Finalists announced for IACP awards competition

It's the awards season in the food world, just as it is in film and music. The first of the competitions, from the International Association of Culinary Professionals, announced its 2012 finalists Thursday. Its winners will be announced on April 2.

This year the contest added many new broadcast media categories that make for an interesting look at the food world.

Congrats to many MInnesotans who are on the finalists list: Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine, at right, the local filmmaking team who have traveled everywhere to produce the The The Perennial Plate weekly documentaries on sustainable food. They are finalists in the category of video series short program.

Wayne Gisslen, who is co-author of "Professional Garde Manger," is a finalist in the Professional Kitchen category. Rick Nelson wrote about Gisslen awhile back.

Meredith Deeds, a Taste columnist from Edina, at left, is in charge of content for "The Informed Chef" series of cooking videos, which is a finalist in the Intriguing Use of Technology category. The series of videos include one of hers preparing 25 dishes and another from Raghavan Iyer, of Eden Prairie, who is featured with Indian cooking.

Let's also take a look at the finalists in the cookbook category first. One of the finalists, Amy Traverso of "An Apple Lover's Cookbook," is a finalist in two categories, for American and First Book. Rick Nelson interviewed her last fall. Not surprisingly, she likes the Honeycrisp and SweetTango apples from Minnesota, and describes them in the book.

In the MUST-SEE category of video distractions, however, check out the humorous short video category. My favorite is the parody of a classic Western shoot-out, only this is between a corn cob and a string bean. It's called "The Good, The Bad and The Leafy" and it's got music to match.

COOKBOOKS

AMERICAN
"American Flavor," by Andrew Carmellini
"The Apple Lover's Cookbook," by Amy Traverso
"The Homesick Texan," by Lisa Fain.

BAKING
"Baking Style: Art Craft Recipes," by Lisa Yockelson
"Cooking with Chocolate: Essential Recipes and Techniques," by Frédéric Bau
"Illustrated Step-by-Step Baking," by Caroline Bretherton

CHEFS AND RESTAURANTS
"Home Cooking with Jean Georges," by Jean-George Vongerichten
"The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts," by Frederic Morin, David McMillan and Meredith Erickson
"The Blue Tomato: The Inspirations Behind the Cuisine of Alan Wong," by Alan Wong

CHILDREN, YOUTH AND FAMILY
"My Family Table," John Besh
"The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet," by Tina Ruggerio
"The Family Dinner," by Laurie David

COMPILATIONS
"Fine Cooking in Season," by the editors of Fine Cooking magazine
"The Cakebread Cellars American Harvest Cookbook," by Jack & Dolores Cakebread, Brian Streeter, Janet Fletcher
"The Cooks' Illustrated Cookbook," by Jack Bishop, Elizabeth Carduff and Lori Galvin

CULINARY HISTORY
"Dying on the Vine: How Phylloxera Transformed Wine," by George Gale
"High on the Hog," byJessica Harris
"Turning the Tables: Restaurants and the Rise of the American Middle Class, 1880-1920," by Andrew P. Haley

CULINARY TRAVEL
"A Family in Paris," by Jane Paech
"Tasting India," by Christine Manfield
"Ultimate Food Journeys," by DK Publishing

FIRST BOOK – THE JULIA CHILD AWARD
"Ancient Grains for Modern Meals," by Maria Speck
"Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food," by Sam Mogannam and Dabney Gough
"The Apple Lover's Cookbook," by Amy Traverso

FOOD AND BEVERAGE REFERENCE/TECHNICAL
"Ruhlman's Twenty," by Michael Ruhlman
"The Art of Beef Cutting," by Kari Underly
"Whole Beast Butchery," by Ryan Farr

FOOD MATTERS
"Good Fish: Sustainable Seafood Recipes from the Pacific Coast," by Becky Selengut
"Tomatoland," by Barry Estabrook
"Wild Flavors: One Chef's Transformative Year Cooking from Eva's Farm," by Didi Emmons

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AND STYLING
"Cooking My Way Back Home: Recipes from San Francisco's Town Hall," by Mitchell Rosenthal and John Pult
"The Art of Pasta," by Lucio Galletto; photographer/stylist: Paige Green
"The Macy's Culinary Council Thanksgiving and Holiday Cookbook," editor Steve Siegelman; photographer Maren Caruson; stylist George Dolese

GENERAL
"All About Roasting," by Molly Stevens
"Essential Pepin: More than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food," by Jacques Pepin
"My Family Table," by John Besh

HEALTH AND SPECIAL DIET
"Ancient Grains for Modern Meals," by Maria Speck
"Food Intolerance Management Plan,"by Dr. Sue Shepherd & Dr. Peter Gibson
"The Sweet life: Diabetes Without Boundaries," by SamTalbot

INTERNATIONAL
"Seoultown Kitchen," by Debbie Lee
"The Food of Spain," by Claudia Roden
"The Country Cooking of Italy," by Coleman Andrews

LITERARY FOOD WRITING
"Season to Taste," by Molly Birnbaum
"The Sorcerer's Apprentice: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adria's El Bulli," by Lisa Abend;
"The Table Comes First," by Adam Gopnik

PROFESSIONAL KITCHENS
"Modernist Cuisine," by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxine Bilet
"Professional Garde Manger," by Lous Sackett, Jaclyn Pestka and, Wayne Gisslen
"The Professional Chef, 9th Edition," by The Culinary Institute of America

SINGLE SUBJECT
"All About Roasting," by Molly Stevens
"Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal," by Jennifer McLagen
"Plenty," by Yotam Ottolenghi

WINE, BEER OR SPIRITS
"Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails Recipes," by Brad Thomas Parsons
"Mastering Wine for the Asian Palate," by Jennie Cho Lee
"The Food Lover's Guide to Wine," by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

AND then we have the New Media and Broadcast Awards. Take a peek at them through the many links.

CULINARY BLOG
5 Second Rule (Cheryl Sternman Rule)
Bona Fide Farm Food (Tom Hirschfeld)
Pizza Quest (Peter Reinhart)

CULINARY WEBSITE
Chow.com
Saveur.com
findeatdrink.com

CULINARY PRODUCT OR BRAND WEBSITE
Camp Blog Away
The Official Homepage of the Idaho Potato
Gilt Taste

INTRIGUING USE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY
SFA Stories from Southern Foodways Alliance
The Informed Chef series (with videos from Meredith Deeds and Raghavan Iyer
BakeSpace.com's Cookbook Cafe

TELEVISED CULINARY SERIES
"Essential Pepin," with host Jacques Pepin, KQED-TV
"Simply Ming," with host Ming Tsai, WBGH-TV
"New York Chow Report," with host Alexandra Van Buren, NY1 and Chow.com

VIDEO SERIES, SHORT PROGRAM FORMAT
Saveur's Sandwich Stories
The Perennial Plate (with Daniel Klein and MirroFine)
EatTV.com

AUDIO SERIES (LONG FORMAT)
Cooking with the Moms
KCRW's Good Food with Evan Kleiman

AUDIO SERIES (SHORT FORMAT)
Southern Foodways Oral History

HUMOROUS VIDEO SHORT
Spaghetti with 100 Sweet Tomatoes (The Recipe Project)
How to Peel Garlic in 10 Seconds (Saveur)
The Good, The Bad and The Leafy (GiltTaste.com)