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Epoisse de Bourgogne. A "stinky" cheese, but I find it heady and the flavor is divine, not as strong as the aroma, but meltingly good, creamy, somewhat pungent, and the king of all cheeses (thank you Brillat-Savarin).

Yeah, we have potatoes in Idaho, but representative? Uh, no. Idaho is diverse in its geography. The north, where I live, is famous for huckleberries. And morel mushrooms. Unbelieveably we still have many small farms, so I can buy local flour, milk, cream, eggs, beef, pork, lamb, and even rabbit. Most people hunt their own deer, elk, moose, bear, goose, pheasant, and wild turkey. We have raspberries, crabapples, apples, walnuts, filberts, and seasonal gardens full of crops. I even grow my own Tuscan black kale. Potatoes are easy because I live on glacial silt but many other people in the same neighborhood have rock and/or clay. Diversity. But huckleberries, that is what we advertise in north Idaho.

I'm not sure what they have in southern Idaho besides beef - they're about 3-4 hrs by car farther from me than Seattle. They're also in a different time zone, receive different TV channels, and receive different newspapers (we get the Spokesman Review out of Spokane, WA).

I think the map fails, especially culturally.

The only recipes I ever used from JOC or Bittman's didn't turn out. I've been using Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking for almost 40 years. I love Bourdain's Les Halles, Olney's A Provencal Table, Spieler's Vegetarian Bistro, and my "go to" reference, the CIA's Professional Chef. For baking, i.e., desserts, Nick Malgieri is the best!

All that being said, years ago I actually bought myself a three ring binder, which expanded into a separate binder for desserts and another for breads. Inside, I copy all my favorite recipes, variations on those recipes, and supplemental notes. And that's the book I use most of all!

Okay, on Iron Chef America I heard Cat Cora call her chopped sauteed mushrooms "duck-sel'," and even Michael Ruhlman has a similar pronunciation, "DUX-el," in his book "The Elements of Cooking." Sorry folks, but it's "du-sel'." This drives me nuts! Any French speakers want to chime in?

And Kakugori, I agree, why doesn't the Food Network let Morimoto speak for himself? He is a very witty guy with such a dry sense of humor and it just does't come across in the translation.

After reading Kitchen Confidential, I never looked at oysters the same way again. Love him.

Donna Nordin's chocolate mousse cake from the Dec. 1980 issue of Bon Appetit.

Pass the Polenta by Teresa Lust has some great essays, especially the one on how to grade a wine. Love most of the books mentioned. Reichl's humor and food description is very witty, earthy, and sensual. I adore Steingarten's humor. A Devil in the Kitchen by Marco Pierre White showed the extent to which serious cooking and cooking knowledge put a chef over the top. Although that can go a bit too far as seen in The Perfectionist by Chelminski, about Bernard Loiseau, the 3-star Michelin chef when he took his life for fear of losing a star. I use both Heat and Kitchen Confidential in order to teach narrative and description in my beginning writing class. Even Bourdain's Les Halles is a fun read. Elizabeth David also writes sensually, poetically, and aptly about food and is one of my favorites to return to again and again. Marlena di Blasi's sensual food descriptions are definitely worth reading in bed. And for a real killer that has almost endless literary and cooking references to food, read Reckless Appetites: A Culinary Romance by Jacqueline Deval. Peter Mayle, yes, especially the essay on eating at the French truck stop, which also appeared in Gourmet Magazine. I adore Ruhlman, found amusement in Julie and Julia, felt like moving to Paris after reading My Life in France, and appreciated the history and passions of Judith Jones in The Tenth Muse. I also liked Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. Flinn's The Sharper the Knife the Less You Cry kept me interested for several days. And finally, anything by Angelo Pellegrini is always a pleasure to read.