by Marie Peloquin

Created on: July 21, 2010

I love books. I love the feel and smell of a new book as I crack it open for the first time. I love the crispness of the pages and the weight in my hands. There really is something magical about books. I love the nostalgic feeling of using a cookbook. It just seems more “homey.”

For that reason, I have purchased cookbooks from time to time, in the hopes of using them. Unfortunately, however, they end up sitting on the shelf, gathering dust.

When it comes to practicality and accessibility in the kitchen, cookbooks are quickly losing their place. With thousands of recipe sites online, it’s faster and easier to search either for a specific recipe, or to find ideas for the ingredients you have available.

Say you want to make a meatloaf, but need a low-fat, low-cholesterol alternative to the “Beef ‘n Bacon Special” your grandmother cooked. If all you have available is the row of books on your shelf, it’s unlikely that you’ll find the recipe you need. However, online the perfect recipe is usually just a few clicks away.

Google “cookie recipe” and you’ll get around 9,970,000 results. Google “spaghetti recipe” and you’ll get 7,850,000. 

If simply “googling” a recipe seems too hit-and-miss, there are hundreds of fantastic sites with not only a treasure trove of recipes, but also a vast network of experienced cooks who will offer advice and reviews, which makes the recipe selection that much easier. Some of my personal favorites range from the bigger Food.com to smaller, personal sites, such as the TastyKitchen blog.

Even the “must have” cookbooks can now be found online. "The Joy of Cooking" can be found at thejoykitchen.com, where you can search for specific recipes or browse the recipe of the day. All the greatest recipes from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook are available on the BHG site.

Something that I’ve found particularly useful is creating my own “cookbook” on my computer, compiling recipes according to those that are popular crowd-pleasers, those that I’d like to try, and those that just ‘work’ without much hassle. This has become my go-to cookbook when I need a quick solution. Rather than spending time flipping pages and looking for something that might work, I have everything readily available and guaranteed to turn out well.

From basic home cooking to the gourmet and exotic, by using resources available online, you can find whatever suits your fancy without taking up yards of shelf space and hours of time searching.

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