Who's hungry? (part III)

The Observer (weekend edition of the Guardian) is publishing a list of the fifty greatest cookbooks. They were nice enough to put 11-50 online so I could have a look through.

In my unstudied opinion it's a nice combination of old and new. There are many cuisines, regions, styles and similar subsets of cooking represented here, which I quite liked. What I also liked: nothing about light, cooking light, low fat or similar. I hope not to see any of that ilk in the top 10.

Comments:

• Surprised to see Mastering the Art of French Cooking at number 21. That book changed the way people thought about food in the US. But I guess it's the 'best cookbooks', not 'most influential'.
• Pleased to see the Chez Panisse cookbook at number 11.

Predictions to make the top 10:

• Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins - my mom loooooves this one, and it's a dark horse to make the top 10 but I've got my fingers crossed. It's excellent. 
• Something from Martha Stewart? Not sure which is the best, and I'm too lazy to check Amazon, but other entries in the list lead me to believe she'll make the cut here.
• The French Laundry Cookbook - No way they omit THE cookbook from THE chef of the past 10 years. Keller's recipes are so famously complex that when he opened a new restaurant he released another cookbook with recipes for stuff you could actually make in your own kitchen. Which I hear is easier, but not necessarily easy.
• Something from Alain Ducasse, who was Thomas Keller before there was Thomas Keller.
• Joy of Cooking - easy choice for number one. Should be the first cookbook you buy. Comprehensive, thorough, and delicious. 

What does the picture have to do with food and cookbooks? Nothing. But I liked it and wanted a picture for this post, so here we are.