‘Desserts’ Named Year’s Top Cookbook

“Desserts by Pierre Herme,” the recipes of the superstar Parisian pastry chef, was named the best cookbook of the year last week at the International Assn. of Culinary Professionals’ 1999 Julia Child Cookbook Awards in Phoenix.

Written by Herme and American co-writer Dorie Greenspan, “Desserts” (Little, Brown & Co., $35), also was selected the best book in the Chefs and Restaurants category.

Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons was honored with the Bert Greene Award for the best newspaper story of the year for “Buffalo Dreams,” a story about Virgilio Ciccone, a Southland mozzarella maker who bought a herd of water buffalo.

Other award-winning cookbooks by category: American: “Every Grain of Rice” by Ellen Blonder and Annabel Low (Clarkson Potter, $25); Bread, Other Baking and Sweets: “Chocolate” by Nick Malgieri (HarperCollins, $40); First Book: “The Vintner’s Table” by Mary Evely (Simi Winery, $29.95); Food Reference / Technical: “The Perfect Recipe” by Pam Anderson (Houghton Mifflin, $27); General: “How To Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman (MacMillan, $25); Health and Special Diet: “The Mayo Clinic Williams-Sonoma Cookbook” by John Phillip Carroll (Time-Life Books, $29.95); International: “Taste” by David Rosengarten (Random House, $45); Literary Food Writing: “Apples” by Frank Browning (North Point Press, $24); Single Subject: “The Barbecue Bible” by Steven Raichlen (Workman Publishing, $27.95); Wine, Beer or Spirits: “A Companion to California Wine” by Charles Sullivan (University of California Press, $39.95).