Photo: Andrews McMeel

'My New Orleans - The Cookbook: 200 of My Favorite Recipes from My Hometown'
By John Besh
Photographs by Ditte Isager
Andrews McMeel -- 2009
Buy it on Amazon

Chef John Besh's magnum opus on the food of his hometown could easily be mistaken for a coffee table-style photography book edited by someone with one heck of a food fetish. That'd be only partially correct.

Besh celebrates and contextualizes New Orleans cuisine within a reverent, passionate travelogue and memoir based around the ingredients and food rituals of a full year in the Big Easy. In this 374-page volume, the chef, restaurateur (including August, Lüke, Besh Steak, Domenica, La Provence and the upcoming the American Sector at the National WWII Museum), "Next Iron Chef" contender, former Marine and father of four weaves an intimate, illustrated narrative of a life lived deliciously in one of the world's most important food cities.

Through touching vignettes from his childhood, emergence into chefhood and post-Katrina rebuilding efforts, as well as informative sidebars about key Creole and Cajun ingredients and paens to his favorite food haunts, Besh stokes and slakes a multitude of hungers for lovers of this city on the mend.

It's also one hell of a cookbook.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Photo: Amazon.com

'The Asian Grill: Great Recipes, Bold Flavors'
by Corinne Trang
Chronicle Books -- 2006
Buy it on Amazon

Corinne Trang takes readers on a journey through the balanced flavors of Asia via the backyard barbecue in "The Asian Grill: Great Recipes, Bold Flavors."

Part how-to manual on grilling and Asian cuisine and part cookbook of grilling inspiration, "Asian Grill" manages to teach experienced grillmasters a thing or two on how to switch up their repertoire while giving newbies a lot worth chewing on.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Photo: Amazon.com

'The Great Big Butter Cookbook'
Edited by Diana von Glahn
Running Press -- 2007
Buy it on Amazon

Not unlike meat, butter has gone through a renaissance of late. Scorned as recently as a few years ago, it's now being embraced. And as anyone who has tucked into a bar of European butter lately knows, it's good stuff.

"The Great Big Butter Cookbook," then, with its cover glowing with orbs of golden goodness, is a heart-stopping sight in the best of ways. Any book that has "Because Everything's Better with Butter" as its subtitle makes a great first impression.

Unfortunately, as we flipped through its pages to see recipes for Microwave Cheesy Potato Soup, Broccoli and Cheddar Soup and the frightening-looking, bright-yellow Double Cheese Souper Bowl, all of which glow golden with butter and cheese, we started thinking that maybe there can be too much of a good thing. A quick peek at the copyright reveals that, hmm, this book is copyrighted by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

See what we tested and whether you should buy the book after the jump.

'Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Appetizers'
Edited by Chuck Williams
Recipes by Amy Sherman
Photos by Tucker + Hossler
Oxmoor House -- 2009 (hardback)
Buy it at Amazon

Ready to move beyond dips and carrot sticks for your soirees, but not ready to face the Full Martha? This is the guide for you. The book is divvied into sections highlighting each season's freshest ingredients and simple, elegant ways to show 'em off. Bonus -- a goodly bit of space is devoted to party planning tips, basic recipes (mayo, risotto, pizza dough), a glossary, techniques for handling veggies and a guide to what is freshest when.

Takeaway tips: Freshness is your best ingredient. Using seasonal ingredients means you'll need to do little to adorn them -- just make sure to use cooking methods, seasonings and pairings that show them off to their best advantage, and add flavor in layers. Specific methodologies are generously shared throughout the book.

Quality of pictures: Appetizing -- if a little washed out by the matte paper. Not step-by-step instructive, but oriented toward the finished product.

We tested: Pan-Seared Spring Lamb Chops with Mint-Pistachio Pesto and Olives and Feta Marinated with Lemon and Ouzo
Recipes were incredibly easy to follow, accessible, thorough and aided by sidebars offering further explanations of ingredients' flavor profiles and best methods for use. Lovely balance of veggie-friendly dishes and slightly heartier fare.

Worth the investment: Would make a great hostess or shower gift, or smart inspiration for anyone who's ready to bump their parties' sophistication level up a notch or two.

I couldn't believe it. I walked into Powell's Books for Cooks here in Portland, Ore. and scanned the "appliances" shelves. Fondue books took up most of the room - there was nothing on Crock Pots! What gives?

I wandered down the aisle in disgust. And then I saw it. The holy grail. Casserole & One-Dish, the label read. And there was shelf, after shelf, after shelf - hundreds of titles, everything from $3 70s paperbacks to glossy hard-backed coffee table-style tomes.

I picked up Family Circle Casserole Cookery and flipped through the pages. I almost bought it, but it was all cans of this and margarine in that... ick. I opened, and discarded, several glossy, formulaic titles with SLOW COOKER in all caps. Two stood out from the crowd: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, a huge one with 350 recipes, everything from breakfast to several kinds of pot roast to dessert; and a slimmer option, The Gourmet Slow Cooker.

Even though it was smaller and more expensive, I was immediately charmed by the style and selection of The Gourmet Slow Cooker. Author Lynn Alley started out talking about the Midas Feast, the first known example of a one-pot meal, analyzed from an archaelogical site in Turkey. Her first recipe? An interpretation of Midas' funereal meal. Her focus is on classic meals, from Provencal beef stew to Dublin Coddle to Chicken Mole to yes, Boston Baked Beans.

I'm now cooking my second dish (Neapolitan Lamb Stew), and I love her simplicity, her lovely photography, and her careful selection of good slow cooking staples. I'd suggest either book, though, depending on whether you're looking for a comprehensive slow cooker bible or a more carefully culled book.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]