Beard names best cookbooks of the year

Get your checkbook out. The James Beard Foundation announced the results of its cookbook awards -- as well as broadcast, journalism and restaurant/chef awards -- and the winning cookbooks could use a place on your shelf.Cookbook of the Year: "Modernist Cuisine," by Nathan Myhrvold with Chris Young and Maxime Bilet.

Cookbook Hall of Fame: Laurie Colwin for "Home Cooking" and "More Home Cooking."

American Cooking: "A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen," by Hugh Acheson.

Baking and Dessert: "Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home," by Jeni Britton Bauer.

Beverage: "Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, With Cocktails, Recipes & Formulas," by Brad Thomas Parsons.

Cooking From a Professional Point of View: "Modernist Cuisine," by Nathan Myhrvold with Chris Young and Maxime Bilet.

General Cooking: "Ruhlman's Twenty," by Michael Ruhlman.

Focus on Health: "Super Natural Every Day: Well-Loved Recipes From My Natural Foods Kitchen," by Heidi Swanson.

International: "The Food of Morocco," by Paula Wolfert.

Photography: "Notes From a Kitchen: A Journey Inside Culinary Obsession," author/photographer Jeff Scott.

Reference and scholarship: "Turning the Tables: Restaurants and the Rise of the American Middle Class, 1880-1920," by Andrew P. Haley.

Single Subject: "All About Roasting," by Molly Stevens.

Writing and Literature: "Blood, Bones & Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef," by Gabrielle Hamilton.

On a local note, Andrew Zimmern won a Beard award in the category of "Television Program, on Location: Bizarre Foods With Andrew Zimmern," on the Travel Channel.

The James Beard Foundation, founded in 1986, celebrates and preserves America's culinary traditions.

For the winners in the broadcast, journalism and restaurant/chef awards, see www.jamesbeard.org.