Los Angeles Times Cookbook Hot List

1. “The Cake Mix Doctor” by Anne Byrn (Workman, $14.95). How to turn a box cake into something special.

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 38

2. “Kitchen Confidential” by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury Publishing, $24.95). Life in the culinary trenches.

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 25

3. “The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook” (Clarkson Potter, $35). More than 1,000 recipes collected from the magazine.

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 5

4. “Mexico One Plate at a Time” by Rick Bayless (Scribner, $35). The companion piece to the master instructor’s PBS series.

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 4

5. “How To Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman (MacMillan, $29.99). A fresh approach to the cooking encyclopedia, with more than 1,500 recipes.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 101

6. “The New Joy of Cooking” by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker and Ethan Becker (Scribner, $35). The updated version of the cooking classic.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 36

7. “The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook” by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, $32.50). Recipes from the specialty food store of the same name in the Hamptons.

Last Week: 7

Weeks on List: 55

8. “Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home” by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin (Alfred Knopf, $40). A spirited kitchen conversation between two great cooks.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 49

9. “How To Cook Without a Book” by Pam Anderson (Bantam Doubleday Dell, $25). Outlines for dishes every cook should know.

Last Week: 9

Weeks on List: 15

10. “50 Chowders” by Jasper White (Scribner, $30). One-pot meals from one of New England’s great cooks.

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 6

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