Cookbooks

UPDATE: Piglet Community Picks

by:
January  4, 2013

Update: There's still time to be a tester for the first Piglet Community Picks! As a reminder, please send us your reviews by January 30th. All books except for Ripe, by Nigel Slater (it went fast!) still have testing slots available, and details for how to compile your reviews can be found below.

The Piglet Cookbook Tournament is fast approaching, and this year, we're shaking things up a bit. Inspired both by suggestions from the Food52 community and by the amazing lot of cookbooks out this year, we will be featuring a Community Pick on each day of the Piglet. And since you're the community, we'll need your help in reviewing some of this year's most-loved cookbooks.

Want to get involved? Call dibs on your favorite in the comment section below (up to 5 testers per book, please), and the rest is simple: order your book, test out a few recipes, maybe cook a meal or two, and send us your reviews by January 30th. Reviews should be under 500 words and explain what you liked about the book, why the recipes worked (or didn't), and what sets the cookbook apart from others. Most importantly, make it a great read. Just like we do for our contests, we'll pick the best community review for each book and feature it on the site. Now get cooking -- and be sure to tell us all about it! 

Shop the Story

Modernist Cuisine at Home by Nathan Myhrvold & Maxime Bilet

MCAH

Joy the Baker Cookbook:100 Simple and Comforting Recipes by Joy Wilson

Joy Baker

Cook Fight: 2 Cooks, 12 Challenges, 125 Recipes, an Epic Battle for Kitchen Dominance by Julia Moskin & Kim Severson  

Cook Fight

Afield: A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish by Jesse Griffiths

Afield

Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish

Flour Water Salt Yeast

The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes by James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman & Tara Duggan

Blue Bottle

Faviken by Magnus Nilsson

The Art of Cooking Vegetables by Alain Passard 

vegetables

Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America by Maricel E. Presilla

Cran Cocina Latina

Ripe by Nigel Slater

Ripe

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The Piglet—inspired by The Morning News' Tournament of Books—is where the 16 most notable cookbooks of the year face off in a NCAA-style bracketed tournament. Watch the action and weigh in on the results!

GET THE LATEST

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Kenzi Wilbur
    Kenzi Wilbur
  • Sauertea
    Sauertea
  • -DDK-
    -DDK-
  • rmullins
    rmullins
  • Jessica Taft
    Jessica Taft
gheanna

Written by: gheanna

My two (current) favorite foods start with the letter D: doughnuts, and dumplings. If a dish has bacon in it, I will most likely eat it. If I could marry honey butter, I would.

38 Comments

Kenzi W. January 29, 2013
Hi everyone! Just a reminder that all Community Picks reviews are due by tomorrow, January 30th, in order to be considered. Can't wait to read them all!
 
Sauertea January 6, 2013
Rats!! I will have to wait until next year!! Looking forward to reading the reviews. Musy confess that I am a huge Joy the Baker fan so I would probably be slightly biased.
 
-DDK- January 6, 2013
Is Modernist Cuisine at Home still available? I'll review it!
[email protected]
 
Kenzi W. January 6, 2013
We filled up two days ago! So sorry, but thanks for the enthusiasm.
 
Sauertea January 6, 2013
Is joy the baker still available??
 
Kenzi W. January 6, 2013
So sorry -- see the comment below. We're full!
 
rmullins January 5, 2013
Wow! I missed it. Is there any way to get notified the next time there is a piglet community happening?
 
Kenzi W. January 5, 2013
We do the Piglet Tournament once a year, starting around November/December and the results come out in February. We'll be sure to ramp up the notification efforts next year, based on the response we've gotten this time around!
 
Jessica T. January 5, 2013
Faviken! Still available?
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
We're full! Thanks everyone, we can't wait to read the reviews!
 
Burf January 4, 2013
Any chance you could throw together a final list of the reviewers? Thanks!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
Since this is operating just like Community Picks for a contest would, we're sticking with our guideline to keep reviewers private so that people will feel comfortable giving honest reviews. But if you have a question on your book or what you're signed up for, etc, feel free to send a note to [email protected] and we'll get right back to you!
 
Sara C. January 4, 2013
Alright - I'll take Afield, then! Good thing I've got a father-in-law who hunts ;)
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
Great!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
UPDATE: We have one slot left for Afield, otherwise, everything is full. Thanks to everyone for taking part!
 
Sara C. January 4, 2013
I would love to review Flour, Salt, Water and Yeast if it's still available!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
Apologies, it's full.
 
WannabeBaker January 4, 2013
I'll do Modernist if there's still slots available! Also, I never saw the first announcement of this awesome project, even though I get Food52 emails and follow you guys on FB. I really wish I had known about it earlier - anyway you could include more stuff that's going on in your emails? It's hard for me to get the site on a regular basis, so the emails are the best way for me to keep up. They used to include all the competitions, but I never see those any more :(
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
So sorry about that -- and Modernist is actually full. But we'll definitely try to include more of these things in our announcements, thanks for the suggestion.
 
BouMama January 4, 2013
I'm interested in Modernist!
 
Burf January 4, 2013
Ooh! Faviken
 
Jessica S. January 4, 2013
I will take Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America gladly if reviewers are still needed!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
This one is full!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
UPDATE: The only books with slots left are Faviken, Blue Bottle, Afield, and Modernist Cuisine. Happy testing!
 
hardlikearmour January 4, 2013
Blue Bottle and Modernist Cuisine already have 5, unless someone has bowed out.
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
Thanks for helping to keep tabs! Yes, we're keeping track of all testers -- including those who have bowed out.
 
meredith W. January 4, 2013
I'm happy to bow out of Gran Cocina and review Afield, instead, if that helps!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
That would actually be great. Thanks so much!
 
Jessica S. January 4, 2013
And I will take up that Gran Cocina from Meredith, if possible...
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
You're in.
 
hardlikearmour January 4, 2013
Could you compile the 2 posts on Piglet Community Picks? Maybe also do an update showing the testers of each book? I just went through both posts and found the only books w/o the full allotment of testers are: Afield and Faviken. In addition several books have more than 5 dibs-callers: Flour Water Salt Yeast, Joy the Baker, and Gran Cocina Latina.
 
hardlikearmour January 4, 2013
Cook Fight also has extra dibs-callers.
 
LucyLean January 4, 2013
Commented on other post re flour Water Salt Yeast but think its already gone - will you tally and let us know if we got it - and will you assign a different book if it's already taken - food Fight looks interesting
 
Anita C. January 4, 2013
i'd love to review The Art of Cooking Vegetables by Alain Passard!!!
 
Kenzi W. January 4, 2013
Great. And yes, the comment section is where you claim your book. Thanks for participating!
 
meredith W. January 4, 2013
i'd love to review gran cocina latina! - meredith wood