The Heritage Cook 2011 Holiday Gift Guide

The Holidays are a wonderful time to show people how much they mean to you. Whether you make them something special, write a poem, or shop for that perfect gift, everything is more memorable at this time of the year. But that can also bring a lot of stress, and we certainly don’t want to add that to your list! So I have compiled a list of some of my favorite cookbooks that you can give the food lovers in your life.

There are books that will help ease the holiday pressures, if you are making your own gifts, throwing an incomparable party, or preparing everything in advance, these will help you actually enjoy your own celebrations this year. You’ll get recipes and gift ideas perfect for every occasion, including plans to wrap and present them in spectacular ways. You can learn how to make festive cocktails to put everyone in a jovial mood and then serve a meal that will have people talking for weeks on end.

There were hundreds of books published in 2011 that the foodies in your life would love to receive. They span the globe and feature wonderful restaurants, bakeries, and regional specialties. You can learn to cook like a restaurant chef, make the most unusual ice creams imaginable, recreate memories from your childhood, and emulate some of your favorite food celebrities. I have picked out a few of the most popular and a few of my favorites to help you navigate the choices.

For the sweets lovers in your life, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite baking and dessert cookbooks. Some of these have been in my library for many years and others are relatively new, but all of them are well worn and splattered from making the delightful recipes they contain.

For those who want to learn why ingredients behave the way they do and learn the chemistry behind cooking and baking, I recommend both CookWise and BakeWise from Shirley Corriher. She delves deep into the interactions of foods and helps you figure out why sometimes your cakes soar high and other times they fall flat. These are a must in any inquisitives cook’s book collection.

Then there are some of the books that I consider my must-haves. I turn to these time after time for everything from appetizers to entrees and cocktail parties to sit down feasts. The Joy of Cooking is the first cookbook that I got and it should be in every cook’s kitchen. If you find ingredients at the farmer’s market that you don’t know how to prepare, there are illustrations and recipes that utilize them. It is perfect for beginners and advanced cooks alike.

And finally, if you have people in your life with dreams of finding a job in the culinary fields, here are four guides that will help them figure out which is best suited to their personalities and skills. Written by some of this country’s finest authors, they cover a wide variety of ways you can incorporate food into your career path.

As a food lover, I would be delighted to receive any of these cookbooks:

HOLIDAY SPECIFIC COOKBOOKS

Christmas 101: 100 Festive Recipes with Menus and Timetables for Stress-Free Holiday Entertaining	Rick Rodgers
Gifts Cooks Love: Recipes for Giving	Diane Morgan and Sur la Table
Ginger Bliss and the Violet Fizz: A Cocktail Lover’s Guide to Mixing Drinks Using New and Classic Liqueurs	A. J. Rathbun
Gourmet Gifts: 100 Delicious Recipes for Every Occasion to Make Yourself and Wrap with Style	Dinah Corley
Happy Holidays from the Diva of Do-Ahead: A Year of Feasts to Celebrate with Family and Friends	Diane Phillips
Perfect Party Food: All the Recipes and Tips You’ll Ever Need for Stress-Free Entertaining	Diane Phillips

NEW COOKBOOKS FOR 2011

All About Roasting: A New Approach to a Classic Art	Molly Stevens
American Flavor	Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman
Ancient Grains for Modern Meals	Maria Speck
Cook Like a Rock Star	Anne Burrell
Cooking My Way Back Home: Recipes from San Francisco’s Town Hall, Anchor & Hope, and Salt House	Mitchell Rosenthal & Jon Pult
Cooking Without Borders	Anita Lo and Charlotte Druckman
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home	Jeni Britton Bauer
Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook	Christina Tosi
Mozza: Recipes from Los Angeles’s Favorite Italian Restaurants and Pizzeria	Nancy Silverton, Matt Molina, Carolynn Carreno and Mario Batali
My Family Table: A Passionate Plea for Home Cooking	John Besh
Off the Menu: Staff Meals from America’s Top Restaurants	Marissa Guggiana
Ruhlman’s Twenty: The Ideas and Techniques that Will Make You a Better Cook	Michael Ruhlman
Rustic Italian Food	Marc Vetri with David Joachim
The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food that French Women Cook Every Day	Wini Moranville
The Food 52 Cookbook: 140 Winning Recipes from Exceptional Home Cooks	Hesser and Stubbs
The Homesick Texan Cookbook	Lisa Fain

MY FAVORITE BAKING / DESSERT COOKBOOKS

BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes	Shirley Corriher
Baking for All Occasions	Flo Braker
Baking Illustrated	Cook’s Illustrated Magazine Editors
Baking: From My Home to Yours	Dorie Greenspan
Butter, Flour, Sugar, Eggs: Whimsical Irresistible Desserts	Gale Gand, Rick Tramonto, and Julia Moskin
Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery & Café	Joanne Chang and Christie Matheson
Rose’s Heavenly Cakes	Rose Levy Beranbaum
Secrets of a Jewish Baker: Recipes for 125 Breads from Around the World	George Greenstein
The Baker’s Dozen Cookbook: Become a Better Baker with 135 Foolproof Recipes and Tried-and-True Techniques	Rick Rodgers and Members of The Baker’s Dozen
The Fannie Farmer Baking Book	Marion Cunningham

SOME OF MY FAVORITES, PERFECT FOR FOOD LOVERS

Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours	Dorie Greenspan
CookWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Cooking, The Secrets of Cooking Revealed	Shirley Corriher
Saveur: The New Comfort Food: Home Cooking from Around the World	James Oseland
The Italian Slow Cooker	Michele Scicolone
The Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition	Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker
The River Cottage Family Cookbook	Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
The Rustic Table: Simple Fare from the World’s Kitchens	Constance Snow
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone	Deborah Madison

WORKING IN THE CULINARY INDUSTRY

Becoming a Chef	Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page
Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food with Advice from Top Culinary Professionals	Rick Smilow and Anne E. McBride
Food Jobs: 150 Great Jobs for Culinary Students, Career Changers and Food Lovers	Irena Chalmers
Will Write For Food: The Complete Guide to Writing Cookbooks, Reviews, Memoir, and More	Dianne Jacob

I hope these selections will make your holiday shopping a bit easier this year. Remember to take some time to breathe, enjoy the season and have fun with your family and friends!

Disclosure: Some books were sent to me for review and others I purchased myself. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Unauthorized use, distribution, and/or duplication of proprietary material without prior approval is prohibited. If you have any questions or would like permission, I can be contacted via email at: heritagecook (at) comcast (dot) net. Feel free to quote me, just give credit where credit is due, link to the recipe, and please send people to my website, www.theheritagecook.com.

Thank You!