50 Best Cookbooks of All Time

by Nichol Nelson, Posted Aug 17th 2010 @ 5:00PM

cookbooks on kitchen shelf Photo: manthatcooks, Flickr

Choosing the best of anything is a subjective game, but newspaper and magazine editors love to make lists and then let their readers duke it out. The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, recently gathered a mix of Americans and Brits -- including Top Chef Master Chef judge Jay Rayner, "Heat" author Bill Buford, and chef Fergus Henderson -- to judge the 50 best cookbooks of all time.

Coming in at number one is Richard Olney's "The French Menu Cookbook." It's a pretty safe choice, considering Olney's revered status in the food world, but some of their other selections have people scratching their heads. Julia Child isn't in the top 10 (she pops up at 21). Much-loved food writer MFK Fisher is almost at the bottom of the list at 47. And Thomas Keller doesn't appear at all.

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, of course, but to overlook Keller's "French Laundry Cookbook" completely seems odd – it's a huge seller in the states, and has been praised by critics and home cooks alike. Is it a deliberate snub?

Curious about who they put on top instead? Elizabeth David's 1960 ode to classic French fare, "French Provincial Cooking," was the runner-up, followed by Claudia Roden's "The Book of Jewish Food," Nigel Slater's market-centric "Kitchen Diaries," at number four, and "Roast Chicken and Other Stories," Simon Hopkinson's collection of ingredient-driven essays, rounding out the top five.

Olney, an American, was one of the foremost writers on French food and wine. The Iowa native moved to Paris in 1951, and spent the rest of his life writing, editing, and teaching the fundamentals of French cuisine. The "French Menu Cookbook" was published in 1970, is beautifully written, with detailed, seasonal menus. And key for modern cooks: Although his recipes were precise, he encouraged readers to experiment with flavors and seasonings.

The accompanying article says the selection process was grueling, and included "months of planning, hours of meetings, and many, many debates of varying degrees of heat." Bet Keller wishes he'd had a vote.

Filed Under: Books
Tags: best cookbooks, bill buford, cookbooks, french laundry cookbook, French Provincial Cooking, the book of jewish food, the french menu cookbook, thomas keller

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-17-2010 @7:52PM Terence Leung said... If non of Ferran Adria's works was featured on this list, surely Keller's will not be. Just because a book has sold well does not make it good.
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8-17-2010 @8:23PM Sasha said... It really is a very parochial Brit-laden list. Jamie Oliver at 15 with Julia at 21? And Delia at 12? Please don't tell me I'm supposed to take this list seriously.

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8-18-2010 @7:51AM gobo said... It's not "fancy", but seriously, a list of the 50 Best Cookbooks that doesn't include "The Joy of Cooking"? Or "Betty Crocker", "Fannie Farmer", "The Silver Spoon", or "The Moosewood Cookbook"?

Completely useless list.
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8-18-2010 @8:19AM LinC said... While I agree with you, I doubt the Brit who compiled their list has ever heard of any of those standard American cookbooks. I would add the Antoinette Pope Cooking School Cookbook (late 1940's). It's my mother's favorite cookbook.

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8-18-2010 @8:51AM gobo said... @LinC, I can see that being the case, but it's a terrible excuse. Since this list was compiled by both British and American chefs, they certainly should know about "Joy", since it's one of the most popular and influential cookbooks ever published. They should know about "Moosewood", since it created the vegetarian cookbook category and is still one of the top-10 cookbooks in print. And yes, they should definitely know about the Antoinette Pope cookbook! If they don't know about those cookbooks, they're illiterate.

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8-18-2010 @3:35PM Chef123 said... This absurd list is just further proof that Brit's are clueless when it comes to, well, just about anything, but especially food.
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