Good cook book as gift for a Foodie?!


Question: My close friend's birthday is coming up... I want to get her a cookbook as a birthday gift.... She is a little bit of foodie... she loves to cook, and try different thing... and she loves chocolate too!

She already has the Chocolate Connoisseur book, which has alot of history and details about chocolate...(see link)...

http://www.amazon.ca/Chocolate-Connoisse...

I wonder is there another book about chocolate that I can get her? If not, I am thinking about getting Julia Child's Mastering the art of French cooking..

any thoughts?


Answers: My close friend's birthday is coming up... I want to get her a cookbook as a birthday gift.... She is a little bit of foodie... she loves to cook, and try different thing... and she loves chocolate too!

She already has the Chocolate Connoisseur book, which has alot of history and details about chocolate...(see link)...

http://www.amazon.ca/Chocolate-Connoisse...

I wonder is there another book about chocolate that I can get her? If not, I am thinking about getting Julia Child's Mastering the art of French cooking..

any thoughts?

My favorite dessert cookbook is an older one, my Dad gave it to me as a gift about 15 years ago, and I have actually worn out one copy, bought a second for myself, and probably 10 more as gifts for others. It shows the how to of many kinds of pastries, tortes, cakes, pies, cookies and tarts. It actually inspired me to start a baking business as a sideline! Its called the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Book of Desserts, and is a simply wonderful, timeless book.

Other than that, the Culinary Institute of America Professional cookbook is a Bible of sorts for the wannabe gourmet. It is a huge book, has so much information on all types of cooking, including many ethnic cuisines, traditional French cooking, and how to make pretty much everything.

I have about 140 cookbooks, and these would be my top two recommendations for an experienced cook. The Barefoot Contessa, Martha Stewart and Julia Child cookbooks are also extraordinary.

Rachel Ray's cookbooks have entire meals- from entre to dessert, which normally ncludes chocolate. Great books- I own them all!!

Food Network Favorites. Recipes from all the chefs. So you're not locked into just one. Absolutely nothing wrong with Rachael Ray of course she's great! Great book and this web page has others also.

I live in the San Francisco bay area. There is a local company called Ghirardelli that makes chocolate from bean to final product. It is excellent chocolate, and they also have a cookbook (which is hard to find). Go to this link. Read through it. It has some interesting facts about Gh chocolate, as well as a list of the recipes in the cookbook.

http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/egg/eg...

I would buy your friend the new Alice Waters (from Chez Panisse in Berkley,CA) cookbook. It is very accessible and comes from woman who has been advocating sustainable farming and local produce for decades. The other cookbook I recommend is The Crescent City cookbook by Susan Spicer (from Bayona, Herbsaint, and Cobalt in New Orleans). Ms. Spicer's food is Mediterranean, N. African, Asian, New World cuisine. Both of these women are shining stars in the American restaurant scene, as well as abroad.
Both books retail for about $30.00, but I did see 'A Crescent City Cookbook' at epicurious.com for $21.00 (it is newly released).

Yeah it would be.

"On Food And Cooking" by Harold McGee is a must have for a quirky Foodie.

America's Test Kitchen Cookbooks are great - i too am a foodie - not only are the recipes informative - the book also offers equipment ratings and taste testing results.





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