winning in the kitchen: JBF Cookbook Awards 2012
You may realize that I have a bit of an admiration for cookbooks. And magazines with recipes. I’ll blame it on the Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines that I used to peruse at my Grandma’s house… and the pretty pictures of the pretty food. So often, my imagination is satisfied just by looking at a recipe and never cooking it… and if it can jump off the page into my plate in reality, than that’s just a bonus!
That’s why I love JBF Award season… a brand new list of amazing cookbooks to digest in an easy format! In fact, I ordered two of them online immediately after the nominees came out because I was so excited: Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home & The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends. And while only one of them won their category, it was no surprise to me that they were both wonderful cookbooks.
So if you’re on the market for something new and interesting in either your food imagination or your tummy, here are this year’s BEST COOKBOOK nominees and winners!
(Oh! And if you happen to own any of these… please share your thoughts so that I can make my decisions about “next buys” a bit easier!)
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American Cooking |
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WINNER
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American Flavor |
Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes from an Uncommon Life in the Country |
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Baking and Dessert |
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WINNER
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  Baking Style: Art, Craft, Recipes by Lisa Yockelson (John Wiley & Sons) |
  Cooking with Chocolate: Essential Recipes and Techniques edited by Frédéric Bau (Flammarion) |
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Beverage |
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WINNER
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  An Ideal Wine: One Generation’s Pursuit of Perfection–and Profit–in California by David Darlington (Harper) |
  The Oxford Companion to Beer edited by Garrett Oliver (Oxford University Press) |
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Cooking from a Professional Point of View |
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WINNER
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  The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts by Meredith Erickson, David McMillan, and Frédéric Morin (Ten Speed Press) |
  Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook by Daniel Humm and Will Guidara (Little, Brown and Company) |
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General Cooking |
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WINNER
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  My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking by John Besh (Andrews McMeel Publishing) |
  The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Weekends by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift (Clarkson Potter) |
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Focus on Health |
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WINNER
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  Comfort Food Fix: Feel-Good Favorites Made Healthy by Ellie Krieger (John Wiley & Sons) |
  The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food without Gluten & Lactose by Barbara Kafka (Artisan) |
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International |
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WINNER
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  The Country Cooking of Italy by Colman Andrews (Chronicle Books) |
  The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden (Ecco) |
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Single Subject |
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WINNER
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  Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal by Jennifer McLagan (Ten Speed Press) |
 
Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi |
5 Comments
Kate
I have Plenty – and it’s a gorgeous book. Even if you never make the recipes!
Jessica
I can highly recommend Super Natural Every Day! I bought it last year after making a vow to cook more vegetarian meals (I’m not veggie, just wanted to be more health conscious and environmentally responsible). I’ve made about half of the recipes so far, and have loved them all. They are all super flavorful and adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand. The photography is gorgeous, too. Funny thing is, I bought it not even knowing the blog connection (Heidi writes “101 Cookbooks”).
I have The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper and love that too, so I bet you’ll enjoy the one you bought. I’m a cookbook fanatic!
serena
Oooooh. When my self-imposed “No New Cookbooks in 2012” directive is lifted, I’ll definitely be checking these out :)
Catherine
There are a couple I really want on this list. How to eat on the Weekends would be perfect for Sunday Dinners.
Lindsey
I have Hugh Acheson’s A New Turn in the South. I made the fried chicken and baked beans for my husband’s birthday. While both were excellent, the fried chicken was probably the best I have ever had in my life. I’m really looking forward to trying more recipes from the book.