The Best Cookbooks of 2012: What Were Your Favorite Finds This Year?

It's the time again, when we look back at the year and share our favorite finds. But first, we want to know: what do you think were the best cookbooks of 2012?

Renee Schettler Rossi from Leite's Culinaria offered an eclectic roundup of cookbook favorites, including Michael Ruhlman's Salumi (an authoritative guide for any "hardcore salumerist"), Jim Lahey's My Pizza ("you'll find nothing here but crisp crusts so thin as to seemingly defy every law of physics"), Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer's Canal House Cooks Every Day ("a book that can instantly transport you from your mundane reality...to a life in which lunch is lingered over each day") and Jesse Griffiths' Afield ("lots of straightforward, non-emasculating advice on everything from roasting a whole hog to making a venison burger").

We at The Kitchn will offer our own 2012 picks in the coming weeks, but we're curious: what cookbooks really inspired you this year?

Read more: Best Cookbooks of 2012 at Leite's Culinaria

Related: Our Readers' Top 5 Cookbooks for 2011

(Images: book covers as linked)

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Canal House Cooks Every Day by Christopher Hirsheimer & Melissa Hamilton New Cookbook

If you are, like me, a fan of the Canal House Cooks Lunch email series, then you will be relieved and thrilled to know that (at last!) the recipes are now available for all those delightful and delicious-looking dishes that pop up in our inbox every Mon-Fri this past year. For Canal House Cooks Every Day, the latest book by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, is just that: a beautiful, 384-page book that is mostly based on the emailed dishes, only this time we get the recipes, too! If you're not familiar with their emails or Canal House Cooking, then you're in for a real treat when you discover them through this lovely volume of over 250 recipes.

Quick Facts

Who wrote it: Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton

Who published it: Andrews McMeel

Recipes and projects for right now: Vin Santo-Roasted Pears; Cauliflower with Bread Crumbs, Pancetta and Prunes; Chicken Roasted Over Potatoes and Lemon; Ginger Spice Cake with Dried Cherries; Pork Stew with Guajillo Chine Mole.

Recommended? Yes! This books is beautiful and a pleasure to browse, but it will equally find its place on your kitchen counter, propped open to favorite recipes that you will find yourself returning to again and again. The occasional splatter or spill will only add to it's beauty and authenticity.

Other highlights: Canal House Cooks Every Day is beautifully designed, with a deep red cloth cover that is embossed in metallic gold and blue. Its pages are thick and semi-glossy, and can be marked with a sky-blue grosgrain ribbon that's attached to the binding. Speaking of which, the binding is sturdy and allows the pages to fall flat, making it easy to prop open on your kitchen counter. The photographs by Christopher Hirsheimer, as can be expected, are beautiful and the occasional illustrations by Melissa Hamilton are lovely as well.

But a beautiful cookbook isn't worth its weight if it doesn't give us decent, delicious, well-written and well-tested recipes, and Canal House Cooks Every Day does not fail us here. The book is arranged by season and then months within that season, which is how many of us are cooking these days. It's a delight to just open it up to November and discover what's possible for right now. There's also a recipe index in the front if you want to easily explore the book by categories and a more thorough index in the back.

Who would enjoy this book? Anyone who loves to cook, quite honestly.

For a preview of Canal House Cooks Every Day, go here.
The Canal House website.
A Canal House Q&A on The Blender.

Find the book at your local library, independent bookstore, or Amazon: Canal House Cooks Every Day by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton (Andrews McMeel Publishing, October 2012)

Related: Recipe Review: Canal House Cooking's Serious Ragu

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.

(Images: Cover photo Andrews McMeel; all other photos Dana Velden )

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