Do you write in your cookbooks?
As children we are told to treasure and look after our books and any that are personalised in any other way than a name are considered disfigured.
I was brought up that way and have passed on that care of books to my children, but my cookbooks are a completely different thing. Despite having often had one of those clear plastic protective recipe stands in the kitchen, inevitably my favourite recipes get splodged with ingredients and scribbled with notes on possible variations and changes.  Sometimes I remind myself with a date and reason for celebration on a special occasion recipe. I reminisce as I flick through David Thompson’s thai food ^[1] and remember dishes cooked for my last decade birthday.
My Stephanie Alexander Cooks Companion is so beaten up that a while ago during a radio interview I actually showed it to Stephanie, not in shame but as a sign of how much the book had been appreciated and used.  Now with its cover completely detached from the book, I don’t feel quite as willing to share the state I have let things get to.

How do you treat your cookbooks, are they kept pristine and and as perfect as you bought them or like me are your favourites well worn and do you write in them?

 

 

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