A professional caterer with nearly twenty years of experience offers a no-nonsense cookbook and entertaining guide-packed with the kind of tricks and techniques that keep the pros in business. From budget planning and decorations to theme parties and menu preparation, Secrets from a Caterer's Kitchen includes over 100 party-tested recipes-making this book the only home entertainment manual you'll ever need. -- Amazon.com

Recognized as the definitive cooking school textbook, the Culinary Institute of America's The Professional Chef is also the perfect guide for independent study at home. More than 1,000 pages are packed into the voluminous seventh edition, with information and recipes designed to teach technique. It is so comprehensive, it could be the only cookbook you need to own. Almost guaranteed to answer any question you could possibly imagine, The Professional Chef is one of the most useful reference books ever written for the kitchen. -- Amazon.com

Armed with industrial tongs, a basting brush, and over 350 new recipes, chef Jamie Purviance and coauthor Sandra S. McRae (Weber's "corporate poet") step back behind the grill with Weber's Big Book of Grilling, the searing follow-up to the bestselling Weber's Art of the Grill. We open to a brief history of Weber and a few colorful anecdotes about the early days of the company along with a crash course on choosing a grill, featuring a breakdown of grilling with charcoal versus gas and a quiz to help you determine which grill is best for your cooking needs. Each recipe features the requisite cooking method (direct or indirect heat) and temperature level with techniques that leave plenty of room for individual improvisation. James Beard Award-winning photographer Tim Turner returns with artfully styled color photos of hot-off-the-grill dishes that will make you want to stop reading and start grilling. -- Amazon.com

For all his one-liners about big-time eating, George Foreman is a symbol of great food coupled with great nutrition. That his 45-year-old body has been able to endure boxing matches with fighters half his age is a tribute to hard work and careful nutrition--especially low-fat cooking. In his new, user-friendly cookbook, George explains how to prepare hearty, wonderful meals that won't stress the waistline. Illustrations. -- Amazon.com

For decades, the definitive reference book for chefs and anyone else devoted to the world of good food and cooking has been Larousse Gastronomique. The last English-language edition of this venerable French publication appeared in 1988, so the arrival of the 2001 edition comes onto the scene at just the right time to refresh reference collections. A translation of the French edition of 2000, this new work shifts the book's traditional focus more definitively to world cuisine, even though coverage still emphasizes the triumphs of European gastronomy in general and French cooking in particular. Although by no means comprehensive, articles on national schools of cooking are especially helpful to distinguish each country's or region's salient cooking ingredients and methods. Recipes abound, but they are designed as exemplars, and only skilled cooks will derive real direction from their abridged instructions. Many color illustrations add to the volume's attractiveness and its utility. This is a required purchase for any reference collection in food and cooking. Mark Knoblauch Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved -- Mark Knoblauch Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved