Beard Awards spotlight best of new cookbooks

This year's crop of James Beard Foundation Awards, the so-called Oscars of the food world, will be announced Monday evening in New York City. Here are my unscientific predictions in some of the cookbook categories. Check our website for an update (www.startribune.com/taste).

Nominees: "Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited" by Arthur Schwartz (Ten Speed Press, $35), "Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found From the Times-Picayune of New Orleans" edited by Marcelle Bienvenu and Judy Walker (Chronicle Books, $24.95) and "Screen Doors and Sweet Tea: Recipes and Tales From a Southern Cook" by Martha Hall Foose (Clarkson Potter, $32.50)

No contest: Hand the medallion to "Storm," which originated as a newspaper column and spiraled into a phenomenon, a don't-miss dialogue of post-Katrina recipe-sharing culled from the pages of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Nominees: "Bakewise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking" by Shirley O. Corriher (Scribner, $40), "Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Everyday Celebrations" by Flo Braker (Chronicle Books, $35) and "The Art and Soul of Baking" by Cindy Mushet (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $40)

The toughest call. "Art" is a product of cookware retailer Sur La Table, and it's a keeper, and "Occasions" has a strong point of view. But the engaging, user-friendly "Bakewise," with its deeply researched collection of fail-proof recipes, is the title that rises to the top.

Nominees: "How to Cook Everything (Completely Revised Tenth Anniversary Edition)" by Mark Bittman (John Wiley & Sons, $35), "Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook" by Martha Stewart with Sarah Carey (Clarkson Potter, $45) and "The Bon Appétit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook" by Barbara Fairchild (John Wiley & Sons, $34.95)

Otherwise known as the Instant Replay Category, since the Beard brain trust seems to have forgotten that they already handed Bittman this award in 1999 -- and rightly so -- for the initial (and fabulously titled) "Everything." Can't the accolades be reserved for new works? "Fast" is impressive, but the content is familiar to magazine readers. Give it to Martha for her characteristically leave-no-stone-unturned tome, the kind of well-schooled reference that belongs in every kitchen library. In the They Were Robbed Department: Minnesotans Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift deserved a berth in this category for their highly original "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper" (Clarkson Potter, $35).

"Beyond" is beyond gorgeous, in every respect, which is why the Alford-Duguid dynamic duo are going to hear their names after the words, "And the award goes to ... " But if I ruled the world -- or, at least, the James Beard Foundation -- I'd axe "Holiday" in favor of the epic "660 Curries" (Workman, $32.50) by Minnesota author Raghavan Iyer.

Nominees: "Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages" by Anne Mendelson (Knopf, $29.95), "The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs" by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg (Little, Brown, $35) and "The Science of Good Food" by David Joachim and Andrew Schloss, with A. Philip Handel (Robert Rose, $37.95).

Mendelson, a food historian, took a familiar subject and delivered a fascinating must-read. It's hers to lose.

Nominees: "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes" by Jennifer McLagan (Ten Speed Press, $32.50), "Mediterranean Fresh: A Compendium of One-Plate Salad Meals and Mix-and-Match Dressings" by Joyce Goldstein (W.W. Norton, $30), "The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever" by Beatrice Ojakangas (Chronicle Books, $24.95).

I'm rooting for Duluth author Ojakangas, since her fresh, thorough take on the humble hot-dish is perfect for our Hamburger Helper economy. But the quirky (and, yes, marvelous) "Fat" has "judges' darling" written all over it, so the thank-you speech is probably going to come from McLagan. Once again, how did the judges overlook "660 Curries?"

Pollan's slim "Defense" lacks the heft of his hugely influential "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (a 2006 JBF award winner), leaving the category a toss-up between Fussell and Dunlop. I'd give it to the latter for her engrossing memoir, destined to become a book-club favorite.

Nominees: "Alinea" by Grant Achatz (Ten Speed Press, $50), "The Big Fat Duck Cookbook" by Heston Blumenthal (Bloomsbury USA, $250) and "Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide" by Thomas Keller (Artisan, $75).