Fans go back and forth about what makes a great cookbook. Is it the recipes? Is it the research or the writing? Is it the pretty pictures? In the end, the answer is incredibly simple: A great cookbook is one that makes you want to cook.
This year's Los Angeles Times Top 10 Cookbooks are a varied lot--there are books on baking and one on vegetables. There are books exploring the cuisines of locations as diverse as Southeast Asia, Mexico, France and the American Midwest.
