Top 10 Supersized Cookbooks: Let's Hope The Shipping Is Free
Half the fun of bookstore browsing is picking up a well-fed cookbook, letting it slump over your knee, and flipping through those hundreds upon hundreds of pages. These days, it's all about knowing a book's shipping weight, the modern kill-joy of cookbook shopping. Unless you're in that free shipping price realm, which with hefty books is fortunately often the case. 
J. Garbee
Still, oversized books take up prime cookbook shelf and kitchen counter space, not to mention they tend to be pricey. We recommend shopping for them cautiously. And methodically. The same way you might choose a stand mixer. Or chocolate-appropriate hair dryer, should that be more your style. Turn the page for our Top 10 Supersized Cookbooks.
10. The Big Fat Duck Cookbook, 11.6 pounds, 532 pages
flickr user adrian.cardwell
Heston Blumenthal in a more serious mode here than in those Fantastical Feasts leach moments. But actually, we sort of like the idea of deep fried leeches. With plenty of garlic, of course.
9. Vefa's Kitchen, 6 pounds, 704 pages
The Old Testament of Greek cooking, particularly recommended for olive branch devotees. Warning: Be prepared to hit Costco regularly for that really good, and affordable, olive oil.
8. The Essential New York Times Cookbook, 4.6 pounds, 932 pages
Yes, this book looks light in comparison. But considering how compact it is (no coffee table-size cover), it's plenty big. Trust us. And it deserves a few complimentary pounds for the quality.
7. The Silver Spoon Cookbook, 6 pounds, 1,264 pages
Ditto the complimentary pounds, even more so as The Silver Spoon is from an era -- the 1950s -- before cookbook girth was a status symbol. And we think this Italian home cooking classic should be in every library. Its American counterpart, The Joy of Cooking, is surprisingly only 3.7 pounds, even at 1,152 pages.
6. The Professional Chef, 7.6 pounds, 1,232 pages
The Culinary Institute of America has been pumping out some more home cook-friendly professional guidebooks lately, but this textbook is definitely for professionally inclined. Or those who really do have the patience to flute three dozen mushrooms on a Tuesday night.
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