shannon.turlington AT gmail.com Magazines
Top-shelf Cookbooks
These are the cookbooks I reach for most often. They are compendiums of cooking techniques and common recipes, and so make great everyday references.
- Mark Bittman: The Best Recipes in the World; Food Matters; How to Cook Everything; The Minimalist Cooks Dinner; Simple to Spectacular (with Jean-Georges Vongerichten)
- Alton Brown: I’m Just Here for the Food
- Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking
- Tom Colicchio: Think Like a Chef
- Editors of Cook’s Illustrated: The New Best Recipe; Italian Classics; The Best 30-Minute Recipe
- Sara Foster: Fresh Every Day; Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking
- James Peterson: The Essentials of Cooking
Middle-shelf Cookbooks
These cookbooks are more specialized. They include cookbooks focusing on a particular region or theme. I reach for them when I want a special recipe or a new idea.
- Lynn Alley: The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Regional Comfort Food Classics
- Rick Bayless: Authentic Mexican; Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen; Salsas That Cook
- Jim Deneven, Outstanding in the Field
- Huntley Dent: The Feast of Santa Fe
- Marcella Hazan: Marcella Cucina
- David Lebovitz: The Perfect Scoop
- Susan Herrmann Loomis: Italian Farmhouse Cookbook
- Diana Kennedy: The Essential Cuisines of Mexico
- Debby Maugans Nakos: Small-Batch Baking
- Marie Simmons: The Good Egg
- Nina Simonds: A Spoonful of Ginger
- Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet
- Sue Stein, Mary Hinds and Judith H. Dern: The Sustainable Kitchen
- Patricia Wells: Bistro Cooking
Books I’m Still Evaluating
Recent cookbooks I picked up but haven’t decided how useful they are yet.
- Bouchon, Thomas Keller
- How to Eat Supper, Lynn Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift
Reference Books
Books that are good for looking stuff up.
- Fish, Mark Bittman
- The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food, Janet Chadwick
- Bakewise, Shirley O. Corriher
- Cookwise, Shirley O. Corriher
- Spices and Herbs Lore and Cookery, Elizabeth S. Hayes
- Mrs. Restino’s Country Kitchen, Susan Restino
- The Cook’s Essential Kitchen Dictionary, Jacques L. Rolland
- The Elements of Cooking, Michael Ruhlman
Books About Food and Cooking
Not cookbooks per se, but many do contain recipes.
- Intercourses, Martha Hopkins and Randall Lockridge
- Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings, Edward Espe Brown
- Blue Jelly, Debby Bull
- The Tao of Food, Richard Craze and Roni Jay
- An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, Elizabeth David
- The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry, Kathleen Flinn
- Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver
- The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
- Julie and Julia, Julie Powell
- The Soul of a Chef, Michael Ruhlman
- Zen and the Art of Cooking, Jon Sandifer
- First You Take a Leek, Maxine J. Saltonstall
- It Must’ve Been Something I Ate, Jeffrey Steingarten
- Pot on the Fire, John Thorne
- The Tummy Trilogy, Calvin Trillin
- How I Learned to Cook, Kimberly Witherspoon and Peter Meehan, editors
[...] Cook’s Library [...]
[...] Cook’s Library [...]
Shannon,
Great site! The cook’s library is a great idea. I recently posted some of my favorite encyclopedic food books on my blog, but didn’t think to list my library. It is different enough from yours that I may just do it.
Andy
[...] Cook’s Library [...]
[...] I am in another part of the country, I like to buy a cookbook about the local cuisine. I got one of my favorite cookbooks while in Santa Fe, that’s really [...]
Shannon,
just stumbled across your site. it’s really nice. Your library is very well stocked and very similar to my own. Might I recommend one more staple book to list? The Joy of Cooking. It’s like a dictionary for the kitchen.
Thanks for the suggestion. That’s a good one that I shall definitely have to pick up sometime.