The Piglet 2019 has launched

The Piglet is back! The oft-times controversial bracket style cookbook competition kicked off its first round this week. Sixteen cookbooks are paired head-to-head, with the winner of each matchup facing another winner in the next round, until only one remains. 

As in year’s past, this competition features some head-scratching competitions, with books from very different genres going against each other.  Combined with marked differences in the culinary ability and interest of the panel of judges has led to outcomes that left some cookbook lovers puzzled and even outraged. Regardless of what you think about the pairings and judges, The Piglet can provide some insight into the best books of last year, just in case you were on the fence about them. 

Celebrity judges this year include chefs and food writers like Emeril Lagasse, Dominique Ansel, Vivian Howard, and Padma Lakshi. There are also a handful of celebrities from outside the industry, too, including actor Kyle MacLaughlin. It’s always interesting to compare how this type of judge approaches the books to the culinary professionals. 

The first round of judging is already under way. The sixteen cookbooks vying for this year’s title are (paired together in the first-round matchups):

• The Flavor Matrix: The Art and Science of Pairing Common Ingredients to Create Extraordinary Dishes vs. Bottom of the Pot: Persian Recipes and Stories
• Superiority Burger Cookbook: The Vegetarian Hamburger Is Now Delicious vs. Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food
• At My Table vs. Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day
• The Noma Guide to Fermentation: Foundations of Flavor vs. Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel
• Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a Party of One vs. All About Cake
• I Am a Filipino: And This Is How We Cook vs. Mastering Pizza: The Art and Practice of Handmade Italian Pizza, Focaccia, and Calzone
• How to Eat a Peach: Menus, Stories and Places vs. Soul: A Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes
• Rose’s Baking Basics: 100 Essential Recipes, with More Than 600 Step-by-Step Photos vs. Coconuts & Collards: Recipes and Stories from Puerto Rico to the Deep South