As always, there were a lot of “Best of” lists flying around the past few weeks. This year was a great year for cookbooks. I don’t need to get into which ones I thought were the best, because they were probably the same ones everyone else had. What I want to list are the best books on food and cooking that I got used on Amazon. If you have some Christmas money to burn, these are great books. Even paying $3.99 shipping, many of these came out well under the $10 mark. Keep checking back. I’ve seen a lot of price fluctuation on used books. So, here are the best books I bought used in 2013, that weren’t written in 2013 (with Amazon Links)
1.Smokehouse Ham, Spoon Bread & Scuppernong Wine: The Folklore and Art of Southern Appalachian Cooking Currently $8.47, though I picked it up for $2.99
2.The Food, Folklore, and Art of Lowcountry Cooking Currently, $8.30, though I got mine for $3.99
3. Variety Meats (The Good Cook Techniques & Recipes Series) Pick this one up now. It’s only $.42
4. A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen One of my favorite books, which came out in 2011, though I passed it up at the time. For me, it was worth it just for the Sticky Date Pudding recipe. Currently $18.37
5. Country Scrapple If you love scrapple, this is a great book. While it’s currently at $13, I got mine for $.89
6. Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques Great step by step walk-through of techniques. Well worth the $10.02 it’s currently at.
7. The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food from Hash to Hamantaschen This book came out last year, but I didn’t get it until May of this year. One of my absolute favorite books. Currently available for $14.98
8. Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work So, I didn’t actually find this one in 2013. I picked it up the day it came out in 2010. I added it to my list because it’s a great book that everyone should have, and it can currently be picked up for $13.34
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Chris Spear