Are Cookbooks Becoming Obsolete?

Technology is creeping into my life. I don’t mean for that to happen. I often find myself expounding on the evils of technology and how virtual communication is destroying the very fabric of our society. Then a pinging from a device rips my attention away from this human-to-human contact so I can find out RIGHT NOW that my third cousin posted a picture of her new puppy or that the weather forecast for tomorrow has changed from “cloudy” to “partly cloudy.”

I use my “smart” phone to email, keep track of my kids, get news updates, send text or instant messages, research purchases, surf the web, find restaurants, check the weather, get directions, check bank balances, listen to music, and as an address book, calculator, to-do list, dictionary, thesaurus, daily planner, clock, camera and pedometer. Oh yeah, I make phone calls on occasion.

There is even an app on it that turns it into a flashlight. Or a light saber. I have to admit that one is pretty awesome.

But there was one area in my life that I thought was relatively safe from the ever encroaching technology and that was my kitchen. It’s deliberately low tech. I don’t like devices that just take up space and don’t save time or effort once you take into account set up and cleaning.

But lately I have noticed that my cookbooks are going pretty much untouched. I don’t use recipes per se (except for baking) but I do use my cookbooks as a reference, sort of a guide to get me started or to inspire ideas. I’ve been slowly adding to my cookbook collection over the years although the growth of the collection has halted recently.

About five years ago, I came across www.allrecipes.com and found myself visiting it for ideas as a supplement to my trusty cookbooks. The recipes on there are cleared by their test kitchen and are reviewed by other members. You can even add your own recipes and submit them to the test kitchen if you want them made available to the public.

Enter in something like “chicken enchiladas” and dozens of recipes for all different variations will pop up. I like to go through them, narrow it down to a few that have ingredients or techniques that sound intriguing, then read the reviews to see what others had to say. I take all this info into account and come up with my own approach to the dish using a hybrid of several recipes and reviews.

There is even a function where you can enter in the ingredients you have on hand and it will come up with all the recipes on there that have those ingredients in them.

Occasionally I won’t be able to find a specific recipe that I am looking for. Or if I am exploring an obscure cuisine or preparation, I will look for a website that caters to that specifically. There are lots of general recipe sites too, and I have used a few. But I keep coming back to www.allrecipes.com. It’s familiar to me and has the functions I am looking for.

So what about those poor cookbooks sitting on the shelf collecting dust? There are a few that I will always use. I love my Betty Crocker cookbook circa 1978. There is nothing like it for tried and true recipes and techniques. How to poach an egg, bake a potato or make a custard, this is where I turn to Betty for answers.

Another is the Special Collector’s Edition of “All-Time Best Recipes” from the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine. It has 94 recipes for staples like Simple Pot Roast, Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits and Grilled Shrimp. There is extensive text about each recipe and every step of the rigorous test process to winnow out the best of the best is spelled out.

The third one I can’t do without is a handwritten book that was given to me by my Aunt Colleen when I was about 12 years old. She filled in several family recipes that are precious to me. I have added new ones over the years, and I must have it to make my mom’s Sour Cream Sugar Cookies or my grandmothers Crazy Cake. My daughter just started one of her own this year and is having a great time asking “can I get that recipe?” at family gatherings.

So while my electronic devices will never completely take the place of those cookbooks, I think I have come to terms with the fact that they provide access to a world of information that old fashioned cookbooks can't compete with. But it stops here! I hope….