Cooking & Cookbooks

Contemporary American cuisine is a fusion of regional & international elements that reflect the diverse history of the United States. This guide features books and eBooks from our collection by region.

You can find our American cookbooks on the third level of Wolfgram Memorial Library under TX715.  Our American cooking eBooks can be found here.

The northeastern United States has two main styles of cuisine, New England and Mid-Atlantic.

New England

New England cuisine is known for using seafood and dairy products because of a large fishing industry and history of dairy farming.  The earliest European colonizers in this area were from eastern Europe where baked foods were more common than fried.  New England's favorite cooking methods are stewing, steaming, and baking. 

Mid-Atlantic

Mid-Atlantic cuisine is more eclectic and has greater international influences from a long history of immigration.  In larger cities, like New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, dishes became more complex and were made with richer ingredients - this has led to traditional local dishes such as cheesecake and creme pies.

Southern cuisine uses elements of many cultures, especially Native American and West African.  It is also regional within itself, and includes many variations of specific foods such as barbecue.  Frying is a popular cooking method, especially for chicken, and traditional desserts include pies, cobblers, and puddings.

Midwestern cuisine draws its roots from central, northern, and eastern Europe as well as traditional Native American cuisine.  Midwestern dishes are thought of as simple, but hearty, and use locally grown ingredients.

Pacific Northwest cuisine is heavily influenced by Native American and First Nations cooking.  The region includes Alaska and stretches from Washington State to Northern California, so the climate is temperate rain forest mixed with pine forest.  Seafood, especially shellfish and salmon, is very popular and there is an abundance of local fresh vegetables and berries.  Pies are a favorite dessert and the area is known for its wineries.

Southwestern cuisine is thought to be a blend of Spanish colonial settlers, Native Americans, Mexicans, and cowboys.  It is a rustic style of cooking that uses mostly pork and beef.  Southwestern dishes, especially in New Mexico, use chiles and traditional Mexican spices.  Sopaipilla is a common dessert, it is a sugared fried dough that is hollow inside.