My top 5 cookbooks of historical relevance

As promised in my earlier Instagram post, I wanted to share my top five books in the three categories that I mentioned.

I’m going to break this into three parts, starting with the first one being of historical relevance. These are books that I believe have changed the world of cooking.

Noma - the second book
I was there for this one. I was actually involved in typing up all the recipes that went into the book, so it obviously has a special place in my heart.
To me, it was significant because it was the most clear declaration of the move from the “Molecular era” into New Nordic. The dishes are stunning, beautiful, and the whole cooking style is defined as unique, and not seen anywhere else before it.

El Bulli 2002
I don’t think any other restaurant has been as meticulous in documenting every single dish and idea they have ever come up with.
El Bulli has published kilos and kilos of heavy-duty cookbooks. I believe this is where you'll find the most relevant innovations, but the older ones are also really interesting when seen in the context of their time.

Michel Bras
This guy was doing Nordic before Nordic and even before Molecular.
I remember buying the Michel Bras book and looking at the front cover with that incredible Garguillou salad, thinking, “Wow, what is this? Is this even food? It is a true piece of art.”
This book, I think, really marked its era.

Etxebarri
What came after Nordic?
Well, somehow an extreme version of it became cooking over fire. We moved from artificial deconstruction in the Spanish era to something more natural in the Nordic phase, then into a kind of primal cooking over fire.

Etxebarri was the first step in this direction, and it spread worldwide. I had one of my life’s best meals there, and I think that this defines another era.

The River Cottage Cookbook
This might seem like the odd one out, but I do believe that, for me personally, this sowed the seed of understanding cooking as going beyond the restaurant and into nature. I absolutely love River Cottage. Back in the day, I was completely enamored by its gastronomic approach to self-sufficiency, which has truly defined the direction I have taken over the years.

I was incredibly privileged to have Hugh eat in our restaurant a good number of years ago, and he is still, to this day, a big hero of mine.

I will get around to sending the next list by the end of this week, hopefully.

Let me know if you have any comments or what your thoughts are.

What are your top five books within this category?