Bouchon Bakery

Adam Roberts, author of Secrets of the Best Chefs, reviews Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel.

The book is groundbreaking in that it’s about the most OCD form of cooking from our nation’s most OCD chef. Keller’s exactitude is really unrivaled; every ingredient is measured to one-tenth of a gram, and the phenomenal results speak for themselves.

Both the recipes and tips make cooking at the most sophisticated level approachable for the home cook. That said, there are a few challenging recipes thrown in for the more daring. $50; amazon.com

© Deborah Jones

The Mile End Cookbook

Brooklyn restaurateurs Noah and Rae Bernamoff translate their smoked meat, sour pickles and matzo balls for the home kitchen. $28; amazon.com

© Cover design by Marc Rimmer, illustrations by Claudia Pearson

Burma: Rivers of Flavor

Intrepid traveler and photographer Naomi Duguid introduces the simple, distinctive home cooking of Burma, at the crossroads of China, India and Thailand. $35; amazon.com

Photo courtesy of Artisan Books

Fäviken

Chef Magnus Nilsson, who oversees Fäviken restaurant in the Swedish countryside, tells the stories behind his pristine, rarefied cooking. $50; amazon.com

Photo courtesy of Phaidon Press

The Great Meat Cookbook

Bruce Aidells’s compendium gives much-needed advice on our vastly expanded meat choices, including grass-fed, grain-fed and organic beef, bison and goat. $40; amazon.com

© Luca Trovato Photography

The Food of Morocco

After almost four decades, the ever-amazing Paula Wolfert has finally updated the 1973 cookbook that turned America on to Morocco's cuisine.$45; amazon.com.

Image Credit: Courtesy of "The Food of Morocco", by Paula Wolfert

Cookies for Kids Cancer: Best Bake Sale Cookbook

The Best Bake Sale Cookbook by Gretchen Holt-Witt is full of stellar ideas for cookies and other snacks. Its most brilliant idea: Using bake sales as a weapon in the fight against pediatric cancer. $20; amazon.com.

Image Credit: Courtesy of "Cookies For Kids Cancer: Best Bake Sale Cookbook" by Gretchen Holt-Witt (Wiley).

Italian, My Way: More Than 150 Simple and Inspired Recipes That Breathe New Life into Italian Classics

Forceful step-by-step recipe instructions by Jonathan Waxman can give a shaky home cook confidence. $32; amazon.com.

Image Credit: Christopher Hirsheimer

The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles's Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria

According to The Mozza Cookbook, when in doubt, add chanterelles in butter sauce to pretty much any pasta dish. $35; amazon.com.

Image Credit: Random House

Tyler Florence Family Meal: Bringing People Together Never Tasted Better

Star chef (and father of three) Tyler Florence celebrates home cooking and family in his sixth cookbook. $35; amazon.com.

Image Credit: John Lee, Rodale 2010

The Geometry of Pasta

Graphic designer Caz Hildebrand and chef Jacob Kenedy's stylish hardback is equal parts functional cookbook and coffee-table eye candy. Art Deco-style illustrations of more than 100 pastas, from agnolotti to ziti, are each accompanied by a short history of and recipes suited to that pasta shape. The sleek images have the mesmerizing quality of Escher prints, and the recipes—not just Italian, but Greek, Hungarian and more—are equally inviting. $25; amazon.com.

Photo Courtesy of Boxtree Publishing