Recommend a CookBook for My Budding Chef

[STEbbq]

So my soon-to-be 14 year old daughter is expanding her cooking repertoire quite a bit recently. She has been baking chocolate chip and double chocolate chip cookies from scratch for a while, and now does grilled cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, brownies, cookie dough, and butter noodles. She has high standards especially on the cookies and has worked to perfect them over time and make tweaks.

So I was considering a cookbook. I can either go general or lean into the baking or books on both subjects. I’d prefer to avoid books with kids in the title or teens because she considers herself a cook and a chef. However, starting her off with Salt, Fat,Acid, and Heaf isn’t the way to go, so there has to be a balance of text and stuff to excite a teenager. Also, basic kitchen instructions are handy.

We don’t really have a cookbook that would be well suited as they tend to be specific to certain cuisines, breads, countries, or she doesn’t care about the TV show (I love Somebody Feed Phil!). She also wants to make her own things she likes versus things we suggest. Currently, she is mainly searching Google for recipes she wants to make versus following specific chefs or something on YouTube or whatever.

Here are what I have found thus far:

https://a.co/d/19ED4if

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MSG41LT

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062349813

What I have been wondering is if something like Julia Child or another classic chef might have a cookbook that might be of interest. What are your thoughts?

Edit: My wife has suggested perhaps a more complicated dessert book.

[JCBBQ]

Maybe a simple pasta cookbook? Something she’s gonna want to eat. Not too complicated. I don’t have anything in mind but that’s probably the direction I go if I had the same situation.

[captainlee]

Get something simple to start with. I ordered a bread baking book thinking it would help. It was written so technically it was far beyond what I wanted to get into. You don't want to frustrate her with a higher level book.

[Oak Smoke]

Consider The Joy of Cooking. When I discovered I had to learn to cook it saved me. The 1975 edition I have teaches not only recipes but how to cook them. If it says to braise something it will refer you to a page that teaches you how to braise. Great book and has stayed useful my whole life.

[HawkerXP]

+2

[yakima]

Yes. We have 2 copies. I got tired of my wife's many bookmarks, got my own copy, and wrote MINE in marker on the cover.

[CandySueQ]

This book is the BEST for starter chefs to be!

[RonB]

King Arthur Flour tends to lean towards less experienced bakers, so that might be a good start. Here are 3 you tubers that might interest her. They seem to lean a bit more on the basic side.

I enjoy watching this guy, and his recipes have always worked for me, (and I love his https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHWjiQ7B-g (cheesecake brownie)recipe).

https://www.youtube.com/@PreppyKitchen

Brian Lagerstrom will often make the same item several ways to compare. I especially like recommending his https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL9UfafFZgoto , (baguettes 3 ways), to beginning bakers because it shows what you can do with the same dough handled 3 different way.

The Chain Baker does a lot of comparisons of slightly different ways to make the same thing. She might find him interesting.

[Waiting for the Worms]

Brian Lagerstrom's Good, Better, Best videos are great at showing how just a little change to the basic recipe can make a big difference in the outcome.

[skipsdaughter]

I gave our nieces and nephews the Americas test kitchen young chefs cookbook at the start of the pandemic and think they liked it.
My two cents, for what it's worth: There are a few cookbooks I loved, but especially when starting, cookbooks that have pictures help so I knew what I was going for. I also started with Rachael Ray cookbooks because I liked watching her on the food Network and the recipes weren't overly complicated. They let me see what flavors/spices made something Mexican vs Mediterranean, etc. so, if there are any cooking shows she enjoys, it might be nice to go toward that personality.
Good luck!

[Smoker_Boy]

skipsdaughter Rachel Ray rocks.
"I cook and I chat."

[Grillin Dad]

+1 on the ATK Young Chief's Cookbook. My MIL gave this to my 6 year old son. Most of it is waaaay over his head, but would be good for a beginning cook. Heck, most if the recipes in it look good in general. It's looks to be pretty broad, so if she really wants a baking book, there may be better options. But for a beginning cookbook, it's pretty legit.

[Huskee]

Definitely ATK! They're the AmazingRibs.com of general cooking & baking.

[lostclusters]

The Fannie Farmer Boston School of Cooking cookbook. I am not sure of the exact title as I am currently away from my home. I recommend this because not only are the recipes great but they show you how to pick and properly prepare and assemble the ingredients. It was my first cookbook, recommended by a friend, and I can not image a better first cookbook.

The older editions have better tasting recipes. The newer editions have the healthier versions. The older edition's Beef Burgundy is one of my favs. The newer editions do not contain crisped fat back.

[Carolyn]

I have a reprint of "The Original Boston Cooking School Cook Book" **1896** It is kind of verbose like a lot of the old cookbooks. I don't know what the newer versions look like.

[MBMorgan]

I'd probably go for two things rather than one:

1. A pretty keepsake cookbook that you can sign, wrap, gift, etc., and that she can keep forever ... and
2. Her very own ATK membership ... where she'll have access to pretty much all things cooking, including online lessons.

FWIW, I think that all three of your suggestions in your opening post are good ones ...

[Willy]

How about either the ATK or Cook's Country/Cook's Illustrated compilations? Kenji's "The Food Lab is another.

[RobertC]

Years ago when my now-twenty-something was about that age, I got her a subscription to Cook's Illustrated. There's enough variety in the recipes that she could almost always find something interesting, there's discussion of techniques and why one does them, and the illustrations are pretty clear. Recently I saw that she'd kept those issues on her bookshelf (along with other cookbooks she's acquired since then).

[ssennott]

The Food Lab is a great book it is also one that could be passed down much like the Joy of Cooking.

[ecowper]

Ironically, our budding chef (not so budding anymore, he's 26 now) started off with Julia Child. Yes, sounds crazy, but he told us that he wanted to cook and he wanted to cook from her cookbook. He moved on to Alton Brown. So, he never really started "easy".

Adding to that, I am really loving Chasing Smoke and your daughter might, too. It's storytelling, great pictures, new cultures, and solid recipes that are explained well for both stove and grill.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1911641328/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Carolyn]

Make a trip to the local bookstore and let her thumb through some recipe books, and she can pick something out, then get her some baking or cooking supplies to call her own for a present.
or the subscription idea is good too, especially if she likes to watch videos. I can't recommend any paid subscriptions. I just have a few home cooks and a couple of pro-cooks I like to watch.

[ecowper]

Once Nathan had cooked one dish and was prepping for his next, we started buying him his own cooking gear. By the time he was a sophomore in college, he had a well equipped basic kitchen and was able to cook 3 meals a day for himself, plus prep, menu plan, etc. THat was really because of his desire and interest. We just encouraged and supported it.

[Mosca]

Is she studious, and does she want to learn how and why? Or does she want to find something that tastes good and see if she can cook it?

A lot of kids today learn as much, or more, by seeing and listening. Maybe an online class would be good as well, or classes at a local community college.

[STEbbq]

That is a good question. A big part of it is also that she is enjoying cooking with our French exchange student so I think they are more or less cooking things they want to eat right now so to speak. I am looking at some French dessert books now as well.

[Kascon11]

Anything from Cooks Illustrated. I find they are more about technique you can adapt most of their recopies to ingredients you like, but if you follow the method you make good food. If your local library has old version of the Cooks Illustrated magazines that is a good place to start.