Best Cookbooks of 2008
This week, we launched one of our favorite annual features: the Best Books of 2008. And while the spotlight is on our overall Top 10 picks, 2008 was a particularly good year for cookbooks, and I wanted to shine that light on the Cooking category and the 10 titles selected by our book editors as the best of the year.
The No. 1 pick, David Tanis' A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, was somewhat of a sleeper title that took me by surprise but quickly became a turned to favorite in my kitchen. When the publisher first presented this title to me last spring I admit I was unfamiliar with David Tanis and a little underwhelmed by the galley when it arrived (the gorgeous and beautifully understated finished copy immediately won me over). David Tanis splits his year in half, spending six months in the kitchen as head chef at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse and the rest of the year living and cooking in Paris, and his debut cookbook serves as an inspiring, seasonal celebration of home cooking. You can get a taste of David's terrific book with this recipe for Bistecca with Fried Artichokes and Potatoes, as featured in our Fall into Cooking Store.
Amazon's 2008 Top 10 Editors' Picks in Cooking, Food & Wine
- A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis
- Alinea by Grant Achatz
- Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin
- Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
- Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer Mclagan
- A16: Food + Wine by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren
- Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook by Martha Hall Foose
- Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson
- Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food by Andrew Carmellini
- The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table--Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit by Amy Goldman
Fun facts about this year's list:
- Number of titles inspired by restaurants: 6
- Number of titles published in or after September 2008: 8
- Number of titles with a $50 or higher list price: 1
- Leading cuisine among the ten: Italian (2 books)
- Publisher with the most titles on the list: Ten Speed Press (3)
- The book I would've lobbied to include if the list went to 11: Au Pied de Cochon
See Amazon's bestselling 2008 Customer Favorites in Cooking, Food & Wine .
--BTP
KristiC on November 06, 2008 at 11:51 AM
I'd never heard of David Tanis either, but I'm cooking like crazy out of his book. My husband just made the fish soup with chorizo and it was spectacular (and I'm a notorious disliker of fish soup).
Mike@ on November 07, 2008 at 03:10 AM
Figs ?
FIGS ??
Have you heard of "Eat What You Want And Die Like A Man" ???
It's here : http://www.amazon.com/Eat-What-You-Want-Like/dp/0806528680/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226056001&sr=8-1
Now THIS is a cookbok about REAL FOOD.
Figs. Give me a break.
Anthony Silverbrow on November 07, 2008 at 07:20 AM
What about some non-US books? In particular the Big Fat Duck Cookbook. C'mon guys, don't forget there is a whole world outside of the US. This ain't the baseball 'world' series.
pesdguy on July 04, 2009 at 06:24 AM
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