Cookbooks that rise to the top

It's that time of year for home cooks: the transition from grilling and dining al fresco to cooking and baking in the kitchen. That also means a change from light reading to "textbooks." (Yes, kids, school doesn't ever really end. Sorry.) Most of us could name a handful of favorite cookbooks that serve as the guides to our culinary excursions. But ask a kitchen maven to cite a single most coveted cookbook, and all bets are off. Even, surprisingly, for the most assured among us, the pros. When we asked local restaurant chefs, teachers and cookbook authors to name their favorite food tome, some answered quickly and firmly (hello, Mr. Zimmern!). Others hemmed and hawed and hewed toward naming several (sorry, guys and gals, against the rules). Some of their choices were guideposts, primers or texts from their formative kitchen days; some were books they wished they had had back in the day. Some have everything to do with their current specialties, others nothing.

And the winners are:

Karl Benson, owner, Cooks of Crocus Hill: "'Aquavit' by Marcus Samuelsson. The stories are great, the photography is unbelievable, and every single thing I've cooked from the book, it works. The big challenge in running a cooking school is: How do you tweak recipes? With this one you don't have to tweak anything. For as complex as they seem to be, they're foolproof. And the flavors are awesome."

Zoë François, author of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" and the upcoming "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day": "Wow, such a difficult question. It is kind of like picking my favorite child. There are many that have been with me for a very long time, the pages are dog-eared and stained from overuse. ... If I were to choose my favorite new cookbook it would be 'Baking: From My Home to Yours' by Dorie Greenspan. It is like an expansive course in baking for the home cook, everything from cookies to flan. Nothing fancy or fussy, but very tasty!"

Michelle Gayer-Nicholson, owner, Salty Tart: "It would have to be my book that I co-wrote with Charlie Trotter ["Charlie Trotter's Desserts"]. I wrote all the recipes and did all the food shots live on set. It took almost three years to get one in my hands. It won a James Beard Award for the photography, and I am very proud of it and honored that Charlie asked me to do a book with him. It was a lot of work, and I mean a ton of work!"

Ken Goff, instructor at Le Cordon Bleu: "'The Joy of Cooking' has most of the basics in pretty concise form, and the recipes largely seem to work. Also, there are the introductions to recipe sections that do a great job in short order of actually teaching you about stuff. For example, before the recipes that required whipped egg whites, there is (if I remember right) a discussion titled 'About Egg Whites.' "

Manfred Krug, chef instructor at St. Paul College: "'Smoke and Spice' by Bill and Cheryl Alters Jamison, a husband-and wife team. They're not chefs, but they spent almost two years traveling the U.S., learning 'What is barbecue?' What is it in New England, in Mobile, Alabama, in Charlotte, or Dallas, or New Mexico. It's not pretentious. You don't have to go to four or five stores to find the ingredients. The side dishes are the kinds of food I like to eat, the rubs, and they've got the greatest sauces."

Jay Sparks, executive chef at D'Amico & Partners: "The one book that I'll return to over and over again is Marcella Hazan's 'Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.' It's just been very reliable."

Lucia Watson, chef/owner of Lucia's restaurant: "'Honey From a Weed' by Patience Gray. It truly captures what eating, cooking and food are all about."

Michael Rostance, executive chef at Broder's Pasta Bar: "'Simple Italian Food -- Recipes From My Two Villages' by Mario Batali speaks to my own passion for simple Italian food prepared with seasonal, regional ingredients."

Koshiki Yonemura, chef/owner of Tanpopo Noodle Shop: "'Simple and Delicious Japanese Cooking' by Keiko Hayashi. It's divided up into four seasons and uses seasonal ingredients and has really nice pictures. It's more home-style cooking, something you can actually do at home. A lot of books have techniques that are hard to do at home."

Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods" and "Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World": "Not even close: James Beard's 'Theory and Practice of Good Cooking.' Growing up, my family was way into food, cooking and entertaining. My dad was always reading Michael Field, Craig Claiborne and Jim Beard, and Beard lived a block or two away. I remember meeting him as a young boy and visiting his home, but was really excited one day in 1979 or 1980 when I rediscovered this book. It blew me away, and was the first cookbook I read every word of, cover to cover in one night. It changed the way I thought about food.

Bill Ward • 612-673-7643