Get your taste buds ready for the winners of the IACP Best Cookbooks of 2015

The International Association of Culinary Professionals is a not-for-profit professional association which provides continuing education and development for its members who are engaged in the areas of culinary education, communication, or in the preparation of food and drink. It has a worldwide membership of nearly 4,000 culinary professionals – a “Who's Who” of the world of food.

Each year the IACP awards the Best Cookbooks of the year. The 2015 winners are:

COOKBOOK OF THE YEAR

A New Napa Cuisine by Christopher Kostow (Julie Bennett, ed.)

In his debut cookbook, Chef Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood, discusses “the relationships and collaborations that exemplify a ‘new Napa’ full of dynamism, youth and promise.” His three-Michelin-starred restaurant, just outside St. Helena, has been called a “temple of modern American cuisine” by the Wall Street Journal.

The award was presented to Kostow at the IACP annual conference in
Washington, D.C., along with awards in 21 other categories.

Among the other winners were:

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AMERICAN – Down South: Bourbon, Pork, Gulf Shrimp & Second Helpings of Everything by Donald Link and Paula Disbrowe. Link is the owner and executive chef of some of the best restaurants in New Orleans: Herbsaint, Cochon, Cochon Butcher, Peche Seafood Grill, and a private event space, Calcasieu. (Don’t get me started on the wonderful meals I’ve had at Herbsaint, Cochon and Butcher!)

BAKING: SAVORY OR SWEET – The Baking Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

BEVERAGE/REFERENCE/TECHNICAL – Butchering Poultry, Rabbit, Lamb, Goat and Pork: The Comprehensive Photographic Guide to Humane Slaughtering and Butchering by Adam Danforth

CHEFS AND RESTAURANTS – Bar Tartine: Techniques and Recipes by Nicolaus Balla and Cortney Burns

CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILY – Recipes by Tomorrow’s Cooks Across the Nation and the World by Ramin Ganeshram

COMPILATIONS – The Great Outdoors Cookbook: Adventures in Cooking Under the Open Sky by Elaine Johnson and Margo True

CULINARY HISTORY – Precious Cargo: How Foods from the Americas Changed the World by David DeWitt

CULINARY TRAVEL – Cyprus: A Culinary Journey by Rita Henss

JULIA CHILD FIRST BOOK AWARD – Heritage by Sean Brock

FOOD MATTERS – Citizen Farmers: The Biodynamic Way to Grow Healthy Food, Build Thriving Communities, and Give Back to the Earth by Daron Jaffe with Susan Puckett

GENERAL – Twelve Recipes by Cal Peternell

HEALTH & SPECIAL DIET – At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen by Amy Chaplin

INTERNATIONAL – Ikaria: Lessons on Food, Life and Longevity from the Greek Island Where People Forget to Die by Diane Kochilas

LITERARY FOOD WRITING – In Search of the Perfect Loaf: A Home Baker’s Odyssey by Samuel Fromartz

JUDGE’S CHOICE – Good and Cheap: Eat Well on $4/Day by Leanne Brown and North: The New Nordic Cuisine of Iceland by Gunnar Karl Gislason and Jody Eddy.

The other major cookbook awards come from the James Beard Foundation and will be the subject of another post.