Best Recipe Sources

[T.G]

I've found good recipes in all forms of publication, books, magazines, newspapers, online, TV and spoken word. I've also found a lot of garbage, and as can be expected, a lot of duplication on the internet sources.

Books and magazines tend to be more filtered, as unlike the internet, where anyone can publish anything that they might want to believe is edible, books and magazines are usually well revised, filtered and checked so that very little "junk" ends up in them, along with a much lower incidence of duplications and plagiarism. I've found that newspapers are even more filtered than books and magazines because they only have the room to run a few recipes. Some of the stuff from restaurant chefs that I've found in NY Times and LA Times food sections is just phenomenal.

One thing wonderful about some books and many TV shows is that they also show a technique, something that doesn't often make it into internet recipes.

When dealing with the internet, because it's so easy to bring up dozens of variants on a dish in mere seconds and have them all in front of me at once, I tend to look at quite a few of them for that particular dish and evaluate them in my head versus each other and often times, I end up combining parts or components of various recipes along with my own twists to come up with the final product.

Originally Posted by T.G

I feel that it depends on what you are looking for at that moment.

I've found good recipes in all forms of publication, books, magazines, newspapers, online, TV and spoken word. I've also found a lot of garbage, and as can be expected, a lot of duplication on the internet sources. Books and magazines tend to be more filtered. Unlike the internet, where anyone can publish anything that they might want to believe is a recipe, books and magazines are usually well revised, filtered and checked so that very little "junk" ends up in them. Newspapers are even more filtered than books and magazines because they only have the room to run a few recipes. Some of the stuff I've found in NY Times and LA Times food sections is just phenomenal.

One thing wonderful about books and some TV shows is that they also show a technique, something that doesn't often make it into internet recipes.

When dealing with the internet, because it's so easy to bring up dozens of variants on a dish in mere seconds and have them all in front of me at once, I tend to look at quite a few of them for that particular dish and evaluate them in my head versus each other and often times, I end up combining parts or components of various recipes along with my own twists to come up with the final product.

I kind of feel overwhelmed with all the recipes that come up in an internet search. It's crazy how many recipes are out there for just one dish. I would like to think that there is one great book for just Italian, or French cuisine that can cover the classic dishes.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by ChicagoWhiteSox

I kind of feel overwhelmed with all the recipes that come up in an internet search. It's crazy how many recipes are out there for just one dish. I would like to think that there is one great book for just Italian, or French cuisine that can cover the classic dishes.

Then I would think that books are probably your best bet.

For Italian, I would recommend "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian" by the late Jeff Smith. Wonderful book - four hundred something authentic and old world recipes all adapted for the American kitchen, history & cooking techniques. I've been using my copy since it was first released about 20 years ago now. I'm pretty sure it's long since out of print, so, if you buy, I would recommend the hardcover version, over the paperback, as the paperbacks are probably falling apart at this point.

Seafood is pretty varied, do you have a particular country style you might be interested in or are you just looking for something that hits recipes from many geographic regions and cultures?

[T.G]

Originally Posted by T.G

(...)
For Italian, I would recommend "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian" by the late Jeff Smith. Wonderful book - four hundred something authentic and old world recipes all adapted for the American kitchen, history & cooking techniques. I've been using my copy since it was first released about 20 years ago now. I'm pretty sure it's long since out of print, so, if you buy, I would recommend the hardcover version, over the paperback, as the paperbacks are probably falling apart at this point.
(...)

Looks like hard cover versions are on ebay starting at 99 cents + S/H.

And I was off on the age, it's only a 17 year old book now. I must have been thinking of one of his other books that I also own.

Originally Posted by T.G

Then I would think that books are probably your best bet.

For Italian, I would recommend "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian" by the late Jeff Smith. Wonderful book - four hundred something authentic and old world recipes all adapted for the American kitchen, history & cooking techniques. I've been using my copy since it was first released about 20 years ago now. I'm pretty sure it's long since out of print, so, if you buy, I would recommend the hardcover version, over the paperback, as the paperbacks are probably falling apart at this point.

Seafood is pretty varied, do you have a particular country style you might be interested in or are you just looking for something that hits recipes from many geographic regions and cultures?

Mediterranean I would say. A Southern Spain influenced book would be cool, or even Italy or France. I'm sure a book that covers all Mediterranean cuisine would be incredibly thick, and expensive for that matter.

[Gophernut]

Originally Posted by T.G

For Italian, I would recommend "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian" by the late Jeff Smith. Wonderful book - four hundred something authentic and old world recipes all adapted for the American kitchen, history & cooking techniques. I've been using my copy since it was first released about 20 years ago now. I'm pretty sure it's long since out of print, so, if you buy, I would recommend the hardcover version, over the paperback, as the paperbacks are probably falling apart at this point.

One of my absolute favorite cook books of all time.
I also use allrecipes.com for a lot of othere family friendly recipes.

Originally Posted by T.G

Then I would think that books are probably your best bet.

For Italian, I would recommend "The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian" by the late Jeff Smith. Wonderful book - four hundred something authentic and old world recipes all adapted for the American kitchen, history & cooking techniques. I've been using my copy since it was first released about 20 years ago now. I'm pretty sure it's long since out of print, so, if you buy, I would recommend the hardcover version, over the paperback, as the paperbacks are probably falling apart at this point.

This is one of my favorites. I use the encyclopedia of Italian cooking a lot too(will look up the info when I get home).

I also like magazines. They have tested recipes with details on technique, plus shiny pictures.