Mary Eckley

I have to admit I don't use a large number of recipes from any single cookbook. This McCall's Cookbook I venerate because it has the recipe for Lindy's New York Cheesecake, a very authentic cheesecake made by traditional means with the very ingredients that enable one to feel one's arteries clogging up even as one consumes it. Decidedly yummy.
For aspiring cooks, this cookbook also has, IMO, the best and most concise list of what is actually needed to operate a home kitchen.
The rest of the cookbook is one of many adequate versions of a basic home cookbook with a goodly number fo very adequate basic recipes. Nice enough.
I am highly prejudiced and still produce most of what my family eats from scratch. For the most concise cooking course I'd recommend Joy of Cooking, Lobel Brothers Meat, and Laurel's Kitchen. Joy will tell you more than you really are likely to need to know--I actually am not likely to ever need to remove a turtle from its shell prior to cooking it. Meat will tell you what you really need to know in order to capitalize on whatever meat is available to you at a good price. Laurel's Kitchen is an enjoyable read as well as being a fine vegetarian cookbook, the one I'd recommend meat eaters have in their kitchen.
Before you worry overmuch about cookbooks, I'd strongly recommend making a point of learning how to prepare any of your family's favorites just the way your family does. Those are golden and can't be reproduced; acquire them and the skill to make them authentically first! No one is ever going to give me the recipe for my mom's oatmeal cookies that involve 9 TBSP of raisin juice. I'm glad I have it!
Finally, if you are trying to be economical, please do keep in mind that nearly all of the most popular recipes can easily be found online and require no purchase at all. These recipes are online because someone has prepared them and made them a household favorite. Really, for most of us who are middle class (or who once were and still are mentally, regardless of what the budget says), the online recipes are likely to prove to be plenty enough.
I'm keeping this cookbook anyway. The kitchen stuff list is useful when considering shopping for housewarmings and/or weddings. And Lindy's IS the cheesecake I will always make when I'm making cheesecake.… (meer)