How To Rescue Your Favorite Cookbook from Spills and Stains — Cookbook Library

Some cooks like to keep their cookbooks pristine. Others consider those blotched, wrinkled pages an homage to all the wonderful meals they've enjoyed. Wherever you fall on that spectrum, there are a few practical reasons you'd want to minimize food spills on your cookbooks. "Coated stock has a layer of clay on its surface, and when it gets wet, if the pages touch they will stick together more or less permanently," says Bonnie Slotnick, owner of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks in New York City. Dark-colored spills can obscure a recipe, and putting away a book with food remnants in it can attract vermin, too. "You don't want mice or roaches eating your book!" says Slotnick.

The key to rescuing a book is to act quickly and work gently. And if you do all the following steps and the stain still shows, try adjusting your attitude. "Remember that signs of use are what endear our old cookbooks to our heirs! I can't tell you how many times I've opened a book to show a customer, and there's a stained, wrinkled page, and one or both of us says, 'Well, you can see THAT'S a good recipe!'" says Slotnick.

With that in mind, here's how to rescue your favorite cookbook from whatever spills get on the pages while you're cooking.

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