Kathy

I'm wanting to buy a good recipe book(s) for common European dishes. Authenticity and simplicity are important. Any suggestions? I'm especially interested in Germany and Ireland since those countries are my family roots. Thanks!

Rhonda

Hi Kathy, <BR> <BR>A great idea for a book thread! <BR> <BR>I've just bought The Food of Italy - put out by Murdoch Books - a big basic Italian recipe book with wonderful pictures of everything. Very informative too. <BR> <BR>Also have Salute! - by Gail and Kevin Donovan and Simon Griffiths. A travel diary and recipes of southern Italy and Sicily - makes you want to go there - great photos and recipes. I much prefer this one to Frances Mayes' - In Tuscany, because the Donovans are restaurateurs and it's more personal. <BR> <BR>I must admit our upcoming trip (in 3 weeks) is the inspiration behind these. <BR> <BR>I'm sure someone else will be able to help with German and/or Irish cooking.

topper

Topping for Kathy. C'mon Fodorite foodies...where are you?

JOdy

My favorite subject!! <BR> <BR>for Ireland , I love darina Allen's , <BR>Complete Book of Irish country Cooking. Sheis the owner of Ballymaloe House ,one of the finest country house hotels in Ireland and also runs a cookig school. We are hoping to go there next spring. <BR> <BR>For Italian , the absolute essential is IMO, Marcella Hazen's- Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, I use mine severaltimes a week. then any of her other books are also great sources and fun reading, if yyou are like me and read a cookbook like a novel. I also love just any book by Guiliano Bugialli, especially his" classic techinques of Italian cooking". Another really good one is Alvaro Maccioni's Mamma Toscano, he owns a very popular restaurant in London, our favorite and also teaches in Italy evey summer. <BR> <BR>THE BEAUTIFUL COOKBOOK series are full of great recipes and beautiful illustrations. The France edition has the recipe for the world's best rice pudding, which now that I've typed all this I think I will go make!

Sheila

I think the problem is in the breadth of the question. <BR> <BR>I'm not aware of a "European" cook book. If it's broken down into component parts/countries then I can rave about all sorts. <BR> <BR>Kathy, any particular cuisine you are interested in?

xxxx

You must be referring to the one page Irish cook book any recipes for ice!

richard j vicek

Good morning, Kathy <BR>Have found great satisifaction with <BR>"The Harry's Bar Cookbook" bu Arrigo <BR>Cipriani, has some wonderful recipes <BR>suich as the Minestrone, Fish soup <BR>and Pasta with Basil .. I'm hungry!! <BR>Richard of LaGrange Park, Il.. <BR>

Kathy

Good Morning to all.. and thanks for the great suggestions. Hope some more of our Fodorites will see the post and respond. I think it's a great thread,too. Most of us rather "enjoy" the "food and drink" portion of our traveling experiences. <BR> <BR>Sorry if I was unclear in the original post... I'm wanting to buy cookbooks that are either "international in European scope" or books that have only recipes from ONE of the European countries, like all Italian, or all French. I'm particularly interested in Germany and Ireland, the lands of my ancestors! <BR> <BR>Thanks again. Keep the suggestions coming! <BR> <BR>Kathy

xxxx

when you buy cook books abroad Buy a cheap translated to english book it will have the union jack on it make sure it has a conversion table in it so you can use it for the more expensive books for the metric conversions it will be a great help Emeril

sandi

We couldn't live without the Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking mentioned above. We too use it at least twice a week and have had 5 or 6 multi-corse Italian dinner parties using only her recipes.

elvira

Last count, I had about 200 cookbooks - some bought in the U.S., others bought on trips. <BR> <BR>For French, Jacques Pepin or Pierre Franey, and you can't beat Julia Child. <BR> <BR>For Italian, Lorenza de Medici. <BR> <BR>For Irish, a book titled Irish Country Cooking...then the one I bought in Northern Ireland called Cooking with Irish Spirits (and they ain't talkin' elves). <BR> <BR>I try to find cookbooks locally printed, you know, the ones the church ladies put together to raise money. <BR> <BR>My favorite? Tante Marie, the essential guide to keeping house in France, especially if you want to get wine stains out of linen or know how to dress a whole lamb.

Kelly A.

Here are some of the books I own and really enjoy. Most have lovely color photographs. Although Ireland and Germany are a large part of my family roots, I can't offer any cookbook suggestions there... Here's my list: <BR> <BR>Lorenza de' Medici: Tuscany, the Beautiful Cookbook (back in print) <BR> <BR>Elizabeth David: Italian Cooking - a classic. more free form recipes <BR> <BR>Culinaria Italy- Pasta, Pesto, Passion: Edited by C. Pias and E. Medagliani. This book has history and photos of each region of Italy, along with recipes. Great background info. <BR> <BR>Williams Sonoma -Savoring France- Lovely photos and recipes from the different regions <BR> <BR>French: Delicious Classic Cuisine Made Easy, by Carole Clements & Elizabeth Wolf-Cohen (just bought this one) <BR> <BR>

AGM/Cape Cod

Kathy- <BR> Time-Life had a series of international cookbooks which came boxed with a hardcover book and a spiral bound recipe book. I once found a whole stack of recipe books in a used bookstore for $1-2 each. I found that they were a good starting point for international cooking. There was one on the British Isle and another on Germany. <BR>The cookbook I am looking for in my attic is one on France which I think was titled 'The Regional Cuisine of France'. It was a travelogue in recipes ie if you are going to Alsace look for choucroute with recipe etc. When I find it I will post again with the title and author.

Julie

Williams-Sonoma has a 3 volume series--Savoring France, Italy and Spain/Portugal. All are beautiful and the recipes are pretty doable. My favorite is probably Patricia Wells Bistro Cooking. It's real French comfort food with references to many of the wonderful bistros in Paris and throughout France where this great lady has dined.

SharonG

I love Sophia Loren's cookbook. It has some nice simple dishes and all the ones I've made have been great.

Dick

Many good recommendations so far, though not so much for Germany and Ireland - which I'm afraid I can't help much with, either. I also found the Time-Life series to be excellent, though many of the volumes were severly criticized by food press critics at the time they were issued. The Williams-Sonoma series is exactly the kind of cookbook I love to hate - big, glossy, expensive, etc., but in this case I can't help just loving them. They're beautifully done and the recipes are both authentic and seem to work well in the American kitchen (yeah, I know many people who frequent this site aren't Americans - but I am, so that's the only point of view I can comment on). <BR> <BR>My own personal favorite is Penelope Casas' Foods and Wines of Spain which was my introduction to what has become a long love affair with Spanish cuisine and culture and which prompted a trip to Andalucia which turned out to be nothing short of fantastic. The wine section has become somewhat dated, but the recipes are as wonderful as ever. Her more recent books, particularly Tapas, are also well done.

s.fowler

I'm a fan of Patricia Well's "Bistro Cooking" as well as the W-S Savouring France." <BR> <BR>But let me share a couple of less well-known favorites. <BR> <BR>RISO [Undiscovered Rice Dishes of Northern Italy] -- Gioiletta Vitale <BR> <BR>REGIONAL FRENCH [part of the Cordon Bleu Home College -- I've seen it in French in France] <BR> <BR>RECIPES FROM A FRENCH HERB GARDEN -- Geraldene Holt <BR>

s.fowler

College = Collection <BR> <BR>Can you tell I'm thinking about school starting up?

andi

The Splendid Table - the foods of Emilia-Romagna (sp?). Fabulous food, although not especially simple preparations.

Maribel

Kathy, <BR>Another vote for my heroine, Penelope Casas' Food and Wines of Spain, plus her newer Delicioso (Knopf) and her Paella, Spectacular Rice Dishes of Spain (Henry Holt). My only wish is that she would do a revised version of this classic first tome-I agree with Dick that the wine selections and some of her restaurant recs are now very dated (but I love it anyway, as I do her Discovering Spain, an Uncommon Guide, which also includes a few recipes). I also like Joyce Goldstein's Savory Spain/Portugal in the WS series and also The Foods of Portugal by Jean Anderson. <BR>Other favorite Iberian cookbooks on my shelves are Colman Andrews' Catalan Cuisine (Harvard Common Press) and Gerald Hirigoyen's The Basque Kitchen (Harper Collins), which I love also for its narrative and insights into the Basque culture from a French Basque's perspective, its beautiful photography (gorgeous scenery in that part of the world) and its helpful recommendations of restaurants, wineries and food purveyors from Bilbao to Bayonne. I copied its 4 page "Culinary Guide to the Basque Country" to take along on our recent trip, and it lead us on wonderful explorations to tiny, picturesque villages (searching for all the cheese/wine/bread/chocolate artisans that Hirigoyen has discovered) that otherwise we would surely have missed. This delightful book really enhanced our journey. I recommend it highly for anyone with an interest in the Basque lands.