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May 11, 2009

Good recipes and famous chefs aren't the only reasons customers pick up cookbooks. Looks play an equally important role, and one publisher is making the most of that concept by launching a new series of cookbooks that feature photos of food taken from above. We get the publisher's take, and also check in with a prominent food stylist (who's just a tad skeptical). This issue of Cooking the Books also features a Q&A with a chef-turned-novelist; a clip for Meryl Streep's new movie, Julie & Julia (plus a Q&A with author Julie Powell); and a profile of no-frills Canadian cookbook publisher Robert Rose. You'll notice we're including more photos in this week's Short Order—please send cookbook party pics to Landriani@reedbusiness.com to be included in future issues. Sign up for Cooking the Books by clicking here.—Lynn Andriani, Senior Editor

Cookbook Photography Takes an Aerial View
It’s long been acknowledged that food stylists use tricky techniques—such as spraying food with corn syrup or other liquids to keep it looking fresh—to make food appear as attractive as possible in photos. But what about the photography itself? Do certain angles, backgrounds and effects make food look more attractive, tasty or approachable? A new line of cookbooks that features only aerial photography suggests a new trend in food styling. more » » » 

Robert Rose Cookbooks Are No-Frills with Big Sales
How does a small house in Toronto sell 75,000 copies of cookbooks by no-name authors with little to no publicity or promotion? Consistency. Robert Rose books have a look: they’re usually paperback, with copious color photos; the type is large and the recipe steps are numbered, with text following a strict two-column format. Titles often feature numbers—300 Sensational Soups, 150 Best Diabetes Desserts—and recipes tend to be uncomplicated. It's a formula that works. more » » » 

• Short Order: May 11
  This week's roundup of cookbook news includes James Beard Award winners, London's answer to Magnolia Bakery, the Julie & Julia trailer, an Italian grandmother's book deal, and party pictures. more » » » 

Cooking the Books with Adam Schell
Former chef Adam Schell spent nine years researching and writing his first novel, Tomato Rhapsody: A Fable of Lust, Love and Forbidden Fruit, which Delcaorte will publish in July. He picked grapes and olives in Tuscany, visited libraries in Florence to read ancient Italian cookbooks and menus, and studied with a master gardener and cultivated Italian heirloom tomatoes. He talked to PW about what he learned along the way... and shared his recipe for tomato-baked eggs. more » » » 

Review: Notes on Cooking: A Short Guide to an Essential Craft
This to-the-point guidebook offers kitchen commandments for a realm that often tends to “a little of this, a little of that” thinking. It includes more than 200 directives on everything from cooking duck to ripening fruit, with strong declarations—“Do not stuff a turkey”; “Always preheat the oven”—that, once learned by heart, make cooking easier and end with better food. more » » » 

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