I consider myself to be a fairly competent cook (alas, not yet to Masterchef standards) and I have a small library of cookbooks (about 150 at last count) from diverse sources. Everything from Paul Bocuse to Gary Rhodes, from the Larousse Gastronomique to the Cucchiaio d'Argento - all of which have been great teachers.

When I married Mrs TD (who is Swiss) she came with a dowry of Betty Bossi cookbooks and a subscription to the Betty Bossi magazine (which continues to this day). And, quite frankly, having read through the BB cookbooks (and tried more than a few of the recipes), I'm wondering if anyone else on the EF shares my puzzlement of the enduring success of BB?

I tried a BB recipe for a slow cooked pork loin - a disaster (yet the Garry Rhodes recipe for slow cooked pork belly has become a successful and much loved part of my repertoire), following the BB recipe for Zopf resulted in an inedible lump, following Michel Roux’s recipe for a traditional “sandwich loaf” resulted in bread that was scoffed down incredibly quickly... (and is now made, by executive fiat, every week)

So, what is it with Betty Bossi? (or perhaps BB and me?) Does anyone have any ideas?

Coop also sell Betty Bossi ready meals. It's what you buy after the BB recipes fail you.

Can you see what is wrong with the recipes?

Most cookbooks have recipes with errors in them. Some more than others.

When I moved to Switzerland (30+ years ago) several swiss friends recommended buying Betty Bossi books to get help me get used to the local cuisine. Having had a quick look at examples of her books I ignored that advice and have never regretted it. As a more than competent cook I thought they were old fashioned, stodgy rubbish.... especially compared to Gary Rhodes, Paul Rankin and Raymond Blanc (all very popular in the UK at the time).
I've always been surprised by BB's popularity and noticed the other day that my daughter-in-law has just bought one of her books. Fortunately my son does most of the cooking in their house and he thinks BB is rubbish as well!

Mrs TD's sister-in-law (a Swiss) once loaned me an old (1930s?) Basler cookbook. Not only were there "proper" recipes (to my eyes), but the cookbook contained recipes for real Basler food that I have never, ever, seen on the menu in a Basel restaurant.

I wonder if the success of BB may have contributed to the atrophying of local culinary tradition?

I think it is more a marketing success than a culinary success, as it is Swiss people support it,

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Bossi

No English version,
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...ch=Betty+Bossi

Great thread!

No I cannot understand the success - they are very old-fashioned recipes and I don't like the thick flour based sauces and over-reliance on kohlrabi

I think it is like an Ark of the Covenant thing - a precious article passed from mother to daughter that nobody yet realises is dead!

Betty Bossi does, however, do a neat contraption for making mini Schinkengipfeli (or Chicken gipfeli as Mrs. G. calls them)

Yes, Betty Bossi is disappointing. Maybe some of the recipes work but I rather go for local cookbooks or buy old handwritten books from housekeepers. The "Pauli" is the one source that gives an overview of all standards and ground recipes in the kitchen, it's used for training apprentices too. My other sources are my fathers recipes as he was a real good chef.

Betty Bossi is for möchte-gern cooks.

Get a Tiptopf book. That's real cooking. The kids use it at school, the farmer's wife's school uses it and it's repeatedly updated.

If I were going to a a deserted island, I would bring this book with me.

The WHAT?

I think their best book so far has been "How to rip of the lid of a convenience meal and shove it in the microwave"!

Welcome to canton Schwyz

Received one for xmas from someone who won't be named. TERRIBLE!!
Recipes for hot dogs in soup, yellow curry (just like the packet), it even had a section on how to serve foreigners fondue.
It explained that they won't have mastered the idea of not using other guest's forks, so you should mark each persons fork with a name or colored tape so that they understand they should not share with you.
Took it straight to the Brocki, where they asked me if I was sure I wanted to give it up.

As it was owned by Unilever until 1995 it contains a lot of product placements. Also the newer ones mention products that you can find especially in Coop.
They also use a lot of pre made stuff that could be easily self made. I am very disappointed about the contents of "Das grosse Betty Bossi Kochbuch" which claims itself to contain "basic knowledge". It does not. It lacks some important details, useful basic stuff, preparations methods, and standard sauces. Most Betty Bossi recipes give you a rather heavy, bland food that is missing the finer details.

On the other hand I am satisfied with there cake backing books. They are very clear easy to understand. And from personal experience, even a child gets a satisfying result.

I think the number one reason for there success is the clear recipe layout. One page, one recipe. On the left hand side you have all ingredients inclusive the needed amount. So it is very easy to make a shopping list. On the right hand side are the instructions how to combine the ingredients one by one.

The is were the weak part comes in. It does not give you the finer details. It does not say how the texture, smell, taste or look of your final product should be. It does not give you many hints and tips and assumes some training which may have been common 40 years ago. Other cook books lead you better and have more detailed instructions.



But at the end, how could you mess up the Zopf? The instructions are not that bad.
Here is the Betty Bossi Berner Züpfe Recipe

Tiptopf lacks everything that needs alcohol. So, no Coq au vin in that one. And the result is also rather bland and tasteless.

And if ones interested in the armer's wife's kitchen:
http://www.landfrauenkochen.ch/ Books available at Landi.

Those "cook books" are usually simply designed to get you to shift product off the supermarket stores.

Never trust a cook book that say "get packet X, Y and Z and mix them all together".

Good recipes and food don't usually come out of a packet if you get my drift.

Well, I also have over a hundred cookbooks, in five+ languages, and still use the Betty Bossi for certain recipes (such as spaezli, red cabbage, and a couple others).

None of the Betty Bossi recipes I've used say such a thing, all use basic ingredients.

Tom

I've got to disagree with you there. I can't help but groan if my wife gets that book out. Dull, dull, dull.

It may be real cooking but it's still dull.

My wife's copy is going to fall into the rubbish bins one of these days.

Just sent a letter to BB to cancel my subscription- saying that I feel like I am paying a subs so that they can target me for all their advertising.