"cookbook spotlight" news and stories

'Beaumont's Kitchen: Lessons on food, life, and photography with Beaumont Newhall'
Photographs by Beaumont Newhall, Henri Cartier-Bresson
Radius Books-2009
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A brilliant mix of art book and cookbook, "Beaumont's Kitchen" seduces you with its restrained beauty. Light years from the world of celebrity chefs and megawatt food gods, this book exposes us to the world of a man who was just as at home in the darkroom as he was the kitchen. Known as one of the father's of photographic history, Newhall took up writing a column called the Epicure's Corner for the Brighton-Pittsford Post in 1956. There, he would unravel the mysteries of the kitchen in his warm and instructional voice.

His articles are clipped and laid out into this book. As a collection, they give a historical sense of how much recipe-writing has changed in the last decades. Totally conversational, the recipes are part of the narrative -- no columns of ingredients and curt orders here. Instead, it's the voice of a friend guiding you through a recipe he might have picked up on a trip abroad or in his mother's kitchen.

'My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur'
Recipes by Romney Steele
Photography by Sara Remington
Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC - 2009
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Resting on the grandiose cliffs of the Big Sur, California's picturesque central coastline, Nepenthe Restaurant has become an eating mecca for the artistic, bohemian crowd.

Movie buffs may even recognize the terrace on the cover from the 1960's romance The Sandpiper, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

The likes of Henry Miller, Steve McQueen, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles have sat around the table of the Fassett family's restaurant for the past sixty years -- and now cookbook readers can too.

See what we tested and whether the book is worth buying after the jump.

'DamGoodSweet'
Recipes by David Guas & Raquel Pelzel
Photographs by Ellen Silverman
Taunton Press -- 2009
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When a cookbook can transport the reader to a specific region, passing down the history and memories of the locale through recipes, then that reader is in for a treat. New Orleans, a city of vibrant traditions, is a melting pot for melt-in-your-mouth desserts. Classics that have made their way all over the country include beignets, pecan pie, coconut cream pie and red velvet cake. "DamGoodSweet," a tribute to the Big Easy, is filled with recipes for such classics, as well as some dishes that have fallen out of favor like Calas Fried Rice Fritters.

Broken down by classic New Orleans recipes, pies, cakes, custards and puddings, ice creams, jams and curds, and lagniappes (a little something extra), Guas and Pelzel offer 50 recipes that will keep your sweet tooth satisfied like bananas Foster, fried apple pies, and old fashioned chocolate pudding.

"DamGoodSweet" separates itself from other baking cookbooks by bringing back the importance of preserving and passing down recipes and memories, making it one of our favorite baking books of the year.

See what we tested and whether the book is worth buying after the jump.

'The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl'
by Ree Drummond
William Morrow -- 2009
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Ree Drummond started her popular blog, The Pioneer Woman, in 2006 to chronicle her life on an Oklahoma cattle ranch with her husband, whom she dubbed "Marlboro Man" and her four children. Her blog has garnered a cult following -- in part because of the lush, step by step photos she takes for her cooking section.

"The recipes I share on this site are tried and true -- I've made them over and over," she writes on the blog. "And I use only the simplest of ingredients, considering the country market near our home has never even thought about carrying yellowfin tuna, star anise or wasabi paste."

That philosophy of hearty, simple meals carries through in this, her first cookbook.

See what we tested and whether the book is worth buying after the jump.

'Nirmala's Edible Diary: A Hungry Traveler's Cookbook with Recipes from 14 Countries'
by Nirmala Narine
Photos by Diana DeLucia
Chronicle Books -- 2009
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Nirmala Narine, founder of the spice company Nirmala's Kitchen, heads to South America in her latest cookbook, "Nirmala's Edible Diary," a colorful travelogue covering 14 countries, including the one of her birth, Guyana.

With snippets about her travels in each nation, Narine whets a reader's appetite and then satiates it with a handful of recipes.

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