The food and drink thread

[HighlyIrregular II]

I lived in NYC for over 50 years and never had a cannoli. That didn't bother me until I moved. I recently had my first cannoli in PA. I bought two small ones from Giant supermarket, The inside of the shell had chocolate coating and the package said vanilla cream, but the ingredients said cheese, so it was vanilla flavored cheese. No idea if that's what a normal cannoli has, but it tasted like a creamy, less fluffy cheesecake and it was very good.

During my move, my food acquisition methods changed and I ordered from Dominos. First time they cancelled, no reason given. Second time they pretended like they were doing quality control, then I watched the map as they drove towards me, then turned around, then they called to say they're out of salads. Then I received my food with hot buffalo sauce instead of the BBQ sauce that I ordered. I have to read the confirmation screen more carefully because I know I unselected the buffalo sauce. It's not that I don't like spicy, but I don't like whatever flavor buffalo sauce has.

I tried root beer for the first time in years, but not normal root beer. It was Olipop root beer. It got bad reviews. The ingredients aren't even so healthy. Didn't taste bad, exactly, but judging from the reviews it's not like real root beer. My vague recollection of root beer taste backs that up. I think it's the third or fourth time I've had root beer since the late 70s.

[Catoptric]

The oldest cookbook known:

Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome - Apicius (1st century AD)
https://annas-archive.org/md5/d225a6ed9 ... 971abddb51


Files below 1 mb don't require a paywall.
https://chomikuj.pl/superarrow/Books,2


Some vintage cookbooks (public domain)
https://archive.org/details/cbk

In addition is this MSU Library online
https://d.lib.msu.edu/fa

Among them is 'The Boston Cooking School Cook Book' from 1896s' (later known as Fannie Farmer Cookbook after the original author is a version my Mom still has.) The newer version would be The Fannie Farmer Cookbook (13th ed, 1994) by Marion Cunningham (though the original still holds up exceptionally well.)

A similar book would be 'Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking' (named after the Author) which was originally published in 1949 as a 2 volume version but a single volume (1500 pages) can also be found (though it seems the publication for these was limited enough to where people just assumed it only had 2 volumes,) which in addition to a 'Family Cookbook' and a revised (abridged?) cookbook encyclopedia that might differ. I suspect some similar confusion occurs with Julia Child's books.

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Some of the more interesting ones (and I swear the mid-century cookbooks were more enlightened and compelling.)

The Art Of Chinese Cooking (1956) Charles E Tuttle Co
https://archive.org/details/the-art-of- ... e/mode/2up

Metropolitan (Life Insurance) Cookbook (1964) by Unknown still looks excellent today
https://archive.org/details/Metropolita ... 5/mode/2up

And this Ukrainian cookbook is imitating amanita muscaria mushrooms (Recipe for Mock Mushroom Salad is on Pg 4 right side)
https://archive.org/details/1975ukrstr/page/n3/mode/2up



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Food science cookbook:
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking (2017) Samin Nosrat
Cook This Book: Techniques That Teach and Recipes to Repeat (2021) Molly Baz
The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science (2015) J. Kenji López-Alt
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (2004) Harold McGee
New Cooking School - Advanced Fundamentals (2022) America's Test Kitchen
Food (Sci) Indian - Masala Lab (2021) Krish Ashok
Food (Sci) Spice Science and Technology (1998) Kenji Hirasa, Mitsuo Takemasa


A really good list of cookbooks
https://www.tastingtable.com/694352/ess ... ome-cooks/


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I've been getting a little carried away with cookbooks partly because you never really know how useful something will be, and I have an "all or nothing" philosophy with things I get into.

A big issue is the cookbooks are becoming grift economics, and I've been wondering if it's even legal for someone to make a reference to a popular cartoon, TV, movie, or book series and brand it as a product from the series (and not bother putting something like "unofficial" on the cover.) I came across a Family Guy cookbook and when looking it up assumed an "official" version was released and possibly a cease and desist (from publishing or profiting off the series,) because the authors entire collection of books became unavailable.

Lauren Perry
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lauren-Pe ... abled=true

It turns out that the book that now shows up is from an author doing the exact same thing:

Joel Rollings
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Joel-Roll ... abled=true

Both contain very much the same recipes (and perhaps she just started using his name to publish since she had some legal restriction applied to publishing such books?) Does satire allow to profit off popular culture material the same way that adapting ideas and claiming they are your own likewise permits similar leeway (or a gray area?)

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Anyway, I would suggest some cookbook series:

- Larousse Gastronomique, Junior League of (*town or area*,) Joy of Cooking, Food52 series*, Williams-Sonoma books, Hello! series (though crappy ebooks,)
- America's Test Kitchen has a lot of decent books (such as Cook's Country TV Show 16 series version book, and the main show now has a recent edition) though I've never watched television since this started airing. It also goes by Cook's Illustrated and has decent baking books.
- Anything 'Copycat' or 'Top Secret Recipes' can be fun to mess with.
- Themes such as Star Trek, Tolkien, Game of Thrones, Elder Scrolls, Witcher, or something historical like Aubrey-Maturin novels, can be interesting, along with eras of warfare such as war or major monarchies and their recipe books.
- (pro level) 'Modernist Bread' or 'Modernist Cuisine' (which has a 5 book series for each topic with an additional 6th called the 'Kitchen Manual," which is the actual book of recipes without all the useless filler) and alternatively has a 'Modernist Cuisine at Home' single-volume book which some have referred to as a toe stubber with mostly useless sous vide recipes. The actual books comprising the sets are helpful (such as eyeing the dough consistency for how it's used) and are considered more for professional chefs.
- CIA Chef 5 volume cookbooks (Culinary Institute of America)
- Authors specifically
Professional textbooks or skill level: Wayne Gisslen, Paul Bocuse,
Consumer-level: Craig Claiborne (American with French gourmet,) Louise Davidson, Bruce Aidells (focuses on meat,) Nika Standen Hazelton (Swede-American,) Julia Childs (of course), Olia Hercules (Ukraine-Russia, etc.) Irma S. Rombauer (Joy of Cooking fame,) Brother Avila-Latourrette (Monastery--mostly soup and vegetarian--Cookbooks)

Restaurant (or something such as 'Plantation' or historic setting) Cookbooks :

- A Seasoned Chef - Le Cirque (1987) Jean Vergnes
- Maman
- Dumpling Galaxy
- Biscuit Head
- Bookbinder's Restaurant, Old Original (1961) Charlotte Adams
- Moosewood Restaurant has an original (1996) and New Classics (2001) amongst other books by Clarkson Potter
- Market Restaurant (2016) Carl Schroeder
- Restaurant Martin (2015) Martin Rios
- Santa Fe Restaurant (1979) Jim Douglas
- Veselka Cookbook (Ukrainian Restaurant) (2009, NYC) Tom Birchard & Natalie Danford
- Gramercy Tavern (2013) Michael Anthony
- Cafe Boulud (1999) Daniel Boulud
- Waldorf-Astoria (It has 2 different cookbooks--apparently where the Empire State Building now stands the original one was located, and since then it's taken on new versions) The Golden Anniversary came out in (1981) Ted James and Rosalind Cole and the newest is (2006) John Doherty & John Harrisson. They also have an old and a new bar recipe book.
- Santa Cruz (Ca) Cooks - Restaurants (2004) Kathleen Driscoll Hallam (and similar areas like Monterey Bay, have a collection of area restaurants and recipes.

Some favorites (though I'm not sure I would consider all of them useful) :

Maw Broon's - a gift to my dear daughter-in-law, -- Jeannie Broon (2007)
The Connoisseur's Cookbook (1965) Robert Carrier
Margo Oliver's stew & casserole (1975)
King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary (1992)
Upper Crust - Homemade Bread the French Way (2021) Marie-Laure Fréchet
Country Cookbook, Farm Journals (1972)
Llano County (TX) Family Heritage
Sassafras, Ozarks Cookbook (1985) Junior League of Springfield
Our Best Cookbook, Wisconsin Restaurant Association (1993)
Civil War Cookbook (1993) William C Davis
A Taste of History - 10,000 years of food in Britain (1993) Brears, Peter
(Dutch Oven) One-Pot Meals (2019) Louise Davidson
Vatican Pontifical Swiss Guard recipes (2016)
British Isles Cookbook (2017) Annette Yates (also wrote a 'Best of' version 1/5 the size)
City Tavern - Birthplace of American Cuisine (2009) Salter Staib
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (2011) Marcella Hazan (Easily one of the best Italian cookbooks)
366 Menus and 1200 Recipes (2005) Prof Baron Brisse

Some decent types of cookbooks: Comfort Food (Cajun/Creole, slow cooker, Meat Pies, Soups,) Ukrainian or Russian, Austrian or German,

Some future topics I want to focus more on (though I already have a few on the topic):
Panini,
Sushi (I'm not entirely impressed by most of the books)
Vegetables (Indian will probably be a good starting point, though it also looks like the name Yotam Ottolenghi is a good starting point)
indigenous (and sometimes you need to find foreign language books, such as for Tamales)
Camping and cast iron
Brasseries


For brewing (or beverage)
Brew Your Own Big Book of Homebrewing (though things like Anchor Steam Porter requires a double-decoction to properly replicate. . .)
Home Brewers Guide to Vintage Beer (1800 to 1965) - Ronald Pattinson - Quarry Books (2014)
(professional level) Brewing Science A Multidisciplinary Approach (2016) Michael Mosher
Homebrew Classic Series
Kombucha & Co - Kefir, Jun, Ginger Beer, Honey Mead, etc (2020) Felicity Evans
Artisan Soda Workshop (2012) Andrea Lynn
Complete Soda Making (2012) Clarkson Potter
Elements of Cocktail Technique (2014) Jeffrey Morgenthaler.
Cocktail Codex - Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions (2018) Alex Day
Chocolate and Coffee Bible (2007) Catherine Atkinson

For the "Outdoorsy" (hobo hipster wannabe)
Forager's Feast (2016) Leda Meredith


Note, Some file sizes can differ from 15mb vs 250mb with very negligible differences (such as image quality slightly reduced.) Sometimes a basic PDF can be better (though because many such books use a different page size, a 1000 page book might look pretty weird, though still better than EPUB or AZW3, and any file has the potential to have broken indexing.) And though you will rarely come across zip/rar collections, I did come across a trojan virus called Script/Phonzy.A!ml which was contained in a standalone folder which attempted to activate when I opened it (and I sort of expected something like that which is why before and after, it reaffirmed my suspicion to avoid such files.)


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I just realized that something like this exists (basically a drill press food processor used to smooth frozen ice cream or gelato.) Not sure a manual press couldn't somehow be used, but it seems both cool and stupid/gimmicky. . . It seems like the sort of thing you would buy when watching the home shopping network after a night of insomnia where an existential crisis takes over. I also now realize where the game Earthbound seems to have gotten the idea to make a central part of the game revolve around trout (frozen?) yogurt, and the thought of frozen fish being pureed into a puree seems as repulsive and glib as much of what only a glib superficial gourmet market would find appealing.




I completely forgot about Showbiz Pizza (I remember going their in the 90s and was surprised at how similar it was to Chuck E Cheese, as apparently it was founded by the same dude who was a founder at Atari.) Both restaraunts inspired the Friday Night's at Freddy's.

Another restaurant concept that no longer exists is Crystals Pizza and Spaghetti, which seemed to have also been headquartered in Irving, Texas.



Seems that the Showplace animatronic band is on display at an Illinois museum:


And a Chuckie Cheese in California decided to keep there ugly things as well.



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