Whether in Rome, Italy or Rome, New York, there will come a day when you find a to-die-for bread, cake or pastry, one that will linger on your palate and in your memory. If you’re like me, you may pester the baker until he shares his recipe. If that doesn’t work, you may end up rifling through stacks of country/region-specific cookbooks, searching for the secrets to that magical treat. With Warm Bread and Honey Cake (Interlink Books, 2009) food historian Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra spares me from the harassment and the hours of research. Her book showcases the best baked goods from around the globe. Everything from savory Turkish simits and Colombian pan de quesos to sweet Chilean apple cake and Caribbean coconut bread appears within this comprehensive book. As someone who owns a ridiculous number of cookbooks, I’ve had to stop buying titles indiscriminately. Yet I still picked up a copy of Warm Bread and Honey Cake. What ultimately sold me were the chapters on flatbreads and yeast bread, cakes and rolls. When in Turkey, I …

Often I can spin a good yarn about my introduction to a cuisine — that first bite of a warm, soft, sugar-dusted crepe on the frost-covered steps of Paris’s Sacre Coeur or the initial, swoon-inducing sip of sweet mint tea in the chaotic main square of Marrakech. Unfortunately, my early experiences with Mexican food aren’t quite as romantic. That life-changing taste of guacamole came not from a bustling taqueria in the Yucatan but at a nondescript Chi Chi’s in Youngstown, Ohio. While neither exotic nor terribly authentic, it kicked off a lifelong love of Mexican fare. Now, when I crave this cuisine, I reach for Rick Bayless’s Authentic Mexican (William Morrow, 2007). Originally published in 1987, this classic cookbook provided me with my first, real taste of Mexican cooking. Before writing Authentic Mexican, chef and restaurateur Rick Bayless and his wife spent years living, traveling, eating and cooking in Mexico. While there, he developed an encyclopedic knowledge of traditional, regional foods. It’s knowledge that he shares easily in this 384-page tome. Whether you’re a seasoned …

Long before he became the king of raw foods, NY chef and restaurateur Matthew Kenney wrote a highly approachable cookbook on Mediterranean cuisine. Filled with vibrant photos, stories and recipes, Matthew Kenney’s Mediterranean Cooking (Chronicle Books, 1997) took readers on a culinary journey through such colorful countries as Morocco, Spain and Lebanon. It’s a trip that I’ve taken many times for Matthew Kenney’s Mediterranean Cooking is yet another beloved cookbook on my kitchen shelf. So often Mediterranean cookbooks focus on a few countries; France, Italy and Greece usually are the standard ones. Yet, in Kenney’s book, less familiar but no less extraordinary places such as Tunisia and Turkey also have their day. Sure I can still find Greek moussaka, French ragout and Italian biscotti but I can likewise locate recipes for Lebanese kibbeh, Turkish lamb dumplings and Tunisian couscous salad. In Matthew Kenney’s Mediterranean Cooking the known and the exotic come together for some fabulous meals. Kenney’s recipes combine a variety of countries’ signature ingredients, creating highly flavorful, aromatic dishes. For example, Italy’s salsa verde …

If you live with someone who grew up eating a specific cuisine, chances are that you either avoid cooking that food or beg and plead to learn the special techniques and recipes from that person’s family. In my case I first avoided then pestered and finally amassed a slew of books on Southeast Asian cooking. While no Asian cookbook can replicate the kind of skilled, hands-on instruction that my husband’s Vietnamese step-father provides, Jeffrey Alford’s and Naomi Duguid’s Hot Sour Salty Sweet comes close. With over 175 recipes from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and southern China their book details the cuisines of the Mekong River region. Broken into 12 chapters, Hot Sour Salty Sweet looks at what everyday people living along the river eat. It covers everything from spicy hot sauces and warming soups to vibrant street foods and refreshing drinks and sweets. Rice and rice dishes as well as noodles and noodle dishes have their own chapters. Likewise, salads, vegetables, meats and seafood receive their due. For each recipe Alford and Duguid give …

After two weeks of sheer gluttony the time seems right to chat about a fascinating, food-oriented book. Unlike my previous Tuesday offerings, it is not a cookbook but rather a book that looks at what people around the world cook and eat. Created by writer Faith D’Aluisio and photojournalist Peter Menzel, What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets (Material World, 2010) details what 80 individuals from around the globe consume in one day. In some respects What I Eat can be seen as a follow-up to the duo’s 2005 book Hungry Planet: What the World Eats. In that publication Menzel and D’Aluisio looked at what 30 families in 24 countries ate during one week. In their latest offering they pare their exploration down to one day in the life of 80 individuals from over 30 countries. For each profiled person D’Aluisio cites the number of calories he consumes in a day and how he consumes them, i.e. 11 ounces of thin grain porridge made of sorghum and served with 1 tablespoon sugar for …

Conveniently enough, I fell in love with Moroccan cuisine while visiting Morocco. All those succulent tagines flavored with tart and tangy preserved lemons and dusky olives. Accompanied by platters of fluffy couscous, these rich, aromatic stews bowled over my taste buds. Then there were the flaky, nut-filled pastries and delicate, filigreed glasses of hot, sweet, minty tea. Utterly enchanting! As soon as I returned home, I set out to recreate those fabulous meals. And what better to aid me in the kitchen than Paula Wolfert’s comprehensive guide to Moroccan cooking, “Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco” (William Morrow, 1987). First published in 1973, “Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco” is the book that not only I but also most other cooks reach for when contemplating an authentic Moroccan meal. No other cookbook has come close to capturing the essence, culture and history of this cuisine. Similarly, no food writer has possessed as much knowledge or has written as beautifully about Moroccan cooking as Paula Wolfert. In “Couscous . . .” Wolfert explores such …

We probably all would agree that you don’t need a fancy, Christmas-themed cookbook to create a memorable holiday meal. Neither my mother nor grandmothers relied upon books to help them whip up their Christmas dinners, dinners that I remember to this day. Instead they served the foods that their mothers and grandmothers before them had made. Yet, sometimes it’s nice to have a little break from tradition and the decades of green bean casseroles, herb stuffings and mince pies. That’s when I turn to the following cookbooks to spice up my yuletide offerings. Packed with color photographs, menus and backgrounds on such holiday favorites as eggnog, fruitcake and gingerbread, “The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter, 2003) provides home cooks with all the tips and recipes needed for a spectacular seasonal feast. Don’t let the title deceive you, though. You can use “The Martha Stewart Living Christmas Cookbook” long after December 25th. I make Stewart’s porcini-stuffed mushrooms and roasted beets with feta and pecans, among other dishes, throughout the year. In some respects Elizabeth …

With the holidays right around the corner and Black Friday looming on the horizon I’m serving an assortment of new cookbooks in this week’s review. Whether shopping for the culinary novice or expert, you’ll find something for any and every cook here. However, if none match your gift recipient’s exact interests, check out my past suggestions under “Cookbooks.” NIGELLA KITCHEN by Nigella Lawson (Hyperion, 2010) I kicked off Tuesday’s cookbook treasures with Nigella Lawson’s first book. Now I’m celebrating her latest, “Nigella Kitchen.” Filled with the cleverness and wit that made “How to Eat” so enjoyable, “Nigella Kitchen” is likewise loaded with Lawson’s homey recipes. Take, for instance, the cheerfully named sunshine soup, date steak or jumbleberry jam. With roughly 190 dishes at their fingertips home cooks will consult this fun, approachable book for years to come. SUBSTITUTING INGREDIENTS by Becky Sue Epstein (Source Books, 2010) Ever get halfway through cooking a meal before you realize that you’ve run out of a crucial ingredient? Take heart. Thanks to Becky Sue Epstein’s “Substituting Ingredients,” you’ll know …

Long before Gordon Ramsay bellowed expletives at his kitchen staff or Anthony Bourdain snarked his way around the globe there was Marco Pierre White. Dubbed the original enfant terrible of the culinary world, White became the youngest and first British chef to earn three Michelin stars. He was also the first ever to give them all back. Now a renowned restaurateur as well as an occasional cooking show host, White is the author of this week’s cookbook pick, “Wild Food from Land and Sea” (Melville House Publishing, 2010). In his second cookbook White shares not only his iconic recipes but also the techniques that turn these dishes into extraordinary foods. With “Wild Food from Land and Sea” I’m able to take a simple sea scallop, whole chicken or brisket and, using White’s tips, transform it into a gustatory delight. My family and friends may think that I’ve had their gourmet dinner catered but in fact they owe their repast of poached oysters, guinea fowl with morels and lemon tart to me and Marco Pierre White. …

You only need to glance at my battered copy of “Joy of Cooking” (Scribner, 1997) and you’ll know how much I value this timeless cookbook. Written in 1931 by Irma S. Rombauer, “Joy of Cooking” taught me how to make stocks, dressings and tomato sauces. It showed me how to shuck clams, carve pumpkins and bake a brioche. It even helped me to create an exceptional ratatouille and master homemade crepes. Someday, if I want to curry goat or broil a pigeon, I undoubtedly could do so after consulting this book. It’s that comprehensive. On nights when I’m stumped over what to make for dinner, I start thumbing through “Joy of Cooking.” Revised for the modern cook, it offers a variety of healthful and international recipes including salads, tagines, kebabs and curries. Although I no longer follow it word-for-word, I do use it as the starting point for countless dishes. My cranberry-white chocolate panettone, shepherd’s pie, and Meyer lemon meringue pie were all inspired, in part, by Rombauer, Rombauer Becker, and Becker. Whether you’re a …