Top 10 Best Selling Cookbooks

Everybody needs a cookbook or two, because unless you either have someone else to do the food preparation, or you always eat out, you need recipe books to tell you how to cook!

The top 10 best selling cookbooks are the ones you should keep you eye on if you are considering buying recipe collections, because it is among this selection you are likely to full the most useful and most informative cook books.

And for the serious chefs amongst us, there is nothing wrong with having 10 or 20 cookery books of our own lying around or, like me, stacked neatly in a kitchen cupboard within easy reach, for when you want to make something different.

There are specialised cookbooks for experienced chefs,for beginners, for meats, for vegetarian dishes, for soups and starters, for cakes, for microwaves and for just about anything you can think of to do with food.

They make great gifts too. Choose one or more than the top 10 best selling list of cookbooks.

~1

The New Best Recipe: All-New Edition by Cook's Illustrated Magazine is massive and includes more than 100 recipes pulled from the magazine.

Fans of the Cook's Illustrated Magazine may have already cut them all out and saved them, but now you have them all neatly bound in a fully colored illustrated hardcover book.

Each recipe in here has thoroughly tested and the most foolproof way to cook them is presented with step-by-step guides and illustrations guiding you through all the way.

There are not a lot of photographs in this book. Instead it is full of detailed information about cooking everything from starters to sweets spread over 22 chapters.

Readers who have bought this book say it is Heaven-sent.

Both beginners and experienced cooks have learned to cook really tasty dishes in new and easier ways than they may have known traditionally.

For example, there is a tutorial on how to make fresh chicken stock in under an hour which although a bit unorthodox works really well.

~2  For those who like to cook and entertain with a touch of flair, you'll love this latest book from Williams-Somona, Simple Classics Cookbook: The Best of Simple Italian, French & American Cooking (Complete Series), which has an international flavor with simple to follow recipes from France, Italy and America.

Full of clear color photographs to give you an idea of what your finished product should look like, the delicious recipes have simple to follow instructions even if some of the ingredients lists look a bit daunting.

All ingredients can be sourced locally and you'll be amazed at some of the most wonderful and tasty dishes you'll find yourself cooking quickly and easily.

~3  The New England Soup Factory Cookbook: More Than 100 Recipes from the Nation's Best Purveyor of Fine Soup by Marjorie Druker and Clara Silverstein.

Marjorie Druker is executive chef and co-owner of the New England Soup Factory in Massachusetts and she is passionate about soup.

In this recipe book, she gets together with veteran Boston food writer Clara Silverstein and the two interweave classical stories of the region alongside more than 100 delicious soup recipes with a separate chapter on salads and sandwiches to accompany the soups.

Many of the recipes from food served in the New England Soup Factory are included in the book and from all accounts it tastes just as good as it does in the restaurants.

~4 The interesting thing about Food Network Rachael Ray's new book No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners is that she promises that with just one or two ingredient changes, you can cook a different meal to put on the table every night for year.

This book appeals to many of us who get fed up cooking the same things week after week and feel like trying something new.

The idea Rachael promotes in this cookbook, is that you start at number 1 in the book and work your way through to number 365 which of course is a year later, and she has organised the book accordingly.

Each meal is only supposed to take 30 minutes, but that is excluding preparation time unless you are an expert chef who can prepare and chop vegetables in 30 seconds flat.

Being a paperback and priced economically, there are few photographs so to a certain extent you are having to wing it and imagine what the finished product is supposed to look like. Some buyers may find this offputting.

However, many of the recipes in this book are innovative and tasty, if you can find them seeing the book lacks an index.

~5 A must have cookbook, with recipes from some of the top chefs across America. If you're already familiar with The Throwdown Challenge, where the Food Network chef Bobby Flay turned up at a restaurant or eatery and challenged the chef to produce his best recipe which Bobby Flay then competed against with his own variation of the same dish, then you will love this book.

Aptly named Bobby Flay's Throwdown!: More Than 100 Recipes from Food Network's Ultimate Cooking Challenge actually contains 102 recipes, 51 from competing chefs and a matching number from Bobby Flay himself.

Full of recipes for delicious comfort foods - chicken wings, lasagne, cupcakes - from some of the top chefs in the US, and all wrapped up in top quality paper with fantastic accompanying photographs, this cookbook is well worth buying.

~6  Dana Jacobi brings us the 12 Best Foods Cookbook: Over 200 Recipes Featuring The 12 Healthiest Foods and what is interesting about this cookbook is that award winning food writer and chef Dana Jacobi has devised 250 remarkably varied and tasty recipes, each of include which one of only 12 ingredients.

Each of those 12 ingredients are rich in micronutrients, in fact out of all the foodstuffs available, according to Dana Jacobi they are the richest, and so she has incorporated each of them in her recipes.

It seems that a diet needs to be rich in those micronutrients to protect our bodies against serious conditions like diabetes, cancer and heart disease among others, and that this is even more important than worrying about carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Oh and in case you are wondering what those 12 wonderful ingredients are, they are: broccoli, black beans, tomatoes, salmon, soy, sweet potatoes, oats, onions, blueberries, walnuts, spinach, and chocolate.

Chocolate?? Bring it on!!

~7 The American Heart Association Quick & Easy Cookbook: More Than 200 Healthful Recipes You Can Make in Minutes is exactly what it say s on the cover.

But it is also much more than that. Not only can you cook easy, quick and healthy recipes following the instructions in this cookbook, but the ingredients don't cost the Earth either.

Each recipe has its total calories at the bottom, with a breakdown of the total nutritional value of each meal - carbohydrates, proteins, fats (total, saturated, polyunsaturated and monunsaturated), cholesterol and sodium, as well as detailing the preparation and cooking time.

This book is great for all those who live life on the run, eating fast foods and take-aways instead of eating healthily to protect your heart.

All the foods here are delicious, as well as being simple and quick to prepare.

For anyone who has suffered a heart attack, or is at risk of suffering heart damage or has high cholesterol, this book is a MUST. Even for those of whose health is perfect now, this book is well worth getting.

~8  The Recipe Hall of Fame Cookbook (Best of the Best) is the finale in a series of cookbooks from Quail Ridge Press who have been saving tried and tested favorites from across the nation for years.

Edited by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley, this cookbook contains the absolute best American recipe collection ever.

There are 450 recipes in the Hall of Fame, all of which are proven favorites including Texas Brisket, Crawfish Etouffee, Key Lime Pie, Cincinnati Chili, Meatballs Diablo, Pork Chops Hawaiian, Buckeyes, Mint Julep Kisses, Chicago-Style Pizza, Alabama Banana Pudding, Connecticut Coastline Seafood Chowder, Chattanooga Chew Chews, Route 66 Diner Philly Chicken and many more.

You will love this cookbook, because unlike many other cookbooks, your family and yourself will probably enjoy every single recipe in it.

~9 Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is well worth the money.

Just because it mentions the word 'French' in the title does not mean it's all top gourmet restaurant-type stuff that would be too difficult for most of us.

In actual fact, these are all simple to make recipes that the French people typically make at home.

Many readers who have bought this book have found it to be indispensable, seeing as the book is filled with easy to follow and delicious recipes.

Beautifully written, you'll enjoy, and find your self making good use of, this book.

~10 The Best 30-Minute Recipe from Cook's Illustrated Magazine is actually 300 recipes and not just one!

Packed full of great ideas on how to cook delectable dishes that are full of flavor and hearty goodness in just half an hour.

Unlike most quick dishes, the recipes here are filled with flavor so that you can really enjoy the meals you cook.

Aimed primarily at inexperienced cooks, this cookbook is crammed with ideas, tips and suggestions all written in an engaging, humerous, manner that is sure to entertain.

The recipes are easy to follow and can help you gain confidence as well as experience in the kitchen.