Take the new Joy for a test-run in the kitchen with these featured recipes for Roast Brined Turkey and Apple Pie?? and watch a video demonstration for their recipe for 10-in-One Cookies. And read on for celebrity chef " Joy??"Joy timeline?? and Joy trivia.
"Great cookbooks are not just collections of interesting recipes. They are?? first and foremost?? books that tell a story?? the story of how people lived and cooked at a particular point in time. They reveal?? to borrow an expression f"ames Beard?? their delights and prejudices?? their view of the social order?? their appetite for serving others food that meets the expectations of their social class. Food can be anything and everything from fuel to an object of intellectual curiosity to full-bore hedonism that transports the mind and body far from the dinner table with just one overwhelming bite. I started cooking out of an early edition of Joy when I was only 7 years old. I remember making a basic chocolate cake with 7-minute frosting. The cake turned out fine?? but the frosting resembled gruel and was my introduction to the importance of following a recipe to the letter. Evidently my lack of patience and precision had led me astray. But after that first brush with culinary failure?? Joy led me to many?? many successes over the years; more to the point?? I became enamored of Ms. Rombauer's voice?? the matter-of-fact charm that led her to suggest "cing the stove" as a sensible first step in any recipe.
The amateur but highly evolved enthusiasm that Irma Rombauer brought to the world of home cooking was a breath of fresh air after the slightly earlier era of culinary dowagers Fannie Farmer?? Mrs. Beaton?? and Marion Harland. To those pillars of culinary wisdom?? recipes were shorthand for cooks who had spent a lifetime in the kitchen. A pie pastry recipe might be written as "e a paste." But Ms. Rombauer was there to hold our hands?? to put food in a social context and give it attitude?? energy?? and meaning in a world where food was leaping past the narrow formality of the Victorian age.
For all of our worldly knowledge about ingredients and culinary custom?? few cookbook"ors have managed to perfectly capture?? without artifice or self-conscious chatter?? the vernacular of an age. Irma Rombauer introduced us to a room in our home--the kitchen--that was to become a place of enjoyment?? not just one of backbreaking labor. She represented the essence of the new American experience?? which suggested that everything in life could be transformed into pleasure with nothing more than the proper attitude. And what better way to celebrate this new age than to have a smashing cocktail party with the perfect hors d??oeuvres?
The original Joy of Cooking was mind over matter?? the perfect mix of attitude and function. Even as times have changed?? the Joy stands out as a watershed volume?? a book that speaks to the very heart of who we want to be in the kitchen: producers of our own story?? directors of the good American life.
And?? according to Ms. Rombauer?? all we have to do is take that first easy step and "g the stove." --Christopher Kimball?? founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated
"I'm often asked to pick my favorite cookbook. Considering that there are over 3??000 cookbooks published each year?? it's a daunting task to try to narrow them down. Speaking as a chef who never went to cooking school?? I've been enthralled by certain cookbooks?? immersing myself from cover to cover and learning about exotic cuisines from all over the world. But for just plain basic information?? both the original and revised Joy of Cooking are still my bibles. I can't tell you how many times my wife Jackie and I have thumbed through the stained and broken-backed copy of Joy in our home kitchen?? looking for our favorite angel food cake recipe?? our favorite skillet corn bread?? our favorite fluffy biscuits?? and crisp waffles?? and on and on. It's tough to picture my family table--or?? in fact?? the American table--without a well-worn copy of Joy of Cooking in the background."m Douglas?? author of I Love Crab Cakes!
"I highly recommend this book as a must-have in your kitchen. Chock full of great information?? this book takes all of the guess work out and leaves no stone unturned."--Paula Deen?? author of Paula Deen Celebrates!
"In our kitchen?? Joy of Cooking is a tool as indispensable as the chef's knife?? the scale?? the whisk. We actually own two copies--a shelf-copy for reading?? and one whose sauce-splattered?? dog-eared pages bear witness to just how much joy we get from Joy."--Matt Lee and Ted Lee?? authors of The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook
"Joy of Cooking is the ultimate reference guide that I have been using for years. It's timeless and packed with perfect recipes for the home cook that stands up to the test of time." --Tyler Florence?? author of Tyler's Ultimate
"Joy of Cooking is a book I turn to whenever I have a question about food or cooking. The new edition is the combined effort of some of the best cooks writing today; I know I can trust its information. And trust is?? to my mind?? the essential quality of all great cookbooks." --Sally Schneider?? author of The Improvisational Cook
"When Andrew first contemplated becoming a chef in the 1980s?? he asked two Boston chefs of his acquaintance what books he should read. Each independently recommended Joy of Cooking as THE classic with reliable recipes for just about everything. (The second chef urged him to look for an early copy for the sheer entertainment value of reading how to cook a possum.) A decade later?? when we interviewed 60 of America??s leading chefs for our first book Becoming a Chef?? we asked them the same question--and again Joy was one of their five most recommended books. In fact?? we recommend buying two copies?? like we did: we keep our chocolate-smudged copy of Joy in our kitchen?? and a reading copy on our bookshelves."-Andrew Dorenburg and Karen Page?? authors of What to Drink with What You Eat
"Our Joy of Cooking is dog-eared?? flour dusted?? chocolate smudged?? oil spattered?? and easily the most used cookbook on the shelf. The staggering amount of information in the book taught us the basics when we were in our teens and has informed our cooking for the decades since. We wish we had written it!"b>--Johanne Killeen and George Germon?? authors of On Top of Spaghetti
"I received a copy of Joy of Cooking in my late teens. I have treasured the cookbook ever since and still use it frequently as a reference. In the late 80's I was asked to represent American Cooking in Italy. I cooked all over the country for 2 months. The only book I took was Joy of Cooking. When ingredients that I had ordered did not show up and I had to totally wing it?? I used this book to get me out of a few jams--like what the proportions are to make your own baking powder! If I could have only one cookbook--other than my own of course!--it would be Joy of Cooking?-as it is the bible of American cooking" --Kathy Casey?? author of Kathy Casey's Northwest Table
"I have purchased Joy of Cooking for all my res