Cookbooks still have the same issue as an online recipe. Namely, you won’t know how good the recipe is until after you make it.

That's just the way cooking food works, regardless of the recipe source.

Which makes the value proposition of cookbooks dubious!

I have to heartily disagree. Besides, you're more than welcome to make changes to any given recipe (and even notate those changes in the book!)

I love online recipes. I can see what other people said about the recipe, and it’s more likely to be something contemporary. Many of the recipes in cookbooks “age out” as that style of cuisine goes out of style. See: 1950s recipes with jello.

Mostly what other people say about online recipes is that they made something else by substituting one or all ingredients and altering the method.

You have to be kidding. The culinary professionals who comprise the editorial staff of any edition of Joy of Cooking in fact know more about food than the average blogger. The recipes in Joy of Cooking are tried and true. I have seen too many recipes to count online that call for completely incorrect technique/equipmemt/etc. I have not once caught one of these types of errors in a reputable cookbook or professional culinary text. It is rare that one finds a good recipe online, though the internet can be usefup for gwtting ideas for flavor combinations, food pairings etc.

The used book store cookbook section, the supermarket checkout magazines, and internet recipes are all the same ultra low quality level.

I find it fascinating that "pro cookbook" level recipes exist, but you'll NEVER find any mention in those three dumpy areas. You'll never see a copy of Modernist Cuisine at a used book store, much like those stores never contain contemporary, useful, high quality computer science / IT books...

There's sort of a market for lemons out there where the widely held belief that competition will make great products simply does not apply. Just turn on a TV for another example, LOL.

I'd agree with your general point on the overabundance of mediocre quality recipes, but the availability of quality literature isn't really in question to me. There are plenty of reliable sources that publish good cooking manuals that are widely available (even in used book stores). This is more a problem with consumers not using their own discretion or doing proper research, but also with people publishing shoddy excuses for recipes that do not appear to have been tested.

> The used book store cookbook section, the supermarket checkout magazines, and internet recipes are all the same ultra low quality level.

Perhaps the last two, but the cookbooks I use have been pretty great. YMMV, of course.