Best Cookbooks of 2008

This week the Amazon book editors launched one of their most popular annual features: the Best Books of 2008. And while the spotlight is on the 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 Amazon's Fall into Cooking Store.

Amazon's 2008 Top 10 Editors' Picks in Cooking, Food & Wine

1. A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes by David Tanis
2. Alinea by Grant Achatz
3. Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin by Kenny Shopsin
4. Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
5. Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer Mclagan
6. A16: Food + Wine by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren
7. Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook by Martha Hall Foose
8. Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson
9. Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food by Andrew Carmellini
10. 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

Comments

[Culinary Dictionary on November 05, 2008 at 03:23 AM]

Collecting Cookbooks has been my favorite hobby
Thanks for listing out Top 10 cookbooks of the year 2008

Alice