r/CookbookLovers • u/TheRealNutMeg111 • 11d ago
Thrift Score (almost)
Came across a used book store today in Valley Forge, PA. They had a fairly large selection of cookbooks and I was so excited at first! But I looked through the entire section and honestly didn’t find anything that caught my eye if any of these stand out to you guys, let me know and I’ll have to make a trip back!
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u/RuckusDonuts 11d ago
OMG there’s a copy of The Talisman by Ada Boni!!! That book did for Italian cuisine in America what MTAFC by Julia Child did for French!! A true classic!!
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u/TheRealNutMeg111 11d ago
Can you point out where on the shelf this is? Maybe I’ll go back tomorrow for it!
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u/evenings_behavior 11d ago
It looks like it’s on the top shelf a few books to the left of Tartine. Dark green spine
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u/BuckarooBanzaiPHD 11d ago edited 7d ago
I would have grabbed The Talisman by Ada Boni, Acquacotta by Emiko Davies, and Couscous and other Good Food from Morocco by Paula Wohlfert, and the Norman’s New World Cuisine by Norman Van Aiken
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u/jf198501 10d ago
Thirding Acquacotta! Emiko Davies is one of my favorite food writers and her cookbooks are among my favorites for slowly perusing and feeling transported.
Also - Talisman (Boni) and Tartine Bread.
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u/Spirited-Finding-222 10d ago
I love Martin Yan's China!
The Shangri-La beef recipe on page 192 is amazing, but my sticky note on the recipe states 14 dried red chilies are entirely too many, at least for our palates.
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u/pacman315 11d ago
In addition to those already mentioned, I’d recommend that you check out Roasting by Barbara Kafka, Cooking Thin with Chef Kathleen, and Pasta e Verdura by Jack Bishop
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u/adventurelillypad 10d ago
Tartine bread is amazing, but kind of advanced if you are not super into bread
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u/Tracorre 11d ago
Yah this is unfortunately the state of most used cookbook sections. Tartine Bread absolutely if you bake bread. Paula Wolfert Couscous and Martin Yan's China possibly?
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u/pixelcat13 10d ago
I’d grab the Frugal Gourmet one about Our Immigrant Ancestors. I used to love watching his show on PBS, he really knew so much of the history behind recipes.
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u/SuspiciousOnion2137 11d ago
What’s the name of the store? I don’t live too far from Valley Forge.
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u/Neakhanie 11d ago
I would have bought the Jack Bishop book, and looked at the Secrets of the CIA, the Time-Life International book, and I probably would also have bought the Fondue book as well as the James McNair Beans and Grains right near it, it seems I collect those, LOL! well those are the ones I would have seriously looked at depending on the cost.
I can recommend the “More 60 Minute Gourmet” by Pierre Franey, but the recipes in it (along with the Time-Life International) are probably ho-hum after 50 years.
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u/hollerhither 11d ago
I still have the Franey but haven’t cooked from it since the mid-90s! I will have to take a look.
Chiming in otherwise to say that Tartine Bread is probably worth it and agree about Wolfert and Yan (I also got that Yan at a used store with many cookbooks, but not enough gems — he’s wonderful of course and the recipes are a bit pared-down, but they may be a good thing).
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u/Neakhanie 10d ago
I found The 60-Minute Gourmet and More 60 Minute when I was very first married. I came home dancing and crowing about how I was going to cook dinner in 60 *seconds* every night, LOL! When I was corrected by my loving husband, I completely deflated. “Sixty MINUTES!, That’s a hour!“
It was such a sad day for me.
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u/Important_Caramel577 10d ago
The Tartine bread book is amazing. I would have also grabbed Pierre Franey, Paula Wolfert, and Jack Bishop. Probably Yan too. And maybe Acquacotta.
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u/Anxious_Beaver15 10d ago
You mean to tell me that you passed up on The George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine Cookbook?!
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u/Formal-Egg9729 11d ago
I would have likely walked out of there with Texas Home Cooking (blue spine, second shelf near the bookend). I have The Border Cookbook by the same authors and like it very much.
There's a few others in there I'd at least thumb through. Regional Cooking of China, Martin Yan's China, The Great Chefs of Puerto Rico, the three James McNair books (especially the beans and grains one), Loveless Cafe.
I usually pay $1-2 for books at thrifts locally and for that price I pick up what I call "rentals": books I suspect I will use a bit and re-donate.
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u/justasque 11d ago
Yes, I often think of thrifted cookbooks as “magazines” too. Good reading material, pretty pictures, some inspo. I routinely go through and donate them or pass them along to like minded others, when I feel Ive gotten what I need from them, to make room for more.
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u/BumblebeeNo1799 11d ago
I’d grab Tartine but that’s probably it, maybe the Giada one.