Who is your favorite cookbook author, and why?

I love reading Escoffier's Escoffier Cookbook. It may be hard to read, because it was translated from french and written between the late 1800 and 1900s.. But you can learn so much about cooking, especially good for chefs who want to be serious. He talks about all the popular and not popular methods, but the cool part he tell you why it's done that way. Not alot of cookbooks do that :)

I really like Paula Dean's cookbooks. Here's why

1. They are practical. The ingredients are not confusing or hard to find

2. Simple , easy to follow directions in plain english

3. Delicious variety of foods, more towards comfort and southern though

4. Everything I have made out of her books came out just right and delicious!

A lady by the name of Dawn Hall, who wrote Down Home Cookin' Without the Down Home Fat: Extremely low-fat, fast and easy, delicious recipes for busy people. I collect cookbooks, and the reason it has been my favorite is that she was inspired to write the book and create and collect the recipes for her husband, Tracy, who was diagnosed with brain cancer the day after his 32nd birthday. The book was done through Cozy Homestead Publishing in Swanton, Ohio, and was voted by North American Bookdealers Exchange as 1996 Best Book of the Year in the cooking category.

I love Mario's books - he's not only incredibly knowledgable about his specialty but he also seems like a true gentleman in every program I've ever watched. Alton Brown is another good bet. On the other hand, I wouldn't buy Bobby Flay's books on a bad bet - he's rude and arrogant. I like to "speak" with my wallet about what I see in people personally as well as their culinary skills. While Emeril is quite the showman most of his recipes are far more complex and fat heavy than necessary. About the only recipe of his I've ever liked is for a wine reduction sauce.

I also like lesser known cookbok authors who do interesting things with recipes. For example, Patricia Telesco writes about the folklore of food and its symbolic value.

Our family cook book, by: my Mom, Grandma Ellen, Grandma Margaret, Aunt Dawn, Aunt Eth, Aunt Alice, Aunt Elaine, Auntie Nell, Great Grandma Edith, Great Grandpa Delos, Great Great Grandma Catherine, Mom Hause, Dad Hause, Grandy Ruth, Aunt Goldie,....... Why? There's a lot of history, and good food there!

I keep finding myself making stuff from Giada De Laurentis' first cookbook from the foodnetwork.

James Beard, his own books and those he has bestowed his award. These authors do more than deliver recipes, they teach you to cook by explaining what works (and what doesn't) and why. Cooks Ilustrated books are also highly regarded for similar reasons.

Jean Pare

She writes the Company's coming series. Theres a resipe in those books for anything and they always work out

Whoever writes the recipes for Real Simple magazine. They're exactly what they say: real simple, but they're also very delicious and not at all boring.

Rachel Ray. Easy to understand and reasonably priced!