Books for Cooks

Life is good right now for people who not only love to eat, but also love to read about eating and cooking. Cookbooks beautiful enough for the coffee table have been popular for about a decade, but in the last few years, food memoirs as well as chef biographies and autobiographies have been bookstore fare. Cookbooks also make great gifts for those who seem to have everything they need for their kitchens. And they’re easy to grab if you’re looking for a last-minute gift. So, mark your choices and leave in a prominent place for your loved ones to find.

The Bon Appétit Cookbook

By Barbara Fairchild (Wiley, 2006, $34.95)

The professional and amateur reviewers give this massive collection of 1,200 recipes thumbs-up for being easy to use, a great reference, and chock full of tasty recipes that are mostly doable for the average home cook. Coming out a couple of years after Gourmet’s similarly weighty tome by Ruth Reichl, Fairchild’s collection is meant to be just as comprehensive but more user-friendly and “approachable,” which means you get to use the occasional canned or bottled ingredient as opposed to preparing absolutely everything from scratch every single time. Purchase of the book includes a subscription to the magazine, an attractive bonus. – Carol Price Spurling

Joy of Cooking 75th Anniversary Edition

By Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, and Ethan Becker (Scribner, 2006, $30.00)

This is the cookbook to have, if you don’t have any, or even if you have a shelf full of other, more frivolous and less authoritative volumes. This anniversary edition is praised by every chef and cookbook author who values his or her reputation, and although some previous editions of this classic have succumbed to fads, this edition is hailed as true to the spirit of the original. Always a great wedding gift, the “Joy of Cooking” makes a great Christmas present, too. – Carol Price Spurling

Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table

By Kathy Casey (Chronicle Books, 2006, $35)

This cookbook celebrates bounty unique to Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Southern Alaska. The recipes inside are inventive and yet, familiar; fun but honest to the Northwest.

Chef Kathy Casey owns a food-and-restaurant consulting business in Seattle and writes a monthly column for the Seattle Times. The book is her sixth and it is beautifully illustrated with photos by E. Jane Armstrong and peppered with tidbits about Northwest ingredients, hidden hangouts and other inspirations. – Lorie Hutson

Still Gold’n: Celebrating Spokane One Meal at a Time

By The Junior League of Spokane ( www.jlspokane.com, 2006, $24.95)

If a local cookbook would please someone on your list, consider the newest release from the Junior League of Spokane “Still Gold’n.”

The recipes were triple-tested by local Junior League members. It features Spokane-area dishes and highlights local ingredients. The book is available through Junior League members or at the Junior League office (509) 328-2801, 1315 N. Napa St.

It can also be purchased at Auntie’s Bookstore, Mel’s Nursery, Barnes and Noble, Latah Creek Winery and Gift Shop and Hastings on the South Hill. – Lorie Hutson

French Women for All Seasons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes, and Pleasure

By Mireille Guiliano (Knopf, 2006, $24.95)

Ms. Guiliano’s first book, “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” was as wildly popular as it was generalizing (there are fat women in France, if you look hard enough). Her second book, “French Women for All Seasons,” promises more of the same about savoring life – and food – in moderation. This one expands its subject matter to include entertaining, shopping, and exercising, as well as cooking, all with a seasonal bent. No matter what your size or shape, you have to love a book about food and health that doesn’t forbid wine, cheese or desserts. – Carol Price Spurling

My Life in France

By Julia Child, Alex Prud’Homme (Knopf, 2006, $25.95)

Julia Child wasn’t always a fabulous cook or fluent in French; she learned both, beginning at the age of 36, when she and her husband Paul, newly married, moved to Paris in 1949. Julia herself worked on this memoir with the help of her great-nephew before she died in 2004. That she didn’t get started on her great career until almost the age of 40 surely will be inspiring for many readers; in any case, foodies and Francophiles give it rapturous reviews. – Carol Price Spurling

Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India

By Madhur Jaffrey (Knopf, 2006, $25)

This is another memoir that will whisk you away. Author and actress Madhur Jaffrey shares the sights, smells and flavors of her native country in the story of her childhood. She is the author of “An Invitation to Indian Cooking” and “Madhur Jaffrey’s Taste of the Far East, which was named Best International Cookbook and Book of the Year in 1993 by the James Beard Foundation.

She finishes the book with a sampling of family recipes such as Chicken Cooked in Yogurt-Almond Sauce, Ground Lamb with Peas and Carrots with Fenugreek Greens. – Lorie Hutson

The Reach of a Chef: Beyond the Kitchen

By Michael Ruhlman (Viking, 2006, $27.95)

This book is a continuation of the theme examined in Ruhlman’s previous two books, “The Making of a Chef” and “The Soul of a Chef.” Readers who love insider peeks at the world of professional cooking will appreciate Ruhlman’s access to famous chefs such as Thomas Keller and Emeril Lagasse, their lives, and their kitchens (where they are found less and less frequently, it appears). He’s a great writer, too. Even writer-chef Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential) himself claims to love this book, despite its lack of profanity and viciousness. – Carol Price Spurling

Big Small Plates

By Cindy Pawlcyn with Pablo Jacinto and Erasto Jacinto (Ten Speed Press, 2006, $35.00)

“Cindy’s recipes are super. A group of fellow food and wine writers I’m part of in Napa (Calif.) prepared about 15 dishes for a dinner, and each dish was packed with flavor, had interesting textural elements, and we loved everything,” said Pam Elder, publisher and editor of culinaryforum.com. The reviewers loved it, too, and no surprise: Any cookbook that features Spanish tapas-style appetizers and other ethnic first courses will provide the adventurous cook with a lot of great ideas and party fare. – Carol Price Spurling

Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers

By Mark Bailey, Illustrated by Edward Hemingway (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006, $15.95)

Another petite book on writers, this one filled with tidbits about their favorite drinks and, of course, the recipes for them. “In this profession it’s a long walk between drinks,” said Truman Capote, whose favorite drink was the Screwdriver. William Faulkner loved whiskey with anything, including working on his books. Don’t give this one to young wanna-be writers, though. It’ll just give them the wrong idea. – Carol Price Spurling

Biba’s Italy: Favorite Recipes from the Splendid Cities

By Biba Caggiano (Artisan, 2006, $29.95)

Travel destinations as well as cuisines suffer through fads, but certain destinations and their food will never go out of style. Such are the great cities of Italy, like Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan and Venice, and dishes that can almost transport you there like Ricotta-Mascarpone Fritters, Potato Gnocchi with Classic Bolognese Ragù, and Risotto with Gorgonzola and Pears. Caggiano runs Biba’s Restaurant in Sacramento, and her cookbook offers authentic recipes and insider travel tips, to use for real or just for dreaming. – Carol Price Spurling

Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon

By Claudia Roden (Knopf, 2006, $35)

Here’s another book to fuel your food dreams.

Reading the recipes in “Arabesque” makes it easy to imagine the pungent mingle of aromatic spices released from a lifted tagine lid. The tangy, airy mouthfeel of yogurt cake is a cinch to conjure from the enticing photography inside.

London-based Claudia Roden first introduced U.S. readers to the flavors in her book “A Book of Middle Eastern Food,” published in the 1960s, and now she’s revisited a trio of her favorite countries.

The cooking techniques are easy to master, so “Arabesque” would be a wonderful gift for someone ready to begin exploring another food culture. – Lorie Hutson