Hot List

LOS ANGELES TIMES LIST FOR AUG. 30, 2006

(SO. CAL. RATINGS)

1 Heat (An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany) by Bill Buford (Knopf, $26) He lived it so armchair chefs everywhere can revel in it.

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2 Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise by Ruth Reichl (Penguin Press, $25) The third memoir by former Los Angeles Times and New York Times food critic.

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3 Sunday Suppers at Lucques: Seasonal Recipes from Market to Table by Suzanne Goin (Knopf, $35) Lucques chef Goin offers 132 recipes from her weekly market menus.

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4 Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain (Harper Perennial, $14) Summer readers are catching up with bad boy Bourdain’s 6-year-old bestseller.

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5 Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor by Herve This and Malcolm DeBevoise (Columbia University Press, $30) French TV personality, chemist and cookbook author This applies scientific method to common kitchen practices.

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6 The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury USA, $25) Travel pieces from his TV show, previously published articles, etc.

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7 Giada’s Family Dinners by Giada De Laurentiis (Clarkson Potter, $33) The Food TV star’s second cookbook, holding its own for the last four months.

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8 The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection by Michael Ruhlman (Penguin, $15) This 6-year-old classic of participatory journalism is being revisited by Bill Buford fans.

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9 Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean by Ana Sortun (Regan Books, $35) A first cookbook from the chef at Oleana in Boston.

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10 365: No Repeats -- A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners by Rachael Ray (Clarkson Potter, $20) Three TV shows, a zillion books; this is one of them, published last winter.

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