Good to the GrainI’m tickled to report that several books I recommended last December have been nominated for IACP and James Beard book awards! Congrats to Mark Bitterman, Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes; Kim Boyce, Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours; Deborah Krasner, Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat; and Alice Medrich, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.

IACP has created a new award category, “Culinary Classics.” This year’s ten selections are a venerable what’s what of the culinary canon, most of which are on my shelf, well-worn and still in use. But I have to give a shout out here to one that shaped much of my self-taught curriculum: The Classic Italian Cook Book by Marcella Hazan.

The Classic Italian Cook Book Hazan

Written when America didn’t know from Italian regions and it was hard to get many of the ingredients we take for granted today—Mascarpone? Pancetta? Arborio rice?—the book introduced me to the real thing while offering possible substitutions that are still useful in Italian food deserts. Among my favorite dishes is the very simple carrots marinated in a subtle mix of red wine vinegar, olive oil, oregano, and garlic cloves. (See also the roast chicken stuffed with lemons in Volume II.) These recipes gave me a lesson in restraint I’ve never forgotten.

Here are the lists of IACP and James Beard nominees.