Hello all HOs, old and new. Thanks to everyone on the site for the warm welcome to the COTM group, and to COTMers who have joined to continue our cooking here on HO. It’s time to nominate a book for April.
Here is how it works: To nominate a book, reply to this topic and put the title in ALL CAPS. Titles not in caps will not be counted; that is how we know what is a real nomination rather than just discussion about a book. You may nominate as many books as you like. Please do so with the intention of cooking along if one of your nominations becomes the COTM.
Nominations will close on Friday, March 18, at 12 noon EDT. At that time, I will count the nominees and put the top two or three into a voting post that will be put up shortly after. After a few days of voting, we will have our COTM for the next month.
@CaitlinM has graciously put together a spreadsheet of all past COTMs from Chowhound, and you can see that here to find out which books we’ve already done: COTM history
I will get an archive set up here soon.
Remember, the month is still young! There is plenty of time to join us in cooking from the current COTM, Lemon, Love & Olive Oil by Mina Stone. March 2022 COTM - Lemon, Love & Olive Oil
Question. Are the cookbook nominations for all genres or just baking based cookbooks? Is a cookbook required? Because, the March HO thread (before it was altered from annual to a new monthly themed thread) was specifically baking bread, cakes, pastries, etc. and didn’t involve owning a cookbook.
The Chowhound list is very large, going back years. I missed some gems.
Having said that, if a cookbook is required and doesn’t need to be baking focused I nominate either cookbook by Joshua McFadden. As Spring approaches, grain salads, more vegetable dishes are on my to try list already. Both of these cookbooks were recommended to me by Alexandra’s Kitchen (and I noticed her cookbook was a chosen selection some time back).
SIX SEASONS: A NEW WAY WITH VEGETABLES
GRAINS FOR EVERY SEASON RETHINKING OUR WAY WITH GRAINS
Appreciate any clarification now, before the next month begins.
Hi, @Rooster ! The COTM books are not baking centered. If there is a baking book thread on here, we don’t want to tread on that. I think on Chowhound the baking books were done quarterly, and they were separate from COTM books. Cookbook of the Month is centered on one book or sometimes a small group of books. We encourage people to nominate books that are easily accessible to those who don’t want to buy the book, for example through public libraries.
We actually did Six Seasons back in October 2017 (which does not eliminate it from consideration - we can do it again if enough people want to). We have not done the new grain book, so I’ll second that nomination.
GRAINS FOR EVERY SEASON
Cookbook of the Month is focused on cooking collectively from a cookbook (or occasionally a pair of thematically linked books or a website) over a given month. It’s not baking-focused, the baking thread is a separate endeavor. It’s a project that began on Chowhound over 15 years ago, and historically people did return to add to past threads/topics with new reports.
We have had a separate baking-focused cookbook project that spans multiple months on Chowhound. Whether people are interested in replicating that here, we’ll have to wait and see.
So I’m gathering. The confusion I’m referring to was taking an annual HO baking whatever you like thread and turning it into a monthly cookbook focused thread at Chowhound members request.
HO Mods have explained the reason they are making adjustments. Having never participated on Chowhound, I do not have the luxury of history to refer to. And with Chowhound members joining HO to join this fun community, I look forward to a friendly, patient joining of like minded food lovers. Welcome to a new experience!
Rooster, I think you’ve misunderstood the whole thing.
The confusion I’m referring to was taking an annual HO baking whatever you like thread and turning it into a monthly cookbook focused thread at Chowhound members request.
THE MONTHLY WHAT’S YOU ARE BAKING IS LIKE THE ANNUAL THREAD, BUT GOES MONTHLY. IT’S NOT COOKBOOK BASED!!
Do you mind rereading what you have post in the baking site organisation? It’s you who suggested the monthly site is a cookbook one. A big misunderstanding, the monthly WAYB is a free theme thread, no books.
It is a non-baking cookbook nomination thread. For a cookbook that we will cook from together for one month, but the threads can be added to at any time in the future.
I’m going to take what @MelMM graciously replied to twice now and keep my nominations in. I’m sure the lightbulb will go off as the thread gets underway.
What I do appreciate is being shown the same patience over Chowhound ideas as I see being explained over the HO experience.
Hi All, mod stepping in here to clarify. The annual/ongoing HO baking thread was changed to a monthly baking thread at some of our new members’ requests, simply to keep it a manageable length. It has not changed in any other way and will not be cookbook based. IF there is interest in a baking cookbook of the month, that will be organized separately.
This thread, the Cookbook of the Month (COTM) nominations thread, is for non-baking cookbooks. COTM has long been a popular theme on Chowhound and I for one am happy to see it has made its way here! I hope that clears up any remaining confusion - please feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
glad I got something right!