Skip to content

Top Navigation

Food & Wine Food & Wine
  • Recipes & Cooking
  • Drinks
  • Travel
  • Holidays & Events
  • News
  • F&W Classic
  • Video
  • Kitchen & Home
  • F&W Pro

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Wine Club
  • Podcast
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Food & Wine

Food & Wine Food & Wine
  • Explore

    Explore

    • F&W Cooks

      Food and Wine presents a new network of food pros delivering the most cookable recipes and delicious ideas online. Read More Next
    • Our 22 Best Crock Pot and Slow-Cooker Recipes

      Looking to amp up your beef stew but unsure where to start? A slow cooker can can take your comfort food to the next level. Read More Next
    • 50 Affordable Wines You Can Always Trust

      We’ve assembled a list of 50 of the world’s most reliable, inexpensive wines – bottles that offer amazing quality for their price year in and year out. Read More Next
  • Recipes & Cooking

    Recipes & Cooking

    See All Recipes & Cooking
    • Chicken Recipes
    • Comfort Food Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
    • Salad Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Vegetable Recipes
    • Pasta & Noodle Recipes
    • Chefs
    • Meat & Poultry Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
    • Side Dishes
    • Fruit Recipes
    • Seafood Recipes
    • Special Diets
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Steal This Trick
  • Drinks

    Drinks

    See All Drinks
    • Wine
    • Cocktails & Spirits
    • Coffee Drinks & Recipes
    • Juices
    • Beer & Brews
    • Champagne & Sparkling Wine
    • Tea Recipes & Ideas
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    • Wine Regions
    • Restaurants
  • Holidays & Events

    Holidays & Events

    See All Holidays & Events
    • Valentine's Day
    • Halloween
    • Passover
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • Gifts
    • Super Bowl
    • Easter
    • Thanksgiving
    • New Year's Eve
    • Holiday Entertaining
  • News
  • F&W Classic
  • Video
  • Kitchen & Home
  • F&W Pro

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Wine Club
  • Podcast
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Kitchen & Home Chevron Right
  3. Books Chevron Right
  4. The Greatest Cookbooks of All Time, According to Chefs

The Greatest Cookbooks of All Time, According to Chefs

By Food & Wine
Updated January 07, 2020
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
Cookbooks can be fickle territory, as vulnerable to the whims of trendiness as diet fads or nail art. But there are some books that stand the test of time—classics that continue to captivate years after their publication dates. We dipped into our archives to turn up some of the most enduring cookbooks ever published, as chosen by the chefs those books inspired. Assemble a mini library for you or your favorite food scholar. —Jordana Rothman
Start Slideshow

1 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

The Provence of Alain Ducasse

Credit: Courtesy of Amazon

I like The Provence of Alain Ducasse because it is really personal. He discusses individuals—you meet the guy that makes the best pastis or the best olive oil—and you really feel like you are on this trip with him. It’s one of those books that actually makes you hungry.— Mike Solomonov

Buy: $27, amazon.com

1 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

The Last Course

Credit: Courtesy of Amazon

Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course is a classic. That was my go-to book when I first became a pastry chef. I especially love her coconut tapioca with passion fruit and cilantro. That was one of my favorite desserts when I started on this road.—Belinda Leong

Buy: $26, amazon.com

2 of 6

3 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

El Bulli: 1998–2002

Credit: Courtesy of Amazon

Flipping through the pages of El Bulli: 1998–2002 is so powerful. It’s one of those books where you pick it up and four hours later you haven’t even gotten through 40 pages.—Michael Mina

Buy: Various Prices at amazon.com

3 of 6

Advertisement

4 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

La Technique

Credit: Courtesy of Amazon

Jacques Pepin’s La Technique was revolutionary in a lot of ways. I have a copy that’s so used it’s torn and spotted. It’s a very good book for someone who needs things explained really clearly. — Charlie Palmer

Buy: $110 at amazon.com

4 of 6

5 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Joy of Cooking

The old Joy of Cooking was my first cookbook. It has everything in it, from cooking an armadillo to how to make the most perfect pie crust. It’s great for when you need a basic recipe to build off of, because the proportions are so well tested. —Anita Lo

Buy: $20 at amazon.com

5 of 6

6 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Ma Gastronomie

My favorite is Ma Gastronomie by Ferdinand Point. It’s both a storybook and a book of recipes. If you work for me, I give you that book and then I ask you questions about it. Point was 6’5” and 300 pounds—he’d get to work at 7am every morning and write menus in the courtyard while drinking magnums of champagne and getting a shave. Paul Bocuse was his salad chef. There are hundreds of stories. — Jimmy Bradley

Buy: amazon.com

6 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Food & Wine

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 6 The Provence of Alain Ducasse
2 of 6 The Last Course
3 of 6 El Bulli: 1998–2002
4 of 6 La Technique
5 of 6 Joy of Cooking
6 of 6 Ma Gastronomie

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Login

Food & Wine

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Books from Food & Wine
  • Contact Us
  • Media Kit
  • Content Licensing

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Food & Wine is part of the Meredith Corporation Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.foodandwine.com

View image

The Greatest Cookbooks of All Time, According to Chefs
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.