Product Description

Since it was first published in 1961, The New York Times Cook Book, a standard work for gourmet home cooks, has sold nearly three million copies in all editions and continues to sell strongly each year. All the nearly fifteen hundred recipes in the book have been reviewed, revised, and updated, and approximately 40 percent have been replaced.

Emphasizing the timeless nature of this collection, Craig Claiborne has included new recipes using fresh herbs and food processor techniques. He has also added more Chinese, Indian, and foreign recipes and more recipes for pasta, rice, and grains. Additional fish recipes, new salads and bread recipes, and an exceptional chili dish enhance this edition, which contains traditional American recipes and selected recipes from twenty countries. All the recipes are clearly presented and suitable for many different occasions, ranging from a wide variety of family meals to the most formal dinner party. The author also covers sauces and salad dressings, relishes, and preserves. And there are countless old favorites and those wonderful desserts.

Complete with essential cross-referencing, a table of equivalents and conversions, and an index, the revised edition of The New York Times Cook Book is a superb new cookbook to give, to own, and to use for years to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59917 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-25
• Released on: 1990-04-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 800 pages

Customer Reviews

Like Joy of Cooking, this may become your kitchen bible
I have both Joy of Cooking and the NYT Cookbook, and I have to say that the NYT cookbook is our kitchen bible. The recipes are basic, like chili and pot roasts, yet somehow a cut above the average kitchen standards. So this is the one I reach for when entertaining or just figuring out what to make for dinner.

The sour cream fudge cake is our favorite dessert in the book. This simple yet unbelievably good cake doesn't even need icing and is just the thing for bringing to a party. Again, this is the kind of recipe in the book; standard chocolate cake, yet better in every way than other recipes we've tried.

The binding's breaking . . .
but this has nothing to do with the quality of the bookbinding, but rather the quality of the book itself.

The New York Times Cook Book was one of the first cookbooks I owned. By now it has lost its bright purple cover, the outside has a few spots from over-zealous cooking aka the splat and sizzle method of cooking, and the binding shows wear-and-tear. I have the updated Joy of Cooking, but it doesn't compare to this classic.

My book automatically opens to the picadillo recipe, which is just one of many recipes in this book that opened the door for me to other cuisines. From it, I discovered new ways to cook pasta and learned that there was life beyond spaghetti with meat sauce. Classic American recipes are covered as well so that you can cook the foods that you grew up on.

The recipes are direct, not convoluted. You will not be spending hours in the kitchen on a single recipe it takes your family five minutes to consume. To steal the title from another book: it puts the joy back in cooking.

This is the first book I turn to when I'm stumped for something to prepare for dinner and it seldom lets me down. When I'm looking for a gift for a young person setting up a new home, this is one I consider.

The Best Out There
I have several cookbooks, but this one has the most stains in it by far, which is probably the best way to determine if a cookbook is any good. I turn to the Times cookbook when I want to make my old standbys, when I am trying something new or when I have company coming over. Of course, I was raised by a mother who used an older edition of this book as her main cookbook, so I may be a bit biased.

The cookbook has everything out there you need to start cooking. When I first started cooking, I was able to pick up this cookbook and start with almost no background. All the recipes turned out excellent. I particularly liked the chili recipes.

Last year, I mixed and matched these recipes with ones typed on index cards that I inherited from my grandmother and made a successful Thanksgiving dinner (which may be the ultimate praise for a cookbook).

One warning: recipes in this cookbook are not shortcuts. They will take a decent time to prepare. If I am in a hurry, I don't usually use this cookbook. If you never have much time to prepare a meal or do not enjoy cooking, this is probably not the book for you.