James Beard's American Cookery: Amazon.ca: James A. Beard: Books

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"The bible of American cooking by 'the king of gourmets'." (Time )

"...his chef d'oeuvre...should take a place on the narrow shelf reserved for major American culinary literature." (Washington Post )

"The beauty of this book is that it allows you . . . to experience firsthand what made James Beard special and unique. His voice can be heard through his no-nonsense recipes and the choices he made that celebrated even simple, humble dishes for what they were: good food." (Tom Colicchio, 2010 James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef and head judge on Top Chef, from the Foreword ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Book Description

James Beard, one of America's greatest authorities on food and one of out best-loved chefs, puts practically everything he has learned about cooking into this magnificent, now classic volume which includes 1,500 recipes. 144 line drawings throughout.

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First Sentence
Food and eating habits have fascinated me throughout my life, and after sixty-five years I have come to the conclusion that perhaps American cookery is one of the most fascinating culinary subjects of all. Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews

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4 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.9 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Classic James Beard, July 6 2001

By

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: James Beard's American Cookery (Hardcover)

While reading this James Beard classic, I was amazed at how many recipes truly have become our favorite foods in America. I have been making some recipes for years without even considering that all along, James Beard could have in fact brought them to our awareness. It is equally amazing how many of these recipes made their way over to Africa.

My grandmother purchased one of the first copies and I now have the pleasure of owning it. This truly is a cookbook you will want to read over time. Reading the entire cookbook could be quite daunting were the recipes and notes not so delightful to read!

Each chapter begins with a note from James Beard and continues in a sort of cook's diary style with many recipes on one page. You will find recipes for cocktail food, salads, soups, eggs, cheese, fish, shellfish, poultry, game, beef, veal, lamb, pork, ham, bacon, sauces, vegetables, grains, pasta, beans, lentils, pies, pastries, cakes, cookies, puddings, ice cream, dessert sauces, fruit, bread, sandwiches, pickles, preserves and candy.

If you didn't grow up in America, you will find this cookbook all the more fascinating. You can literally read this cookbook like a novel. I found it fun to sit outside and just start reading it from the beginning, skipping over recipes I didn't find interesting and being amazed at how many recipes I was familiar with and had actually made at some point in my life.

A recipe will often start just so casually, you forget you are reading a cookbook, then suddenly you are reading the instructions and the recipe ingredients are listed on the right or left. This is written in a very personal style and you can truly hear the voice of James Beard in his writing.

If you read a few pages of this book a day, you will find that within a year, you will know so much more about cooking. I also think it is handy to have to look up various aspects of cooking. I can hardly do this book justice by reviewing it, you just have to see it to believe it! I did especially enjoy reading about the 1-2-3-4 cake and finding a recipe for Crullers. I had lost my recipe quite a while back and didn't know where to find another one. You will also enjoy finding many recipes using saffron.

I can almost bet my cooking teacher in high school had this book on her shelf, it does look a bit familiar now that I look at it closely. It is also incredible how much cooking has changed in 20 years, and how much it has stayed the same.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Historically incorrect, Oct 2 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: James Beard's American Cookery (Hardcover)

as a collection of recipes this book is among the best I know. As an overview of American coocking however it has some serious drawbacks.Many recipes are not strictly American but simply European recipes that became popular in America. They are good - no argument there-but i would hesitate to call them American. Most seriously, Beard completely Ignores the Native American influence on American coocking.He gives plenty of Native American recipes, but it is clear he really doesn't know their background and tends to view them as Mexican.His introduction, short as it is, also ignores the Native American contribution. This being said, there is very much to enjoy in this book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Twenty Years with James Beard., Mar 11 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: James Beard's American Cookery (Hardcover)

I purchased my first copy of this book when it was first published in 1980. After 20 years, and much use, it has fallen apart and I'm ordering a new one. It is one of the most useful cookbooks in my library of over 100 books on cookery and I turn to it every week for a "new" idea - 20 years later, Mr. Beard's cuisine is ageless.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Classic American Cuisine
I'm reluctant to praise the memory of James Beard for producing this excellent cookbook, as it is well known that he employed ghost writers and assistants, including Marian... Read more

Published on Nov 6 2003 by B. Marold

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the essential cookbooks
The recipes for Potatoes O'Brien and James Beard's Cheeseburgers alone are worth the price of the book.

Published on Nov 24 1999