Favorite Readable Cookbooks
Readable cookbooks are not usually the same as the reliable standards I use when I need the lemon chicken recipe instantly. I know at least one other of us likes to read them, too. What are your favorites for evening reading when the kitchen is closed?
Here are my two favorites:
The Spice Cookbook by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckey. Cute illustrations; end papers show a map of the world spice trade routes and sources of spices. Organized around each spice (mace & nutmeg); you get stories of the spices, their uses, and when you want a ginger recipe you can find lots.
Second favorite: Mayan Cooking: Recipes from the Sun Kingdoms of Mexico by Cherry Hamman. Gobs of ingredients I never heard of (including spices). Most of the recipes have their Yucatec (a Maya language) name. One of the first is the salsa Xnipek aka "Nose of the dog." Got that name because your nose will be running after you eat it just like a dog's wet nose. That "x" at the start is a sort of "shhh" sound.
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Originally Posted by Susan B T
My sister just gave me one of my mom's 
Mom must have gotten it for a wedding present. It was carefully covered in white oilcloth, and only a couple of the corners are worn. Its the 1927 edition of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer. I saw the volume but in its carefully covered state I never knew what it was. No sticky or flour dusted fingers were allowed to touch, and it was always on the top shelf. 
