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I am interested in experimenting with Spanish cooking, but have not found a good book on the subject. Does anyone have a suggestion for a nice, thick book on Spanish cooking? Thanks! Dan

Some interesting ideas for cookbookholics ... If people don't use cookbooks why do they buy so many of them? http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?...tent=readBottom

With all the different types of sherry out there, which one are you supposed to use when a recipe refers to sherry? Fino? Olorosso? I've got my eye on a couple of a kabocha squash recipes from Sundays at Luques by Susan Goin. And, since sherry is fortified, how long can you use it after you open the bottle? I don't really drink, and would mostly use the sherry for these recipes. I know you're supposed to get a sherry from the Jerez region, but are there any specific brands from that region you'd recommend. I've got access to BevMo, Costco, Trader Joe's, etc...

I was wondering if anyone could recommend any texts that approach cooking from the perspective of taste. That is, how does one go about pairing flavors? Why do certain ingredients work together? Which do and which don't? Id like to get an idea of the 'why' behind recipes, if that makes sense. What about the Flavor Bible? or Kime's Exploring Taste & Flavour? Thanks.

While looking for good octopus recipe for Christmas Eve I came across the one in the Babbo Cookbook (2002) p.66, Barbecued Octopus with Yukon Golds I read it through 3 times and I see where the octopus is initially cooked in oil and then braised for a couple of hours but there's no mention of it ever being grilled as suggested by the accompanying photo. Am I missing something? Has anyone tried this recipe? Thanks, Rob

Does anyone have this book, yet? David Lebovitz blogged about a peanut butter cookie with peanut caramel from the book, and now I think I need it. It is, however, about $20 more in Japan than it would be in the US, so if I'm going to spend the extra cash, I want to know it's really really good!

Hi all, I have read a few promotional biographies of Roy Guste (former owner of Antoine's restaurant in New Orleans and author of "Antoine's Restaurant Cookbook". It appears that Guste had been working on a new book called "The New Orleans Cookbook" that "explains the history of the development of true cuisine of New Orleans, Creole Cuisine, with some 800 recipes of all levels of dishes from the simplest and most often prepared of local recipes to renditions of the famous dishes of the great New Orleans restaurants." (taken from Guste's personal website http://www.royguste.com/ ) Does anyone know if this book is still in the works or been canned due to external factors? Thanks,

Hi, I'm trying to track down a book called "When Chocolate Turns to Matter" by Stephane LaRue (?spelling?). It was apparently released in October. Has anyone heard of this book? Does anyone know where to buy it from? Thanks for any help

http://www.derecoquinaria.com/lista_eng.as...a=14&subcat=138 i`ve just been having a look around and found the spainish one`s, and also that in december they are releasing it in english, and wondered if it was any good.

I picked this book up yesterday. I am a big fan of Carmellini's cooking, while he was at A Voce, it was my favorite restaurant. (I haven't been back since he left.) I am eagerly anticipating his next restaurant. I was very excited though, that in the meantime, I heard he was coming out with a book and when I saw it in the store yesterday, I couldn't resist. It starts out with a pretty good and interesting stories that influenced his development as a chef. As is the case with many people, as a young man he was surprised to discover in Italy that the "real" Italian food of America, was something quite different than that made in Italy. It features some of his signature dishes from A Voce, like the Duck Meatballs and his Gnocchi. After checking out the recipe, I now know why the duck meatballs were so good. He labels his gnocchi recipe "The Best Gnocchi", and at A Voce they certainly were. They were the lightest gnocchi I ever had and I have been trying to find a recipe like that for awhile. I can't wait to try it. Does anyone else had this book? Have you made anything from it yet? p.s. Over at the feedbaghttp://www.the-feedbag.com/ they've got Carmellini on video doing some of the recipes from the book.

The netw edition of Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" has just been released. I like the original very much, and am trying to figure out if the "upgrade" is a good idea. Any thoughts or specific knowledge?

Hi, I haven't paid all that much attention to the cookbook scene this year, but I'm keen to know what I'm missing. 'Tis the season for newspapers, magazines etc to pad their pages with cookbook roundups for the 2008 holiday season and also discuss other worthy cookbooks released earlier in the year. So, if you know of any, please let us know. The LA Times did one a few weeks ago. Which I can't seem to find on their website right now. Oops, spoke too soon. Here's the link: LA Times cookbook roundup I know there's a thread on egullet talking about cookbooks about to be or just released as well. Cheers, Geoff

Hi, I'm interested in learning how to cook Pakistani/Indian food. I want a book that has relatively simple recipes and is for a beginner of this type of cuisine. The reason I say Pakistani and not Indian, is that I feel that I enjoy food in Pakistani restaurants generally more than Indian. I know they are similar in many ways, and even have many of the same dishes and ingredients, but I generally found the Pakistani versions to be spicer and generally more flavorful. I also would like to learn some good meat dishes and kebabs, and I know a lot of Indian books are more veg-centric. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks - WBC

I just received it today, quite an interesting book. Mainly savory recipes but I love those too. Pierre Herme, Sam Mason, and a few others contributed the dessert items. Jean Francois Piege, Alain Passard, Jean Brouilly & Pascal Barbot & Eric Ripert are amongst the many others who contributed savory. Excellent photography seals the deal as well as a ample amount of female chefs such as Fatema Hal of Le Mansouriain , in Paris, and Judith Baumann of La Pinte des Moisettes, La Valsainte, Switzerland. A steal if you buy used as I did, new too at only 30 bucks or so.

Any word on a new book from Rene Redzepi?

If you could only read and use one cookbook on mexican cooking, which author would you choose and why? How would you characterize the difference between these two cookbook authors?

Anyone have the new edition? The 2nd edition is probably favorite cookbook of all time. I only glanced at the new one long enough to see the list of things he chose not to do: expand the asian section, add a section on newer "molecular" techniques, etc.. That seems strange. It's what's been going on since the last edition. Has anyone spent time with the new book?

A recent college graduate on a shoestring budget, my sister recently received a crock pot from our dear mum. I would like to supplement that gift with a decent crock pot cookbook. Are there any out there that are particularly user-friendly for a (very) unkitchen-friendly, lazy, and thrifty cook? Your help is appreciated.

I've ordered the limited edition package, anyone heard when the release is?

This French blog by the awesome Christophe Michalak has a feature on Chef Duytsche , one of Valrhona's (formerly?) corporate chefs and one of Frederic Bau's right hand men. His book, My Webpage[/urlin English here looks very interesting but, this IS a book that would make me nervous about laying out 100 e for. I bought the Balaguer "S-21 " years ago in Spanish and it was very patisserie oriented which isn't my scene. Anyone out there have this? Looking forward to your comments Oh, google that Michalak blog into English, you'll like...

Just wondering - of the "celebrity chef" crowd, are there any that people actually really rate here? We've shot a short series over at Kamikaze Cookery where we get "normal people" to test celebrity chef recipes - we did one with Jamie Oliver's Pici Con Ragu (which is available now at http://www.kamikazecookery.com/films/5 ), one with a Gordon Ramsey souffle, and one with a Delia Smith pie. (If you're wondering, one came out great, one was ok-ish, and one failed utterly and spectacularly. You'll have to watch to see which one is which!). But the thing we found was that there was virtually no relation between the expectations we had of the cook and the quality of the recipe. Some of them were really badly written from a technical standpoint - it was fascinating to watch people who aren't as foodie as us trying to follow what we suddenly realised were jargon-filled, poorly-worded recipes. So - are there any "celebrity" chef cookbooks that you think avoid this? There are certainly some great, well-written cookbooks around, but I can't think of any that combine that feature with the "give it to your Gran and she'll have heard of the guy cooking" nature of someone like Jamie or Delia. Of course, we're UK-centric - is it better or worse in the US? Alton Brown's shows are pretty good - does he give good cookbook too?

Any opinions from those who have it?

I don’t need any more cookbooks! I’m not going to buy one more cookbook, unless, of course, something really special comes out. I can look up any cuisine, any culinary nook and cranny in the hundreds of cookbooks that stretch to the ceiling in my kitchen bookcases, and the boxes in the garage. Sephardic, check. Polish, check. Escoffier, check. Mennonite, check. Vietnamese, Lithuanian, scones, muffins, cupcakes, Fanny Farmer 1922 – check. (Why is an American first edition of “The Man with the Golden Gun” nestling between “The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook” and “The Nero Wolfe Cookbook?”?) I’ve set on a course that’s like saying: “We don’t buy one damn thing to eat unless the freezer’s empty.” It’s time to check out all those spines in the bookcases and see what I’ve neglected or missed out on since my French friend Ida presented me with Francoise Bernard’s “Cuisine Facile” at my bridal shower. I have a beauty: “Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Cookbook” by Mollie Cox Bryan (10 Speed 2006.) It’s a biography, with recipes (and a forward by the Sterns) of Mildred Rowe and her eponymous restaurant in Staunton, Virginia. The subtitle is “A Lifetime of Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley.” I wonder how many of you feel a psychic shift when you read a cookbook? With the great ones (Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, Andrea Nguyen, Marcella Hazan, Jacques Pepin, Charles Ranhoffer – just for starters) I feel time and food transforming the Gastronomical Me. “Mrs. Rowe’s” does it for me. I’m Northern and urban. Mildred is Southern and country, but her recipe for Chicken Fried Steak morphed me. (Until last year I’d never tasted it, let alone cooked it.) I became a more generous, centered cook – how could I not, after making a batch of her (yeast based) Alabama Biscuits? The Cream of Potato and Bacon Soup, the Creamed Turkey on Biscuits, the Brown Sugar Pound Cake, her special Chow Chow, and her Southern Fried Chicken – the recipes work and they taste good. Really good -- third helpings good. There’s garlic salt, ketchup and Crisco aplenty -- it’s the best quality, least snobbish recipe book imaginable. I guess Mildred and I have something in common: “Salmon Cakes with White Sauce, “page 131. It’s made with canned salmon, dried parsley and “2 cups thick White Sauce.” My English grandmother made the same recipe, down to the dried parsley, and called it “White Sauce” not Béchamel. just as Mildred did. When my most exacting critic, the SuperTuscan – who hates white sauces – said “Let’s make this again next week, “I knew why Mrs. Rowe’s customers were regulars. (The gingham apron with rioting rickrack got me into character.) Full disclosure: I’ve acquired ten new cookbooks in the last month – I’m a shameless recidivist. But I’m gonna reform, I swear. Francoise Bernard rocks.

Anybody else excited about this one? I've already preordered it. I've been looking forward to it since I first heard it was going to happen.

Moderator's Note: This topic has been split from "The Fat Duck Cookbook" Topic. Will you be getting Albert Adria's Natura? This has been quite the fall for big Technoemotional Cooking books!