Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857–1915)

Revised with additions. 1st pub 1904. Hilariously bad b&w food photography. Pretty dec cover. Arguably, Barbara Haber said in a panel that this might be Ms. Farmer's best book, with her voice coming through the loudest as she had been a sickly person since childhood.

The best parts of this cookbook are not the recipes, but all the extra stuff. The beginning of every category has a section of techniques and tips. The book also heavily focuses on how to make the most out of your ingredients and leftovers, transforming one dish into several other meals. There's a great index and even a glossary of ingredients and kitchen equipment. This is not so much a recipe book (though there are great recipes) as it is a book about cooking and efficiently operating a show more kitchen. The recipes included in the book mostly require simple ingredients that most people already have. Most of the recipes are time-tested as they've been in the book since it was originally published in the nineteenth century by Fannie Farmer herself. I've only had this book for about a week now, and I can't put it down. show less

Twelfth Edition, 1979. I have a shelf of vegetarian cookbooks around, but this is my go-to cookbook, on hand in my kitchen everyday. "Forget what you've read elsewhere. The secret in making good popovers is to start them in a cold oven." Don't worry Fannie, I've never read about popovers elsewhere, and I probably never will.

This was in my family from 1946. Passed on every generation since. Invaluable, even if many preparation details are out of date.