‘Tis the season for “best of” cookbook lists

As the year draws to a close, it’s human nature to take a look back and reminisce on the best things of the year. Plenty of experts will be weighing in on which cookbooks were tops in various categories. Jane assesses hundreds of these lists (last year she waded through over 300) and tallies the results to make an ultimate “best of” list for cookbooks. She requests that any EYB members who spot a “best of” list, please send her the link to info@eatyourbooks.com.

Until the 2015 Best of the Best is produced, we will give you a taste of which cookbooks might end up on top. USA Today compiled a list of the best books of 2015 for hungry travelers to give and get. One of this month’s releases already made the list – The Dead Rabbit Drinks Manual. Says USA Today, “For serious cocktail enthusiasts, and those who foolishly try to go round for round with them, ‘The Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog Drinks Manual’ is required reading.” Other books making the list – and generating buzz in other quarters – include The Nomad Cookbook, Olympia Provisions, Zahav and The Yellow Table Cookbook. 

The blog tastebook.com has a list of the best Asian books for 2015 that includes a few books from the USA Today list. Among these are Dale Talde’s Asian American and The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook. Also mentioned are Benu by Corey Lee (eligible for the Phaidon special offer to EYB members) and Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees.

If we turn to the bestselling list on Amazon (US), we find a slightly different story. Riding high on the ‘Quick & Easy Cooking’ list is Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime, and J. Kenji Lopez Alt’s The Food Lab tops the Food Science category. Other books high in the Amazon rankings include Food52’s Genius Recipes (highly rated in the EYB Library) and Happy Cooking by Giada DeLaurentiis.

If you were making a best of 2015 list, which books would you include?