CAZENOVIA — Since December 2022, the “Caz Cooks” cookbook club at the Cazenovia Public Library (CPL) has been bringing together community members with common interests in cookbooks and trying out new recipes.
Typically, the group meets on the second Tuesday of each month to discuss and sample recipes from a particular cookbook.
In preparation for the get-together, each member makes a dish from the cookbook at home to share with the group.
The club was started by part-time CPL staff member Debora Millson, who said she was inspired by her love of looking through cookbooks.
“At a typical meeting, we sit in a circle and talk about what was made, if it was liked, if the ingredients were hard to find, [and] if spouses and children gave it a thumbs up,” Millson said. “It is interesting [to] find out what recipes were successful and what were total flops.”
The club’s first book was “Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?” by Ina Garten. Since then, the group has explored such books as “Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook,” “Half Baked Harvest” by Tieghan Gerard, “Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats,” and “Endless Summer Cookbook” by Katie Lee.
“In November, we did ‘Make it Ahead’ by the Barefoot Contessa since we were coming up on the holidays and we could test recipes to make ahead for holiday family gatherings,” said Millson. “Carriage Barn Books donated some of their unsold cookbooks after their big summer sale, and I used those for our October and December meetings. We did a mystery cookbook in October where I wrapped a cookbook, and you took it on your way out or picked one up from the circulation desk. In December, we played a game [where members] could steal each other’s cookbooks [like in] a Secret Santa exchange.”
According to Millson, the club has about 18 members, and the meetings usually have about 10 people.
“We have had some great discussions about food,” she said.
The next Caz Cooks meeting is scheduled for Feb. 13 at 5 p.m. in CPL’s Betsy Kennedy Community Room, and it will focus on any cookbook by Danielle Walker – Against All Grain.
Cookbooks are available at the CPL front desk.
“Typically, we have one cookbook that we focus on, but the past two months we have done an author focus as [it is sometimes] hard to get enough cookbooks through the Mid-York system,” said Millson. “In March, we will go back to a book study, and it will be ‘The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier’ by Ree Drummond.”
Dishes are prepared in personal kitchens, so participants are advised to eat at their own risk.
To learn more about joining Caz Cooks, email Millson at [email protected].
