Three ways The Joy of Cooking keeps that joy in cooking!

If you're in the market for a cookbook, this is it. The Joy Of Cooking, originally published by Irma Rombauer in 1931 and now in its 75th anniversary edition. At this point it's a large enterprise complete with a website and blog that is maintained by the family.

The book itself has a great story of evolving out of Ms. Rombauer's own joy in cooking. The website even claims that the family still works "Nestled in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and a stone's throw from the Little Tennessee River…" That's a pretty cool image dripping with down home appeal; I can imagine a group of them all crowded around the stove tasting a new soup recipe.

I don't care how true that little phrase-sized legend is. It's a cool sentence that tells a kind of truth about this book: it makes you want to cook, bake, and do everything else you can with food.

Why? Here are my three reasons:

1. Having Fun. Because it focuses on that most important ingredient, joy, and leaves out the most vexing source of indigestion when it comes to food: confusion. How many times have you tried to make something and felt at least a little self-conscious that it didn't look like the picture in the book or on the website? The greatest thing about this book as a cooking guide is that it's clear, simple and easy to follow. The language is the kind of language you would use to explain something to your friend.

2. No Comparison. There are sketches rather than full color pictures. When you're learning to cook or trying something new, the last thing you want to feel is that you're screwing up the recipe. And while the full color photos in most books are fun to look at, they are impossible for a first-time cook to live up to. But with Joy of Cooking, you don't have to. The point isn't for it to be perfect or look like some platonic ideal- the point is for you to have fun doing it and get that nugget of joy.

3. History & Story. For all the gagging potential of the sappy sentimentality of their marketing message of tradition and family history, I think it works. When you are using this cookbook you seem to feel like you're getting a download from the archetypal grandmother cook you may or may not have ever had. Even though it's this book that you buy off of Amazon, you get the feeling that someone is leaning over and telling you these secrets. It's awesome, and it makes you feel like you are joining a secret club that stretches across and back through this mythical America.

If I've whetted your appetite enough to make you want to go out and gobble up this cookbook, you can get The Joy of Cooking on Amazon.

Happy cooking, folks- but even more importantly, happy eating!

Image courtesy of shoutabyss via flickr