My Top 10 - Cookbooks

Top ten lists are fun but hardly definitive.  This stack of books might well look different 6 months from now.  I shudder to think of what it might have looked like when I first started cooking!


So, maybe I should have titled this post "My Top 10 - Cookbooks (as of December 10, 2009, 10:13 am Pacific Standard Time)"


In no particular order (well, technically, ascending order of book height) here are some thoughts on why these books made this list...


The French Chef Cookbook (Julia Child)
I grew up watching Julia Child's "The French Chef" (in syndication...how old did you think I was, anyway?) every day after school.  This book is a great companion to those memories and a great collection of the classics of French cooking.


Marcella's Italian Kitchen (Marcella Hazan)
This is simply great, down-home Italian cooking.  This was one of my very first cookbooks I ever bought and it continues to be a go-to for ideas and reference.  It strikes me as the kind of food you would have at someone's home in the Italian countryside, yet truly worthy of the best restaurant experience.


Sunday Suppers at Lucques (Suzanne Goin)
Ok, so I'm a little biased since I did my culinary externship at Lucques.  Suzanne is a Chez Panisse alum and carries those sensibilities to the Nth degree.  She runs her restaurant probably "greener" than any other and is an excellent example of the Chef/Farmer connection.  The kitchen even separates vegetable compost that some of the farmers take with them when they make their deliveries.  Her food has a natural, beautiful simplicity to it which comes through perfectly in this book.  Excellent Photography!


The Naked Chef (Jamie Oliver)
This is the book I go to when I want inspiration for something to cook for myself at home...when I don't want alot of fuss but I do want alot of flavor. 


Think Like a Chef  (Tom Colicchio)
(should I be capitalizing a book that is not capitalized?)
This is the #1 book that I recommend to the home cook wanting to learn technique and improve their cooking.  Tom follows the technique approach rather than the recipe approach to creating dishes.  This is not to say there are no recipes in the book...there are many great ones...but he gets you thinking like a chef, REALLY!


The Zuni Cafe Cookbook (Judy Rogers)
So many great recipes, but even more a book you can truly READ.  She explains theory, tells stories and gets you excited to try new things all with a great writing style.  It is worth getting the book just for her three page essay entitled "The Practice of Salting Early".


The Classic Food of Northern Italy (Anna Del Conte)
Michael Tusk first turned me on to this book over ten years ago when I was just getting my culinary feet wet at Oliveto Restaurant.  One of the most influential times of my career, working at Oliveto showed me the true essence of Italian cooking.  This book is no different.  It is organized by region (which I love) and helps you understand why and how different cuisines and cultures developed.  How food of the Alto Adige is essentially Austrian food.  Why butter and fresh egg pastas are to the North of Italy what olive oil and dry (semolina) pastas are to the South.


The Good Cook & Foods of the World Series (Various Authors)
See what I did here?  I snuck in an 11th book by including the Time/Life series of books.  It was quite the epiphany when I discovered these books.  I had seen them many times in my addictive trips to used bookstores, but chalked them up to oversimplified how-to books for the lay person written by people who knew nothing of the subject...until I finally picked one up.  These books are the polar opposite of that assumption and a great addition to any cookbook collection.  They are written by culinary LEGENDS!  Richard Olney served as culinary consultant for the entire "The Good Cook" series.  The "Foods of the World" series is written by such icons as Waverly Root, M.F.K. Fisher and Craig Claiborne.  An added bonus is how cheap they can be had...I've paid as little as 50 cents each for some in my collection.


French Regional Cooking (Anne Willan)
This is very much the French counterpart to The Foods of Northern Italy for me.  Written by an authority on the subject, it is also organized by region and imparts an understanding of the history and culture of the country's varied, yet cohesive cuisines.  While I usually seek out true bargains in the cookbook sections of used bookstores, I made an exception for this one.  It is out-of-print and hard to find and I paid a premium as I knew I might never find it again.  While I said my Top 10 might likely change over time, this one takes permanent residence!


Culinaria Spain (Marion Trutter)
How beautifully put together this entire series of books is!  This is the sole book on my list that might just as well have ended up on a list of Top 10 Coffee Table Books.  I pick it up (lift with the legs...it's a hefty one!) as often to just look at the beautiful pictures as I do for culinary inspiration.  If there is anything you want to know or see about the food of Spain you will find it in these pages.


Got some thoughts on some books you think should make the Top 10?  I'd love to hear them...please leave me a comment!