McCall's

This is another old friend I've had for over 60 years. It's so much fun to refer to this book with its black, blue and white theme, it's little illustrations, and it's upbeat tempo. It even contains low-sodium recipes, low-calories recipes, and a calorie chart. It's a charming, informative book. Thank goodness for old-style classic cookbooks

This may not be the cookbook classic that Joy of Cooking is, but the type is larger. Since this was the first cookbook that I ever bought (from the college bookstore) I still have fond memories of many of the recipes and rely on old favorites such as Puffy French Toast, Banana Cake, Perfect Muffins, Corn Fritters, and Perfect Beef Stroganoff. Just ignore the inappropriate uses of pineapple.

The projects are fine (using scraps primarily as appliqués), but there are no step-by-step pictures, and the reader has to scale up the very tiny templates by hand.

A good Comprehensive guide to beginners to American cookery. My first cookbook when I was young. It has been well used. It has such things as cooking terminology, how to carve meats, calorie chart, how to decorate a cake, and basic recipes for many dishes. Also has a small section on International dishes.