Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

[alison]

suck!!

Or am I stupid? I have made 2 things from their book on Italian cooking, and they were awful. I should have been able to tell just based on the ingredients.

Does anyone else have bad experiences with these books?

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

No - I've never bought theirs. I've got to mention that I gave away about 90% of my cookbooks when I moved. I rarely use one. With the availability of recipes on the internet (allrecipes.com , recipezaar.com , epicurious.com ... not to mention here) I barely use my cookbooks anymore. I swear by any cook's illustrated recipe - I've never had a bad result. I love that they explain the reasons for certian ingredients - it's helps you know whether or not you can leave out something you don't think you'll like.

I have and occaisionally use Rachel Ray 30 minute meals 2, but other than that I stick to CI or my cousin's cookbook.

[alison]

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

But the pictures are so pretty in the WS books. My mom got me one for roasting a few years ago that is really good, and I saw the Italian one at Costco for under $20. :huh: I have a good Italian cookbook that I bought in Germany, but it's a PITA to do all the conversions.

All of my colleagues eat out. I'm the only one who brings lunch.

[alison]

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

Hmm.

What are you looking to make? I make really good Italian food. I'm not Italian, but I've had a little in me from time to time.

Have you ever gotten that pick up line? It's one of my favorites.

I want to make sauces. I also want to make osso buco (but that isn't politically correct, I know...). Mostly, I want to make pasta sauces.

[alison]

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

I'll put together some of my tastier recipes. Do you eat seafood? Also, I have to say that Giada on Everyday Italian has never let me down. You can pull her recipes up at foodnetwork.com.

Do I eat seafood? YESSSS! I love it! I loved the freshwater fish we had when we were on vacation at Lake Como this year.
Thanks for the Giada tip - you're right, her stuff works and they're not too difficult.

Definitely post your recipes.

[GrayMatterWife]

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

I don't know if this is a technical, full-fledged hijack, but I think it comes pretty close. But it is late, so I'll risk being boo-ed off-stage by the off-topic vector of my post:

If you've had good luck with WS recipe books, awesome. I haven't tried them, pretty much due to a bias that has nothing to do with WS directly.

I am a pretty decent cook and I cook quite a bit. For my wedding shower, I was given several "Martha Stewart" cookbooks. Back then, anyway, MS was considered pretty "high end" in terms of recipe books--very Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. But, I swear, almost every single recipe was somewhere between mediocre and nope-not-again. Maybe if the ingredients hadn't cost twice as much as the ingredients for a less pretenious recipe, I would have enjoyed the results more. However, every recipe seemed to require at least one oddball, overpriced ingredient...so my expectations were sky-high. Even my DH, who loves everything I fix and never complains, said that I should stop wasting my time. The recipes were just not that remarkable.

Anyhow, from that, I have developed a bias against any "upper-crusty," "yuppy-ish"-looking recipe book--you know, the type of book that is sold in a high-end gourmet store (like WS) and looks like is it marketed to women who don't really know how to cook, but who want their never-used, granite-countered, steel applianced kitchens to be well-accessorized. I think there is a belief that cookbooks which are really gorgeous-looking go well with Viking stoves and Calphalon pans hanging from a copper ceiling mounting.

My best recipe book--always get raves on anything I fix from it--is the 1968 Betty Crocker Cookbook. This ugly orange beast with a spiral-bound spine. It is tattered and goo-stained, and a couple of the recipes even call for adding a little optional MSG (it's that old!). But nothing in it ever fails. And the technical directions (on frosting a cake, folding a pie shell, setting the table, etc.) are easy to follow and practical. My MIL gave the book to my DH when he was in college and then he gave it to me (never having used it, of course). My MIL now wants it back, because the recipes are so good. NO WAY!! You can't find books like this anymore. However, I told her I'd be very happy to photocopy the thing for her!

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

I've had mixed results at best with Martha Stewart recipes. I have not had the same experience with other "high-end" cookbooks. My one exception is her holiday cookie magazine that came out 2-3 years ago -- I've had good luck with most of those. I *think* that the WS books have different authors so it may vary by book.

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

Well, I can vouch for WS cookbooks, I have two that I've gotten some fabulous recipes out of. Not all the authors/cooks are the same for WS so it's hit or miss. One in particular, Mediterranean Cooking has done us well for many years. My husband is Turkish and I certainly can't fool him or his family when it comes to good food from this region.
And I don't find my $4.99 cookbook I bought off Amazon years ago to be pretentious or houty touty in any way. And I am certainly a very good cook.
Like all cookbooks, not every recipe will be good or easy. It really depends on what you like and how much effort you are willing to put into your meal. WS recipes are probably more labor intensive than expected.
I use my 2 WS cookbooks but I also use a plethora of others that I pick up on sale. In fact, since foodnetwork.com I rarely cook from a cookbook. it's easier to pull a recipe from the web than to search through dozens of cookbooks for a specific taste. When in the mood for salmon, I search for salmon recipes and go through all the recipes until I find one with ingredients to my liking or that I have on hand.
I prefer to cook from scratch with fresh ingredients and so I look for recipes that fit into how I cook and what taste I am currently looking for. I never use grated parmesan from a can, it's got to be the real thing. I also like diversity. I cook thai, indian, japanese and turkish and of course Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals!!
I guess my point is, don't limit yourself. Try a diversity of cookbooks or recipes from the net.

[poky]

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

My best recipe book--always get raves on anything I fix from it--is the 1968 Betty Crocker Cookbook. This ugly orange beast with a spiral-bound spine. It is tattered and goo-stained, and a couple of the recipes even call for adding a little optional MSG (it's that old!). But nothing in it ever fails. And the technical directions (on frosting a cake, folding a pie shell, setting the table, etc.) are easy to follow and practical. My MIL gave the book to my DH when he was in college and then he gave it to me (never having used it, of course). My MIL now wants it back, because the recipes are so good. NO WAY!! You can't find books like this anymore. However, I told her I'd be very happy to photocopy the thing for her!

Heh. My mom got a slightly older one of those from her sister as a wedding gift (which means she received it in the mid '60s); her sister either had another copy or had used that one, and had written notes in it, clarifying things, pointing out particularly good recipes, etc.

I hope to inherit that book; it is incredibly beat up, the cover is more duct tape than cardboard now, but it's great. I still use the strawberry glace' pie recipe from it every year (copied it out years ago); DH *loves* that pie.

[Vishenka69]

Re: Williams and Sonoma cookbooks....

I'm a die hard Barefoot Contessa fan. I can't bare to watch her on TV, but her recipes rock. I have 3 of her books and every single thing I made from it got tons of raves. I've recently got one of Mario Batali's book and some things I've tried weren't bad but he uses tons of hard to find ingredients and his ingredients lists tend to be a page long. I really want to get a pasta attachment for my mixer and try making my own pasta though.