On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
By Harold McGee
This wonderful book deserves to be on every curious cook's bookshelf. Most people tend to think of cooking as an art, and it is. But it's an art that depends critically on science — especially chemistry — but also biology, botany and even physics. Although recipes are commonly handed down over the years with many detailed instructions, most of them depend on a handful of chemical procedures. Learn these underlying secrets, and you could upgrade your cooking skills from thankfully nonlethal to brilliantly inventive.
The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook
By Beth Hensperger
When I bought my new breadmaker, it took me about a week to run through the rather timid recipes that came with the machine. I needed a bunch of recipes to satisfy my newly educated bread palate.
The Sweet Spot: Asian-Inspired Desserts
By Pichet Ong and Genevieve Ko
As the gravitationally challenged author of Notch-by-Notch, I shouldn't be allowed to read this book, let alone review it. The photos themselves (by Pate Eng) put me into insulin shock. Do they sell a drool protector for this keyboard?