The first entry for the slang term “food porn” appeared in the online dictionary Wikipeda in 2003. The current definition is “food with spectacular presentation,” and “food so exotic or complex that the average cook wouldn’t even attempt it.” Looking is the pleasure.

Photography is crucial for a cookbook, even those with recipes meant for the home cook. “It’s not a coffee table book, but a book to be cooked from,” chef David Burke said about his recently published “David Burke’s New American Classics” (Knopf). “The photos are clean, look nice, and are approachable.” Those photographs were taken by the husband and wife team Shimon and Tammar Rothstein, who have been responsible for 17 other books, including works by chefs Eric Ripert, Suzanne Goin, and Marcus Samuelsson. Chefs consider them the best because their work conjures the appearance of both authenticity and centerfold-worth unattainability. “They used real food,” Mr. Burke said. “Instead of using Crisco, it’s real ice cream melting, souffle oozing. The back of the book cover is one of the best shots I’ve seen.”

A food photographer’s challenge is to make the everyday beautiful. The Rothsteins achieve this by collaborating – each works as assistant and photographer to the other – and researching their subjects thoroughly. Their pictures are so vibrant that they come to life on the page. Each grain of caviar glistening on a piece of sushi is so de fined you can almost taste the briny pop.

The couple met in their native Tel Aviv in July 1991 and married two years later. Mr. Rothstein, now 41, had dreams of becoming a photographer, though he was studying economics. “I didn’t realize how serious he was until he said, ‘We’re opening a studio,'” his wife, now 39, said. “We did not apprentice with other photographers. We learned from books and by trial and error. “They first aspired to fashion photography, until an art director told them,” Stay away from fashion; stick to still life.”

The couple became interested in food during their first visit to New York City in 1995, when they saw a Thanksgiving story in a food magazine. “We didn’t have pumpkins in Israel,” Mr. Rothstein said. “We bought 10 pounds and ingredients became our focus.”

Back home in Tel Aviv, they worked with chef Eta of Restaurant Etamar on her regular column for Gourmet magazine, and photographed 12 covers. “Because it’s a small country – small market – we did everything ourselves,” Ms. Rothstein said. “Food stylist, prop stylist – we learned so much.”

Their first cookbook was for chef Jonathan Roshfeld, the local three-star Michelin superstar. “It was the most expensive meal we ever had. The bisque was $50,” Mr. Rothstein said.

The couple moved to America in 1999. After a short stay in Boston, they came to New York at the invitation of Michael Ginor of Hudson Valley Foie Gras, a friend of Mr. Roshfeld’s. Mr. Ginor became a partner and co-signed the lease on the Rothsteins’ Chelsea studio. He also helped them make contacts in the industry, introducing them to Mitchell Davis of the James Beard Foundation, who gave them a job – a cover shot for the foundation’s magazine – and the possibility of more – a copy of the foundation’s chef directory.

Ms. Rothstein cold-called all the award winners, and the couple visited dozens of restaurants showing off their portfolio. Their first American book project was “The Tribeca Grill Book: Celebrating 10 Years of Taste” (Villard).

Soon after its publication, they met with Mr. Ripert, the chef and owner of Le Bernardin. “I believe in my good stars, and I felt a connection with them immediately. When you meet with photographers, they usually talk first about the budget, but they were excited about the project, not the money,” Mr. Ripert said.

The project was “A Return to Cooking” (Artisan), written with Michael Ruhlman. The book is divided into four seasons in four locales, with Mr. Ripert cooking from local markets. The results were recorded by a writer, painter Valentino Cortazar, and the photographers. “I gave them a lot of challenges,” Mr. Ripert said. “Shooting like reporters in 30 seconds, no artificial light, with different colors for each chapter.”

“He took a huge risk,” Ms. Rothstein said of Mr. Ripert. “It was a dream to do a book with a chef, travel, and be involved in the whole process,” she said. “Eric said after this book, it will change us, and he was right.”

Other big projects followed. Mr. Samuelsson charged them with creating a book that “will stand up and never get old.” They researched Scandinavian film, art, style, and, of course, food. The result was “Aquavit: And the New Scandinavian Cuisine” (Houghton Mifflin), which was named the best cookbook in North America at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2003. “They really care about the picture. Tammar is artistic and Shimon has a concrete photographer point of view,” Mr. Samuelsson said. “It was beautiful to work with them.”

Another Manhattan chef, Scott Conant, had worked with the Rothsteins on a magazine shoot, and hired them to photograph his own cookbook after seeing their later work. “When I saw Marcus’s book, that was it,” he said. “Scott Conant’s New Italian Cooking” (Broadway), written with Joanne McAllister Smart, was shot over several days at a house in New Jersey. (Mr. Conant was inspired by more than their work: “I thought, This is the perfect relationship,” he said. “I thought, I want this life for myself.”)

Los Angeles chef Suzanne Goin had the Rothsteins shoot her 2005 book, “Sunday Suppers at Lucques: Seasonal Recipes From Market to Table” (Knopf). In turn, the art director at Knopf, Carol Carson, recommended them to Mr. Burke, because, as she said recently, “Shimon and Tammar are fantastic, hard-working, inventive, quick-thinking, cosmopolitan, still-in-love husband-and-wife photographers.”

The Rothsteins, who do mostly editorial and advertising work now, are as inspired by happenstance as they are by specific assignments. Recently, Mr. Rothstein wanted to photograph doughnuts dipped in very dark chocolate. When the doughnuts kept sweating oily spots onto the work surface, he threw them away, annoyed that they’d wasted $200 on Valrohna chocolate. Ms. Rothstein took them out of the trash, lined them up on the floor, and jumped on them. The crushed doughnut became their most popular promotional card.

The couple is planning a move to a new studio. This time, they’ll sign the lease themselves. Their wish list of chefs they’d like to work on cookbooks with includes Thomas Keller, Ferran Adria, Mario Batali, and Daniel Boulud.

“The books are all very different,” Ms. Rothstein said of their work so far, “but we believe this is their [the chef’s] dream. It’s our responsibility to realize your dream.”