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The Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Here is the great basic American cookbook--with more than 1,990 recipes, plain and fancy--that belongs in every household.
Originally published in 1896 as The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, it became the coobook that taught generations of Americans how to cook. Completely updating it for the first time since 1979, Marion Cunningham made Fannie Farmer once again a household word for a new generation of cooks.
What makes this basic cookbook so distinctive is that Marion Cunningham, who is the personification of the nineteenth-century teacher, is always at your side with her forthright tips and comments, encouraging the beginning cook and inspiring the more adventurous. She knows what today's cooks are looking for, and she has a way of instilling confidence and joy in the act of cooking.
In giving the book new life, Mrs. Cunningham has been careful always to preserve the best of the old. She has retained all the particularly good, tried-and-true recipes from preceding editions, retesting and rewriting when necessary. She has rediscovered lost treasures, including delicious recipes that were eliminated when practically no one baked bread at home. This is now the place to find the finest possible recipes for Pumpkin Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Carpetbag Steak, Roast Stuffed Turkey, Anadama Bread, Indian Pudding, Apple Pie, and all of the other traditional favorites.
The new recipes reflect ethnic influences--Mediterranean, Moroccan, Asian--that have been adding their flavors to American cooking in recent years. Tucked in among all your favorites like Old-Fashioned Beef Stew, New England Clam Chowder, Ham Timbales, and Chicken Jambalaya, you'll find her cool Cucumber Sushi, Enchiladas with Chicken and Green Sauce, or a layered dish of Polenta and Fish to add variety to your repertoire. Always a champion of old-fashioned breakfasts and delectable desserts, Mrs. Cunningham has many splendid new offerings to tempt you.
Throughout, cooking terms and procedures are explained, essential ingredients are spelled out, basic equipment is assessed. Mrs. Cunningham even tells you how to make a good cup of coffee and how to brew tea properly.
For the diet-conscious, there is an expanded nutritional chart that includes a breakdown of cholesterol and fat in common ingredients as well as in Fannie Farmer basic recipes. Where the taste of a dish would not be altered, Mrs. Cunningham has reduced the amount of cream and butter in some of the recipes from the preceding edition. She carefully evaluates the issues of food safety today and alerts us to potential hazards.
But the emphasis here is always on good flavor, fresh ingredients, and lots of variety in one's daily fare, which Marion Cunningham believes is the secret to a healthy diet. Dedicated to the home cooks of America, young and old, this thirteenth edition of the book that won the hearts of Americans more than a century ago invites us all--as did the original Fannie Farmer--to cherish the delights of the family table.
Originally published in 1896 as The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, it became the coobook that taught generations of Americans how to cook. Completely updating it for the first time since 1979, Marion Cunningham made Fannie Farmer once again a household word for a new generation of cooks.
What makes this basic cookbook so distinctive is that Marion Cunningham, who is the personification of the nineteenth-century teacher, is always at your side with her forthright tips and comments, encouraging the beginning cook and inspiring the more adventurous. She knows what today's cooks are looking for, and she has a way of instilling confidence and joy in the act of cooking.
In giving the book new life, Mrs. Cunningham has been careful always to preserve the best of the old. She has retained all the particularly good, tried-and-true recipes from preceding editions, retesting and rewriting when necessary. She has rediscovered lost treasures, including delicious recipes that were eliminated when practically no one baked bread at home. This is now the place to find the finest possible recipes for Pumpkin Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Carpetbag Steak, Roast Stuffed Turkey, Anadama Bread, Indian Pudding, Apple Pie, and all of the other traditional favorites.
The new recipes reflect ethnic influences--Mediterranean, Moroccan, Asian--that have been adding their flavors to American cooking in recent years. Tucked in among all your favorites like Old-Fashioned Beef Stew, New England Clam Chowder, Ham Timbales, and Chicken Jambalaya, you'll find her cool Cucumber Sushi, Enchiladas with Chicken and Green Sauce, or a layered dish of Polenta and Fish to add variety to your repertoire. Always a champion of old-fashioned breakfasts and delectable desserts, Mrs. Cunningham has many splendid new offerings to tempt you.
Throughout, cooking terms and procedures are explained, essential ingredients are spelled out, basic equipment is assessed. Mrs. Cunningham even tells you how to make a good cup of coffee and how to brew tea properly.
For the diet-conscious, there is an expanded nutritional chart that includes a breakdown of cholesterol and fat in common ingredients as well as in Fannie Farmer basic recipes. Where the taste of a dish would not be altered, Mrs. Cunningham has reduced the amount of cream and butter in some of the recipes from the preceding edition. She carefully evaluates the issues of food safety today and alerts us to potential hazards.
But the emphasis here is always on good flavor, fresh ingredients, and lots of variety in one's daily fare, which Marion Cunningham believes is the secret to a healthy diet. Dedicated to the home cooks of America, young and old, this thirteenth edition of the book that won the hearts of Americans more than a century ago invites us all--as did the original Fannie Farmer--to cherish the delights of the family table.
896 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
42 people are currently reading
9,189 people want to read
About the author
Marion Cunningham
24 books25 followersMarion Cunningham was born in Southern California in 1922, and now lives in Walnut Creek. She was responsible for the revision of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and is the author of The Breakfast Book, and Cooking with Children. She travels frequently throughout the country giving cooking demonstrations (some with James Beard), has contributed articles to "Bon Appetit," "Food & Wine," and "Gourmet" magazines, and writes a column for the "San Francisco Chronicle," and the "Los Angeles Times." Over seventy episodes of her television series "Cunningham & Company" appears regularly on the Food Network.
In 1993, Marion received the Grand Dame award from Les Dames d'Escoffier "in recognition and appreciation of her extraordinary achievement and contribution to the culinary arts." In 1994, she was named Scholar-in-Residence by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
In 1993, Marion received the Grand Dame award from Les Dames d'Escoffier "in recognition and appreciation of her extraordinary achievement and contribution to the culinary arts." In 1994, she was named Scholar-in-Residence by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
January 21, 2009
I love this cookbook! It is my very favorite! All the recipes are simple and if you like good old fashioned homemade food that is easy to make and doesn't cost a lot, this is for you. This book will teach you how to cook. The ingredients are basic and there are many recipes for simple inexpensive dishes. A must for people on a budget who want to learn to cook from scratch.
The date is set for today but I have had this book for 5 years and I still use it all the time.
The date is set for today but I have had this book for 5 years and I still use it all the time.
November 6, 2016
The Fanny Farmer Cookbook has been around for a long, long time. I was given a paperback copy by my mother in 1972 and its tattered cover barely holds the contents of this excellent cookery manual. My mother's favourite cookbook, a thick hardcover, the source of waffle batter, baking powder biscuits and the best dumplings for a beef stew, I remember learning how to use our cast iron waffle maker in the 1960’s with Fanny Farmer's directions. THAT cookbook was left with my father after my mother's death in 1980, after I hastily gathered vintage memories of my mom, the other cooking bibles of a life, so that her Pineapple Upsidedown Cake and Shortbread cookies would belong to my own family as part of their history too. The deal was, I told my father, don't under any circumstances throw that FANNY FARMER COOKBOOK out. Ok? I want it. It is Mom's.
In 2015 my 89 year old father had downsized. The woman he had lived with for twenty years was now in care near her own sons in another town three hundred miles away. He was surrounded by tschokes from his travels and own taste, unfamiliar to me. He'd had a fall, fainting because of anaemia and knocked himself out and was checked into the hospital for a few days, and I flew in at an unaffordable expense to see him. Demure in the hospital, grateful for the attention and even gentle, I relaxed with this old and frail man. On our last day there, he was back home, shuffling cantankerously and cursing the physiotherapist who insisted that he get a walker with wheels and a brake. He was calling into question my political beliefs, scorning my lack of bigotry as a sign of ignorance, discounting my ongoing didactic pursuits with his assured superiority. He was well again. Sidestepping, I asked about my mother's cookbook. I asked you to keep The Fanny Farmer Cookbook for me. He snorted. I threw it out. I didn't remember THAT. It was out of date, I wasn't using it, it wasn't any good to ME.
I don't have that one, published in the 1960s, with it's fine paper and sturdy cover. I keep my own. When I hold my tattered paperback, it holds a lifetime of Cookbook stories - scenes lived by women in a time before microwaves and easy mixes held the ingredients of lives, and I remember my mom.
In 2015 my 89 year old father had downsized. The woman he had lived with for twenty years was now in care near her own sons in another town three hundred miles away. He was surrounded by tschokes from his travels and own taste, unfamiliar to me. He'd had a fall, fainting because of anaemia and knocked himself out and was checked into the hospital for a few days, and I flew in at an unaffordable expense to see him. Demure in the hospital, grateful for the attention and even gentle, I relaxed with this old and frail man. On our last day there, he was back home, shuffling cantankerously and cursing the physiotherapist who insisted that he get a walker with wheels and a brake. He was calling into question my political beliefs, scorning my lack of bigotry as a sign of ignorance, discounting my ongoing didactic pursuits with his assured superiority. He was well again. Sidestepping, I asked about my mother's cookbook. I asked you to keep The Fanny Farmer Cookbook for me. He snorted. I threw it out. I didn't remember THAT. It was out of date, I wasn't using it, it wasn't any good to ME.
I don't have that one, published in the 1960s, with it's fine paper and sturdy cover. I keep my own. When I hold my tattered paperback, it holds a lifetime of Cookbook stories - scenes lived by women in a time before microwaves and easy mixes held the ingredients of lives, and I remember my mom.
November 18, 2019
Consistently reliable, informative, & comprehensive...
August 30, 2007
This is my #1 standby cookbook. I refer to it for almost everything, for various ways to prepare literally any vegetable I can think of, to baking cakes, cobblers and many old-fashioned delights that I have never heard of. It is comprehensive enough that I cross-reference all recipes against it. My great-grandmother used this book, and she was an amazing cook, so I trust it for pretty much all basic recipes. I must note, if you are vegetarian-leaning, it is worth it to pick up the latest edition as over the years many recipes have been added that do not require meat. But if you are vegan, you will need to make the substitutions on your own as many recipes have dairy. I cook vegan a lot though and have had no problem making subs with the recipes herein.
November 10, 2015
The Fannie Farmer cookbook by Marion Cunninhgam
Always trying to improve on our healthy eating habits so thought I'd listen to this book on tape about the Fannie Farmer cookbook.
So much information about measuring and how different ingredients react to liquid, heat, etc Also entertaining ideas and even beverages are discussed.
More than 30 hours to listen to the whole book. So much information, treasured the vegetable section and how to cook them differently.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Always trying to improve on our healthy eating habits so thought I'd listen to this book on tape about the Fannie Farmer cookbook.
So much information about measuring and how different ingredients react to liquid, heat, etc Also entertaining ideas and even beverages are discussed.
More than 30 hours to listen to the whole book. So much information, treasured the vegetable section and how to cook them differently.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
November 1, 2017
What a fabulous reference cookbook! This would be a great gift for a new home.
April 28, 2007
Marion Cunningham writes cookbooks the way I would: informative, but dull; all head and no heart.
The recipes are reliable and simple, but uninspiring and unspectacular.
I'd say skip this one, and get How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. For some historical perspective and to see why Fannie Farmer herself was so important to cookbook authors everywhere, you should also have a look at 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook.
The recipes are reliable and simple, but uninspiring and unspectacular.
I'd say skip this one, and get How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. For some historical perspective and to see why Fannie Farmer herself was so important to cookbook authors everywhere, you should also have a look at 1896 Boston Cooking-School Cookbook.
July 30, 2007
Fanny is a good staple, especially for someone rather new to the kitchen (not too new, you have to at least know the basics as there are no pictures and few drawings). If you only owned one cookbook, this would be a decent choice as it contains all the major categories. However, if you love food and you love to cook, you will outgrow Fanny.
Drawback: My edition doesn't have any nutritional information, which dates any cookbook.
Drawback: My edition doesn't have any nutritional information, which dates any cookbook.
January 1, 2008
I read my mom's 1960 (?) copy of Fannie Farmer over Xmas break from front to back - as if it were a novel. All the really neat parts of that edition are missing from the newer editions. Bummer. I would have liked to see a trend of old fashioned coffee made with eggshells and yolk; or cookies made with chicken fat.
November 27, 2011
This is really a hands-down best "go to" guide for cooking really anything you can think of. It gives the basics as well as more complex recipes. I find myself reaching for this again and again.
It would make a wonderful gift for a newly married couple or any person starting out in the kitchen.
It would make a wonderful gift for a newly married couple or any person starting out in the kitchen.
September 16, 2017
I received this cookbook as a wedding gift in 1979. The marriage didn't last, but the cookbook has remained my closest kitchen ally. Recipes are altered with every publication, and so although the cover has fallen from it and the binding is failing, I put a big rubber band around it when not in use. I have a lot of cookbooks, but this is the one I reach for still.
August 29, 2007
This is a good cookbook for vegan baking (believe it or not!) There are many recipes for things that use only one egg (which is easy to substitute) and some which call for no dairy at all. Good for pie crust, cobbler and other traditional baked goods.
January 28, 2009
Haven't been reading much, but have been baking some treats from this great book my mother in law gave me years ago! I recommend the any fruit crisp! We had one last night with strawberries and apples. Yum
May 13, 2009
This is the ultimate cookbook. Everyone should have this as a staple in their kitchen. If you are ever in question on how to go about cooking something, you have a pretty good chance of finding the answer in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
January 28, 2013
Although the copy I have is older, printed in the early '80s, this is pretty much the gold standard of basic cookbooks. I always refer back to it for things, and this is the first time I really sat down and read it all the way through.
November 10, 2014
I have always been a fan of the Fannie Farmer cookbook. This is my go-to basic cookbook for whenever I need to read up on how to do something or at what temperature something should cook at.
I find this easy to follow and enjoy the approach taken in describing dishes.
I find this easy to follow and enjoy the approach taken in describing dishes.
June 15, 2012
This is a great all purpose cookbook with wonderful recipes. Although I have many, many cookbooks, Fanny Farmer, the Joy of Cooking and The Best Skillet Recipes, a gift from a dear friend, are the three that I use 95% of the time and contain the vast majority of my family's favorite recipes.
September 25, 2011
This is the best basic cookbook in America, hands down. It is filled with all the classic dishes you could ever imagine, as well as some great old forgotten recipes.
April 15, 2012
My fiance's paternal grandmother gave me this little treasure! I have some of my family's recipes that I love, but this book is now my go to for everything that isn't in my own collection.
September 30, 2013
I use this even more often than The Joy of Cooking for reference.
June 17, 2020
I read the 1979 edition. It is antiquated in many ways ("Although freezer-lockers are available in many towns on a rental basis, it pays to invest in a freezer of your own"), and full of things that are out of fashion (home-made preserves and candy). But there is a comprehensive array of recipes, and many are excellent, serviceable and imaginative and well written. This cookbook is a keeper, and a good reference source. I have tried some of the recipes (yogurt salad dressing was fresh and herby-y and delicious), and will try others -- maybe even some of that homemade candy.
March 1, 2023
This book has my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I even have Fannie Farmer Baking Book and I still prefer The Fannie Farmer Cookbook for my cookie recipes as well as pancakes and other goodies.
July 19, 2019
My much loved and much used original copy of the 1979 edition was destroyed in a fire and I was looking to replace it. This was a much awaited revised and updated version of the 1979 edition. It was a huge disappointment. The recipes had been altered greatly and no longer worked as well. Classic recipes were removed. It was a disaster. I threw away this book and bought a second hand copy of the 1979 vesion.
March 16, 2017
Three cheers for the perfect cookbook! Really. Whether you know nothing or everything about preparing food this book will come in handy. Basic techniques, delicious recipes, and Cunningham's updates are stellar. Awesome food is possible.
June 10, 2017
I really want to read this book but it does not let me read it
June 13, 2017
"To my darling daughter Teresa on her 22nd birthday. May you have many happy years and great meals. May 26/95 Mom"
It's an amazing cookbook, too.
more later
It's an amazing cookbook, too.
more later
January 16, 2018
My go to cookbook for more than 40 years
May 5, 2019
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This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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June 7, 2019641.5973 C9735f 1996
August 23, 2019
This is one of my favorite traditional cookbooks. You can learn how to cook almost anything from the FFC. The banana bread continues to be a family favorite, but there is something for everyone.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews