"best cookbooks" news and stories

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?

Ah, summer. The time when the weather heats up, grills get dusted off from winter storage and new graduates begin to do their own thing. Sarah already covered her best foodie graduation ideas, but what a graduate really needs to go with a reasonably outfitted kitchen are cookbooks, so he or she can figure out how to get dinner from somewhere other than the local pizza delivery place. Cookbooks are not, with very few exceptions, "one-size fits all," so these are broken down by who you're buying for.

The total newbie: Help! My Apartment has a Kitchen! - This is perfect for someone moving into their first apartment. It may not keep them from getting takeout all the time, but every little bit helps.

The interested beginner: Betty Crocker's Basics: Learning to Cook with Confidence - Betty Crocker's book approaches cooking concepts in a very helpful, easy to understand way. Every term and technique is explained thoroughly, so it can set a good foundation for future endeavors