Two recipes in here that make this old gray mare worth it- the pie crust recipe and the braided bread. Pass on the molded jellos, although the ham salad took me back (mandarin oranges!)

My mother gave me a copy sometime after I left home. I think it was during grad school when I used it as stress relief to bake up a storm. Still have it and make stuff out of it from time to time. I always seem to double the herbs and spices - the amounts given make stuff a bit to bland for my taste.

My sister also has a copy. And recently my 8 year old niece made a scrumptious peach pie from this. And so the book passes on to another generation.

An Side - love the ring-bound binding and wonder why more cookbooks don't come like this.

The gold standard of cookbook, decade after decade.

I use this all the time! But was like 35 when I realized there wasn't a real BC!

My mom gave this book to me for a wedding shower gift. Thirty years and many cookbooks later, I still return to it for basics such as meatloaf, cake frostings, roasting times for turkeys, sugar cookies, zucchini bread, date-nut bread, etc. this is one cookbook that has never failed me. I'd give it ten stars, and a "Thanks, Mom!" I'll be giving it to my own two daughters someday too!

This was one of the first cookbooks I ever really looked at with any scrutiny. I think my Grandma had two copies, and she let me take one. I used to just take it down and read it -- it was so dated looking. Avocado and orange, to say nothing of the instructions -- every man takes his eggs in a different way, and it behooves a good wife to learn how to cook them the way her husband likes best! Something like that. There are lots of great recipes in here -- they hold up well, because they're incredibly basic. The techniques are important, and useful. But the book is just sort of awesome -- it tells you a lot, and you have a fun time flipping through it, even if you don't wind up making a thing from it. (Although I did try the Petit Fours and Intergalactic cookies -- both are great!)

Indispensable reference for basic stuff (How long to Boil corn, deference between different kinds of Basil, etc, etc,).

The other Betty Crocker cookbook that dominated my early cooking. Also fantastic, this cookbook has a number of excellent recipes I adore and some that simply amuse me. The first list contains pancakes, waffles, any of the cakes, and meatloaf. The second contains any sort of jello or fruit mold and fondue. Food trends are kind of amazing.

I have a dozens cookbooks, but I have to say that this one is the one that gets pulled out most often. It's tried, true and a dear friend to me in the kitchen. I will keep it until it has to be pried from my cold, dead hands.

i love this bitch

In 1976, I put this book on layaway at Alco in Roswell, NM, along with cloth diapers, yellow and green baby clothes and booties -- back in the days before credit cards, sonograms and gender reveals. I made my micro payments regularly. They added no additional charges and there was no cut-off date either; their remarkable policy was "as long as you make regular payments on your layaway." It was a thrill when months later I made the last $10 payment and had all the precious things I had so carefully planned and selected.

By then I had also saved enough S&H Green Stamps to buy a Oster blender for my plan to make homemade baby food after I had stopped nursing. In the late 70s my choices weren't the norm, but I didn't care. It was precious times with my first baby.

It was the only cookbook I had for many years. If a recipe wasn't in it, I called my mom. I called my mom a lot for her help and advice. She had gotten extremely smart by then. ;)

I'm vegan now, and in countless ways things have changed. Me and my book both have seen better days. As an ode to those years, to my mom's help, and to my baby who has grown up to love eating her vegetables, my ragged copy sits still on my shelf.

My favorite recipe? Steak Diane! For special occasions.

This was my mom's cookbook. Its held together with tape and a prayer and even then some of the pages aren't exactly attached, but its still one of the most useful books I have. I still reference it for substitutions, basic recipes ideas, and general cooking information. I still use it for a few old 'family' recipes that I make but not often enough to memorize.