I must admit, I rarely cook...As in almost never. I have no past experience to rely on. That is why I love my Fannie Farmer cook book. There is a little bit of everything in there and it is easy to find. If I need to know how long to boil an egg, I can find it. Each time I've been asked to make or cook something, whether I've done it before or not, I break her out and she has never let me down. Everything tastes yummy and I know it's not because of my expert cooking skills. ;-) If your not a cooks-a-lot, pick this one up. Fannie Farmer can help you.

I grew up with this cookbook and it is where I aquired my love for baking. The recipies are delicious and the directions are easy to follow. As a kid my mom would make sure to rate each recipie that she tried so that we knew which to make again at a later date, and our favorites were always easy to find since they were usually stained from splattering batter. When I was a teenager my mom's copy ended up being missing and I was upset. So when I got married I kept telling my husband about this cookbook and how much I missed the recipies in it, and one Christmas he surprised me with a copy of this cookbook. Now I am raising my children on the same recipies that my mom raised me on. It's wonder to carry on a tradition of good food with the next generation.

This cookbook has truly been my go-to guide for all my cooking questions. I have this book as well as the baking book. It answers all the basic questions about food and anything you need to know about meats, veggies, etc. It explains terms at the beginning of each chapter and gives an overview of the food group being discussed, along with practical hints. This book even has measurements and conversion tables on the inside covers! Every square inch is packed with useful information. Mine is falling apart, but I will hang onto it forever. I honestly couldn't have learned to cook without it.

My husband inherited an original copy of this cookbook. It is all torn and re-taped together but I could not live without it. This is not a house hold gadget but it is a must in my kitchen!