The 2012 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks!

The Piglet is almost here...

Starting on Wednesday, January 18, join us every weekday morning for a new matchup, judged by some of the biggest names in the food world and beyond!

Not familiar with the Piglet? It's our NCAA-style competition in which we seed the 16 best cookbooks from the past year into brackets and face them off. We pass each pair of books to our expert judges, they cook from the books and write up their decisions, and you get to weigh in with your yay or nay on each day's outcome until only one remains -- the 2012 Piglet winner. (Here's what the trophy looks like.)

And save the date: Monday, February 6 is the date for the Piglet Party at our fabulous offices in New York City, where we'll announce the final winner of the Tournament the night before the results are updated on our website. Tickets are $15 and you can buy them here.

Here's our fantastic panel of judges, who hail from all corners of food and media:

Roz Chast, staff cartoonist for The New Yorker
Caitlin Freeman, pastry chef for Blue Bottle Coffee, and James Freeman, founder and owner of Blue Bottle Coffee
Ina Garten, cookbook author and host of Food Network's Barefoot Contessa
Dorie Greenspan and Josh Greenspan, co-owners of Cookie Bar
Carla Hall, a host on ABC's The Chew and owner of Alchemy by Carla Hall in Washington, D.C.
Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer, founders of The Canal House
Sara Jenkins, owner of Porchetta and Porsena in New York City
Nigella Lawson, cookbook author and host of Food Network's Nigella Feasts
Hunter Lewis, food editor at Bon Appetit
Anita Lo, chef and owner of Annisa in New York City
Celia Sack, owner of Omnivore Books in San Francisco
Kim Severson, Atlanta Bureau Chief for The New York Times
David Tanis, cookbook author, New York Times columnist, and chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley
Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley
Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of Slate

Now what you've all been waiting for, the official list of contenders for the 2012 Piglet. Our official brackets are here -- you can download and print them out, fill in your predictions, and follow along with the competition!

Alice's Cookbook
Alice Hart


American Flavor
Andrew Carmellini


The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts
David McMillan, Frederic Morin, & Meredith Erickson


Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can't Wait to Make
Melissa Clark


Cooking in the Moment: A Year of Seasonal Recipes
Andrea Reusing


The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià
Ferran Adrià


Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work
Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot


Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home
Jeni Britton Bauer


Momofuku Milk Bar
Christina Tosi


Mourad: New Moroccan
Mourad Lahlou


The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles's Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria
Nancy Silverton


Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna: Recipes from Cafe Sabarsky, Wallse, and Blaue Gans
Kurt Gutenbrunner


The Perfect Bite Cookbook
Jennifer Jasinski


Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen
Heidi Swanson


Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch
Nigel Slater


Truly Mexican: Essential Recipes and Techniques for Authentic Mexican Cooking
Roberto Santibanez