Cookbooks

Chefs and Their Cookbooks: A Love Story

What's on your bookshelf?
What’s on your bookshelf? Photo: Helen Rosner

The relationship between a chef and his cookbooks is a personal and idiosyncratic one, depending on the chef it can be respectful, antagonistic, competitive, nurturing. In his latest blog post, Chaise Lounge’s Cary Taylor takes us into the libraries of the chefs for whom he’s worked:

Trotter wanted to know what his cooks were reading. Kahan had a great library. Bowles had read everything and had tossed them away to take what he had learned and make it his own. Christian Eckmann had a great collection of books by European chefs.

And Taylor? He turns most often to Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg’s Culinary Artistry, which came to his attention via now-Old Town Social chef Jared Van Camp. But there’s also room in his heart for classics like The French Laundry Cookbook, A Day at El Bulli, and (one of our favorites) Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie.

Books to Live By [Chef Cary Taylor/Blog]

Chefs and Their Cookbooks: A Love Story