Customer Reviews

Best of the Best Vol. 11: The Best Recipes from the 25 Best Cookbooks of the Year (Best of the Best: Best Recipes from the 25 Best Cookbooks of the Year)

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Volume 11 of the Best of the Best from the editors of Food and Wine Magazine follows their successful format of selecting the best recipes from 25 of the year's most popular cookbooks. Although I always feel that many great books are excluded each year, I still love to get a look at some cookbooks that I might not have seen otherwise. I few of these books I had already purchased but most of them included here feature a recipe that was not in the original cookbook (a Best of the Best Exclusive).

The book is divided into five chapters, each with it's own theme. They are:

Chef Showcases

This chapter includes recipes from some of the nations top celebrity chefs as well as some that I had not heard of. These are the books covered:

* Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer
In her first cookbook New Orleans chef Susan Spicer includes her versions of some classic recipes such as Wild and Dirty Rice and Smoked Duck and Andouille Gumbo (my favorite of hers).

* Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook by Bobby Flay
Celebrity chef Bobby Flay returns to his roots with recipes from his first restaurant, Manhattan's Mesa Grill. Four dishes are offered here including the wonderful Mussels in Red Chile Pesto Broth.

* Isabel's Cantina by Isabel Cruz
California Restauranteer Isabel Cruz contributes her unique fusion style of cuisine with recipes like Mahimahi with Jalapeno-Ponzu Sauce .

* The Young Man and the Sea by David Paternack
The New York based seafood chef not only cooks his fish, he catches, cleans, fillets and debones them. Although I am a little suspicious of fish caught anywhere around New York City, the recipes show an deep understanding of his ingredients, such as the Rigatoni with White Anchovies and Ricotta (though I might have a hard time finding boquerones).

* The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters
Veteran cookbook author Alice Waters shares recipes designed not for her restaurant but for the home cook. I didn't find much that interested me but I might try the Baked Salmon with Herb Butter dish eventually.

* Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver
This British phenom's latest cookbook includes recipes aimed at the novice cook. Still, there are some very good dishes represented here, including his Incredible Baked Lamb Shanks.

Mediterranean

An always popular cuisine, the Mediterranean chapter focuses on five authors, each with new twists on classic recipes:

* Cristina's Tuscan Table by Cristina Ceccatelli Cook
Her Fall Salad includes fresh figs and was wonderful!

* Mediterranean Harvest by Martha Rose Shulman
The Roasted Eggplant Salad looks great, as does the Barley Risotto with Pesto & Ricotto Salata.

* Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey by Efisio Farris
The book is full of recipes from the author's native home of Sardinia including an Artichoke and Clam Risotto.

* Tapas by Penelope Casas
I love tapas and judging from Ms. Casas' offering here, I am going to have to add her book to my collection.

* Savory Baking from the Mediterranean by Anissa Helou
This Lebanese-Syrian author's new book focuses on flatbreads, focaccias and pizzas.

Other books and cuisines covered are:

Asian

* The Shun Lee Cookbook by Michael Tong
* Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges by Jean-Georges Vorngerichten
* My China by Kylie Wong
* The Seventh Daughter by Cecilia Chiang

Making Dinner for Friends

* Everyday Pasta by Giada De Laurentiis
* Lobel's Prime TIme Grilling by Stanley, Leon, Evan, Mark and David Loble
* Cowgirl Cuisine by Paula Disbrowe
* Great Bar Food at Home by Kate Heyhoe
* The Deen Bros. Cookbook by Jamie and Bobby Dean
* Cooking with Shelburne Farms by Melissa Pasanen

Baking

* Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor
* Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More by Carole Walter
* A Baker's Odyssey by Greg Patent
* Pure Desert by Alice Medrich

I have purchased most of the books in this series and I always feel that I've gotten a good bargain. Over 100 recipes from 25 different books for the price of one. I am however disappointed with the photography. There are far too few photographs for my taste, and several of them are "beauty shots" of the author or a general, kitchen-type scene. For $29.99 (although Amazon's price was less) I want more photos of the finished dishes. The quality of the photography is excellent; many of the photos were from the original books and includes works from talented and gifted food photographers like Ben Fink (one of my favorites) and New Orleans' own Chris Granger.

With that one small caveat I still think that this series is a wonderful way of adding to your cooking library while getting know authors and recipes that you might not have otherwise. This is truly some of the best of the best.

I have only tried 2 recipes, both have been good...I love cookbooks, I almost read they like novels...I will never buy a cookbook from the company anymore. Not when it is this easy to buy from Amazon...Thanks

When I buy cookbooks I like books that have a picture to every recipe that is in there, but this one didn't but some of the recipes did look interesting.