Paulchens FoodBlog?!

10 cookbooks I would not give away...

A few days ago I read in my feedreader “Die Unverzichtbaren” means “The Indispensable” meaning if you could only keep 10 of your cookbooks this would be them at one of my favorite German foodblogs “esskultur.at“.
Shortly after I read there I saw a similar blog post at another German favorite of mine “FoodFreak“. I liked their lists and tho I find the idea of being cut down to only 10 books really really frightening I began to wonder which 10 I would choose out of the loot I have at home…

I am a self-confessed cookbook hoarder… Seriously! I love to “read” cookbooks.

For me it is relaxing and inspiring to flip through the pages of a cookbook, look at (and secretly admire) the mouthwatering pictures of perfect food and read through the recipes and techniques.

Though I have to admit I seldom really stick to a recipe anyway but I love to read through it and get my ideas from them…

During the past few years my attention however has changed from reading cookbooks to reading foodblogs online. And I very often turn to the internet and my favorite blogs for recipes and ideas. If I am in a hurry or do not have the patience to look through several books to find what I am searching for… but very often tho I love to snuggle on the couch or in summertimes sit on the balcony, cookbook(s) on my lap , coffee within reach, reading… it calms me down from a stressing day at work, inspires me to drift away from my every day trail and pushes me to try new things and sometimes if it catches my attention enough even makes me leave my comfort zone of cooking or baking…
Besides all this: it simply is FUN!

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some of the cookbooks I have in my kitchen

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Isn’t that what life is all about? Having fun and doing things we love?

My Mom would shrug at me whenever she sees that my ever grown pile of cookbooks has yet grown bigger since her last visit.
My brother however understands this habit, he would even call me every now and then to tell me in pure excitement: “Did you see there is a new cookbook from chef xxx” or “I found a cookbook about xxx, are you interested?” When I visit him, we would sit in his living room flipping through his (or my) newest treasures commenting and marking recipes we find interesting and worth to try for our next family come together…
My Dad just shrug his shoulders saying “Whatever makes you happy doll makes me happy!” only to happily snarf down our newest experiments…
Sweetheart would be in one chorus with him: “If it makes you happy,…” – being the Sweetie that he his he even would listen to all my swooning and babbling about my newest cookbook hunts and I bet he is not interested one bit in them but he knows that I am and that’s why he cares.
He’d also come and ask from time to time “Do you know a recipe for xxx” or “How do I make xxx?” knowing I’d happily jump up, grab some of my books and present him with the desired information within minutes. He loves to cook (and he is very good at it!!) but is not interested in the books at all.

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most of the cookbooks I own are living in this bookshelf

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Choosing only 10 of all that books would be hard on me…

…so for this task I decided to grab those of my books that I turn to most often or lost my heart to for a special reason. Those are in no particular order:

1. Dinkelkochbuch: Über 200 erprobte Rezepte [German]
   My Mom gave me this little book when we both discovered our interest for Hildegard of Bingen.
   I like it because there are a lot of basic recipes in it I often refer to in my everyday cooking. It features a lot of recipes using spelt.
   .
2. Irisch kochen. Gerichte und ihre Geschichte [German]
   This small gem I bought shortly after my second visit to Ireland because I was interested in the traditional cuisine and wanted to be able to soothe my longing for being there with at least some decent Irish food. It works, sometimes. Sometimes a good sip of my favorite Whiskey does help too…
   .
3. Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes [English]
   One of the first bread books I bought and I learned a lot from it. Still love to bake bread from it. It has a lot of bookmarked pages I like to return to when it is time to bake bread again.
   -
4. Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking [English]
   I fell in love with this one. Why? Because the recipes are so super-easy and delicious too. Made some of the best breads I ever baked out of this book with nearly no effort. One of their basic bread doughs i always chilling in my fridge now.
   .
5. The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread [English]
   I learned some real basic stuff form Peter Reinhart’s book. I still don’t understand everything he says but thanks to this book I am getting better and better at baking bread and understanding what I am actually doing and why.
   
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6. delicious days. [English]
   Nicole Stich’s book is just like her blog: natural, witty and with lots of very good recipes even for everyday cooking. Nothing too fancy and fou-fou but nice and straight. Just how I love my meals!
   .
7. Die österreichische Mohnküche: Tradtionelle und neue Köstlichkeiten [German]
   Traditional and modern Austrian recipes with poppyseed. This one is important because Dad and Sweetheart love all things with poppyseed. So when I want them to be happy I pull out this little book and make some of the recipes. Never failed me.
   .
8. Meine Küche der Gewürze [German]
   Bavarian chef Alfons Schuhbeck. I like him for his knowledge about herbs and spices. This book deals with his thoughts about spices and how to use them in his recipes. I like to refer to this book when I am looking on how to use a special herb or spice.
   .:
9. Die gute Küche: Das österreichische Jahrhundertkochbuch [German]
   The first cookbook I ever got. Mom gave it to me when I moved out of the nest and decided to live on my own in Vienna, far far away from home… back then when I was 18… It has all the basic recipes in it one can look for. I still like to grab it when I am not sure about some basics…
   .
10. The Dining Room: Ein Haus, ein Traum, ein Restaurant [English]
    I met Angelika Apfelthaler through her blog The flying Apple and when she made her dream come true and started her own little restaurant in her own house I was honored to be one of the guests at her opening party. She really really cooks tasty food. If you ever have the chance to be in Vienna you totally should visit her in “The Dining Room” you will not regret it I promise!

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handwritten recipe by my Dad

What I treasure more than any cookbooks I could possibly have, are those jotted down recipes on little snippets of paper that we have all over our kitchens (at my parents’ and at my own). Yes they are stained and not pretty but we love them. We already have them transferred to the PC or neatly written elsewhere but we still have and use this snippets. Some of our most favorite and most often used recipes are on such paper snippets… and I simply love them!

handwritten recipes by my Mom and I in my kitchen

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Now, you know that I am curious… what are YOUR favorite cookbooks?
Would you tell me?

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