Friday, July 24, 2015

Beyond the Cover with Bonnie Slotnick: The Good Cook Series

A dispatch from the tiny, East Village bookstore Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, where half the fun is listening to Bonnie give you her take on each vintage, out-of-print cookbook.

Today, Bonnie tells us about The Good Cook series:

"This series was published by Time-Life in the early 1980s, and I think it's their best cooking series. There are 28 volumes, each one focusing on a different subject, from eggs to pork to salads to wine to outdoor cooking to pies and pastries. About half of each book consists of really outstanding how-to photos, all in color. You might think of how-to photos as something for beginners, but I've sold hundreds of these books to chefs."

I pull a couple of the books down from the bookshelf, but am quickly, kindly scolded: You must always pull books from the spine, never ever from the top. Then, back to the series—and their spines:

"The spines of the books are different colors, so once you're familiar with the titles, you can instantly spot them on the shelf just by color. I could recite most of the pairings with my eyes closed. Preserving—scarlet! Fish—blue! Sauces—yellow! Eggs—gray!"

What cookbooks did you grow up with? Tell us in the comments!



from Food52 http://ift.tt/1DBEPWD

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