Continued: Traveling the world via new cookbooks

Just $30 gets me into the hippest restaurant in Hanoi or a cook's tour through Spain. This year's cookbooks bring the world into my kitchen with flavorful stories, bold recipes and tasty insights. With the price of airline tickets today, these books are a very good deal. They translate unfamiliar flavors and make chefs' magic real.

"A Day at elBulli: An Insight Into the Ideas, Methods and Creativity of Ferran Adria" by Ferran Adria, Albert Adria and Juli Soler (Phaidon, London, hardcover, 24 British pounds [about $36 U.S.], 527 pages) is a hefty tribute to the pioneering restaurant perched high above the sea a few hours from Barcelona. Considered the world's most innovative restaurant, elBulli is the home of molecular cooking, a marriage of chemistry and precision, requiring potions and gadgets that few of us use. Is this cooking or art? Read through the instructions for "orange nitro-sorbet with balloon essence of orange flower water" and, well, dream on.

"Spain and the World Table" by the Culinary Institute of America with text by Martha Rose Shulman (DK Publishing, hardcover, $35, 271 pages) is a cook's tour through this varied, vibrant country that rivals Italy for rustic flavor and charm. Encyclopedic and expansive, this book covers classic Spanish ingredients, and spans Spain's ethnic, regional and religious heritage.

"The Urban Italian" by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman (Bloomsbury, hardcover, $35, 304 pages). Is there room on the shelf for more books about Italian food? Of any this year, this book deserves a spot. It is a raucous ride through this young chef's happy life cooking in Italy, at the New York governor's mansion and in New York City restaurants.

"Simple Italian Snacks" by Jason Denton and Kathryn Kellinger (William Morrow, hardcover, $23.95, 192 pages) offers small plates with big flavors. This is food you can eat with your hands. Denton introduced panini to New York City and continues his small plates at Bar Milano.

"Osteria" by Rick Tramonto written with Mary Goodbody (Broadway Books, hardcover, $35, 275 pages). Italian taverns (osteria) serve simple meals all day, with local wines. In this tradition, Rick Tramonto, a James Beard Award-winning chef, serves his mother's lasagna and the omelets and pastas he fell in love with as a student in Italy. Today he prepares them in his own Osteria, outside Chicago.

"Ma Gastronomie" by Fernand Point (Rookery Press, hardcover $40, 239 pages). First published in 1969, this book is finally available again. "The secret of good cooking is the finest butter and lots of time," wrote Point, father of "nouvelle cuisine" and chef/owner of the celebrated Restaurant de la Pyramide halfway between Paris and the Riviera. Be warned, the recipes do not provide ingredient lists. Rather, the quantities and instructions are blended into a narrative. Required reading for serious cooks and food lovers, it's a book to savor and enjoy.

"Mayan Cuisine" by Daniel Hoyer (Gibbs Smith, hardcover, $34.95, 223 pages) shows how timeless the ancient cuisine of Mexico's Yucatan region seems today.

"The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey" by Janna Gur (Schocken Books, $35, 303 pages) sets this young country's cuisine in historical and cultural context. Drawing on the world's influences, the recipes play with flavors from Morocco, Poland, Russia and Europe. It casts light on the Arab spices in Israeli fare.

"Sapor: A Passion for Cuban Cuisine" by Ana Quincoces Rodriguez (Running Press, $29.95, 239 pages) blends traditional Cuban recipes, contemporary sensibility and lively insights into how this food has evolved in the hands of Miami ex-pats. Ropa Vieja (shredded beef in tomato sauce) and the Tamal en Cazuela (soft polenta with pork) make simple weeknight hits.

"Wild Wild East: Recipes & Stories From Vietnam" by Bobby Chinn (Barrons Educational Series, hardcover, $29.99, 223 pages). He is one of Asia's most highly respected chefs (he's the guy who spiked mashed potatoes with wasabi). Chinn, who is half-Chinese, half-Egyptian and a British-educated dropout, weaves tales that sizzle and snap with innovative yet easy recipes.

"Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes From the Heart" by Pauline Nguyen, with recipes by Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $40, 343 pages) is a beautiful, poignant book. Through memoir and with stunning recipes, Nguyen details her path from Vietnam to a Thai refugee camp to her restaurant in Australia, where her family settled.

Beth Dooley is a Minneapolis author.