We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
Cookbooks always seem great at the bookstore, but it’s an entirely different story when you get them home and start chopping ingredients. How many times have you flipped to a recipe only for the page to flop over and lose your place while your hands are busy with something else? Open cookbooks also take up a lot of space and can easily get stained and soiled with flecks of food when they’re laying flat on the counter. Cookbook stands are nice to own, especially if you cook from a book often, but you don’t need to spend the money on one as long as you have a clothes hanger with clips like those used for pants and skirts.
Using a clothes hanger to prop open a cookbook is pretty simple as demonstrated by one Facebook user. All you have to do is clamp the hanger to the two sides of the open book. This will keep the pages open, and you can lean the book against a wall or other solid object to keep it upright. You can also attach a hook to any surface near your prep area and hang the book up off the counter. This not only frees up space, but keeps the book away from splatters and splashes on the work surface, which is especially nice if you’ve shelled out for a high-end cookbook.
How to hang a cookbook
Hanging a cookbook with a clothes hanger requires two tools: the hanger, and a hook. Many kitchen cabinets have hard laminate surfaces that make traditional screw-in hooks a challenge to install, but you don’t have to damage anything if you just use a removable hook. Command Large Utility Hooks will stick to almost any wall or cabinet surface, and can hold up to 5 pounds, which should be plenty of strength for most cookbooks including every one of Ina Garten’s titles or indispensable retro classics like “The Moosewood Cookbook” by Mollie Katzen. In fact, the only drawback of this hack is that most hangers can’t hold very heavy books, so skip the hanger for titles like “Modernist Cuisine” by Nathan Myhrvold, a collection which weighs in at an astonishing 40 pounds.
As for a hanger, choose a model that has clips with rubberized, non-slip grips that will hold the pages of the book to keep it from slipping. Kiesor Wooden Pants Hangers come in a pack of 10, which leaves plenty of hangers left for organizing your closet. Once you have the hook installed, all you have to do is clip the book into the hanger and hang it up. Once you start hanging up your cookbooks, you’ll forget all about a cookbook stand — and you’ll have a few dollars left in your budget for fancy ingredients.
