Collecting Cookbooks

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I think I’ve made it clear by now that one of the things I collect is books. Most of the shelves (and other horizontal surfaces) in my house hold books. Textbooks, fiction, nonfiction, series, there’s a pretty good mix. But I also love collecting cookbooks, and I definitely have many more than I will ever consistently use.

I love reading good food writing. Aside from book-related sites, the only other blogs I follow consistently focus on food. And what makes good food writing even better? Great food photography. Cookbooks are the perfect pairing. Plus, I do cook on a fairly regular basis, so I can convince myself that purchasing cookbooks is a “household” expense!

So, I have lots of cookbooks. And honestly, I have lots of cookbooks that I never use for recipes. Sometimes I use my reading time to just browse through a stack of my favorite cookbooks, looking at the pictures and reading the recipe descriptions. For example, Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home. I love reading through the descriptions and drooling over the pictures. Have I made any of the recipes? Nope. (Mostly because the ingredient cost and time commitment are too much for a standard weeknight dinner.) I have the same problem with many of the Williams-Sonoma cookbooks I have. Enjoy the pictures and descriptions, but don’t really use them to cook very much.

On the other hand, I absolutely love my copy of Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I cook dishes from the blog all the time, and I love using the hardcover cookbook every few weeks. My Cook It in Cast Iron book from America’s Test Kitchen also gets a good workout. I’ve found a lot of favorite recipes in my Taste of Home binder-style cookbooks too (The Cookbook and The Baking Book).

I also have a soft spot for novelty cookbooks. I have at least three of them sitting on my Amazon wishlist right now. My husband got me The Redwall Cookbook for Christmas a few years ago, and it’s one of my favorite ones to look through. No pictures, but it’s full of adorable illustrations.

I’ve been trying to pare down my collection in the last few years. I’ve gone through all the cookbooks and given away those that I never use and don’t enjoy as reading material. I think I still have too many. But it’s not going to stop me from buying more! I’ve just accepted that I like collecting cookbooks as a hobby, and I’m OK with that.

What about you? Am I the only one who collects cookbooks for fun, even if I don’t use all of them for the recipes? I’d love to hear about your favorites!