Joy of Cooking
The much anticipated 75th anniversary edition of Irma Rombauer's kitchen classicJoy of Cookingpromises to be as indispensable as past editions of this generational favorite. In addition to hundreds of brand-new recipes, thisJoyis filled with many recipes from all previous editions, retested and reinvented for today's tastes.Take the newJoyfor a test-run in the kitchen with these featured recipes forRoast Brined TurkeyandApple Pie, and watch avideo demonstrationfor their recipe for 10-in-One Cookies. And read on for celebrity chef "Odes toJoy,"Joytimeline, andJoytrivia.Odes toJoy"Great cookbooks are not just collections of interesting recipes. They are, first and foremost, books that tell a story, the story of how people lived and cooked at a particular point in  time. They reveal, to borrow an expression from James Beard, their delights and prejudices, their view of  the social order, their appetite for serving others food that meets the expectations of their social  class. Food can be anything and everything from fuel to an object of intellectual curiosity to full-bore  hedonism that transports the mind and body far from the dinner table with just one overwhelming bite.I started cooking out of an early edition of Joy when I was only 7 years old. I remember making a basic  chocolate cake with 7-minute frosting. The cake turned out fine, but the frosting resembled gruel and was  my introduction to the importance of following a recipe to the letter. Evidently my lack of patience and  precision had led me astray. But after that first brush with culinary failure,Joyled me to many,  many successes over the years; more to the point, I became enamored of Ms. Rombauer's voice, the matter-of-fact charm that led her to suggest "stand facing the stove" as a sensible first step in any recipe.The amateur but highly evolved enthusiasm that Irma Rombauer brought to the world of home cooking was a  breath of fresh air after the slightly earlier era of culinary dowagers Fannie Farmer, Mrs. Beaton, and  Marion Harland. To those pillars of culinary wisdom, recipes were shorthand for cooks who had spent a  lifetime in the kitchen. A pie pastry recipe might be written as "make a paste." But Ms. Rombauer was  there to hold our hands, to put food in a social context and give it attitude, energy, and meaning in a  world where food was leaping past the narrow formality of the Victorian age.For all of our worldly knowledge about ingredients and culinary custom, few cookbook authors have managed  to perfectly capture, without artifice or self-conscious chatter, the vernacular of an age. Irma Rombauer  introduced us to a room in our home--the kitchen--that was to become a place of enjoyment, not just one  of backbreaking labor. She represented the essence of the new American experience, which suggested that  everything in life could be transformed into pleasure with nothing more than the proper attitude. And  what better way to celebrate this new age than to have a smashing cocktail party with the perfect hors  d’oeuvres?The originalJoy of Cookingwas mind over matter, the perfect mix of attitude and function. Even  as times have changed, theJoystands out as a watershed volume, a book that speaks to the very  heart of who we want to be in the kitchen: producers of our own story, directors of the good American  life.And, according to Ms. Rombauer, all we have to do is take that first easy step and "stand facing the  stove."--Christopher Kimball, founder and editor ofCook's Illustrated"I'm often asked to pick my favorite cookbook.  Considering that there are over 3,000  cookbooks published each year, it's a daunting task to try to narrow them down.  Speaking as a chef who  never went to cooking school, I've been enthralled by certain cookbooks, immersing myself from cover to  cover and learning about exotic cuisines from all over the world.  But for just plain basic information,  both the original and revisedJoy of Cookingare still my bibles.  I can't tell you how many times  my wife Jackie and I have thumbed through the stained and broken-backed copy ofJoyin our home  kitchen, looking for our favorite angel food cake recipe, our favorite skillet corn bread, our favorite  fluffy biscuits, and crisp waffles, and on and on.   It's tough to picture my family table--or, in fact,  the American table--without a well-worn copy ofJoy of Cookingin the background." "--Tom Douglas, author ofI Love Crab Cakes!"I highly recommend this book as a must-have in your kitchen.  Chock full of great  information, this book takes all of the guess work out and leaves no stone unturned."--Paula Deen,  author ofPaula Deen Celebrates!"In our kitchen,Joy of Cookingis a tool as indispensable as the chef's knife, the  scale, the whisk. We actually own two copies--a shelf-copy for reading, and one whose sauce-splattered,  dog-eared pages bear witness to just how much joy we get fromJoy." "--Matt Lee and Ted Lee, authors ofThe Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook"Joy of Cookingis the ultimate reference guide that I have been using for years.   It's timeless and packed with perfect recipes for the home cook that stands up to the test of time."--Tyler Florence, author ofTyler's Ultimate"Joy of Cookingis a book I turn to whenever I have a question about food or cooking.  The new edition is the combined effort of some of the best cooks writing today; I know I can trust its  information. And trust is, to my mind, the essential quality of all great cookbooks."--Sally  Schneider, author ofThe Improvisational Cook"When Andrew first contemplated becoming a chef in the 1980s, he asked two Boston chefs of  his acquaintance what books he should read.  Each independently recommendedJoy of CookingasTHEclassic with reliable recipes for just about everything.  (The second chef urged him to look  for an early copy for the sheer entertainment value of reading how to cook a possum.)  A decade later,  when we interviewed 60 of America’s leading chefs for our first bookBecoming a Chef, we asked  them the same question--and againJoywas one of their five most recommended books.  In fact, we  recommend buying two copies, like we did:  we keep our chocolate-smudged copy ofJoyin our  kitchen, and a reading copy on our bookshelves."--Andrew Dorenburg and Karen Page, authors ofWhat to Drink with What You Eat"OurJoy of Cookingis dog-eared, flour dusted, chocolate smudged, oil spattered, and  easily the most used cookbook on the shelf.  The staggering amount of information in the book taught us  the basics when we were in our teens and has informed our cooking for the decades since.  We wish we had  written it!"--Johanne Killeen and George Germon, authors ofOn Top of Spaghetti"I received a copy ofJoy of Cookingin my late teens. I have treasured the cookbook  ever since and still use it frequently as a reference. In the late 80's I was asked to represent American  Cooking in Italy. I cooked all over the country for 2 months. The only book I took wasJoy of  Cooking. When ingredients that I had ordered did not show up and I had to totally wing it, I used  this book to get me out of a few jams--like what the proportions are to make your own baking powder! If I  could have only one cookbook--other than my own of course!--it would beJoy of Cooking–-as it is  the bible of American cooking"--Kathy Casey, author ofKathy Casey's Northwest Table"I have purchasedJoy of Cookingfor all my restaurant libraries as well as my own.   The recipes always work--always--and the informational chapters are accurate, to the point, and  incredibly helpful--couldn’t live with out it!!"--Cindy Pawlcyn, author ofBig Small PlatesA Brief History ofJoy•1930: The United States stock market crashes creating the great depression.•1931: Irma Rombauer takes $3,000, the modest legacy her husband leaves at his death, and she self-publishes the firstJoy of Cooking. She is 54 years old.•1932: Irma tries to sell her book to a commercial publisher, Bobbs-Merrill of Indianapolis, IN, and is rejected.•1933: Prohibition is repealed and Adolf Hilter becomes to Chancellor of Germany.•1935: Bobbs-Merrill receives another submission of theJoy of Cookingfrom Irma. This version is not the self-published book but a revision, typed and bound in 15 notebook binders.•1936: March 26 is the publication date for the first commercialJoy of Cooking. The first print run is 10,000 copies and the book costs $2.50.•1937: The Golden Gate Bridge is completed in San Francisco and Gone with the Wind, a Scribner book, wins the Pulitzer Prize.•1939: Bobbs-Merrill publishes Irma Rombauer's bookStreamlined Cooking, a cookbook dedicated to convenience foods. The book is not a commercial success.•1940: Freeze-drying is invented.•1941: Pearl Harbor is attacked and America enters World War II.•1943: The bestselling "wartime" edition ofJoy of Cookingis published which includes how to creatively deal with the food rationing during World War II.•1946: A "post-war" edition is printed with very few changes.•1947: The microwave oven is invented.•1951: Marion Rombauer Becker joins her mother Irma as co-author of this edition.•1955:Gunsmokedebuts on CBS.•1961: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the President of the United States.•1962: Irma Rombauer dies in her native St. Louis. The sixth edition ofJoy of Cookingis published.•1963:The French Chefwith Julia Child debuts on public television.•1969: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first to walk on the moon.•1970: The Beatles break up.•1974: President Nixon resigns and Stephen King’sCarrieis published.•1975: The first--and last--edition ofJoy of Cookingthat is completely Marion Rombauer Becker's work is published.•1979: Margaret Thatcher becomes the Prime Minister of Great Britain.•1980: The median household income in the United States is $19,074 and it seems the entire country is playing PacMan.•1981: The first genetically engineer plant--the Flavr Savr tomato--is approved for sale.•1984: Coca-Cola changes its 99-year-old formula and launches New Coke.•1990: East and West Germany unite.•1997: After a more than a two decade hiatus, the eighth edition ofJoy of Cookingis published by Scribner with Ethan, Marion's son, at the helm.•2006: A new edition ofJoy of Cooking, based on the writing and structure of the 1975 edition, is published to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Irma Rombauer's self-published cookbook.JoyTrivia• For the 75th anniversary edition, 4,500 recipes were tested that used a total of 400 pounds of butter, 300 quarts of milk, 485 pounds of red meat, and 275 pounds of fish and shellfish.• The average age of a recipe tester working on the 75th anniversary edition was 46.7 years.• Recipe testers spend 8,798 hours testing recipes and techniques for the latest edition.• The knife was the first cutlery invented, followed by the spoon, and, much later, the fork (11th century A.D.).• Caffeine is the most widely used behavior-changing chemical ingested worldwide.• Eating cheese slows the decay of teeth.• A light coating of oil speeds cooking and improves flavor of most grilled foods.• Some of the most requested recipes from pastJoy of Cookingeditions include Chicken Marengo, Chocolate Cake (also known as the "Rombauer Special"), and Golden Glow Gelatin Salad.• Ice is considered one of the most important ingredients in making drinks.• Popsicles, baby back ribs, smoothies, and power bars are just a few of the recipes making their debut in the 2006 anniversary edition.• The 2006Joy of Cookinghas instructions on using natural ingredients to color Easter eggs: beets for pink; chopped red cabbage for blue; tumeric for yellow; and the skins of 12 red onions for orange to burnt orange.• Slow cooker recipes are included in the 2006Joyfor the first time.