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10 Best cookbooks to give or get

Cook with Jamie: Perfect for the cook who wants to expand her repertoire and skills.

Scott Beattie shakes up the cocktail world with Artisan Cocktails (Ten Speed Press, $24.95). Beattie tended bar at San Francisco’s Postrio and Azie, and Napa Valley’s Martini House before being handpicked to design the cocktails at Cyrus Restaurant in Healdsburg. He’s tapped into the local, organic, handcrafted scene of many wine country chefs, using the bounty of farmers markets to create visually stunning and downright delicious drinks. This lush, full-color collection of 50 cocktails, using seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers and spices, is a showstopper. Beattie’s unique mixtures combine flavor and aesthetics as meticulously as any world-class chef. Perfect for the cocktail connoisseur.

Cook with Jamie (Hyperion, $37.50)—Jamie Oliver’s best cookbook yet—has the look and style of a classic. His laid-back, conversational style combined with his passion for mingling fresh ingredients makes cooking fun. This British culinary wunderkind dishes up innovative takes on everyday favorites from fried calamari to shortbread cookies plus straightforward advice on ingredients and kitchen gear. Chapters on salads and homemade pasta shine. Photos show finished dishes as well as techniques. With more than 160 recipes and loads of hints, tips and advice on nearly every page, Cook with Jamie shows you the way to “good, rock-solid cooking.” Perfect for the cook who wants to expand her repertoire and skills.

In Beyond the Great Wall (Artisan, $40), award-winning authors Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid bring home the flavors of the China you didn’t see at the Beijing Olympics. This cookbook explores the more than 50 ethnic groups living in China who are not ethnically Chinese, such as Tibetans and Mongolians. The authors transport you to a world of new tastes, ingredients and techniques, using hundreds of jaw-dropping photos and 125 easy and seductive recipes. Packed with the history behind the culinary traditions, and the connections among food, culture and region, here’s a book that’s poised to become the holiday gift book of the year. Perfect for the adventurous cook.

Babette de Roziéres’ Creole (Phaidon, $39.95) charms you from the moment you see its bright, colorful cover and continues to do so to the last page. From snacks and starters through beverages and desserts, Roziéres serves up Creole cooking with nearly 170 detailed recipes. Plentiful photography brings the cuisine to life—every recipe is accompanied by a full-page photo—and there are photos of the fish, fruits and vegetables she uses. The great thing about this book is the abundance of highly unusual dishes and ingredients such as banana flowers and conch ravioli. Perfect for the fearless cook.

In My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals (Bloomsbury, $39.95) by award-winning photographer Melanie Dunea, chefs answer the age-old question, “What would be your last meal on earth?” Dunea’s portraits are fanciful and provocative. Chefs detail all aspects of their last meal—setting, companions, the food served, music played, and who would do the cooking. Closing the book are 53 recipes for many of the dishes described, some of which are down-home favorites while others tend to more elaborate gourmet dishes. Perfect for the chef aficionado.

With more than 100 seasonal recipes, resources, menu suggestions, and farmers’ stories, Jim Denevan and Marah Stets bring their farm-to-table philosophy to our kitchens in Outstanding in the Field: A Farm to Table Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $32.50). Since 1999, chef Denevan has been traveling the U.S. in “an intermittently reliable 1953 Flexible bus” named Outstanding, hosting dinners where dinner has never been served—from a Manhattan city garden to a coastal cave in California. He sheds light on the importance of knowing those who feed us, and that the farmers who grow our food are as important to good eating as the chefs who cook it. Perfect for the locavore cook.

In The Organic Food Shopper’s Guide (Wiley, $14.95), Jeff Cox cultivates your knowledge of organic shopping, cooking and eating. Here are the answers to all those questions that come up at the farmers market. What to buy? How to store it? How long does it keep? Organic food is one of the fastest growing food trends among consumers and chefs alike. Cox covers all the basics with entries on more than 100 organic foods, from fruits and vegetables to meat and fish, as well as coffee and chocolate. His detailed tips on shopping by season, organic advantages and uses, preparation and nutrition make this book the essential companion for any organic food shopper. Perfect for the farmers market shopper.

For centuries, spices have inspired exploration, made countries rich, and aroused chefs to add new dimensions of flavor to their dishes. In The Spice Bible (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $29.95), Australian chef Jane Lawson serves up the fascinating history and culinary uses of 45 spices, from everyday cinnamon to exotic nigella. She describes using a variety of spices in cooking as a way to travel the world through flavor and aroma. With more than 250 uncomplicated recipes, and buying and storage tips, you’ll be traveling the world one meal at a time. Perfect for the cook who’s searching for a dash of inspiration.

The dreaded “F” word comes full circle in Fat: An appreciation of a misunderstood ingredient with recipes (Ten Speed Press, $32.50) by Jennifer McLagan. The author digs into the culinary history, importance and uses of fats: butter, pork, beef, lamb and poultry. She also maintains that even though fat is key to flavor—and natural animal fat is much healthier for our bodies than processed fats—it still needs to be eaten with portion control in mind. The 123 easy-to-follow recipes explore simple, everyday ways for cooks to get reacquainted with this feared ingredient that we secretly adore. Perfect for the cook who’s not afraid of a little fat.

A Platter of Figs (Artisan, $35) by David Tanis—a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley for 25 years—offers a welcome respite from all the cookbooks by restaurant chefs. Unlike many chef-authored cookbooks, here’s one devoted to casual cooking and entertaining at home, without requiring a crew of sous chefs and restaurant equipment. With menus organized by season, Tanis has a gift for combining both ingredients and dishes with plenty of advice on what can be made ahead of time. The charm and simplicity of the 24 seasonal menus make cooking a pleasure, delighting the family and friends you bring to the table. Perfect for the cook who loves to entertain family-style.
 

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