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For Chinese food: The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo, oop but well worth looking for. Personally vetted by my very critical Chinese mother, herself an excellent cook
 
Pascal Barbot's Astrance. Pretty sure it's still unavailable. I preordered it 6 months in advance to secure my copy!!!
 
The one that change what being a cookbook was about for me was Bertolli's cooking by hand. I don't cook Italian food but the detail and care that he put into the book and expresses about his food is something else. Say what you want about about the French Laundry book Judy Dater's simple, beautifully composed photos could be hung with her fashion and fine art work.

I'm also a huge fan of the Time-Life foods of the world books, these guys are quality, and contain images of foodways and ways of life that have all but disappeared. One day I'll own them all...

And to the guy in the beginning of the thread who liked Real Cajun, I've been working for Donald Link for almost four years now, but had never looked through the book till this Christmas when I got one for my uncle. It was like looking at a high school yearbook, with the pictures of people who have gone on to other things and food that we made every day that isn't on the menu anymore. Aside from that I can say its a pretty quality book.
 
Mastering the Art of French Cooking - Julia Child. By a mile. Her food is not fancy or pretentious like Eleven Madison Park (which I also own and enjoy). Julia Child's food is just honest, humble, good food. Not only that, her food is simple enough for you to add your own flare to it, which is a quality many cookbooks today do not have.
 
I got Modernist Cuisine at Home for my birthday and I'm really enjoying reading it. Looks like I will have one more thing to spend money on now that I want a sous vide setup!
 
Dardeau said:
The one that change what being a cookbook was about for me was Bertolli's cooking by hand. I don't cook Italian food but the detail and care that he put into the book and expresses about his food is something else. Say what you want about about the French Laundry book Judy Dater's simple, beautifully composed photos could be hung with her fashion and fine art work.

I'm also a huge fan of the Time-Life foods of the world books, these guys are quality, and contain images of foodways and ways of life that have all but disappeared. One day I'll own them all...

And to the guy in the beginning of the thread who liked Real Cajun, I've been working for Donald Link for almost four years now, but had never looked through the book till this Christmas when I got one for my uncle. It was like looking at a high school yearbook, with the pictures of people who have gone on to other things and food that we made every day that isn't on the menu anymore. Aside from that I can say its a pretty quality book.
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Dardeau:

That is me who loves Real Cajun. Even though we live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, we visit New Orleans every year for a couple of weeks. We go to Cochon every time and have met Chef Link too. Maybe we will see you next time!

Paul Bertolli's Cooking By Hand is one of my faves too.

I am also a chef, perhaps going to open a small joint shortly...
 
cnochef said:
I got Modernist Cuisine at Home for my birthday and I'm really enjoying reading it. Looks like I will have one more thing to spend money on now that I want a sous vide setup!
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Pressure cooker is essential for this book. I made the Neapolitan style pizza and it was great.
 
slowtyper said:
Pressure cooker is essential for this book. I made the Neapolitan style pizza and it was great.
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For sure! I will probably pick up the Kuhn Rikon one.

BTW I love the recipe for Hawaiian pizza, with the pineapple right in the marinara sauce.
 
I'm always curious about tastes in cookbooks. I think I'm in the minority when I say I rarely buy books to try to replicate recipes. I always want to read about techniques and flav combinations, sparking ideas for experimentation.

Hence, I don't really buy any of those homecooking or comfort food resto cookbooks.

My favourite books of late have been....

L'astrance - imo, the best cookbook I've read in the last 5 yrs.
Kaiseki Kikunoi - more philosophy than recipe cookbook
Eleven Madison Park - basically a more current take on the French Laundry book

disappointing books

most of the big name chef books by Phaidon, gorgeous layouts but needs more NERDERY!
cute girl blogger cookbooks - wow there are so many of them out there now.

cookbooks I'm awaiting to buy.

Ivan Ramen
Pok Pok
Too Many Chiefs Only One Indian by Sat Bains
El Celler De Can Roca - they published this one themselves, expensive book.

Rare books I have little hope of owning

Sous Vide Cooking - Joan Roca
Dashi & Umami

invaluable classics...

Ma Gastronomie
Under Pressure
On Food & Cooking
La Technique
White Heat
 
Generational difference here...

La Cuisine, c'est plus que des recettes
Ma Cuisine Pour Vous
Michel Bras' first book
 
aser said:
Ma Gastronomie
Under Pressure
On Food & Cooking
La Technique
White Heat
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Definitely Ferdinand Point fits in here with the whole book but how does MPW? Not really anything super new flavour wise in the book...imho...
 
bieniek said:
Definitely Ferdinand Point fits in here with the whole book but how does MPW? Not really anything super new flavour wise in the book...imho...
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it's less to do w/ the food and more with his brash take on the cookbook format. He changed the game, those Marco clips on youtube from that era are pure gold.

http://youtu.be/dUZXvbYhSJ4?t=6m57s
 
Yeah that is so true.
I love those 4 classics.

You tried My Gastronomy by Nice Ladenis?
 
Took me about 2 months of looking to get a copy of white heat, due to the lack of available copies and my extreme frugalness with cookbooks. Even though all the food looks hideous I can't help but keep staring at it. Weird
 
Good Eats the Early Years
Good Eats the Middle Years
Good Eats the Later Years

Alton Brown... nuff said
 
What's the opinion here on 'Jerusalem' by Ottolenghi and Tamimi? I haven't seen it but have noticed quite a bit of publicity about it. I like the food in the pics looking like real food.
 
pitonboy said:
For Chinese food: The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo, oop but well worth looking for. Personally vetted by my very critical Chinese mother, herself an excellent cook
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Wow, good to hear - I've had that for decades...but just to confirm, there's The Key to Chinese Cooking by Kuo, and The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Tropp
 
I recently picked up The Breath of Wok by Grace Young. Not a bad wok-specific book at all.
 
interesting lists I have seen and no one mentioned Gordon Ramsay.
I find his professional aimed type books really inspiring (work in a restaurant kitchen and do a lot at home), well explained.
have most of his books, not the ones from the series..... so *** chef, desserts, chef secrets, passion for fish, passion for flavor
another book I would recommend that I saw on other lists , is indeed, RATIO by Ruhlman......been quite an eyeopener, now I look for ratios in other recipes (!!).
jacques pepin's new techniques (which is two books in one).
harold mcgee is someone who should be on every bookshelf of anyone who cooks...
ideas in food by kamozawa/ alexander talbot is a good one that makes you think about cooking too and try out new ways with food.
for bread, peter reinhart is unbeatable and for sourdough lovers get the books by Daniel Leader!
last but not least: The escoffier cookbook (big tome on classic cooking to get the basics right!!) auguste escoffier, not seen that mentioned either yet.
 
Any recommendations for a good Italian cookbook? I don't want something as involved as 11 Madison Park, but something I can skim through, get a basic sense, and make it in a few hours after work everyday.
 
For me, I have a few books that I would browse through time to time to "refresh" myself and get ideas from:

Alinea by Grant Achatz
Under Pressure by Thomas Keller
Bentley by Brent Savage
Eleven Madison Park by Daniel Humm
Pier by Greg Doyle
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. I feel anyone who is interested in cooking, be it professional or home cooks should get this book. Tons of information provided, however, it is a really dry book.
The Flavor Bible

Am actually considering getting Modernist Cuisine set, pretty pricey but worth the money i guess.
 
brianlsx said:
For me, I have a few books that I would browse through time to time to "refresh" myself and get ideas from:

Alinea by Grant Achatz
Under Pressure by Thomas Keller
Bentley by Brent Savage
Eleven Madison Park by Daniel Humm
Pier by Greg Doyle
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. I feel anyone who is interested in cooking, be it professional or home cooks should get this book. Tons of information provided, however, it is a really dry book.
The Flavor Bible

Am actually considering getting Modernist Cuisine set, pretty pricey but worth the money i guess.
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I believe the price for MC was just dropped.
 
For an accessible Italian book look for The Essentials of Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. My personal favorite, Cooking By Hand by Paul Bertolli is not something you cook dinner out of after work, but will teach you more about food and technique in general than most other books.
 
brianlsx said:
For me, I have a few books that I would browse through time to time to "refresh" myself and get ideas from:

Alinea by Grant Achatz
Under Pressure by Thomas Keller
Bentley by Brent Savage
Eleven Madison Park by Daniel Humm
Pier by Greg Doyle
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee. I feel anyone who is interested in cooking, be it professional or home cooks should get this book. Tons of information provided, however, it is a really dry book.
The Flavor Bible

Am actually considering getting Modernist Cuisine set, pretty pricey but worth the money i guess.
Click to expand...

Nice to see some Aussie books on that list! I love the Pier book, and I worked at Bentley :) other good Aussie cookbooks Quay, Origin (Attica), Marque
 
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