Gerald's Much Anticipated 2010 Holiday Cookbook Guide

'Tis the season when publishers bring out fabulous new cookbooks and they are landing on our shelves in abundance. Tattered Cover staffer, gifted cook and highly discerning cookbook reviewer Gerald Davis offers his insight on choosing just the right cookbook and gives us his list of favorites. Bon appetit!

2010 HOLIDAY COOKBOOK GUIDE

There are cookbooks and food books that make great gifts for almost everyone, including,
ironically enough, even those who are not all that fond of cooking. However, like every gift at the holiday, it is important to match the cookbook to the recipient, and so the intention of this list is to help you avoid giving the foodie equivalent of socks or the object d'art that apparently only you wanted.

The Essential New York Times Cookbook is a safe bet to be a "hot" item this season. Like the Bon Appetit and Gourmet cookbooks, which sold well in their holiday debuts, this photograph-free cookbook has a built in audience and many great recipes. However, I find The Essential New York Times Cookbook a superior cookbook. Amanda Hesser, the author, has done several things to make this one of the cookbooks you will be taking down from your shelf for years to come. She encouraged readers to send in their favorite recipes and researched over a hundred years of New York Times recipes. This gives the cookbook a solid core of tried and true recipes from years past along side some more adventurous offerings. Ms. Hessler also made the wise decision not to simply revise the famous Craig Claiborne effort but to put her own personality into this cookbook. She is a talented writer and an insightful insider's guide to the best of the world of food.

Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table is a wonderful holiday offering from a gifted
cookbook writer who has a real talent for translating a recipe or technique for the home cook. She also has experience with working with remarkable French chefs (Baking with Julia, Daniel Boulud's Cafe Boulud Cookbook and The Desserts of Pierre Herme are among my favorite of her collaborations). The food here is unpretentious, wonderful food for the family table, beautifully photographed. This is the kind of cookbook both the "Sunday cook" and
experienced cook will want to use to make a simple gathering of family or friends a memorable meal.

5 Ingredient Fix may be the cookbook to consider for a friend or family member who doesn't like the fuss of cooking but needs to cook a real meal at least occasionally. Claire Robinson, a popular cooking show host, has produced recipes that will win over the reluctant or busy cook by their simplicity and remarkable flavors. The cookbook is in an appealing format with photographs of most dishes.



Flour: A Collection of Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery by Joanne
Chang and Christie Matheson and Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson offer the person who likes to bake two great choices from bakeries on opposite sides of the country. Both boast saliva inducing photographs and represent the wonderful world of baking at its best.





If you know someone who wouldn't be caught dead in the kitchen but doesn't mind firing up
the grill, consider giving him or her Planet Barbecue by Steven Raichlen. This cookbook from the author of the Barbecue Bible turns to international cuisines for inspiration. (This cookbook first hit the shelves in May, 2010.)





Another cookbook that came out during the summer is worthy of consideration for holiday giving: Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's. This is Mexican food for informal entertaining as only this talented exponent of regional Mexican food can deliver.

For the vegetarian, Rose Elliot's New Complete Vegetarian is a nicely produced new and updated edition of a classic cookbook with many standard and inviting recipes.

For the simply cutting-back-on-the-meat-and-eating-healthier crowd, consider Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook. Bittman is perhaps best known for his bestselling How to Cook
Everything.

A wonderful specialty cookbook that will have a smaller audience but I think a very appreciative one, nonetheless, among serious home cooks or cookbook collectors is The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders. It is a cookbook produced with love and
attention to the details.

Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine by Reni Redzepi is the hip offering for those who follow the hottest restaurants and chefs and and/or love food photography--but who know that there are cookbooks that are simply meant to be coffee table celebrations of fine food (picture books for adults disguised as a cookbook).

A good gift cookbook is the one the recipient wants. Ask yourself a few easy questions. Are pictures required? Would they prefer detailed instruction or a simpler text? When they go to a restaurant do they prefer adventurous fare or comforting standards? Hopefully, by now you have an idea what might suit them.

(this guide also appears at gabbygourmet.com)