a long series of books. These series can be released over many years.
Some famous chef-authors include Delia Smith, Julia Child, and James Beard. Others are Nigella Lawson, Claudia Roden, and Madhur Jaffrey. Even in ancient Rome, there was a famous cookbook called De re coquinaria. It was written by someone named Apicius.
Images for kids
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This is a page from De re coquinaria, an old Roman cookbook.
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These are 18th-century recipes for biscuits from a private collection.
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This picture is from Modern Cookery for Private Families by Eliza Acton, published in 1871.
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This Norwegian immigrant cookbook was published in the United States in 1899.
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This page is from The Forme of Cury, a cookbook from the 14th century. It was written by the cooks of King Richard II.
See also
In Spanish: Libro de cocina para niños
