Royalty Thread #16: the best of times, the worst of times

[canbelto]

I'm kind of surprised Meghan hasn't done a cookbook. A lot of celebs wanting to break into the lifestyle brand niche start with a cookbook.

As for William and Harry, they both seem to be rather hard and unforgiving underneath their more manicured public personas. I suppose it's typical of people who grow up under extreme privilege and extreme dysfunction. They think "If I'm so privileged, how come I'm so miserable?" And that sour viewpoint sticks with them their entire lives. Think of the Roy siblings in Succession.

 

[marbri]

I am surprised people still buy cookbooks. I have a huge collection, got rid of half a year ago but even the local thrift stores don't want any more of them. They are all collecting dust on a shelf these days as it's so much easier and more fun to find recipes online.

 

[PRlady]

I am surprised people still buy cookbooks. I have a huge collection, got rid of half a year ago but even the local thrift stores don't want any more of them. They are all collecting dust on a shelf these days as it's so much easier and more fun to find recipes online.

That’s me. The NY Times owns my cooking soul and I’ve still got a lot in Epicurious. I have 2 cookbooks I still use from time to time but the rest gather dust.

Gifted: I made this Friday night and it was really good: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes...U4.bdZB.ILEXzXwe80ny&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

 

[sk9tingfan]

I am surprised people still buy cookbooks. I have a huge collection, got rid of half a year ago but even the local thrift stores don't want any more of them. They are all collecting dust on a shelf these days as it's so much easier and more fun to find recipes online.
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When I retired, I went through my library/my cookbooks to find how cooking styles had changed since the eighties/nineties and promptly gave them away. But then again going through Instagram these days, the recipes posing as "healthy" are anything but.

 

[marbri]

That’s me. The NY Times owns my cooking soul and I’ve still got a lot in Epicurious. I have 2 cookbooks I still use from time to time but the rest gather dust.

Gifted: I made this Friday night and it was really good: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes...U4.bdZB.ILEXzXwe80ny&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share

Thanks. I never eat shrimp but keep thinking I should try it as there are a lot of recipes that look good that feature it. My lobster supplier has run dry ( the small North Atlantic lobster that others call scampi or langoustine) so might be time to try it. I know my husband and daughters only like cold water shrimp so I guess that will be my first attempt.


@sk9tingfan I kept two collections and one is indeed from the 80's. I think most Canadians (at least in my age range) would be familiar with the Jean Paré books. Definitely a different time and method of cooking but I keep them for sentimental reasons. The other set I keep is one from this country. I only pull them out when I have a big crowd and want to impress. What I love about both collections is there is a photo for everything in the book. I HATE recipe books that are stingy with the photos which is probably why I also prefer online.

 

[canbelto]

Shrimp scampi is super easy to make. Shrimp, some pasta, garlic, olive oil, cherry tomatoes, maybe some parsley. Add butter for a creamier flavor. Literally a 15 minute meal.

 

[made_in_canada]

This Canadian still uses a select few Jean Pare recipes. Mostly for sentimental reasons . My mom had a ton of Company’s Coming cookbooks.

 

[Badams]

I use Skinnytaste online all the time. The recipes are always so delicious. And there are so many to choose from!

 

[made_in_canada]

I use Skinnytaste online all the time. The recipes are always so delicious. And there are so many to choose from!

I use a lot of those recipes too. Though often make them less “skinny”. Life’s too short for low fat cheese

 

[marbri]

I use Skinnytaste online all the time. The recipes are always so delicious. And there are so many to choose from!

That and the Mediterranean Dish. There are a few good instagram accounts I follow as well for great recipes. Which all goes back to my original off topic post about why buy cookbooks

 

[marbri]

I use a lot of those recipes too. Though often make them less “skinny”. Life’s too short for low fat cheese

Word. Give me on 15 gr piece of old cheddar versus 1 cup of shredded flavourless plastic every time

 

[kedrin]

I like my Culinaria books. They have pretty pictures.

 

[Vagabond]

Given that PI is now largely given over to cat-related issues for understandable reasons, it's good to see that this thread is now about food. Michelle Kwan would approve.

 

[once_upon]

I had a packing box full of cookbooks (the box size you buy from U-Hall). The only one I really used was the Betty Crocker one I git as a shower gift 52 years ago. It just recently fell apart, but the spine was gone, pages were torn and food stains.
My sister took some of them. I gave the rest to the public library for their annual book sale.

 

[PRlady]

I had a packing box full of cookbooks (the box size you buy from U-Hall). The only one I really used was the Betty Crocker one I git as a shower gift 52 years ago. It just recently fell apart, but the spine was gone, pages were torn and food stains.
My sister took some of them. I gave the rest to the public library for their annual book sale.

I taught myself to cook in the early ‘80s with a Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50s left in the house we were living in. It was useful for broke people: pasta, meatloaf, pot roast, other cheap meals.

 

[once_upon]

I taught myself to cook in the early ‘80s with a Betty Crocker cookbook from the 50s left in the house we were living in. It was useful for broke people: pasta, meatloaf, pot roast, other cheap meals.

Yep. I know the lasagna sauce recipe by heart.

 

[kwanfan1818]

One of my biggest jollies was learning that Ella Fitzgerald, too, had a huge cookbook collection and didn’t cook from them, but used them as gastroporn, their ultimate purpose.

 

[taf2002]

I have a big loose-leaf binder that I use to collect down-loads from the internet. I also have a recipe box from years ago when I was in a subscription where they sent you a box with dividers & subdividers & then sent you recipes to put in it every month. I stayed with the program long enough to get my box pretty full. I don't think I have failures from those recipes. I still use my Betty Crocker because it has temperatures to use & other guides that are helpful.

What this has to do with royalty is beyond me but I love thread drift.

 

[Parsley Sage]

I keep my favourite recipes in a recipe binder. They are all in page protectors.

I also have a bunch of recipes in an accordian style folder

My cookbook collection includes Eating Royally by Darren McGrady

https://www.amazon.ca/Eating-Royally-Darren-Mcgrady/dp/1401603211

I'd like to have a look at Tom Parker-Bowles new book, Cooking and the Crown

Cooking and the Crown by Tom Parker Bowles | Penguin Random House Canada

An intimate cookbook exploring 200 years of British royal food, studded with anecdotes, delectable tidbits, and nuggets of history, with 100 accessible recipes, from award-winning food writer Tom Parker Bowles.

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca

 

[myhoneyhoney]

Allrecipes.com for me! I do have several cake, cookies, and bread cookbooks.

 

[canbelto]

Learning how to cook meant I never ordered chicken marsala in a restaurant again, bc I know how easy it is to make at home.

 

[puglover]

I have made Sticky Toffee Pudding to good success but my Yorkshire Pudding is never as good as my mother's or grandmother's was.

 

[canbelto]

So ... back to royals ... which of the royals do you think can cook?

Diana was quite open that she could not, apparently Queen E liked to grill her own bbq but otherwise had meals always prepared for her. Kate has been seen grocery shopping by herself, and apparently she does cook.

 

[Karen-W]

I have a couple of Pinterest boards for different recipes that I find on Instagram and other social media. When I want to make something, I go pull up on Pinterest and scroll through until I find something that sounds good and I have the ingredients on hand for already, lol.

 

[kalamalka]

I hadn't expected this to have become another food thread since I was last here. I have a huge collection of cookbooks, and keep buying more. But I read them more than cook from them. Some of it's the same as the rest of my books - they're my personal intellectual history, or in the case of cookbooks. the evolution of my approach to food, as well as of culture generally and North American tastes and exposure to other cuisines. I've always preferred books with more text than recipes. I use the internet a lot for recipes - or really, for combinations of ingredients I want to use, or approaches to classic dishes or things I want to make but DK if there's a good approach to it - but I almost never follow a recipe anyway (except for baking), and part of what I have always used cookbooks for is to check out several ways of doing something so I can decide what seems to be critical and what's a matter of taste (or availability of ingredients).

I'm trying to pare down the number of cookbooks I have because of shelf space, but for various reasons keep deciding to keep most of them. And my favourite thrift store has a lot of cookbooks (and a good and well-organized book section in general - there's a retired librarian who volunteer-manages it), and just charges $1 for soft cover and $1.50 for hard - so every time I donate I end up coming home with more. I always tell myself I'll just read them and return them, but . . .

 

[emason]

That and the Mediterranean Dish. There are a few good instagram accounts I follow as well for great recipes. Which all goes back to my original off topic post about why buy cookbooks

Well, I still buy cookbooks (and use them); I’m a big reader to start with. I especially like cookbooks that tell me why as well as how. (Yes, that orange cake you are making for your aunt’s birthday has lemon juice as well as orange juice in it. Why? Orange is a volatile flavor that dissipates quickly in heat, so it needs the less volatile lemon to punch it up. Thanks, Cookbook, for explaining that to me.) I particularly like memoir-style cookbooks as well - reminiscences of author’s background and culinary journey and so forth. My heirs are all foodies and can do as they wish with my collection when the time comes; I have many classics that I know they will keep.

 

[Parsley Sage]

William has said that he often makes breakfast and can cook a good steak.
Kate has talked about baking birthday cakes for her kids.
It was Prince Phillip who was master of the BBQ.
The Queen did the washing up when they were at Balmoral

 

[PRlady]

I made a Silver Palate recipe in Israel and ended up xeroxing the (stained, dog-eared)page for every couple who ate it! From 1988, I think.

 

[barbk]

When we were getting ready to move, I took my cookbooks down from three shelves to one half of one shelf. Keepers included my old Joy of Cooking, which I still find invaluable because it is so comprehensive, and a bunch of Thai, Indian and Moroccan/N. African cookbooks that have more authentic recipes than most I see online.

...but for most nights where I'm looking for a recipe, it is the NYT Cooking website that's my go-to.

And while this might not really be the place for kvetching -- shouldn't we be long past the time when a recipe author uses the terrible ingredient "juice of one lemon"? I don't know where these folks get their lemons, but the range of juice I can get out of a lemon is ridiculous. Ditto (maybe even worse) for limes.

 

[kalamalka]

And while this might not really be the place for kvetching -- shouldn't we be long past the time when a recipe author uses the terrible ingredient "juice of one lemon"? I don't know where these folks get their lemons, but the range of juice I can get out of a lemon is ridiculous. Ditto (maybe even worse) for limes.

WAY worse for limes - I remember a friend years ago trying to make a recipe for an incredible number of limes. Eventually I figured out that the recipe was based on the very small limes, without that being anywhere stated.

Some of my favourite cookbooks have really extensive and informative ingredients sections