Favorite Food Reads for the Holidays

I received an email last Friday from our summer intern, Liz. She'd just finished a book called "Tsukiji, The Fish Market at the Center of the World." Liz wanted to let me know to pick it up. Because it's time to think about buying holiday gifts, one of my first purchases will be "Tsukiji." I will also be making my way to Rabelais at 88 Middle Street in Portland to seek out a few other good reads for family and friends. Rabelais, if you don't already know, is a god send to Portland that sells books on food, wine & the arts.

The folks at Rabelais and I emailed over the weekend. I asked them for a list of their favorites. Here's what they sent -- these picks look fantastic.

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Mouth Wide Open: A Cook and His Appetite by John Thorne. From the author of Serious Pig and one of America’s truly great food writers, this is memoir with recipes, all about real food in New England.

The Kitchen Diaries, A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater. One of our favorites books, Slater takes you through a year of delicious, comforting and honest food, all accompanied by impressions of his daily cooking life.

Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook by Fergus Henderson A follow-up to The Whole Beast by the famed chef of London restaurant St John. Henderson focuses on using all parts of the animal. In this second book he has an expanded section of desserts from his pastry chef Justin Piers Gellatly.

The River Cottage Meat Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The much-awaited US publication of what we think is one of the best books out there on the issue of meat, from the politics to raising to butchering to sourcing to cooking.

The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese by Jeffrey Roberts. Both a reference and a guide book to artisan cheese makers all across the country with pictures and contact information.

The Year of the Goat: 40,000 Miles and the Quest for the Perfect Cheese, by Margaret Hathaway. New York City residents drop it all and travel America to follow their dream. On the way they visit goat herds, goat auctions, cheese makers, butchers, and many others. Now they live on a small Maine farm looking forward to their own goat cheese some day soon.

Molecular Gastronomy and Kitchen Mysteries both by Herve This. Molecular Gastronomy, all about the new science of food, is broken down into one hundred distinct chapters, and explains of what’s behind the taste and texture of your food. Kitchen Mysteries is the newly-released follow up. Both will change the way you experience cooking and taste.

1080 Recipes by Simone and Ines Ortega. Published by the same folks who brought us The Silver Spoon, 1080 is a Spanish Joy of Cooking - a truly beautiful book with a comprehensive take on Spanish cuisine and charming illustrations by Javier Mariscal.

Made in Italy, Food & Stories by Giorgio Locatelli. A weighty tome on modern Italian food, Locatelli shares his history, his views on the state of food and fantastic recipes from the perspective of one of London’s great chefs. Be prepared to learn from this one; Locatelli devotes 36 pages to the concept and execution of Risotto.

American Food Writing: An Anthology: With Recipes by Molly O’Neill. The New York Times food columnist brings us a collection of American writings spanning three centuries of writing. From Meriwether Lewis to Alice B. Toklas, Edna Lewis to Richard Olney, and James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, James Villas all the way to Michael Pollan. It’s sure to be a classic for the armchair foodie, though there are recipes here for the kitchen cook as well.

Secret Ingredients, The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink. Another lively collection of writings about food pulled from the historic pages of The New Yorker magazine, including works by A.J. Liebling, Joseph Wechsberg, Calvin Trillin, Adam Gopnik, Bill Buford and Anthony Bourdain.

The Tenth Muse, My Life in Food by Judith Jones. The editor of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (among many, many other classic cookbooks) weaves the story of her life. A lovely read by a truly charming woman.

The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. The powerhouse behind Chez Panisse, and a creator of modern American fascination obsession with local fresh food, guides the reader through her approach to the kitchen.

The Basics: The Foundations of Modern Cooking by Filip Verheyden and Tony Le Duc. This jewel of a book takes you concisely through the ground work of ‘the basic’ techniques and recipes. An essential for the novice and the gourmet alike, it delivers a real food education in a small, precise package.

A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America by Rowan Jacobsen. A guide to everything about American oysters: culture; history; geography; recipes and what to drink with oysters.

Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone by Deborah Madison The tenth anniversary edition of our all time favorite treatise on what to do with any vegetable.

Cucina del Sole : A Celebration of Southern Italian Cooking By Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Maine’s very own has a new cookbook on the cuisine of Southern Italy with lots of history and delicious recipes.

Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich The Queen of Chocolate (Cocolat) branches out with simple, pure flavors from basic ingredients. Highlighting the use of local fruits and classic tastes like vanilla and honey and buckwheat, Medrich makes the simple sublime.

The Wines of Spain by Julian Jeffs. The Spanish wine territory is as old as France but evolving at a very rapid pace. This book helps make sense of these changes and the many new choices available.

Au Pied du Cochon By Martin Picard. From the eponymous Montreal restaurant, a rousing romp through nose to tail eating. This cult classic is on the shelves of most chefs in town.

Pork & Sons By Stephane Reynaud. An affectionate tribute to the pig by the French butcher with recipes built around all the parts of a pig, including sausages, hams, terrines, chops and more. If you crave pork, you’ll love this book.

Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon by Claudia Roden. The latest work by this much revered expert on Middle Eastern Cuisine. Roden was recently profiled in The New Yorker.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. A pastry chef and a scientist combine forces to give the home baker formulas to bake real chewy, crusty bread within a manageable time frame.

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Rabelais is a wonderful place. The owners are cool people doing what they love to do-- you sense their passion the moment you pass through the door. If you love culinary books, you will feel right at home. I hope you will follow me to Rabelais. Cheers.