Which Local Cookbook Is Your Fave?

Posted on April 13th, 2009 1:43pm by Todd Johnson
Filed under Books

ac0c224b9da05343e2abb010l_aa240_True confession: I’m a cookbook addict. Love them. Do I use them all? Of course not. (Yes, I’m looking at you The French Laundry Cookbook with your 48-step recipes and prep work that alone requires three days.) But over the weekend, I cracked open the Dallas Museum of Art League’s The Artful Table—a favorite of mine—and made chilled Senegalese soup, a fragrant blend of curry, cayene, chicken, apples, and plenty of half & half. It reminded me of other local favorites like Paula Lambert’s The Cheese Lover’s Cookbook and Grady Spears’ The Texas Cowboy Kitchen (roasted poblano mac-n-cheese = OMG good). So, I thought I’d ask you: SideDishers, what are your favorite local cookbooks?

17 comments

  1. I really like the new “Dallas Classic Desserts” by Helen Thompson. Lots of photos and recipes of iconic Dallas favorites.

    @ 1:46 pm on April 13, 2009

  2. I love the Genesis Women’s Shelter cookbook, “Creating Comfort”. Amazing comfort food dishes from local people and chefs. It doesn’t hurt that all the proceeds go to a really go cause.

    @ 2:12 pm on April 13, 2009

  3. Creating Comfort by Genesis Women’s Shelter – great recipes, great charity!!

    @ 2:29 pm on April 13, 2009

  4. The Artful Table looks like a beautiful book, I’ll check that out next time I’m at the DMA.

    I WISH there was a Nick Badovinus or Julian Barsotti cookbook but they’re both pretty young and have many restaurants/guarded recipes still in their future. But on that note, wouldn’t it be fun if there was a section on this blog where past favorite/ now defunct restaurant recipes were posted or recreated? I know a couple of smaller blogs are trying to do that with Youngblood’s friend chicken and Shanghai Jimmy’s No1. Chili on Rice. That might be the beginning of a Best of D cookbook.

    @ 2:51 pm on April 13, 2009

  5. Plano Jr League–Lonestar to Five Star

    @ 3:00 pm on April 13, 2009

  6. Preditable but… Stephan Pyles’ The New Texas Cuisine and Dean Fearing’s Mansion on Turtle Creek Cookbook.

    Looking for a copy of the 1901 edition Lone Star Cookbook.

    @ 4:57 pm on April 13, 2009

  7. Ooh, Bobby, got one of those, worth all the $85 it cost me at an antique book dealer.

    Notable Texas Cook Books in The Collection:

    The Lone Star Cook Book, 1901 by the Ladies’ of the Dallas Free Kindergarten and Training School (original)

    Cook Book, Vol. 1, 1924, compiled by the Parent-Teacher Association, Garland, Texas

    Cocktails to Coffee, 1936, published by the Dallas Council of Jewish Women

    The Dallas Woman’s Forum Cook Book, 1949, compiled by the Dallas Woman’s Forum

    Phi Mu Cook Book, Dallas Alumnae, 1949, Phi Mu Alumnae of Dallas

    The Reliable Cook Book, 1908, published by the Woman’s Home Mission Society of the First Methodist Church, Belton, Texas

    “Our Favorite” Cook Book, 1975, compiled by the Texas Wendish Culture Club

    We’ll Diet Tomorrow, Vol. II, 1970ish?, the Shalman Temple No. 90, Daughters of the Nile, Dallas, Texas

    I love cook books too, about 1,000 so far.

    @ 9:13 pm on April 13, 2009

  8. Go**amn spam filter, it’s “Cocktails to Coffee”.

    @ 9:15 pm on April 13, 2009

  9. OK, then it’s a highly fallic referenced alcoholic beverage.

    @ 9:16 pm on April 13, 2009

  10. I’m a big fan of Good Friends, Great Tastes written by Debbie Meyer-Gore, who lives over in Grapevine. Recipes are so well written that even a novice can produce great meals.

    @ 10:08 pm on April 13, 2009

  11. D Home has a regular feature called “You Asked For It” where we run recipes from local restaurants requested by readers. All the recipes can be found on our website. I would love it if we collected them all in cookbook form. I think it would be a hit.

    @ 10:31 pm on April 13, 2009

  12. Dallas Junior League (1976)

    (and dean and stephen, too)

    @ 10:42 pm on April 13, 2009

  13. The first Dallas Museum of Art cookbook of soups that were served at lunch at the DMA, as far back as when the DMA was at Fair Park.

    @ 10:23 am on April 14, 2009

  14. Todd, even a collection of them online would be great–and you would not have to worrk about the printing/marketing/distribution costs.

    AmyS…I have a Garland PTA cookbook from wayyyy back and will need to check the date. Your collection sounds wonderful!

    @ 10:40 am on April 14, 2009

  15. Todd, I wonder if we have all the same books? I LOVE Matt Martinez Jr’s Mex Tex book.

    @ 11:43 am on April 14, 2009

  16. Anything by David Wade

    @ 12:32 pm on April 14, 2009

  17. We’ve been thinking about starting up our cookbook at State & Allen but are trying to gauge the response… it’s great to know people really are excited about local cookbooks!

    @ 3:20 pm on April 14, 2009