The best cookbooks of 2001

"Where is human nature so weak," Henry Ward Beecher once asked, "as in the bookstore?"

For me that's doubly true when I'm in the cookbook aisle.

Though my bookshelves are brimming with cookbooks, I subscribe to four cooking magazines (one published overseas) and I have over 50 Internet cooking sites bookmarked on my computer, somehow this year I nonetheless managed to acquire more than 20 new cookbooks.

I really couldn't help it. Today's cookbooks have come a long way since the publication around 1390 of the first one in English by an anonymous chef to King Richard II, and many of them, with their glorious photographs and trendy concoctions, are downright irresistible. Moreover, Charles W. Eliot's observation about books in general surely applies with added force to cookbooks. He said, "Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors and the most patient of teachers."

So as 2001 ends and we are subjected to the perennial lists of best motion pictures, most influential people, and top events, I submit my own admittedly subjective catalog of the best cookbooks of the year. It seems only fitting, since a good cookbook can be every bit as instrumental in promoting human happiness as anything else.

Before identifying my favorite culinary works of the year, a word about criteria. Just as real estate agents claim the three essentials to selecting a good piece of property are location, location, location, I maintain that the three rules of thumb to use when evaluating a cookbook are recipes, recipes, recipes. Color pictures, gorgeous though they may be, should not be the primary allure in buying a cookbook. After all, the venerable "Joy of Cooking" has no photographs at all.

I look for recipes that are intriguing, either because they involve novel techniques (such as the clever procedure for baking biscotti in a loaf pan spelled out in Nancy Silverton's "Pastries from the La Brea Bakery"), original combinations of ingredients (such as the recipe for roasted pineapple with pink peppercorns in Claudia Fleming's "The Last Course"), or unique presentations (such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten's oeufs au caviar in "Simple to Spectacular"). With this in mind, here are my favorite cookbooks acquired during 2001:

Alice Medrich's "A Year in Chocolate," is a collection of chocolate desserts for every season ranging from gingerbread with milk chocolate chunks for fall to chocolate cranberry babka for winter to white chocolate-lemon cheesecake for spring to hazelnut chocolate meringue with blackberries for summer. With lavish illustrations, Medrich, who engagingly admits on page 13 that she thinks nothing of eating dessert for breakfast, offers sumptuous recipes that are nevertheless simple in concept.

"The Last Course" by Claudia Fleming showcases the desserts of New York's Gramercy Tavern. Though there's a chapter on chocolate, that's not the focus. Rather, recipes are organized around categories such as berries, stone fruits, and even vegetables (sweet corn ice cream and sauté of tomatoes and plums are examples). There are dozens of inspired combinations such as pumpkin clafouti, caramelized brioche pudding with blackberry cream, and lemon-lime soufflé tart. Each chapter offers wine recommendations.

Nancy Silverton's "Pastries from the La Brea Bakery" offers savories as well as sweets. The dishes here are not showstoppers but down to earth rustic concoctions including cobblers, muffins, and scones. The book has no color photographs, only black and white, but you'll salivate while reading it anyway because the recipes are so appealing. Many can't be found elsewhere, such as olive oil cakes, plum pecorino cookies, sbrisolona, South African cinnamon-milk tart, and my favorite, crotin de chocolate, a muffin raised with both beaten eggs and yeast.

Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's "Hot Sour Salty Sweet" is aptly subtitled "A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia." Part travelogue and part cookbook, this is a coffee table volume that doesn't slight the recipes. Filled with exquisite photographs of food, people, and places and numerous anecdotes, it is absolutely stunning. There's even a section on snacks and street food.

Donna Hay's "Flavours" (she's Australian) is a book organized by taste rather than by course. Thus, in any chapter you'll find recipes for salads, entrees, and desserts. The recipes are imaginative and elegant, yet uncomplicated. The Chinese simmered star anise pork, for example, is one of the most delectable dishes I've ever eaten and you can make it in under twenty minutes without ever having to light the oven.

Finally, there's the new book by Fran McCullough which may be my favorite. Surely, if I had bought it first, I'd have saved myself a bundle because it seeks to cull the best recipes from cookbooks published last year, thus obviating the need to purchase any of them. Published annually under the title "The Best American Recipes," it also scours magazines, newspapers, and the Internet for top picks. In addition, McCullough surveys the culinary scene and identifies the top trends of the year. For 2001 she says the herb of the year was mint, the spice of the year was cardamom, the vegetable of the year was beets, and the fruit of the year was plums. Eschewing pictures, the book succeeds pretty well, offering 150 great recipes from more than 400 cookbooks for only $26. Next year I'm going to buy only McCullough's book and spend the money I save on chocolate!

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