This book covered everything from basic cooking, setting a tabel to skinning a squirrel correctly. Some of the recipes are a bit dated, but provides a good foundation for anyone whether they are new to cooking or have been cooking for years. ( )

Great starter and advanced cook book. ( )

This is the best cookbook I can think of, although I've got many great ones from the French. Every time I need to look up a certain dish, I'll look in here first. But I must say I don't like the later versions; when I got one I quickly gave it away. ( )

From boiling water to laying out a kitchen garden to the intricacies of puff paste, Irma has always been the best at training the ably competent in the kitchen, with grace and good humor, and occasionally paper ruffles in the ears! ( )

I've had better organized cookbooks. This did not live up to the hype of other people. ( )

This is one of the great "dear dumb housewife" books on the market. Although we own a number of cookbooks, this plays a central role in our kitchen for those out of the ordinary, or very ordinary cooking tasks that aren't covered elsewhere. A necessary addition to any kitchen. ( )

Classic! Indispensable!
A "must have" reference book for every kitchen. ( )

This is my all-time favorite cookbook. I feel like the author is chatting with you - sometimes telling you about the recipe, sometimes letting you choose between two or three ingredients. My sister didn't like Joy because of the choices to be made in a recipe - I found it wonderful.
I almost always go to Joy first even though I have many other cookbooks. Quite a few of my standbys are from Joy (pancakes, waffles, apple crisp, pie dough, pecan puffs, standing rib roast....etc.)

My original copy is falling apart, but I found another copy of this edition, in pristine condition, at the Thrift Shop, and snagged it up.

I also have the facsimile edition of the original Joy and it's fun to look at, but not my first choice. ( )

A standard which I fall back on for reference more than for recipes, but still it teaches so much about ingredients and cooking techniques one can hardly do without it. ( )

Every kitchen's got to have it - a great "go to" when you need some help with dinner. ( )

Very helpful for some things. A great source as a reference. But such complicated recipes! Best as a supplement or reference cookbook, not an everday, what-to-make-for dinner sort of book.

CMB ( )

Yes, it's (sort of) middle-brow, but it's really good. If you want to start cooking but are scared of the kitchen, this book is probably the place to start. It is chock-full of digestible-sized bits of good advice. It's true, there's a great deal of information which may be extraneous, too, but after all, there are few other resources to turn to for hints on preparing opossum (a recipe I am pleased to see restored to the new 75th Anniversary edition). It speaks in plain language about dozens of matters you wouldn't think to ask until it's too late ("But I'm going to need twice that much..." "Oh no! I don't have any corn starch...!"); it's full of course of fine recipes and menus; it is democratic in the best sense, referencing most of the regional cuisine of the U.S.A., and best of all, speaking to the general reader in a commonsensical, non-mystifying and familiar way about the kitchen and what goes on there. At least fifty percent of cooking is not being intimidated; TJoC is a perfect Dumbo's-magic-feather to give you confidence, and a companionable guide along the way. Once you know that it isn't a disaster if the pasta overcooks a little bit, or that you can always make another batch of cookies, you can start to have fun. The great quality of TJoC is that it clearly savors its topic, and communicates this savor, all the while demystifying it. There are passages of real pleasure about the snappiness of snap peas or raw root vegetables, the succulence of seafood, the goodness of gravy, and why and how not to skip dessert. But before the pleasures of the table come those of the stove- and counter-top: Stirring, chopping, measuring, and yes, tasting. These are things everyone knows how to do, already; and aside from ingredients and heat, they are really all anyone needs to be able cook. TJoC is the perfect teacher of the secret recipe, an only apparently paradoxical blend of adventurousness with a modicum of garden-variety discipline. Cuisine is more than a matter of munching. It's a matter of consciousness-- of paying heed to what and how one takes into one's body. Which is to say, at bottom, it's a question of joy. ( )

If you can only have one cookbook this is IT. ( )