New York has been the epicenter of world cuisine for some time and this is a classic referance for that cuisine. Not the most modern, or the simplest, or the most complete but a balance of all that is good in food. Like "The Joy of Cooking" or "How to Cook Almost Everything" this book can serve as a basis for learning all the classic recipes and techniques of western and some asian and American cooking. If you want to own just one cookbook, this may well be the one to own.

I have several cookbooks, but this one has the most stains in it by far, which is probably the best way to determine if a cookbook is any good. I turn to the Times cookbook when I want to make my old standbys, when I am trying something new or when I have company coming over. Of course, I was raised by a mother who used an older edition of this book as her main cookbook, so I may be a bit biased.

The cookbook has everything out there you need to start cooking. When I first started cooking, I was able to pick up this cookbook and start with almost no background. All the recipes turned out excellent. I particularly liked the chili recipes.

Last year, I mixed and matched these recipes with ones typed on index cards that I inherited from my grandmother and made a successful Thanksgiving dinner (which may be the ultimate praise for a cookbook).

One warning: recipes in this cookbook are not shortcuts. They will take a decent time to prepare. If I am in a hurry, I don't usually use this cookbook. If you never have much time to prepare a meal or do not enjoy cooking, this is probably not the book for you.

This cookbook will serve you for many years.

It offers indispensable advise on common cooking issues as well as many many excellent recipes that will become regulars in your house.

Since it was first published in 1961, The New York Times Cook Book, a standard work for gourmet home cooks, has sold nearly three million copies in all editions and continues to sell strongly each year. All the nearly fifteen hundred recipes in the book have been reviewed, revised, and updated, and approximately 40 percent have been replaced.

Emphasizing the timeless nature of this collection, Craig Claiborne has included new recipes using fresh herbs and food processor techniques. He has also added more Chinese, Indian, and foreign recipes and more recipes for pasta, rice, and grains. Additional fish recipes, new salads and bread recipes, and an exceptional chili dish enhance this edition, which contains traditional American recipes and selected recipes from twenty countries. All the recipes are clearly presented and suitable for many different occasions, ranging from a wide variety of family meals to the most formal dinner party. The author also covers sauces and salad dressings, relishes, and preserves. And there are countless old favorites and those wonderful desserts.

Complete with essential cross-referencing, a table of equivalents and conversions, and an index, the revised edition of The New York Times Cook Book is a superb new cookbook to give, to own, and to use for years to come.

Throughout my many years of preparing Mexican meals, whether cooking for my family or to please guests entertaining, I've found this book indispensable. I've been using this book for twenty plus years and continue to this day to use it for quick reference. The recipes are authentic, equisite and often exotic culinary delights explained in simple text with instructions that any novice cook can follow. If you like to create your own recipes this is a good springboard to follow one's own inclinations as well. The book is divided into three sections. Part one gives an informative tour of the ingredients and procedures used in Mexican cooking, complete with historical background and identifying drawings and photographs. Part two is the corazon(heart) of the book with all the delicious recipes from way down south. Part three is the conclusion and it includes information on sources and a pronuncaition guide. I have found part one to be particularly interesting and helpful especially when it comes to the use of the lesser known herbs. Some of the ingredients are nearly impossible to find and there are no satisfactory replacements. This is where I learned about huitlacoche, a fungas that forms on the ears of corn that makes for a delicious soup or filling for quesadillas. I've sampled this dish on both sides of the border but never found the fungas at local markets. Another simple treat is squash blossoms used for a filling in quesadillas The recipes are easy to follow and when several stages are involved it is explained perfectly. After travelling in the interior of Mexico I longed for some of the dishes I sampled and this book has allowed me to prepare the dishes north of the border. Have some broth left from the frijole(bean) pot, tortillas, some chicken leftovers and tomatoes or tomato soup? If you do then you have the basis for Sopa Tarasca which will warm you up on a winter day. Sopa Tarasca, a meal in itself, is an example that is easy enough to prepare and well worth the effort. There are countless recipes that employ ingredients that may be thrown out rather than eat the same thing. The colored photgraphs and drawings are a nice touch, but this isn't a cook book with glossy perfection on each page, the recipes are what counts here. Diana Kennedy is a world renowned expert on the cuisines of Mexico and has been decorated with the order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor given to foreigners. She is the high priestess of Mexican cooking and her book is a tresure that belongs in any kitchen that prepares authentic Mexican cuisine.

I love this cookbook! After receiving Diana Kennedy's wonderful book I am now able to cook all those great recipes my husband remembers from his home. With all the extra information she gives about the foods and techniques, it will give me a leg up on those dishes he remembers form his grandmother's kitchen!

It's the only Mexican cookbook I brought back with me to Mexico. The texts lively and thoughtful - as complex and as entertaining as a Mexican market itself. - Ron Mader, El Planeta Platica journal

This is an outstanding book. It far outstrips every other Chinese cookbook, including some very good ones by Irene Kuo, Ellen Schrecker, and others. I've been cooking out of it for 20 years. Every recipe I've tried (and I've tried most of them) turns out extraordinary food. Don't bother with the other books. Get this one, if you can find it! The publisher who let this go out of print should be strung up by his thumbs. The world deserves better! A billion stars!

I have the '72 edition as well, bought new then, and turned to it again just last night. I agree with mbrown's description of the recipes by category and don't wish to be redundent. What charmed me and Chinese shopkeepers was being able to point to the Chinese characters of various ingredients in the glossary. They were then able to quickly find just what I needed. The recipes are organized, easy to follow, and consistently tasty. I love Chinese cuisine and would be lost without it.

I have the old version of this text, which was published in 72. I was browsing through cook books at the store and noticed that I had seen all the recipes before and then I realized it was the same book, only a newer cover. This has been my bible of chinese cooking. The book is very thorough and easy to understand. It has all the well known chinese recipes and a description of cooking techniques, such as the proper ways to carve and present meat. All recipes are categorized by their main ingredient (pork, chicken, beef, seafood, ect. . ) with a chapter on deserts. My only qualm with this book is it doesn't provide the chinese name for many recipes. This might be because they have been generalize for a western audience and the chinese names no longer apply, but I'd like to think that they are authentic originals from traditional dishes. If you only own one chinese cooking book, this is the one to have. Maybe that is why the title is "THE Chinese Cook Book".

That's the word for this cookbook. Every recipe I have attempted has been a winner the first time prepared. The meals I have presented from this cookbook have pleased some very tough critics.

We have lived or visited all over the world, and we have eaten some fantastic meals. This book tells you how to prepare the best of these meals, and they taste just like they did overseas. Every recipe results in the best meal you've ever tasted. Why this book is out of print is a total mystery to me. When we can find a copy, we give them as presents (normally to newlyweds), and we always get rave reviews. One problem: the recipes are time consuming--not many recipes lend themselves to after-work quickie meals. But if you have the time, the food is incredible!

This book has been my guide to international cooking for at least 15 years. I use it continually. Many of my family's favorites are from this book.

I was surprised to see this classic cookbook so far down the popularity list. Checking our kitchen bookcase, where I keep the dozen or so cookbooks I use most often, I found that the copyright date on my hardback was 1981. Well, twenty-two years later, I no longer refer to it weekly because I have learned so much of it by heart, but I certainly use it monthly, and still find it invaluable.

More 60-Minute Gourmet, like its companion volume 60-Minute Gourmet, is a collection of weekly "60-Minute Gourmet" columns published in the New York Times during the 1970s and early 1980s. The recipes comprise a wide variety of cuisines and are uniformly quick and uniformly light (a handful of recipes call for heavy cream, but it can almost always be dispensed with). The ingredients and techniques still work well today - perhaps not the "cutting edge" dishes and presentations one might expect from, say, a Roy Yamaguchi, but mastering the 60-Minute Gourmet recipes will make you capable of cooking almost anything. Consider these as high-quality building blocks for creating your own brand of gourmet cuisine at home.

Keep an eye peeled for the late M. Franey's out-of-print volumes as well. They, too, remain fresh and tasty.

I obtained this book by a fortunate accident - I use it constantly as a reference and, sometimes when I just need to read an interesting anecdote written by somebody who loves not only food, but all that surrounds it.

Pierre Franey does not talk down to his reader, but he does teach.

One of my favorite passages from his book is: "When I have been asked over the years the most basic thing an aspiring cook could be taught, the answer is almost invariable. If you learn a few baic techniques of cookery, the rest is applied logic. If you can make a basic mayonnaise, for example, you can make a sauce remoulade or a sauce tartare with the simple additions of a few ingredients such as choped anchovy, capers, pickles and so on."

I depend on Pierre, not only for his skill as a teacher, but just as much so for his ability to inspire.

I highly recommend this book for the busy professional who desires to make their house a home.

I learned much of what I know about cooking from this wonderful little cookbook and worn out two paperback copies over 30 years. (#2 is held together with rubberbands. I won't part with it until I have my hands on a couple of back-up copies.)

Craig Claiborne writes wonderful cookbooks with great basic recipes in them. This books incorporates all of the great skills and experience that Claiborne has and provides a huge amount of information. With basic techniques explained it is a wonderful gift for the beginner cook. It also is wonderful for the experienced cook due to the wealth of information that is included in it. It is a great reference...from A to Z.

I have this cookbook in my possession. It has not really stood out for me as being anything special. I have consulted it occassionally and the recipes are not my cup of tea.

I feel like I'm missing out.

Next week I plan to sell my copy on ebay, as I feel it is taking up space in my bookshelf where a cookbook that better inspires me can go.

Several of you have raved and are looking for it. Well, I have it and it's yours if you want to bid on ebay for it.

My copy has fallen apart and I still use it. So many of the recipes have become holiday favorites that are requested year in and year out. Have you tried the recipe for RICE GRETE, the best rice pudding on the planet?

My copy of this cookbook is ripped, stained and warped... because I use it constantly! I have never made anything out of it that wasn't awesome. My favorite is Potted Beef, Italian style... Ya gotta try it!

My copy of this book is falling apart from the use it has had, so I would like a new copy. Can we get the publisher to reprint it? It has by far the highest proportion of great recipes of all the cookbooks I have seen. Dishes tend to be a bit on the heavy side (butter and heavy cream in many of them), but are absolutely delicious--whenever I want happy guests this is the book I pull out. All recipes for a single meal are laid out on 2 facing pages so no turning pages while you are cooking.

I have had this for 20+ years and I rank it my #1 favorite cookbook tied with Cook's Illustrated "Best Recipe". The recipes are truly simple, easy, fast, & delicious. And elegant.

These are not "low cal" recipes but are so packed with flavor that you could pair the main meat or seafood dishes which will probably include cream & butter, with low-cal, low-fat sides.

This is a very instructive book & is great for beginners, which I was when I first bought it. Basically each recipe calls for fresh, high-quality cut of fish/meat/poultry which is then cooked with several complementary herbs, spices, aromatic veges, & that's it.

I have found that this may not be the best everyday family type cookbook because the high quality may be expensive. But I think many of the recipes are transferable to other more available fish, etc.

This book has all the flavor and variety you would want from a cookbook. The recipes are easy to read, and great for any amateur chef. Also, the book is compact in size, so it is not overwhelming you with too many recipes or cooking methods. It is simply the best cookbook I ever saw.

.......filled with the most gorgeous cookbook photos I've ever seen and authentic Vietnamese cuisine!!! This cookbook was my first introduction to Vietnamese cooking and it keeps me coming back to try more. Nicole Routhier not only presents us with scrumptious recipes, she includes an introduction to the history of Vietnamese cooking, which she lovingly and proudly imparts. The cookbook also contains a glossary that is essential for newcomers to Vietnamese cuisine such as myself as well as suggested menus for various types of occasions.

This cookbook does not contain and "quick" recipes and is therefore not for someone who wishes to whip up dishes in a hurry. Instead, each dish takes some effort to prepare (from planning to shopping for each item to actually making the meal), but that almost comes with the understanding the effort will pay off with the grand reward of an authentic, delicious Vietnamese meal. I highly recommend this book to anyone even thinking of trying Vietnamese cuisine. All you need to do is open the book - you will instantly be compelled to start planning a menu and making out a shopping list!!!

I am from Houston where there are many Vietnamese restaurants (largest asian population in the South) and a few years ago I fell in love with Vietnamese cuisene. However, going out to eat gets expensive and I decided to learn to cook Vietnamese food. I got this book and have so far tried 3 of the recipes. The first was the Spice and Sour Shrimp Soup. It was delicious.

Then I tried the Vietnamese Chicken Salad served with shrimp chips. I didn't like it at first - the day I made it. But the next day - after it had a night to sit - wow!

The other recipe I tried was the Lychee and Ginger Ice desert. That was so easy to make and so delicious. Getting into the creativity of the cooking, I can imagine that this technique could be used to make other fruit ices of various flavors. I think next time I'm going to try sustituting coconut milk for the water in this recipe, it may or may not be authentic but it sounds like that would be a good substitution - actually I might try that with the leftover pinapple from the Spicy and Sour Shrimp Soup.

Next on my list is going to be the Fried Squid. A friend of mine brought some over from the Vietnamese restaurant and it was really good so that's my next project.

I love this book and recommend it to everyone who inquires about Vietnamese cooking. The recipes are authentic and easy to follow; the pictures are beautiful and helpful; and the stories behind the recipe are insightful. The only drawback is there is no table of contents for the name of the recipe -- just the main category like appetizer, soup, etc.