L.A. Times Cookbook Hotlist

1. “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser (Houghton Mifflin, $25). A condemnation of the national pastime.

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 4

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

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 55

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3. “The Naked Chef” by Jamie Oliver (Hyperion, $34.95). Britain’s boy chef has a TV show and a cookbook.

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 11

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4. “Sugar Busters!” by H. Leighton Stewart, Morrison C. Bethea, Sam S. Andrews and Luis A. Balart (Ballantine Books, $23.95). Lose weight the New Orleans way.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 10

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5. “Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook” (Hungry Minds, $16.95). More than 500 recipes for the famous diet plan.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 6

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

Last Week: -

Weeks on List: 114

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7.’The Best Recipe” by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine (Boston Common Press, $29.95). “Ultimate” examples of favorite dishes.

Last Week: 7

Weeks on List: 32

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

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 21

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

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 42

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“Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom” by Julia Child (Knopf, $19.95). Distilling 50 years of great cookbooks.

Last Week: -

Weeks on List: 11

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