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[coraa]

What's your favorite cookbook that's not a general reference? (IE, I am appreciative of the general usefulness of things like The Joy of Cooking or the Betty Crocker Cookbook when you're going 'argh, I have no idea how long to cook a roast beef' or 'I need a pineapple upside-down cake recipe, stat!,' but that's not quite what I'm looking for.) It could be a cuisine cookbook (mediterranean, Japanese, etc), a single-ingredient cookbook (everything to do with cheese!), a single-method cookbook (grilling, baking, etc), a single-category cookbook (vegetables, desserts, etc.), or a theme cookbook (Star Wars! medieval! cheap eats!), or based around a particular culinary theory (California cuisine, nouvelle French, organic, retro, kitchen science, etc), or just quirky and unusual in some other way.

I love these cookbooks, I collect them, I read them voraciously, and I'd love recs for more. :D If you, like me, can never pick a single favorite book, you can name two or three (or five or eight). I would like to know what makes the cookbook(s) special or interesting to you, though, if you could.

I'll post my own cookbook list/favorite cookbooks shortly.

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[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

The Dilettante Book of Chocolate and Confections, which has a whole chapter on the chemistry of cooking with sugar, and lots of useful tips for surviving the wily intricacies of cocoa butter.

Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll, the definitive guide to modern small-time cheesemaking. Recipes vary from "you can make this on the stove with everyday ingredients" to "you will need a cheese press and a wine/cheese cellar with proper temperature and humidity." also has recipes for what to do with it after.

I have more favorite websites than favorite books. They're all here, but I have to hilight Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages, which has everything about every spice ever.