Must-Have Cookbooks According to Chefs #1
These cookbooks are true must-haves for anyone who loves cooking and wants to read more about it. If you don’t know them yet, put them on your wish list right away.
Giel Kaagman – De Dikke van Dam, Johannes van Dam
Over the past year I haven’t had time to read (cook)books, but actually I’ve never done much of that anyway. I’m more likely to be inspired by the season and by experiences. I also visit suppliers often to see what’s available, and then I simply get to work with it. If I were to give someone a book as a gift, it would be De Dikke van Dam. I think it’s a genuinely good and useful book.
Mounir Toub – The Books by Jonnie Boer and Robert Kranenborg
I have books by well-known chefs such as Jonnie Boer, Robert Kranenborg and Abdelkader Benali on my bookshelf. Most of the books serve as a source of inspiration, but Benali’s book contains beautiful stories that you can genuinely read. That inspired me: my cookbook ‘My Arab Kitchen’ therefore contains, alongside recipes, personal food stories and a number of ‘fresh verses’ written by Derek Otte.
Janny van der Heijden – The Art of Cooking by Julia Child
Julia Child – The Art of Cooking. That is the foundation of classic cuisine, and once you master it, you can go in any direction.
Michiel van der Eerde – Larousse by Prosper Montagné
Larousse—that’s really where it all begins, in my opinion.
Chris Naylor – Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters
Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters. She was at the beginning of everything that is happening now—from local and organic food to seasonal cooking. I received the book from Kees Elfring, the owner of restaurant Marius in Amsterdam, who worked for her. Alice gave me my first glimpse of a way of cooking different from the French one. She taught me that a ripe tomato needs nothing more than oil, pepper and salt, rather than turning it into all sorts of things in the French way.
Read also:
- Dishes that (star) chefs never put on the menu
- Dishes that (star) chefs hate
- What (star) chefs always have at home
