Do you still have cookery books?

[Flora73]

I probably have about 30-40 on a shelf in the kitchen, but apart from my old Delia and the odd Jamie book, I invariably I find recipes online. So is it time to get rid/pack away? I hate getting rid of books at the best of times!

Yes, loads, some of which have been signed by the cookery writer.

I cut down from the 250 we had at one point to a small collection of about 50. I like to browse through them as well as using the reliable ones for recipes.

None. I've got a file in my inbox for recipes and save links/screenshots of ones I want to keep.

Ooh thanks for the tip, will look at the Paprika app.

I have about 8-10 cookery books, I do use them. Although I have a separate ring binder with recipes I have found in magazines or printed out and I would use that a lot more. I'm currently going through it, making things that have been in there ages (unmade) so I can keep or dump them.

Also have an email folder and an Instagram folder for saving more.

I have had a recent cull but still have about 20. My most recent purchases have been air fryer cookbooks which have been used quite a lot.

Hundreds.
Some old and unusual.

Yes, but also plastic sleeve folders for things I’ve printed out or torn from a magazine.

I hate cooking from a phone or iPad.

Not many but I do use 'the dairy book of home cookery' for all the basic dough/sauce/base recipes that I can then personalise.

I hate all the waffling you get with online recipes. I don't give AF where you were when you first tried/made/thought of the recipe, or your travels to xyz. I just want the list of ingredients!

I've kept all mine.
I set aside my memories as well as a few cook books to donate, but within a week I was in the closet retrieving one of them for a recipe that I hadn't used in 20 years. Then there was a retro repro cook book I just had to keep because I'd never find the recipes online if I did want them, and then, I thought well there's only one left so I might as well put it back with the others on the shelf.

The brilliant thing about the Paprika app is that it strips out all the waffle you get in recipe blog posts. I don’t care that this reminds you of your grandmother’s kitchen - just gimme the ingredients and method, dammit!

To answer the OP’s question, I do still buy and use cookbooks as I find it much easier to get inspired by browsing through a book than by searching online.

@DoggoQuestions thats what the paprika app does. Strips out waffle nd just gives you ingredients and instructions. You can edit also if you make alterations or substitute ie we do all the time due to allergies. So then we have main recipe, edited to suit

I'm down to about 15 books now having culled ruthlessly over the last few years and tbh I reckon half of those could go. The book I use the most is the scrap book with some recipes going back 40 odd years!

I get a lot of inspiration online but cba to wade through the waffle before the recipes so get frustrated.

Am now off to try the Paprika app-was going to ask if anyone had an app recommendations

Loads. Some modern, some very very old, some that belonged to my mum, a few precious splattered, dog-eared favourites. They're much better for inspiration than websites where, as PP have said, you sort of need to know what you're looking for. Sometimes I sit and read a baking book with a cup of tea and it almost feels like I've had a slice of cake. And I like the snippets of history or tips or culture or whatever that goes with the recipe.

In terms of reference, I turn to Felicity Cloake's Perfect a lot. It's really helpful and I've given it quite often as a housewarming gift to godchildren/young relatives who want to learn some basic foundation recipes, that they can then adapt as they go.

@UtterlyOtterly I have a BeRo book and I spotted one in the 80´s kitchen of Lizzie in Rivals

I've got loads, don't actually use any recipes but I like looking at the pictures!!

I prefer using cookbooks. I do get some recipes online but I like to have something tangible. Saying that I have too many cookbooks and I’m considering donating ones I haven’t used in years and cutting back on the amount I buy.

I love my Dairy Diary one! It's one of my go to books, it was my Mum's so has sentimental value.

Does anyone have one of those old "Community Cookbooks." I think that they were mostly an American thing but I could be wrong. I used to have one that a friend of the family had. Not exactly an auntie but close. She ran the livery yard where I kept my pony and was from Edinburgh with a "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" accent.

"THROW BACK THE MIDDEN GELS."
"SWEEP THE YARD, GELS!"

She was in Libya with her husband back in the day. He was in the RAF, I think. It was possibly a joint base with the US. I don't think she made a natural 1940's/50's Forces Wife, as it were. She smoked very tiny cigars for a start. Cherutes? Cigarillos? They looked like cigarettes but were all brown anyway and she was also fond of a wee dram. She lived to nearly ninety so it didn't seem to do her much harm.

I think she taught the Forces' kids horse riding in Libya. She showed me a few black and white photos of children on ponies with palm trees in the background on what seemed to be a military base with her looking a bit Princess Margeret in flappy jodphurs when she was feeling sentimental.

Her contribution to the "Community Cookbook" was spoonfuls of fairy cake mixture - maybe made with a bit more flour to stiffen them up a bit, dropped into a deep fat fryer until they resembled some kind of doughnut. Then roll them in sugar. She called them, "Lebanese Bonbons."

Good old Wattie. They don't make 'em like they used to.

I just love any books so I'm loathe to get rid of them. I've probably never used half of the ones I have. I love to cook though but I don't have many opportunities to, hence probably sticking to ones I find online.

I had literally hundreds but have culled the collection quite sharply due to lack of space.
I still have to curb my habit of buying new ones, it's strictly one in, one out these days.

No but I hate cooking! I'd rather go to Wetherspoons that cook anything!

What do you live on?

I do like having something tangible to read too, I've never owned a Kindle.

I have:

1. the bero,
2. rose elliot vegetarian
3. And the full collection of mini river cottage books...

(... but, tbf, these are generally more useful, as alongside the great rock cake recipes are tips for ridding your chickens of red mite, how to butcher your venison and how best to keep your kimchi scobie alive)