Joy of Cooking

The Joy of Cooking is the quintessential American cookbook.  The cookbook is arranged by food type (e.g. Meats, vegetables) and the many recipes include helpful time-saving tips.  Sadly I found the cookbook about as inspiring as a phonebook.  The recipes were like lists and after a while, blended together.  The recipes also seemed, well dated.    I thought long and hard about whether I wanted to make Spanish Rice (ultimately I decided I didn’t) and went with Scalloped Potatoes.   Admittedly scalloped potatoes wasn’t a particularly creative or challenging meal but it reminded me of my grandmother who always makes this dish for my Dad.  And of course, you can’t really beat a recipe that is basically just butter, cream, potatoes and salt.  The potatoes turned out excellent - hot, creamy and starchy, just how I like my food.  I ate this goo of goodness with some steamed broccoli and a non-roast roast (i.e. Vegetarian roast) .  In addition to the scalloped potatoes I also made two other recipes from the JoC:  glazed carrots and a marinade for chicken.  Obviously I didn’t eat the chicken but Mat declared it “okay” and that’s about as good of a complement I ever get from him so I guess that recipe can be considered a success.


Overall I think the Joy Of Cooking is a good reference cookbook but it lacks inspiration for me at least.  

Here is the photo of the final meal.  Scalloped potatoes, veggie roast, corn and broccoli.