What do you look for in a COOKBOOK when looking to buy?

As mentioned I have wrote a cookbook and am looking for layout ideas! Please share what sort of layout appeals to you that helps you make the purchase...

What are the types of things you look for in a cookbook, example; main meals, desserts, etc....meal planning, substitutions, large group meals, grocery list building, complimenting foods with wines etc....and anything I may not have listed.

I have a large array of family favorite recipes I've made over the years that I have compiled in to a cookbook but need help designing the layout that will optimize ease and simplicity for the reader be it beginner or pro cook!

Any help would be of great value, please share your ideas to help me get this finished.....only been working on it for 3 yrs now began as a Christmas gift for all 7 of my children, I think they have forgotten they were getting one :p I kept putting it on the back burner (no pun intended) well maybe it was intended

Thanks!

What do you look for in a COOKBOOK when looking to buy?

The best cookbook i owe is Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats".

I like it because it covers all the basics, from how to prepare a proper soup stock, to nutrition info to complicated and delicate recipes.

www.amazon.com...

Sounds cool.

A kids section could add a dimension.

Like stuff thats easy to make with kids.

Here is what seems a good start... Cookbook design tips
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I like a layout where you have

• How much is made, or how many it will feed
  
• the ingredients at the top with the needed, then the optional and substitution ingredients.
  
• Both metric and Empirical measurements
  
• Heat methods - Preheating, types of cookery needed.
  
• Directions step by step; with perhaps how it should look and smell throughout the steps
  
• Optional methods, other substitution directions if needed
  

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It isn't necessary for me to have pictures, but a lot of people do like to see what the end product is suppose to look like.
Oh, and ETA: blank pages in the back that can be filled out with the keeper of the book's recipes (perhaps 10 or more pages).

I have a TON of cookbooks that I have bought, and received as gifts, over the years. A basic cookbook in which the ingredients aren't too strange is certainly handy....But my favorite is one put out by Taste of Home, called "Mom's Favorite Meals", in which contributors would submit recipes for whole meals (Main dish, side dish, vegetable, dessert, sometimes bread).

The first intro would show the meal completely prepared and on the table so you could see what it looked like. The next page had all the recipes with the pictures, and there would be a narrative as to the contributor remembering their mother and these favorite dishes. The meals are divided up by Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall. The cooking is with basic ingredients, but boy are they good! Old-fashioned home cooking done right.

I have found new favorites through this book (chocolate mayonnaise cake with brown sugar frosting, roast beef in which the secret ingredient is fresh-brewed coffee, cabbage cheese casserole with breading that is totally yummy, etc.). It gives me excellent ideas, is clear, and I can prepare the whole meal or just a recipe.

Highly recommended! I also have an old Betty Crocker standard cookbook that I have been using for 27 years. It is in pieces, but I still use the recipes, and it has excellent reference sections for measuring equivalents, substitutions, and how to do basic things such as boil the perfect egg.

Good luck!

reply to post by Germanicus


I think quick and inexpensive meals would be good in these times when money and time are both short.

reply to post by N3k9Ni


I agree. You should write that yourself. Thats an awesome idea.

We just bought Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything: The Basics and have gotten a lot out of it. He explains what to stock in your pantry, basic utensil techniques, and then recipes built on all that basic stuff. He has sub-sections explaining things such as how to prepare different sorts of vegatables, meats, fish, etc. He uses lots of nice photographs to show both the finished dishes and the step-by-step process in preparing them.

I want to thank all who replied!

All ideas mentioned are worth considering thanks for your help!

Hoping if I need more ideas to bounce around while working on the rough copy I can ask for more advice

Regards

reply to post by MamaG


Local cookbooks with recipes from locals in my community are always a must buy for me!

Almost anything bar-b-que is a must also for me!

Any cookbook that gives ideas on how to garnish the plate that the food is being served on is neat too!

I look a couple of meal I am famliar with and then compare how I would make them to how the cook book says. Mainly I am looking at ingredents because so many reciepes in cook books lack flavor. Another thing is if the cook book is from scratch or not.

I prefer cookbooks with nutrition information for each serving. This is simply a preference for me, however, I realize some folks with medical conditions such as hypertension would actually need the nutrition information to determine if they could eat it.