Los Angeles Times Cookbook Hot List

1. “How To Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman (MacMillan, $25). A fresh approach to the cooking encyclopedia, with more than 1,500 recipes.

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 22

2. “Kitchen Sessions With Charlie Trotter” by Charlie Trotter (Ten Speed Press, $29.95). Companion volume to Trotter’s TV show focuses on preparing fine cuisine at home.

Last Week: 7

Weeks on List: 3

3. “The Pie and Pastry Bible” by Rose Levy Beranbaum (Scribner, $35). Another masterwork from America’s most obsessive cookbook writer.

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 16

4. “Soup: A Way of Life” by Barbara Kafka (Artisan, $35). All soups, all the time.

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 16

5. “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” by Deborah Madison (Broadway Books, $40). Vegetarian cookbook with 1,400 recipes and sections on ingredients and cooking methods.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 55

6. “Seductions of Rice” by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Daguid (Artisan, $35). The world in a grain of rice.

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 11

7. “Emeril’s TV Dinners” by Emeril Lagasse, Marcelle Bienvenue, Felicia Willett and Brian Smale (William Morrow, $25). The “bam” of that N’Awlins man.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 16

8. “Drizzle of Honey” by David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson (St. Martins Press, $29.95). Lives and recipes of Spain’s secret Jews during the Inquisition.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

9. “The Man Who Ate Everything” by Jeffrey Steingarten (Knopf, paperback, $14). Vogue columnist’s collection of 40 essays.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 6

10. “Caprial’s Soups & Sandwiches” by Caprial Pence (Ten Speed Press, paperback, $14.95). Lunch fare with a minimum of effort.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

Rankings are based on a Times poll of national cookbook and independent booksellers.