Melissa McCart

Food writer and restaurant critic

https://www.post-gazette.com/life/dining

Biography

Dining critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; freelance writer for Eater, Washington Post, etc.

Into the Vietnamese Kitchen

Andrea Nguyen

I'm obsessed with any variation of pho. Andrea really arms home-cooks with easy-to-follow techniques for making knockout dishes -- pho and beyond.

The Cake Bible

Rose Levy Beranbaum

My owner of my favorite NYC bookstore led me to Rose for teaching myself to make any kind of cake. It's a tremendous resource.

Sichuan Cookery

Fuchsia Dunlop

Some of my favorite restaurants are Sichuan here in Pittsburgh (and New York) and there's no better English-speaking guide through the flavors of this captivating regional cuisine.

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Marcella Hazan

It's my Italian cooking go-to.

The Professional Chef

Culinary Institute of America

My desktop look up for how to cook a dish or make a sauce before I go to riffs from home cooks and restaurant chefs.

Tasting Rome

Katie Parla

I love exploring regional cuisine and love Katie's voice in her first cookbook -- along with the photos, the characters, and the straight-from-Rome recipes.

How to Cook Everything

Mark Bittman

Mark always reminds me that cooking need not be precious and there are a lot of approaches to tackling a new dish (and anxiety need not be part of the experience).

Cooking by Hand

Paul Bertolli

I love this cookbook for its emphasis on ingredients and the reminder of who and what makes California cuisine so captivating.

Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry

Cathy Barrow

Perhaps the book I'm most excited to use this summer is this one, the most comprehensive modern book on canning and preserving in America.

Mediterranean Grains and Greens

Paula Wolfert

It's hard to choose just one Wolfert book among the top ten, but I love reading her recipe headers on who she's met and how different cultures use grains and greens.