Best 20 Cookbooks of 2004

[PA Baker]

Just posted on Leite's Culinaria:

http://www.leitesculinaria.com/features/best_2004.html

[Juliev]

a friend of mine is sending a mexican cookbook. I can't wait!

[norgeskog]

PA Baker, how were these 20 cookbooks chosen? By gross sales, or voting? Just curious. I do not have either of them, and my favorites are not even there.

[crewsk]

I don't have any of them either but I do see several that I would like to have.

[pdswife]

Think I need to head over to Amazon and start pressing the "buy now" button!

Thanks!

[marmalady]

Strange list - recognized a few of them, but certainly wouldn't place them in my 'top 20' list.

Here's the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) awards: http://www.iacp.com/awards/iacpAward...okCurrent.html

[Ishbel]

Interesting lists, PABaker and Marmalady... mind you, apart from three cooks, ie Nigella Lawson, Madhur Jaffrey and Antonio Carluccio - I haven't heard of any of the chefs!

All of the books (with the three exceptions above) seem to be American. How can the first one be a list from the International Culinary Professionals, I wonder? 8) No mention of some of the UK's finest chefs (many with Michelin stars), including Nick Nairn, Gordon Ramsay, Gary Rhodes, Anthony Worral Thompson etc? And no French books, or Italian... and what about Australian cooking which has made such an impression on world cooking in the past few years?

[marmalady]

Good point! I don't know how they make their picks, but the list comes out every year for the books published that year. If the authors you mentioned didn't have a new cookbook, they couldn't have been nominated.

[Ishbel]

Maybe only books that originated or are published in the USA are eligible?

I had a quick check on my bookshelves - here's some of the cookbooks I've bought this year

Jamie Oliver's Dinners - October 2004
River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - May 2004
Ainsley Harriott's Friends and Family cookbook
The Game cookbook, Clarissa Dickson-Wright (one of the Two Fat Ladies and who has a wonderful gourmet bookshop in Edinburgh, well worth a visit!)

[buckytom]

ishbel, i loved the 2 fat ladies. they cooked such good stuff, and their shows were fun. i loved the way they described the dishes they were serving near the end of the shows.