Recommend a CookBook for My Budding Chef

[Pobeque]

How to Cook Everything - Mark Bittman is another good one to add to the others on this thread

[PGH_RAM]

^^this^^

[Murdy]

I was going to suggest this one. We had a copy hanging around our house from the time I was young and I recall finding it interesting.

On Food and Cooking and The Food Lab would be good options too.

[Draznnl]

Food Network’s Alex Guarneschelli recently published a cookbook she co-wrote with her 16 year-old daughter.

https://www.amazon.com/Cook-Up-Moves-Family-Cookbook/dp/0593577981/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ZLK66H2RC68X&keywords=cook+it+up+alex+guarnaschelli&qid=1704317730&sprefix=Cook+it+up%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1

[PGH_RAM]

If your daughter would enjoy a book about baking, I highly recommend "BraveTart" by Stella Parks. It's got a good range of difficulty levels and Parks does a good job of explaining techniques.

I would also recommend "Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking" by Michael Ruhlman. He goes through standard recipes and teaches the ratios behind them and then shows how you can riff off of them to make your own creative dishes.

[WI Bubba]

I'm a big fan of BraveTart. She has taught me a lot about baking.

[Texas Larry]

If not already mentioned—Salt Fat Acid Heat, by Samin Nosrat

[bmillin]

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.

Speaking of Cooks Illustrated, which I fully credit for my evolution as a cook - how about a subscription rather than a book?

They can still serve as a source of info for technique.

[WI Bubba]

This is the one I got for my son when he decided to learn how to cook, but of course wouldn't even consider asking the old man for help. It helped him learn proper techniques, rather than just recipes.

[acorgihouse]

Might sound silly, but Alton Brown's Everyday Cook. It is not a new book, his cover photo has hair, but not aging either. He describes basic tools, basic pantry items, basic methods. Simple pastas, simple quickbreads, basics from chilaquiles to grilled cheese and tomato soup. Chicken salad, sliders, meatloaf. Those basics you can master easily, put together quickly, serve anybody.

[barelfly]

I have one of his books and enjoy it. I’ve cooked a number of recipes from it and they turn out great. I also think it’s a signed edition? I really enjoy AB, been years since I’ve watched some of his shows.

[glitchy]

I hesitate to suggest it because if she takes a hard interest in his work, his language in his YouTube videos can be a little rough. However, reality is if a teenager goes to school they have heard worse there most likely. I love Sam The Cooking Guy’s recipes. I think I’ve watched every video he’s released for the past two years minus maybe a couple and have a couple of his cookbooks. Even bought an autographed copy of his last book and it is the only autographed anything I have I know the location of.

Here’s why. He cooks things in a simple fashion almost always using common easy to find ingredients. He tells you why you do many things and often offers substitution suggestions or spins. He tends to experiment with trends and make things that are fun to eat and copycat recipes from popular chains. It may not be as deep or educational as some other suggestions, but might have more recipes a teenager wants to try. Especially if there’s a couple of them hanging out together. He’s definitely not going to educate you to be a Michelin star chef, but Sam does show you that cooking is an art and the rare times he bakes that it’s more of a science.

This also comes down to if you think she’s wanting to learn more meal foods and snacks rather than more desserts. Sounds like she already has a fondness for baking, so does she want to grow baking or branch out into cooking?

[Histrix]

This is my suggestion for someone that wants to learn the hows/whys of cooking-

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593320468?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_detail s

[STEbbq]

I am so thankful for all of the ideas here as they prompted a lot of thoughts and discussion with Amanda. I have reviewed every suggestion.

—A lot of the suggestions were fabulous but also for 800-1000 page tomes. I had a hard time envisioning a cookbook that size being studied, carried, and used multiple times a week by a teenager versus a reference guide. She is sometimes baking something daily on vacation.

—A huge amount of the activity is baking with our French exchange student as they enjoy baking things together.

—I wasn’t 100% sure of how much she might want to make something in a general book like Chicken Alfredo they we have made her and she doesn’t like. Basically, I wanted a higher proportion of things she would eat in the book and maybe she might try some new things if the book has enough tasty things to try new flavors.

— PGH_RAM suggestion of Bravetart looked like an immediate winner. I bought this for her birthday in April.

—I realized that my original suggestions were skewing too young and maybe simple. Not sure she’d be thrilled to read a review from a 11-year old.

—Given so much of the baking is with the exchange student barelfly I thought it would be great if we added a French pastry book as well that they could use immediately. This book looked amazing and with detailed descriptions of the techniques. The Art of French Pastry: A Cookbook https://a.co/d/9pATPdm . So I will give it to them tomorrow so they can cook with it while our exchange student is still here.

—For the YouTube videos and CI subscriptions, I thought I’d review and send her links to articles or videos of interest to see what she thinks and if she wants more, we can see about a pay sub. I recently sent her links to a cacio e pepe recipe and Ramsey’s scrambled eggs video which she liked. I may just grab her a CI physical magazine to see what she thinks.

—I’ll check again if she wants to help with my next bacon cook.

—I’ll lean into the French connection again ecowper and if she wants to do more than baking with her French exchange student or likes French cooking over the rest of this year in particular, get her Julia Child for Christmas.

[STEbbq]

As a side note on Julia Child, do I really need to buy the $70 version off Amazon or can I buy the older versions off eBay with no loss in quality? ecowper

[ecowper]

Buy it off eBay

[jfmorris]

Sounds like a plan!

[ecowper]

One last thought for you and your daughter. There are some really good chefs on YouTube that teach you the right way. My favorite is Chef Jean-Pierre, but he’s definitely not the only one. I’m thinking that picking out a YouTube chef that you both enjoy and doing it together once in a while might be very enjoyable. Just a thought.

[STEbbq]

I agree. He is one of my favorites too!

Again, not 100% sure she wants to cook with me versus her French student but I am thinking that I can forward her videos that she can make herself and expand her skill sets that way. Maybe she will let me help for some parts so I guess we can see.

[ecowper]

STEbbq the French exchange student might get a good laugh from Chef JP!

[ecowper]

Finally STEbbq I am going to say that Julia Child’s original volume 1 takes everything you might learn at Cordon Bleu in Paris and translates it to English. Regardless of anything else, find a copy of the original, used or otherwise, for you or your daughter or both. It’s a truly crucial cookbook that all serious cooks should have in their kitchen

[JoeSousa]

If she enjoys baking I would suggest Brave Tart by Stella Parks. Pretty much everything I have baked out of that one has been top notch. Some of the recipes are pretty straight forward and some of them will definitely push and develop her baking skills.

[STEbbq]

I just bought it! It stood out as an immediate must buy for sure.

[STEbbq]

The latest issue of CI had an whole article on macaroons so we will see if she likes the magazine enough to cover the $15 annual subscription cost.

[Kascon11]

I was a subscriber of the printed version for years and now I am digital only. It has been the best guide on my cooking adventure. I have many of their cookbooks also, but I have not looked at them in a long time, I do hit the website at least monthly if not more. I have been cooking for myself since I was about 14 so (40+ years). Your daughter is lucky to have a Dad showing her via example. She may not want to cook with you now, but this will change. I enjoy cooking with my 24yr old.