onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/A_Platter_of_Figs_and_Other_Recipes');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1579653464'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes

Alice Waters, by David Tanis

Amazon says:
For six months a year, David Tanis is the head chef at Chez Panisse, the Berkeley, California, restaurant where he has worked alongside Alice Waters since the 1980s in creating a revolution in sustainable American cuisine. The other six months, Tanis lives in Paris in a seventeenth-century apartment, where he hosts intimate dinners for friends and paying guests, and prepares the food in a small kitchen equipped with nothing more than an old stove, a little counter space, and a handful of well-used pots and pans.

This is the book for anyone who wants to gather and feed friends around a table and nurture their conversation. It's not about showing off with complicated techniques and obscure ingredients. Worlds away from the showy Food Network personalities, Tanis believes that the most satisfying meals -- for both the cook and the guest -- are invariably the simplest.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/A_Platter_of_Figs_and_Other_Recipes');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/A_Platter_of_Figs_and_Other_Recipes');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1579653464'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 294 page hardcover |$23.10 |2 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Alinea');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1580089283'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Alinea

by Grant Achatz

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onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Eat_Me_The_Food_and_Philosophy_of_Kenny_Shopsin');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0307264939'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin

by Kenny Shopsin, Carolynn Carreno

Amazon says:
"Pancakes are a luxury, like smoking marijuana or having sex. That's why I came up with the names Ho Cakes and Slutty Cakes. These are extra decadent, but in a way, every pancake is a Ho Cake." Thus speaks Kenny Shopsin, legendary (and legendarily eccentric, ill-tempered, and lovable) chef and owner of the Greenwich Village restaurant (and institution), Shopsin's.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Eat_Me_The_Food_and_Philosophy_of_Kenny_Shopsin');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Eat_Me_The_Food_and_Philosophy_of_Kenny_Shopsin');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0307264939'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 288 page hardcover |$16.47 |7 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Baked_New_Frontiers_in_Baking');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1584797215'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

by Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito, photography by Tina Rupp

Amazon says:
Hip. Cool. Fashion-forward. These aren't adjectives you'd ordinarily think of applying to baked goods.

Think again. Not every baker wants to re-create Grandma's pound cake or cherry pie. Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito certainly didn't, when they left their advertising careers behind, pooled their life savings, and opened their dream bakery, Baked, in Brooklyn, New York, a few years back. The visions that danced in their heads were of other, brand-new kinds of confections...things like a Malt Ball Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting, spicy Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits and a Sweet and Salty Cake created expressly for adults who are as salt-craving as they are sweet-toothed.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Baked_New_Frontiers_in_Baking');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Baked_New_Frontiers_in_Baking');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1584797215'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 208 page hardcover |$19.77 |6 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Fat_An_Appreciation_of_a_Misunderstood_Ingredient_With_Recipes');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1580089356'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes

by Jennifer Mclagan, photography by Leigh Beisch

Duck fat. Caul fat. Leaf lard. Bacon. Ghee. Suet. Schmaltz. Cracklings.

Wipe the drool off your chin and lick -- er, click that book cover to learn more.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Fat_An_Appreciation_of_a_Misunderstood_Ingredient_With_Recipes');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Fat_An_Appreciation_of_a_Misunderstood_Ingredient_With_Recipes');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1580089356'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 232 page hardcover |$21.45 |5 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/A16_Food__Wine');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1580089070'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">A16: Food + Wine

by Nate Appleman, Shelley Lindgren, Kate Leahy, photography by Ed Anderson

Amazon says:
At San Francisco's acclaimed A16 restaurant (named for the highway that cuts across southern Italy), diners pack the house for chef Nate Appleman's house-cured salumi, textbook Naples-style pizzas, and gutsy slow-cooked meat dishes. Wine director Shelley Lindgren is renowned in the business for her expeditionary commitment to handcrafted southern Italian wines. In "A16: Food and Wine", Appleman and Lindgren share the source of their inspiration-the bold flavours of Campania. From chile-spiked seafood stews and savoury roasts to delicate antipasti and vegetable sides, the recipes are beguilingly rustic and approachable.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/A16_Food__Wine');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/A16_Food__Wine');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1580089070'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 278 page hardcover |$23.10 |3 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Screen_Doors_and_Sweet_Tea_Recipes_and_Tales_from_a_Southern_Cook');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/0307351408'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales from a Southern Cook

by Martha Hall Foose

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onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Milk_The_Surprising_Story_of_Milk_Through_the_Ages');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1400044103'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages

by Anne Mendelson

Amazon says:
Part cookbook -- with more than 120 enticing recipes -- part culinary history, part inquiry into the evolution of an industry, "Milk" is a one-of-a-kind book that will forever change the way we think about dairy products.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Milk_The_Surprising_Story_of_Milk_Through_the_Ages');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Milk_The_Surprising_Story_of_Milk_Through_the_Ages');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/1400044103'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 352 page hardcover |$19.77

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Urban_Italian_Simple_Recipes_and_True_Stories_from_a_Life_in_Food');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/159691470X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food

by Andrew Carmellini, Gwen Hyman

I've had Carmellini's roasted Brussel Sprouts three or four times. It shouldn't be legal for Brussel Sprouts to be that good. (They're so good that I've chosen to capitalize the words -- Brussel Sprouts.)

If the rest of his food comes close to those Brussel Sprouts then this might be THE cookbook pick up.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Urban_Italian_Simple_Recipes_and_True_Stories_from_a_Life_in_Food');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/Urban_Italian_Simple_Recipes_and_True_Stories_from_a_Life_in_Food');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/159691470X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 320 page hardcover |$23.10 |2 reviews

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/The_Heirloom_Tomato_From_Garden_to_Table_Recipes_Portraits_and_History_of_the_Worlds_Most_Beautiful_Fruit');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/159691291X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;">The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World's Most Beautiful Fruit

by Amy Goldman

Amazon says:
From the world-class garden of acclaimed food writer Amy Goldman, a gorgeously illustrated guide to the world's most beautiful and delicious tomatoes.

onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/The_Heirloom_Tomato_From_Garden_to_Table_Recipes_Portraits_and_History_of_the_Worlds_Most_Beautiful_Fruit');" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> onClick="javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview('/to_amazon/Amazons_Best_of_2008_Food_and_Cooking/The_Heirloom_Tomato_From_Garden_to_Table_Recipes_Portraits_and_History_of_the_Worlds_Most_Beautiful_Fruit');" onMouseOver="window.status='http://amazon.com/dp/159691291X'; return true;" onMouseOut="window.status=''; return true;"> 272 page hardcover |$23.10 |10 reviews