cookery book reviews

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Manage Your Subscription
• Give a Gift Subscription
• Newsletters
• Sweepstakes

We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more .

• What to Buy

The 18 Best Cookbooks of 2023, According to Food & Wine Editors

Whether you're shopping for yourself or a loved one, you can't go wrong with one of these books.

Food & Wine / Courtesy of Amazon / Photo Illustration by Alexis Camarena-Anderson

We added more than just a few shiny new cookbooks to our shelves this year, which isn’t exactly a surprise given how many exciting releases there were from spring all the way through fall . Choosing the very best releases from 2023 was a real challenge, but our favorites included Sohla El-Waylly’s guide to perfecting classic techniques, Andrea Nguyen’s vegetable-forward collection of Vietnamese recipes, and of course, our very own Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle’s guide to the very best winemakers from every corner of the world. 

Whether you’re looking to purchase a last minute gift for the cook or baker in your life, or simply want to add a few new hits to your own collection, read on to learn more about the 18 cookbooks from this year we'll be turning to for many meals to come.

Pasta Every Day

“For years, whenever I made pasta at home, I would end up upset, and my dog even moreso (because she was covered in semolina). Enter Meryl Feinstein's debut cookbook: Pasta Everyday. With gorgeous photos, fun recipes, and an overall reassuring tone, this should be your new pasta-making companion.” — Daniel Modlin, Commerce Editor

“Maydan happens to be one of my favorite restaurants in the world (if you haven’t been, prepare yourself for life changing muhammara and impeccable wines from Georgia, Lebanon, and beyond) but even if it weren’t, I’d be obsessed with this book. Filled with beautiful photographs, recipes, and firsthand stories from Rose’s trips across Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco, and more, this is the kind of cookbook that makes you feel like you’ve booked a flight for yourself.” — Oset Babür-Winter, Senior Drinks Editor

Love Is a Pink Cake

“This is such a unique, inspired baking book that’s equally as cool as it is chock full of delicious recipes. It’s split in half between California, the place where author and pastry chef Claire Ptak grew up, and England, where she currently lives. Each location is then divided into sections that mirror the perfect (sweet and some savory) bakes for every time of day — think Big Sur cookies for California afternoons and mince pies for English holiday evenings. The sections also include blurbs and beautiful photos about some of her favorite local purveyors in each location, since a lot of the baking in the book is seasonally driven. It mirrors exactly how I like to bake, with a wide variety of recipes and techniques that keep each recipe as exciting as the next.” — Kristin Montemarano, Food Commerce Writer

Still We Rise

“I have been eating Council's biscuits since she started popping up around Atlanta at local restaurants. Her book is the latest chapter in her storied career, which now includes a stellar breakfast spot in Atlanta called Bomb Biscuit. Council is a biscuit and baking expert, gifted chef, and storyteller. Many of her recipes belong to her grandma and legendary soul food chef Mildred ("Mama Dip") Council, a teacher and activist who cooked and baked to support the civil rights movement.” — Jennifer Zyman, Senior Commerce Writer, Food & Wine

The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood

“I hate to start out with a pun about a place known for its oysters, but The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood is a pearl. If you're nervous about working with crustaceans and seafood at home, this book calms all stormy waters by building on foundational cooking basics (roasting, steaming, grilling, pan-frying) and so much more. The illustrated techniques make a huge difference and offer a visual guide to things like shucking and filleting. Ever since I've had it on my shelf, I find myself reaching for it like a familiar book at the local library.” — Andee Gosnell, Assistant Food Editor

“Adeena Sussman is a goddess in the kitchen. I always appreciate her variations on Jewish dishes, many of which are served during special holidays, but also offers others for every day. She manages to take dishes I have been making forever and turn them on their head with unexpected flavors like her Fig and Pomegranate Brisket, but she also features classics like Amba sauce and challah made yellow with a touch of turmeric.” — JZ

“All the ingredients that made Sohla El-Waylly a superstar in her videos are brought to a rolling boil in her rollicking debut cookbook. El-Waylly is as gifted an instructor as she is a technician, meaning that this massive volume pulls double-duty as both a collection of recipes for cooks at every level, and a self-paced cooking school — with plenty of humor and humanity baked into every step. If decades from now, people are thumbing through their grandparents' copy or being given a new, updated fifth reissue of this instant classic, I wouldn't be shocked in the least.” — Kat Kinsman, Executive Features Editor

The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp

“Born in Chengdu, the birthplace of Sichuan cuisine, author Jing Gao built an empire on chili crisp with Fly By Jing. Drawing from traditional and not-so-traditional culinary inspiration, Gao has crafted a beautiful book rooted in stories and creativity. She is a real inspiration in so many ways. Look for fun recipes like chili crisp ice cream sundaes and addictive Spicy Scallion Oil Noodles. It is a must for any chili crisp lover or home cook looking to spice up weeknight meals.” — JZ

The World in a Wine Glass

“Where your wine comes from matters, and there’s no one better to prove that point than our very own Executive Wine Editor, Ray Isle. I guarantee you that you’ll come away from this book with a newfound appreciation for thoughtfully (sustainably!) produced wines that you don’t need to shell out a small fortune for. Think of this book as the second best thing to being able to send Ray a text message to ask for his recommendations on the best Willamette Pinot Noir , or Sonoma coast Chardonnay . Plus, you’ll know enough about the less-trodden wineries in Chianti or Rias Baixas to trick your friends into thinking you’ve visited yourself!” —   OBW

Snacking Bakes

“I don’t just want cookies and cakes when there’s a party — I want to nibble on them during the most average weekday evening too. Luckily Yossy Arefi seems to be on the same page, and her new book “Snacking Bakes”, a follow up to “Snacking Cakes”, is full of cookies, brownies, bars, and cakes that are super easy to make and beautifully photographed by Arefi herself. Most of the recipes can be whipped up in under an hour, and the ingredients they call for are accessible — you won’t end up with a twenty item grocery list full of hard-to-find items. The wide range of recipes also ensures there’s something for everyone. More of a fruit person? Try the Blueberry Swirl Blondies. Want a good chocolate chip cookie recipe? There are three in this book: traditional, vegan, and gluten-free versions. And if you’re on the hunt for something savory, make the cheesy jalapeño cornbread.” — Merlyn Miller, Social Media Editor

More Is More

“Molly Baz’s new book is all about gaining confidence in the kitchen and saying yes — yes to more crunchy toppings on salads, yes to tossing in the entire head of garlic, and (of course, it’s Molly Baz) yes to using the amount of salt needed to actually season something. More is More not only makes you a bolder and more skillful cook in the kitchen, but you can’t help but smile when you make one of the 100 flavor-forward recipes in this book.” — Lucy Simon, Assistant Editor

“We’re back to hosting dinner parties, but do they have to be so hard on the host? Amy Thielen doesn't think so, and explains how to make cooking for others easier in her new book. The book is based on 20 different menus, from Saturday night dinner parties that might call for your guests to help you roll out pasta dough to holiday celebration meals, casual buffets for 15 to 20, and smaller casual gatherings (like an outdoor fried chicken party). Follow each menu exactly, or pick and choose what works for you and your group. Throughout the book, Thielen shares thoughts on how to handle drinks, real talk on the financial implications of hosting, plus entertaining advice (“Never let your friends see your fear, or your thrift. Hide them both, along with the dirty dishes, in your cupboards.”) Read this one before your next dinner party.”  — Chandra Ram, Associate Editorial Director, Food

Win Son Presents, A Taiwanese American Cookbook

“When respected food writer Cathy Erway joined Win Son chefs and owners Trigg Brown and Josh Ku to write this book, they took the task seriously. The trio shared recipes full of personality and flavor, plus interviews and discussions about what it means to be Taiwanese American and the impact Taiwan has had on their cooking. This is the kind of book that makes you want to cook, eat, read, and think — and then come back for more.”  — CR

“Michigan chef, cookbook author, and farmer Abra Berens’s third book focuses on fruit, and dives deep into the topic. She offers insights into the lives of farmers while guiding the reader through savory recipes like Roast Chicken over Blueberries, Cornbread + Lemon; and a pear, bacon, and onion tart. Desserts include a rum-plum clafoutis and ice cream with cantaloupe. This book makes me anxious to hit spring and summer farmers markets.” — CR

Ever-Green Vietnamese

“Andrea Nguyen’s newest cookbook is all about what truly defines Vietnamese food: fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Ever-Green Vietnamese, isn’t a vegetarian cookbook per se (some recipes include meat and fish sauce), but every recipe is completely, wonderfully vegetable-forward.” — CR

The Lula Cafe Cookbook

“Lula Cafe is one of my all-time favorite restaurants, and it’s no surprise that chef and owner Jason Hammel’s new book is already a go-to in my kitchen. Hammel shares several of his building block recipes for spice mixes, compound butters, sauces, jams, gremolatas, and more base recipes you can make to give your home pantry a dash of sophistication, but this isn’t a cheffy tome with recipes that take days to make. The recipes are home cook-friendly and suggest you make a few plates, invite friends over, and have an easy but delicious meal together.” — CR

The Global Pantry Cookbook

“If, like me, you have cabinets full of sauces and spices from around the world, you need this book from Ann Taylor Pittman and Scott Mowbray. I’m excited to cook all my travel souvenirs with this book, and explore new uses for everything from tahini to sambal, gochujang, and freeze-dried berries.” — CR

“It’s been a long time since a cookbook made me as excited about grilling as Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling does. Written by restaurateur and cookbook author Bricia Lopez (of the beloved Los Angeles restaurant Guelaguetza) with journalist Javier Cabral (Editor-in-Chief of the publication L.A. Taco), Asada invites readers to partake in the generous, joyful, grilling and gathering tradition that has its roots in Mexico. Lopez and Cabral open the book with the declaration, "Carne asada is not just a taco,” and proceed to serve up a feast of recipes of all kinds for every menu you could possibly desire, with chapters for snacks (I bookmarked the cheese and chicharron board); mariscos (four chile snapper, yes please); sides (elotes asado with roasted garlic butter!); salsas (18 of them); drinks (juices, cocktails, and more); and desserts (this chapter had me at gelatina de mosiaco). Each recipe represents Lopez’s personalized and perfected execution of an asada mainstay — her Carne Asada Classica brings ultimate umami to grilled flap steak with a marinade of orange and lime juice, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, and a dark beer; her Pibl Pork Chops are a gorgeous, quick-cooking spin on Cochinita pibl.  Detailed shopping and ingredient guides, grilling tips, and round out the feast. The only thing that feels difficult with this book in hand is deciding what to cook first!”  — Karen Shimizu, Executive Editor

Related Articles

Find anything you save across the site in your account

The 23 Best Cookbooks: Fall 2023

By Genevieve Yam

All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Reviewing fall’s bounty of new cookbooks is a hefty task, one that leaves your kitchen a mess and your taste buds in overdrive. I flipped through more than 100 books and cooked from about 50, and still it was incredibly hard to narrow down to this season’s very best. The ones that made it onto the list are not only a joy to read but also a pleasure to cook from. James Beard Award–winning author Josh Niland’s Fish B utchery showed me how to make the most of the seafood I buy (don’t skip fish eyes!). Bon Appétit alum Sohla El-Waylly encouraged me to further hone and follow my cooking instincts in her debut book Start Here . And Bee Wilson’s The Secret of Cooking reminded me that it’s okay to do whatever you have to in order to get food on the table (even if that means tossing the remnants of your fridge into a casserole dish). These books were all enlightening in one way or another and the ones I was most excited to cook from over and over again. They also left me feeling more confident in the kitchen—and I suspect you’ll feel the same after combing through any of them.

Go straight to shopping for a few of the best cookbooks fall 2023: 

• Fantastic biscuits and even better history lessons: Still We Rise by Erika Council
• Lebanese food and beyond, from a beloved DC restaurant: Maydān by Rose Previte and Marah Stets
• Recipes and history from Rome’s Jewish Quarter: Portico by Leah Koenig
• Family meals from Nigeria and in the diaspora: My Everyday Lagos by Yewande Komolafe
• Vegetables with a side of food science: Veg-Table by Nik Sharma

Snacking Bakes by Yossy Arefi

This book is filled with simple recipes that can mostly be made with one bowl in an hour—that’s a “snacking bake,” according to food stylist, recipe developer, and author Yossy Arefi .  I’ve turned to these recipes frequently to appease a sweet tooth emergency. When Arefi saw how much her last book Snacking Cakes resonated with readers, she decided to come up with easy recipes that went beyond cake. Like its predecessor, Snacking Bakes is proof that making something delicious doesn’t require fancy gadgets, substantial kitchen space, or expensive ingredients. All you need is big flavor (think malted milk powder or instant espresso) and liquid fats like oil or melted butter (as opposed to butter and sugar, which need to be creamed together with an electric mixer).

A prime example of this is Arefi’s mocha banana cake: With a full cup of mashed ripe bananas and notes of cocoa and espresso, it’s moist, tender, and how I imagine banana bread would taste if dipped into a mocha. She’s even able to pull off one-bowl bakes without turning the oven on. I loved her fudgy sesame oat cookies, which come together in a saucepan and rely on stabilizers in chocolate chips to set. 

Snacking Bakes

Still We Rise by Erika Council

Yes, this cookbook from Erika Council, the baker and founder of Bomb Biscuit Co. in Atlanta, is a study in tender, flaky biscuits. But it’s also a chronicle of the Black women who have inspired Council—and deserve more recognition. “In my research into biscuit books, none highlighted the contributions of Black bakers and chefs, yet my entire education on this subject has been guided by Black hands,” Council writes. “Some by direct instruction, others by osmosis.”

The book’s recipes pay tribute to them. Council’s plush whole-milk biscuits were inspired by the ones in Soul Food: Classic Cuisine from the Deep South by Sheila Ferguson, which incorporates shortening, butter, and milk. The bright, herbaceous rosemary-orange cream biscuits take after ones in the New Orleans Cookbook by Lena Richard, who hosted her own cooking show during the Jim Crow era. While the recipes are superb, what I loved most about the book were Council’s personal stories. She writes about the ways her grandmothers Geraldine Dortch and Mildred Edna Cotton Council kept their community fed at church gatherings, and even opened restaurants and published cookbooks. And she pays tribute to the way the Sunday church dinners sparked her love for food, and the many cookbooks that have deeply impacted her. 

Still We Rise

The Cookie That Changed My Life by Nancy Silverton with Carolynn Carreño

When chef Nancy Silverton opened La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles in 1989, there were very few places in the city dedicated to making artisan bread. The bakery immediately drew lines around the block, and it has inspired bakers and pastry chefs everywhere, including myself. I devoured her previous books—and this one did not disappoint. The Cookie That Changed My Life is a collection of recipes that, Silverton says, are “the absolute best version of themselves.” Some are Silverton originals, while others are adaptations from other chefs. “Having taught countless young bakers over the course of my career to achieve a very specific result, I understand the difference between something turning out ‘fine’ and something being flawless lies in the details,” she writes.

While some recipes are slightly fussy, each step is worth the effort. The ultimate chocolate cookie calls for two kinds of cocoa powder, cacao nibs, and a fudgy topping of walnuts, resulting in a cookie that tastes like a nut-studded brownie. Even better are the peanut butter cookies, the cookies referred to in the book’s title. Adapted from pastry chef Roxana Jullapat’s recipe in her book Mother Grains , Silverton’s version is dolloped with peanut butter and crowned with toasted peanuts for additional texture and nutty flavor. Creamy, crunchy, chewy, and salty-sweet, it’s worth purchasing Silverton’s book for this recipe alone.

The Cookie That Changed My Life

The Secret of Cooking by Bee Wilson

Reading this feels like talking to a therapist who’s trying to break you out of a cooking rut. “Before you can cook more, you need to figure out what it is that holds you back from enjoying cooking more right now,” writes Bee Wilson, a British food writer and journalist. For some, cooking can feel like a dreaded chore. For others, it’s the fear of failure that keeps them from even stepping into the kitchen. Interspersed throughout her simple, homey recipes, Wilson offers tips that instill confidence, regardless of how much (or little) experience you have in the kitchen. “I wanted to crack the code of how to fit cooking into the everyday mess and imperfection of all our lives without it seeming like yet another undoable thing on the to-do list or yet another reason to berate ourselves for falling short,” she shares.

I was drawn to her chicken stew, which she describes as a dish for tired people. After you brown the chicken, Wilson has you chuck the vegetables into the pot with water (no sautéeing required!) to simmer for 30 minutes. It’s a surprisingly flavorful and comforting meal, and one I’ve returned to on days when I don’t feel like cooking. “The best way to cook anything is the one that works best for you and your life right now,” Wilson advises. That means tossing out expectations and cooking “rules,” things that may improve the quality of a dish but won’t actually make or break it. As someone who cooks for a living and swears by following recipes to a T, Wilson’s approach feels liberating and reminds me that cooking for joy or just to get by isn’t just okay but welcome.

The Secret of Cooking

For the Culture by Klancy Miller

Like writer and chef Klancy Miller’s magazine of the same name, For the Culture celebrates Black women and femmes in food and hospitality. Miller’s book is a valuable resource for those looking to break into the same field: It’s the guide Miller wishes she had at the beginning of her own career. For the Culture contains essays about Black culinary icons who have shaped American cuisine, such as chef Edna Lewis and culinary anthropologist Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, along with interviews with those in the food and beverage industry that detail the joys and challenges of their jobs.

Sisters Suzanne and Michelle Rousseau, for example, share how their career evolved from running a café to publishing a book, Caribbean Potluck , and producing their own television series, Two Sisters and a Meal. “We’ve had a lot of different iterations of our career, none of which really were planned,” says Michelle. “Why not explore everything if you can?” Suzanne adds, stressing that not everything needs to be successful, rather what’s important is “going through that vulnerability of learning something new.” For chef and cookbook author Adrienne Cheatham, one of the hardest parts of working in restaurants has been the pressure—especially for women and minorities—to just “put your head down” and get through the hard times. Doing creative work is impossible without rest, and she advises readers to find something to help clear their mind. Beyond insights into the varied careers of contributors, readers will also find their recipes. For a refreshing summer side, make the Rousseaus’ island greens with avocado, mint, and mango, or Cheatham’s red cabbage and beet salad, a tribute to her Southern heritage and the Polish flavors she grew up with in Chicago.

For The Culture

Made in Taiwan by Clarissa Wei with Ivy Chen

Taiwanese food is often incorrectly thought of as Chinese, and in this thoroughly researched book from journalist Clarissa Wei and culinary instructor Ivy Chen, they set the record straight. Wei explains that the cuisine of Taiwan is really “a hodgepodge of cultures” influenced by the island’s indigenous population, colonization, and different waves of immigration.

In the book, there are recipes and essays that include a wide range of perspectives from home cooks and chefs across the country. You’ll find popular classics, like three-cup chicken and beef noodle soup, as well as indigenous dishes like activist Aeles Lrawbalrate’s abai: a steamed parcel of millet, glutinous rice, and pork wrapped in shell ginger (a leaf that lends a ginger-like fragrance to the dish). My personal favorite may be the popcorn chicken seasoned with five-spice powder and ground white pepper, a Taiwanese interpretation of American fried chicken popularized by Chen Ting-Chih in 1975. Made in Taiwan is an excellent portrait of the island’s cuisine—and a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about Taiwan.

Made in Taiwan

Start Here by Sohla El-Waylly

Where was this book when I first started cooking? Start Here from chef, writer, and former Bon Appétit editor Sohla El-Waylly is jam-packed with science-backed tips and techniques to help folks develop their cooking intuition, and I have no doubt a copy of the book would have saved me from many sad, under-seasoned meals. Though Start Here includes many low-effort, high-reward recipes, El-Waylly is adamant that readers shouldn’t just follow recipes without thinking. “Even if you weigh every ingredient to the gram, a recipe can only lead to perfection if you use your intuition and pay attention to sensory clues,” she writes.

She helps readers strengthen their culinary POV through technique-driven recipes, like encouraging cooks season by tasting as they go in her creamy raitha dip, and a little bit of food science. For ultra-tender eggs, El-Waylly recommends whisking salt or acid into them 15 minutes before cooking. This neutralizes the negative charge between the egg proteins, preventing them from becoming rubbery during the cooking process. Like the very best culinary schools, Start Here encourages experimentation (and some failure). You'll leave feeling more comfortable in the kitchen.

Maydān by Rose Previte and Marah Stets

When Rose Previte returned to the United States after three years traveling around the world, she knew exactly what she wanted to do: recreate the hospitality she experienced. “Making food, serving food, making people feel at home, comfortable and cared for—that was my dream assignment,” she writes in her new cookbook. First, she channeled that ethos in opening Maydān , her beloved D.C restaurant, and now with writer and editor Marah Stets, she puts it to paper.

Though Maydān shares the same name as her restaurant, it isn’t a restaurant cookbook. Rather, it features “the sort of warm, comforting, and delicious fare that grandmas all over the world are known for,” drawn from both her Lebanese roots and her travels through North Africa, the Middle East, and the Caucasus. Just as Previte hoped to bring home the warmth and generosity she encountered abroad, Maydān allows readers to recreate that same hospitality in their own homes. Many of the recipes are ideal for large gatherings and lingering over. Start with the assortment of dips at the beginning of the book, then make your way towards the back for crowd-pleasing mains like Previte’s roasted turmeric chicken and Maydān’s sous-videlamb shoulder with Syrian seven spice (a blend of black pepper, Spanish paprika, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom).

The Korean Cookbook by Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi

Think of Korean food, and your mind may immediately jump to kimchi, bibimbap, or grilled meats like kalbi or bulgogi. Though these are iconic dishes, Junghyun Park (the chef and co-owner of New York’s two-Michelin-starred Atomix ) and Jungyoon Choi (a chef, researcher, and academy vice chair for the World’s 50 Best ) want to show there’s more to the region’s cooking. Their encyclopedic book (it’s 495 pages!) contains a detailed timeline of the cuisine’s evolution throughout history, tracing staples like rice and how it was cultivated as far back as the Bronze Age (3300 to 1200 BCE) and became an essential part of the Korean table along with banchan and preserved foods during the Three Kingdoms Era (57 BCE to 668 CE).

I’m a fan of the soups and stews, especially the recipe for samgyetang, a restorative chicken broth made with red dates and ginseng, and I want to fill my fridge with all the refreshing banchan dishes: crisp bean sprouts lightly seasoned with sesame oil, sautéed Korean zucchini, and steamed eggplant. The Korean Cookbook isn’t just a great resource for Korean home cooking but a well-researched chronicle of how it has adapted, changed, and grown—a tome that any curious eater or anthropologist will certainly want on their shelf.

The Korean Cookbook

Portico by Leah Koenig

Many years ago, I ate my way through Rome’s Jewish quarter and sampled the many delights it had to offer, like crisp fried artichokes and silky braised eggplant. Paging through the new book from noted cookbook author Leah Koenig, I’m instantly transported back. Through recipes, stories, and profiles of key figures in the community, such as Italia Tagliacozzo (who many call “the grandmother of Roman Jewish cooking”), Koenig’s book shines a light on the long history and cuisine of this neighborhood.

For a long time, Roman Jews faced discrimination, unable to own property or even purchase large fish or hefty cuts of meat. This resulted in what Koenig describes as “a distinctive take on cucina povera,” or poverty food: jammy braised oxtail stew, fried anchovies, and slow-cooked beef. Portico celebrates the Roman Jewish community and its cuisine. There’s pasta e ceci, a hearty tomato-based chickpea and pasta stew that requires just a few pantry staples and has quickly become a go-to recipe in my household, along with the velvety zucchini marinated in olive oil and red wine vinegar. Though the braised artichokes are a labor of love, every minute spent trimming the tough outer leaves is worth it: Simmered with garlic, olive oil, and white wine, each bite is tender and flavorful. I’d love to return to Rome, but for now, I’ll make do by cooking out of Koenig’s book.

Rintaro by Sylvan Mishima Brackett with Jessica Battilana

Born in Kyoto and raised in northern California, chef Sylvan Mishima Brackett’s cooking style is reflective of his Japanese American upbringing and his time working for Alice Waters, the chef and owner of the famed California restaurant Chez Panisse . This isn’t fusion, “but the kind of food that you’d expect if the Bay Area were a region of Japan,” Brackett writes. Since he opened his restaurant Rintaro in 2015, he’s been reimagining classic izakaya foods with local, seasonal ingredients, and in this cookbook, he teaches readers to do the same.

Brackett walks home cooks through the essentials of izakaya cooking such as how to break down whole fish for sashimi, debone chicken for yakitori, and create “master dressings,” or versatile sauces to mix and match with vegetables. Then he demonstrates how to play with the form. Taking advantage of local citrus, he swaps traditional yuzu for Meyer lemons in his version of ponzu, a tart, soy-based dipping sauce. Figs and peaches shine in a salad with romano beans and shira-ae, a creamy sauce of tofu, miso, and toasted sesame seeds.

Beyond the culinary techniques and recipes, it’s worth flipping through the book for Brackett’s stories about his travels through Japan and his visits to small, regional markets and farms. Follow Brackett to the city of Makurazaki, where he tours Maruhisa Katsuobushi Shop to see how the smoked fish product is made or to Soba Ro, the restaurant an hour north of Tokyo where he learns to roll udon and season soba broth. Rintaro will inspire you to recreate your favorite izakaya dishes at home—and maybe even book a trip to Japan.

Veg-Table by Nik Sharma

The third book from Nik Sharma, a molecular biologist turned cookbook author and photographer, is a celebration of vegetables and offers an expansive guide to the different ways to clean, store, and prepare them. Like his last book The Flavor Equation , Veg-Table is packed with plenty of fun and interesting food science. The reason we cry when cutting onions, for example, is because of alliinase, an enzyme that’s released when we cut into alliums—and is especially potent at warmer temperatures. Sharma’s solution? Refrigerating onions and shallots for several hours before cutting into them.

Perhaps most valuable is Sharma’s comprehensive explanation of vegetable’s biology, how the environment it’s stored in can impact its taste and texture (and how best to prolong its shelf-life), and most importantly, how to make them sing. I learned that bamboo belongs to the grass family, and that raw bamboo contains toxic substances called cyanogenic glycosides. To avoid poisoning yourself, Sharma recommends boiling raw bamboo for 25 to 30 minutes, and he turns his handiwork into a soy-sauce-forward braise. In a spin on Spanish patatas bravas, Sharma swaps out potatoes for cassava that’s been crisped in the oven. He’s also come up with my new favorite way to eat broccoli: tossed in a sweet, tangy dressing of date syrup, pomegranate molasses, and za’atar.

Midwestern Food by Paul Fehribach

James Beard award-nominated chef Paul Fehribach’s new book began as a culinary memoir following his family’s migration from Baden, Germany, to southern Indiana in the 1800s. “Many of the foods that would become iconic to the Midwest migrated along the same route,” he writes. The book expanded as he researched and began diving into old community cookbooks and following cultural migrations to trace the origins of both beloved and lesser known Midwestern dishes. Cincinnati chili, for starters, was immigrant Tom Kiradjieff’s spin on a “Macedonian meat stew served over pasta.” Flavored with the “seasonings of his Balkan heritage”—cinnamon and allspice—Kiradjieff marketed the dish as chili at Empress Chili, the spot he ran with his brother John.

With more than 100 recipes from across the region (some his own, others adapted from old cookbooks) and the fascinating histories behind them, including Fehribach’s family stories, Midwestern Food is part memoir, part history textbook, and lucky for us, part cookbook. Don’t sleep on the German potato salad or the Jucy Lucys, a burger stuffed, yes stuffed, with American cheese. According to Fehribach, the burger was first made at Matt’s Bar in Minneapolis in 1954: “When a pleased customer explained, ‘Wow, that’s one Juicy Lucy!’ the burger soon appeared on the menu with the spelling Jucy Lucy .” Though some dismiss the Midwest and its cuisine as boring, Fehribach’s book proves it’s anything but.

Midwestern Food

Sohn-Mat by Monica Lee and Tien Nguyen

When Monica Lee moved to Los Angeles in 1977, she frequently prepared soon tofu chigae (sometimes shortened to soon tofu) for friends. It’s a comforting Korean stew with an assortment of meat, seafood, vegetables, and tofu she describes as “so soft and delicate that it can be scooped like custard.” She noticed that there were no restaurants in the city specializing in soon tofu at the time, and with encouragement from her friends, Lee opened Beverly Soon Tofu in 1986.

Her cooking quickly gained a loyal following, captivating Anthony Bourdain and Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold. Though the restaurant shuttered in 2020 due to pressures from the pandemic, her cooking lives on in Sohn-Mat, her book written with food writer Tien Nguyen. “Sohn-mat is something that is passed down from generation to generation. It translates to ‘flavor in the hands,’” she explains.

Lee and Nguyen do just that with this book, not only sharing stories from Lee’s time running her restaurant, but also recipes for numerous kinds of soon tofu and dishes to serve it with. Lee’s kimchi soon tofu, made with beef or pork, is rich and complemented by pleasantly sour and spicy overripe kimchi. The stew calls for a flavorful beef broth that’s prepared over the course of two days, though she offers a speedier version and stresses that store-bought is fine. Her seasoned eggplant is disarmingly simple; it’s a recipe from her grandmother that calls for steaming the nightshade, which makes it meltingly tender and softens its bitterness, before tossing it in a mixture of garlic, sesame oil, white vinegar, gochugaru, sugar, salt, and fish sauce. Beverly Soon Tofu may no longer be open, but with Lee’s book, readers can recreate many of the dishes the restaurant was loved for.

My Everyday Lagos by Yewande Komolafe

After 18 years away, Yewande Komolafe, a recipe developer, food stylist, and columnist at the New York Times , was finally able to visit Lagos in 2017. That process of reconnecting to the city and its cuisines serves as the basis for this book. Komolafe writes beautifully about her time in Lagos, her life in the United States as an undocumented immigrant, and how she came to reconnect with Nigerian cooking. Working in restaurants and food media, she didn’t see herself reflected in what she was making, so she started hosting a dinner series at home to share Nigerian cuisine. “I began to yearn for the food I had made growing up; the food my mother, grandmother, aunties, and ancestors had gifted me,” Komolafe writes.

Reading and cooking through this book feels like you’re sitting at the table with Komolafe and her family and enjoying breakfasts, snacks, weekday meals, as well as celebration foods. Tossed with a chopped bird’s eye chile and ground ginger, the dòdò ìkírè—plantains fried until caramelized and golden brown—are a satisfyingly sweet, salty, and spicy snack traditionally sold roadside. The àsáró, a thick soup with yams, tomatoes, and mustard greens, is hearty and comforting for lunch or dinner. Bonus: You can turn any leftovers into yam fritters. My Everyday Lagos invites readers to explore Lagos as Komolafe knows it and offers a glimpse into the way those in Nigeria—as well as those in the Nigerian diaspora—are cooking today.

My Everyday Lagos

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice by Toni Tipton-Martin

I have long been a fan of James Beard award-winning journalist Toni Tipton-Martin, whose work highlights the contributions of African American cooks to American cuisine. In her most recent book, Tipton-Martin offers readers a glimpse into the history of Black mixology. “My ambition is to ensure that African American workers who plied their trade behind the bar are not forgotten,” she writes. She highlights impactful and often uncredited figures within the cocktail world: Black women who made wine or brewed moonshine to make a living during the antebellum era, caterers who mixed and served classic drinks like claret cup and rum punch, the bartenders who skillfully crafted layered drinks (which involved “stacking” liquors with various densities to create distinct sections in a glass), and figures like mixologist Tom Bullock who authored beverage cookbooks. "These specialists left their own unique marks on the private club and bar industry,” Tipton-Martin says.

Like her past two books, The Jemima Code and Jubilee , Tipton-Martin’s book is insightful and deeply researched, with accessible, delicious recipes. Because I don’t drink much alcohol, I stuck with the zero-proof beverages. Made with puréed strawberries, lemon juice, and served with fresh mint, the red lemonade is just sweet and sharp enough, and requires just five minutes to whip up. The lime-mint sparkler that Tipton-Martin describes as “an alcohol-free homage to the Mint Julep” gets brightness from fresh lime and a subtle kick from ginger ale. It’s become my go-to happy hour drink at home.

Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice

Fish Butchery by Josh Niland

When people talk about nose-to-tail cooking, they’re often referring to meat. But what if we applied the same thinking to fish? According to Josh Niland, the James Beard award-winning author of The Whole Fish Cookbook , about 50% of fish that’s caught is wasted. The responsibility for this predicament, he argues, lies with the fish industry: Not only are they failing to make the most of their product, but they’re also not doing enough to create demand for whole fish and their overlooked parts.

And that starts with educating consumers, which Niland does with expertise and insight in his latest tome. He offers detailed instructions on how to butcher fish properly and cook with lesser-used bits: fish eyes can lend richness to ice cream, fish heads are a welcome addition to brawn (or head cheese) for their fat and collagen, and lateral swimming muscles impart an intensely savory flavor to terrine. In an attempt to familiarize myself with off-cuts, I made a saucy bolognese that gets its meatiness from tuna trim and transformed the picked meat from fish heads and collars into crisp pan-fried fish cakes. Fish Butchery showed me how to be more resourceful in the kitchen, and that there’s more to good seafood than fillets.

Fish Butchery

Bread and Roses by Rose Wilde

Rose Wilde, the pastry chef and owner of Red Bread in Los Angeles, likens grains to wine grapes: Both have terroir and their flavors reflect the conditions in which they’re grown. And that’s why she relies on freshly-milled whole grains from local farmers and millers at her bakery. In her first book, she dives deep into the world of grains—it’s organized geographically and each chapter is devoted to a different grain, like buckwheat from Asia, amaranth from the Americas, and emmer from Europe.

Complete with a flour tasting wheel to help readers familiarize themselves with the wide-ranging aromas and flavors of heirloom grains, along with recipes for delectable pastries and desserts using them, Bread and Roses educates readers on how to incorporate more whole grains into their diet. I recommend starting with the oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies (voted the best cookie in the city by LA Weekly !) and the blondies with dates rehydrated in brown butter that get their earthy flavor from einkorn.

Bread and Roses: 100+ Grain Forward Recipes featuring Global Ingredients and Botanicals

Scandinavian From Scratch by Nichole Accettola

When chef Nichole Accettola and her husband moved from Copenhagen to San Francisco, they found themselves yearning for Scandinavian-style sprouted rye bread. Determined to come up with a loaf that would cure their homesickness, she spent a year honing the recipe until she felt it was just right. Accettola started selling the loaves at the farmers’ market, which planted the seed for her Scandinavian-inspired café and bakery Kantine .

In Scandinavian From Scratch , Accettola shares recipes for sweet and savory bakery classics from the region: open-faced sandwiches, cakes, cookies, and buns that evoke the coziness of a Scandinavian coffee shop. I enjoyed her recipe for smoked trout salad with crème fraîche and fresh dill. Her Swedish cinnamon knots (kanelbullar), warmly spiced and finished with satisfyingly crunchy pearl sugar, have become one of my favorite pastries to make at home. The dessert that lives rent free in my head, though, is Accettola’s Danish dream cake (drømmekage), which manages to be rich, tender, and fluffy at the same time. Topped with a mixture of shredded coconut, brown sugar, and butter that tastes like butterscotch, the cake is especially delicious alongside a cup of coffee.

Scandinavian from Scratch

Latinísimo by Sandra A. Gutierrez

Ambitious is the best way to describe this cookbook from Sandra A. Gutierrez, a journalist, historian, and cookbook author who has spent her entire life studying Latin American foodways. Featuring more than 300 recipes from 21 Latin American countries, Latinísimo offers a glimpse into how the region’s many cuisines have evolved through the immigrants who have made Latin America their home.

For instance, you can see traces of Japanese and Chinese influences in Peruvian cuisine, while many European baking traditions have made their way into Argentinian, Uruguayan, and Chilean kitchens. Cook your way through Gutierrez’s book, and you’ll begin to spot some of these influences yourself. Seasoned with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and toasted sesame oil, the Nikkei pickled slaw is an example of Japanese Peruvian fusion (known as Nikkei cuisine) and is crunchy, refreshing, and excellent. Kuchen de manzana, a buttery Chilean cake laden with cinnamon-spiced apples, takes after German apfelkuchen. That’s the beauty of this comprehensive cookbook: It shows how many present-day culinary traditions transcend borders. As Gutierrez writes, cuisines “have always been and continue to be in flux, changing and adapting to the many cultures that blend together in each region, city, town, and country in Latin America.”

Made Here by Send Chinatown Love

I imagine that if Humans of New York came up with a cookbook, it’d look something like this feel-good read from Send Chinatown Love . The volunteer-led organization was founded in 2020 to provide strategic and financial support for Asian businesses in New York City hit hard by the pandemic. Its self-published cookbook features many of those businesses (and restaurant friends of Send Chinatown Love) along with a recipe and an in-depth profile of the people behind the business. The stories are heartwarming and inspiring: I loved reading about how Myo Lin Thway left his 9-to-5 job to run his popular food cart, Burmese Bites , and how the owners of a Korean fried chicken restaurant in Flushing, Queens, happily taught Ruth and Bin Li how to make the dish so they could open their own spot, the now-shuttered Boc Boc Chicken Delicious.

Soak in their stories, then make their recipes. Fragrant with lemongrass and glazed in fish sauce and honey, the lamb sausage skewers from Falansai are sweet, salty, and slightly spicy. They’re in “constant rotation” on the restaurant’s menu, and I suspect they will be in my household, too. For a comforting and nourishing meal, I recommend Taiwan Bear House ’s lion’s head meatballs, which are made with a succulent mixture of pork, soy sauce, and rice wine, and poached in a light, gingery broth.

Send Chinatown Love

Bake Smart by Samantha Seneviratne

Recipe developer, food stylist, and cookbook author Samantha Seneviratne was working on a recipe for rugelach one day when everything seemed to go wrong. The cookie wasn’t the right texture. The filling was oozing in the oven. Though she wasn’t happy with her rugelach, one person was: her son Artie. “That’s the point of making something from scratch and sharing it,” she writes. “Not the perfect texture, shape, size, or looks, but joy.” In Bake Smart , Seneviratne offers essential techniques and tips to make baking less stressful—and to help home cooks become better bakers. Cooks will find “core recipes” for basics like pastry doughs, meringue, custards, and cake batters that serve as the foundation for the other desserts in the book. Once readers have mastered those techniques, they’ll be able to riff to their heart’s desire.

However, Seneviratne is adamant that Bake Smart isn’t a “how-to-bake” book. Rather, it’s supposed to make baking enjoyable and a little more intuitive. She tells readers to forget about sifting flour—advising them to whisk their dry ingredients together instead—and insists on skipping the old-fashioned way of making custard, which involves tempering yolks with hot milk. Instead, she has you toss all the ingredients in the pot to begin with. Seneviratne’s recipes are equally revelatory. Her galette features canned apricots and pistachios, which are sweetened with syrup from the can (!), and membrillo, or quince paste, serves as a speedy, fruity filling in her apple hand pies. Baking smart, indeed.

Pasta Every Day by Meryl Feinstein

In my household, homemade pasta is reserved for special occasions. Even then, I tend to stick to the same few crowd-pleasers: butternut squash ravioli with brown butter and sage, egg yolk raviolo in a butter-and-pancetta sauce, or pappardelle with vodka sauce. Meryl Feinstein’s debut cookbook, however, has encouraged me to branch out from my comfort zone. She learned how to make pasta by attending culinary school and working at chef Missy Robbins’s Brooklyn restaurants Lilia and Misi, and now shares her passion through her popular Instagram account Pasta Social Club and a recipe-driven Substack .

With easy-to-follow instructions for an assortment of doughs, shapes, fillings, and sauces as well as QR codes to watch step-by-step videos, Pasta Every Day makes homemade pasta feel a little less intimidating and a lot more fun. Take her ricotta gnocchi with a slow-roasted tomato-and-garlic sauce, which requires no cooking of spuds. Made with ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, eggs, and flour, the dough comes together in one bowl in less than 30 minutes. The sauce is relatively hands off, too—just roast cherry tomatoes with two heads of garlic until meltingly soft, then quickly blitz everything together in the blender before tossing it with your pasta. Feinstein’s any-greens filling is a smart (and tasty) way to use up sad, wilted vegetables and perfect for layering between sheets of lasagna, stuffing into shells, or even eaten atop toast. With Pasta Every Day , home cooks will learn how to confidently tackle homemade pasta from start to finish—and maybe even feel comfortable enough to do it on a weeknight.

Pasta Every Day

Now that you know the best cookbooks fall 2023, read more cookbook coverage:

Filed under:

The 12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2023

New titles from Hetty Lui McKinnon, Nigel Slater, Andrea Nguyen, and more capture the excitement and promise of the season

If you buy something from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy .

Share this story

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: The 12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2023

There’s nothing like a fresh crop of cookbooks to capture the promise of spring: With all those new foods to make and new ideas to absorb comes the realization that creation and innovation are a constant, no matter what the world is doing. The following 12 titles, chosen from a very bounteous roster, deliver on that promise, and then some. Most of them have little in common, save the verve with which they explore their subjects and their implicit message that every day is worthy of at least a little celebration. You’re here and you’re able to feed yourself , they all seem to say. Why not make something great?

In these books, kosher cooking gets an update, yogurt helps to sustain an Iranian immigrant family, fruit finds its full expression, a beloved pastry chef makes her debut, vegetables continue to inspire chefs and cookbook authors to new heights, Japanese American home cooking gets its due in Brooklyn. There is matzo ball ramen and whey-brined Thanksgiving turkey; there is a choy sum galette with feta and there are Flamin’ Hot Doritos fried mozzarella sticks. Family is everywhere; no matter what’s being cooked, the importance of community and connectivity is palpable in these pages. As it should be: Lord knows we could all use it right now, as we watch another season begin to bloom, and wonder, as ever, what to cook tonight. — Rebecca Flint Marx

Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life

Homa Dashtaki W.W. Norton & Company, out now

I’ve heard it from many people and thought it myself: Homa Dashtaki’s Brooklyn-based company White Moustache makes some of the best yogurt you can buy, craveably tart and luxuriously thick. What I didn’t realize from simply eating it, however, was the weight that yogurt held for Dashtaki, who was born in Iran during the Iranian Revolution. Dashtaki and her family, who are Zoroastrian, left for the United States in the 1980s and found a home within the Zoroastrian community in Southern California.

In Yogurt & Whey , Dashtaki writes that as they made a new life, yogurt — which her family had always made from scratch — “saved the day.” And when she was laid off from her law job in 2008, yogurt offered an opportunity. She and her father began making it together and selling it at farmers markets. “Yogurt has been the thread that runs through my attempts at creating community, of being in touch with my ancestors,” Dashtaki writes. “The way I make yogurt, and even the way I eat yogurt, is based on their teachings.”

Want to make White Moustache’s stellar yogurt? With this cookbook, you can learn to follow the three-day process that teaches you to trust your senses (“If you can hold your pinkie in the milk for 3 seconds, your milk is ready to culture”). But Yogurt & Whey isn’t just about making and using yogurt or even cooking an Iranian meal, though it will provide you with everything you need to know to do so. There’s a broad range of recipes including celebratory dishes like aash-e-reshteh, the Iranian comfort food of chips and yogurt, and even a Thanksgiving turkey brined in whey, plus ideas for leftovers.

Yogurt & Whey is ultimately a reminder of why cooking is so important: It’s a love letter to a minority culture with just about 15,000 to 20,000 members left in Iran, rooted in Dashtaki’s sense of responsibility to keep her community’s traditions alive. — Bettina Makalintal

• $37 at Bookshop
• $31 at Amazon

A Cook’s Book

Nigel Slater Ten Speed Press, out now

Even though spring is practically here, Nigel Slater’s A Cook’s Book feels delightfully cozy. Its 150 recipes — described as Slater’s essentials — are built on childhood memories and the promise of meals that are simple to prepare but look and taste incredible. Slater, a beloved food columnist and BBC presenter in the U.K., is quick to point out that he doesn’t consider himself a chef, and that’s evident in recipes like “a soup of bread and cheese,” which includes only a handful more ingredients than the two listed in the title.

Originally published in the U.K. (and now being reissued by Ten Speed Press), A Cook’s Book urges the reader to slow down a bit, to find some simple joy in the melding of beans, aromatics, and pancetta into a perfect, low-simmered soup. Almost every recipe is accompanied by a personal story about its inspiration, like how Slater’s time as a culinary student in France shaped his perspective on buying chickens. Their resolute simplicity, along with their occasional pedantry (Slater has strong, intermittently crotchety, opinions on everything from the pitfalls of chicken drumsticks to unnecessary kitchen gadgets) effectively make the book a manifesto of sorts, a pure distillation of Slater’s cooking philosophy.

Though perfectly explicit, Slater’s recipes read like prose, which means that you’ll want to curl up in your favorite chair and read through each one slowly until you just can’t take it any longer and have to get up to make your own za’atar-spiked chicken cutlets or a bowl of orecchiette tossed with basil and zucchini. There’s even a mildly existential mediation on the “stillness” of the perfect cheesecake. With writing that’s just as satisfying as the recipes it describes, it all adds up to a book that feels like whatever the British equivalent of hygge might be called. — Amy McCarthy

• $42 at Bookshop
• $34 at Amazon

Everyday Grand: Soulful Recipes for Celebrating Life’s Big and Small Moments

Jocelyn Delk Adams with Olga Massov Clarkson Potter, March 14

A recipe blogger-turned-Williams Sonoma cake doyenne , Jocelyn Delk Adams is taking the leap from baking to everyday meals with this, her second cookbook. In it, the creator of Grandbaby Cakes makes the case for finding a way to celebrate every moment through festive food. “We should celebrate our real lives,” she writes. “And the more we try to take the time to do so, the more purposeful and joyful our lives will feel.” She makes a case for inventing new holidays alongside observing the traditional ones and handily provides menu suggestions to pair with each event. A “Treat Yo’ Self Day” might, for instance, mean baking a batch of honeychile brown butter cornbread, while Christmas in July deserves the Ultimate Mac and Cheese, a recipe whose call for a combined six cups of four types of cheese ensures the pasta delivers on cheese pulls.

Each page exudes Delk Adams’ personality and family ties — that mac and cheese is a family recipe from Auntie Rose. The recipes lean on Black Southern cooking, a touchstone of the author’s childhood visits to her grandmother in Mississippi, and many dishes incorporate nostalgic flavors and spices such as Lawry’s seasoned salt. However, Delk Adams often puts her own twist on tradition — agave-lemon pepper “wangs,” for example, trade chicken for vegan-friendly oyster mushrooms, delivering all the crispy, juicy goodness and sweet-salty flavor of a good wing without the meat. My household was skeptical that her lasagna stew could work (it is what it sounds like: all of the components and flavors of lasagna, in stew form), but by the end found themselves returning to the pot for seconds. There’s also plenty of globe-trotting and some recipes that seem built for the ’gram (Flamin’ Hot Doritos fried mozzarella cheese sticks). No matter the recipe, Delk Adams’s instructions are easy to follow; the golden-brown crust on her crabby hush puppies represented the most success I’ve ever had frying. — Brenna Houck

• $30 at Bookshop
• $29 at Amazon

Totally Kosher

Chanie Apfelbaum Clarkson Potter, March 21

You wouldn’t be faulted for associating kosher cookbooks with kugel, gefilte fish, and challah, but kosher (and Jewish, to the extent the two sometimes diverge) cookbooks in America have always reflected their specific time and place . The kosher cookbooks today’s Jewish adults grew up with were seen as modernizing the genre with “globally inspired” recipes . But even those books now feel dated to Jewish millennials fluent in the language of “plant-based” and “local” and accustomed to seeing Sephardic flavors like tahini and harissa dominate menus and Instagram feeds.

Chanie Apfelbaum’s 2018 Millennial Kosher exemplified this new generation of books, with its unsubtle name and use of ingredients like miso, ramen, and Sriracha. Her new book, Totally Kosher , builds on that formula. Millennial may not be in the name, but it’s here in spirit, with chapters like “You’re So Extra!” and “Sammies & Tacos.” There’s mention of paleo and gluten-free diets, and an entire “build your own boards” section. Many of the 150+ recipes sound like they were produced by a 2023 flavor generator — Tahdig Toast With Herb-Whipped Feta and Harissa Eggs, Shakshuka a la Lasagne — while others are straight “Jewish Fusion” formulas, like Corned Beef and Cabbage Ramen and Elote Schnitzel Subs.

But if you can get past the mashup gimmick, many of the recipes also look delicious. I admire how Apfelbaum combines a wide array of ingredients and Jewish flavors — especially Sephardic ones — in genuinely interesting and exciting ways, as with her Malabi Pavlova or Hawaij Gingersnaps. Of course, as in previous kosher cookbooks, such ingredients aren’t always presented with the most nuance: Corned Beef and Cabbage Ramen is described simply as “Irish/Asian fusion soup,” while Chickpea Curry gets no explanation whatsoever. If you’re looking for an in-depth exploration of Jewish cooking vis-a-vis the cuisines of other cultures, Totally Kosher isn’t it. But it is a fun book, one that brings kosher cookbooks into their chaos era . — Ellie Krupnick

• $35 at Bookshop
• $37 at Amazon

Indian Flavor Every Day: Simple Recipes and Smart Techniques to Inspire

Maya Kaimal Clarkson Potter, March 28

“Indian food has a reputation for being intimidating,” writes Maya Kaimal. It’s a frustrating truth. Despite the fact every Whole Foods carries turmeric now, there are some people who continue to insist South Asian cuisine takes too many spices, too many techniques, or is just generally unknowable. To that end, Kaimal has built her career on making Indian food accessible in the pantry aisle. Her simmer sauces, spice blends, and premade rices and dals are available in grocery stores across the country, ensuring even those who continue to insist it’s “too complicated” can enjoy homemade korma.

Kaimal has continued this mission in her cookbooks; now, in her third, Indian Flavor Every Day , she holds readers’ hands through a survey of Indian and Indian-inspired recipes, with flavor profiles from around the subcontinent. The book is full of classics like chicken Chettinad, Keralan thoren and Goan pork vindaloo. But Kaimal is more concerned with ensuring readers can bring Indian flavors to the table any way they want to. Many of the recipes are twists on Indian flavors, like nigella seed butter cookies, tandoori cauliflower steaks, and a potato salad with mint and cilantro fit for any Midwestern picnic. Kaimal also includes guides to Indian pantry staples, and mastering techniques like making tarka and ghee and mixing your own masalas.

“Every day” might make you think these recipes are dumbed down. But the thing about Indian food is that it is made every day. Kaimal reminds readers that “Indian food” is not a monolith, and that it is only complicated if you want it to be. — Jaya Saxena

• $26 at Bookshop
• $28 at Amazon

Sweet Enough: A Baking Book

Alison Roman Clarkson Potter, March 28

Having weathered both a pandemic and her own well-documented annus horribilis, it seems fitting that Alison Roman would turn to the sweeter side of life with this, her third cookbook. The very first word in Sweet Enough, from the Mary Oliver quote that prefaces the book, is “joy,” and everything that follows it is a celebration — of dessert, of desire, of the rejection of expertise. “Lopsided and wonky, occasionally almost burned, unevenly frosted, my desserts are consistently imperfect,” Roman, a former pastry chef, writes in an introduction that effectively doubles as a disclaimer. “But perfection is boring.”

Like Roman’s previous cookbooks, this one is rooted in its author’s unapologetically personal preferences: The chapter on tarts, pies, and galettes is the longest because this genre of desserts is her favorite, while the cookie recipes are all shortbread or shortbread-adjacent because Roman, by her own admission, isn’t that much of a cookie person. She describes her desserts as “a little wild-looking and decidedly unkempt,” and the book’s overall vibe follows suit: The photos showcase crumbs, paper plates, caramelized fruit goo, ripped apart strawberry cake, and shirtless people wearing short-shorts; everything looks like it’s being served at a picnic where everyone’s been drinking for several hours. I mean that as a compliment — it’s hard not to want some of that sunny hedonism for yourself.

But for all of the laissez-faire staging and Roman’s insistence on her lack of expertise, the recipes really work. Her coconut cake, which I made simply because it was February and I wanted a hulking layer cake that would make my existential angst look tiny by comparison, more than fulfilled its purpose. Four layers tall, it was a magnificent beast, improbably light, stuffed with three kinds of coconut, and, as advertised, just sweet enough. — Rebecca Flint Marx

• $32 at Bookshop
• $25 at Amazon

Pulp: A Practical Guide to Cooking With Fruit

Abra Berens Chronicle Books, April 4

Single-subject cookbooks can feel like they’re for serious cooks only. And to be sure, serious cooks would benefit from the kind of pointed focus that chef, baker, and author Abra Berens brings to Pulp , her “practical guide to cooking with fruit.” But here’s the thing about Berens: Her expertise, steady voice, and expansive view of what fruit can actually do in a recipe means that this, her third single-subject cookbook, has over 200 recipes, including for critical building blocks like lemon curd, pickle brine, and various cake, cookie, and pie doughs.

Berens firmly roots her book in Michigan, where she lives, but given the scope of Michigan’s bounty, most readers should be able to find what they need at a farmers market in their area. Helpful glossaries and profiles of producers give the book an easy-to-read, almost magazine-y vibe. Organized by type of fruit (apples, blueberries, quince, etc.) and then further organized by preparation (raw, roasted, grilled, baked, poached, stewed, preserved) the book offers a master class in how to think holistically about a single ingredient. The sweet recipes all offer an element of surprise — why don’t more people put grape into custard pie?? — while the savory recipes are especially compelling, as in a grilled melon with tahini, chile oil, and sesame seeds or coconut milk shrimp with jalepeno-peach cornbread. So yes, Pulp works for beginners, but for an enthusiastic cook it really shines. — Hillary Dixler Canavan

• $35 at Amazon

More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community

Natasha Pickowicz Artisan, April 11

“ More Than Cake is not about baking for one,” Natasha Pickowicz writes in the introduction to her first cookbook, because “baking is about reinforcing connections and creating new ones.” The book’s recipes are exactly the kind you would make to impress a group: Even the simplest ones are imbued with an extra something that separates them from the category of weeknight I-just-need-a-cookie baking. A chocolate sheet cake, for example, calls for chicory and glucose, the former to give it a rich flavor and the latter to make a picture-perfect glaze. The result is a grownup, almost savory chocolate cake that demands to be plated and served like a dessert at one of the elegant New York City restaurants where Pickowicz spent years as a pastry chef.

The idea that baking is inherently a celebration is perhaps clearest in the chapter on layer cakes: You’ll find recipes for mousses, curds, and frostings to mix and match your way to a cake customized to your tastes, as well as clear instructions for building and decorating the cake in Pickowicz’s signature aesthetic, which incorporates unexpected vegetation. She also encourages the reader to explore their own: “Like piling your hair into a messy bun, it does take a little practice to get just the right look.”

Ultimately, More Than Cake shows that it’s not only cakes that have the potential to bring people together. The chapter on cookies includes tips for building a cookie box fit for gifting, as well as an essay on bake sales (Pickowicz has been active in many of the bake sales that have emerged as effective fundraisers in recent years). And while none of the recipes feel casual, they all feel achievable; as Pickowicz writes, they merely “ask that you be present.” For her, this is also what baking is about. — Monica Burton

• $40 at Amazon

Vegetable Revelations: Inspiration for Produce-Forward Cooking

Steven Satterfield Harper Wave, April 18

Don’t let the gorgeously styled photos fool you: Vegetable Revelations , from the James Beard Award-winning Atlanta chef Steven Satterfield, is incredibly approachable, full of flavorful recipes with short lists of easy-to-find ingredients. It’s a cookbook that understands that when vegetables are good, they don’t need much fussing — just a saffron aioli to accompany grilled asparagus, the bottoms of which Satterfield recommends you use to make a soup. Or that with a little preparation ahead of time, like mixing together a bagna cauda vinaigrette, salad comes together in a snap: Just cut a persimmon, wash some radicchio, and tear a handful of olives. It’s a book that tweaks familiar formats; instead of cheese and bacon on a twice-baked potato, it’s crispy oyster mushrooms and kale tossed in garlic oil — lighter, but no less delicious.

Vegetable Revelations is not a vegetarian cookbook (at times, it calls for anchovies, lamb, chicken broth), and animal protein is central to some of the recipes, like a pan-fried fish served with minted pea mash, or chicken braised in tomatillo salsa. Given their simple, pared-down approach, many of the book’s vegetable techniques are unlikely to be new for the experienced vegetarian cook. But they’ll certainly inspire the omnivore who feels they’re not eating enough greens or the person who just got a CSA membership and now anticipates a springtime bounty. With Vegetable Revelations , it’s not just easy but also exciting to take advantage of vegetables in their prime. — BM

• $46 at Bookshop

Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants From Land and Sea

Andrea Nguyen Ten Speed Press, April 25

Andrea Nguyen’s 2019 Vietnamese Food Any Day has been my go-to resource for Vietnamese cooking. Still, as a mostly vegetarian cook, I often make calculations as I read it: What can I swap here? But Nguyen’s comprehensive new book Ever-Green Vietnamese puts that in the past. The book isn’t entirely vegetarian, but it’s anchored by that point of view , drawing on Nguyen’s experience of adopting a more vegetable-forward diet as well as the long history of vegetable-centric cooking in Vietnam.

Where Vietnamese Food Any Day is oriented towards streamlined weeknight cooking, Ever-Green Vietnamese is more roomy, with information about techniques, tools, ingredients, and swaps. Nguyen gives herself, for example, four paragraphs to explain how to wrap rice paper rolls filled with noodles, mango, and shrimp, and that’s in addition to a two-page spread featuring pictures of the process and a rice paper roll FAQ. At times, the recipes in Ever-Green Vietnamese lean more weekend project-worthy, but Nguyen offers hacks when she can, like using soaked-then-steamed rice paper wrappers for bánh cuốn instead of making rice sheets from scratch, or speeding up a creamy rice porridge by blending it.

Those new to Vietnamese cooking will find a teacher ready to hold their hand through each step of the unfamiliar, while the more experienced will benefit from Nguyen’s rigorous insights. Ever-Green Vietnamese is poised to be an essential resource for any cook interested in Vietnamese cuisine, not just the vegetarian ones. — BM

Love Japan: Recipes From Our Japanese American Kitchen

Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel with Gabriella Gershenson Ten Speed Press, May 16

I first encountered Sawako Okochi and Aaron Israel’s cooking at Shalom Japan, their Japanese Jewish restaurant in Brooklyn, a decade ago, when dishes like their matzo ball ramen could be — and were — read as a fusion trend. A pared-down version of that dish now appears in Love Japan , the couple’s first cookbook, written with Gabriella Gershenson. But, as the authors write, the book isn’t about their restaurant. It’s a more intimate look at their home.

Love Japan focuses mostly on the Japanese side of the couple’s food culture, though it’s by no means a strict ode to Okochi’s upbringing. Many recipes display their inventions of necessity and preference, whether that’s braising kombu left over from dashi to make “awesome sauce” or hacking okonomiyaki by cooking its components in multiple pans. Fittingly, Okochi and Israel encourage readers to diverge from the recipes, too.

Harumaki (spring rolls) is the dish Okochi’s mother served Israel upon his first visit to Japan, and it makes an ideal introduction to the book. It’s a long recipe that could be divided across multiple days for convenience, but as I discovered, its pork-shiitake filling smells too good to stop short of frying. The gomaae broccoli I made alongside was simpler, leaning on a fistful of ground, double-toasted sesame seeds and dashi powder for flavor; it makes a solid weeknight side.

Okochi and Israel provide enough context, shopping tips, and technique breakdowns to make their book a good intro to Japanese home cooking. There are a few challenges for more advanced cooks, such as the shokupan made with fermented rakkenji starter (I’m coming back for that one). For anyone else, it’s a handy jumping-off point for developing your own go-to recipes, as well as an endearing portrait of a chef couple putting together enviable dinners in a two-child household in Brooklyn. — Nicholas Mancall-Bitel

• $28 at Bookshop
• $30 at Amazon

Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds

Hetty Lui McKinnon Knopf Publishing Group, May 30

Hetty Lui McKinnon’s To Asia With Love has become a standard in my kitchen, one of those flip-to-any-page-and-it’ll-be-good cookbooks. McKinnon is a master of combining flavors and ingredients across cultural traditions, like pierogi with kimchi and dill, or her famous cacio e pepe udon, making each dish not necessarily fusion but a fuller, more forward-thinking expression of what food can be when we don’t limit our palates. After cooking with her follow up, Tenderheart , I can tell it’s going to be another kitchen staple.

Tenderheart sees McKinnon leaning even further into her love for vegetables, which she comes by honestly — the book is in part a remembrance of her late father, who worked at a wholesale fruit and vegetable market and would shower the family with produce. Working with vegetables, she says, is a way to remember her father and process her grief over his death. It also became even more of a priority for her during COVID lockdown, as McKinnon spent her time in isolation experimenting with vegetables, “scheming on all the ways I could fashion several diverse meals from just one cabbage or a single butternut squash.”

McKinnon organizes her recipes by central ingredient, offering a few riffs on each. She explores preparations as straightforward as cauliflower Manchurian or a choy sum galette with feta, as playful as double potato noodles (stir fried potato with glassy noodles made of potato starch), and as inventive as spinach and pandan chiffon cake. Even the most devout vegetarians are bound to learn something new about what vegetables can do. — JS

Marylu E. Herrera (she/her) is a Chicago-based Chicana collage, print media, craft, and fiber artist. Her collage work has been featured in the Cut, the Los Angeles Times , Bitch Media, Eater, and Punch.

Just Another Member of the Diaspora, Writing About Mangoes

Trudging through the tedious swamp of celebrity brand deals, how an expert baker runs one of the best bakeries in san diego.

40 Best Cookbooks of All Time, According To Chefs

• April 22, 2019
• Cookbooks , Featured

It was a tough decision choosing the 40 best cookbooks of all time and there was some heated debate over some of the entries. If your favorite cookbook doesn’t appear on this list – we apologize in advance.

However, we are absolutely certain that a chef with these cookbooks to call on would be able to make amazing meals for their family every single day of their lives.

These are definitive texts that make cooking a joy and meal times incredible. They are presented in no particular order because they’re all awesome.

Thai Food by David Thompson

This is a super book that probably doesn’t get the attention it deserves here in the U.S. though it’s widely known in Europe.

If you want to cook amazing Thai food, and you should, this is the ultimate guide to everything in Thai cookery.

We also recommend his Thai Street Food book if you love this one.

David has been featured in the New York Times and numerous other respected publications.

Check out Thai Food by David Thompson online. Get a copy here .

How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

2,000 recipes isn’t quite everything but it’s a step in the right direction.

Mark Bittman’s all about making cooking simple and we love his approach.

If you’re a complete novice in the kitchen – you need this book.

If you need more encouragment read the review on the Kitchn site .

Check out How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman online. Get a copy here .

The Joy Of Cooking by Irma S Rombauer at al.

Three authors and it’s been in print since 1930!

It’s fair to say that The Joy of Cooking’s longevity is all because of its complete love of food.

It currently contains 4,000 recipes and over 500 brand new recipes for the latest edition!

You simply can’t go wrong with the latest edition of The Joy of Cooking. Don’t believe us?

Here’s what the Chicago Tribune has to say:

With tons of new information — there’s a chapter on fermentation, much-expanded food safety knowledge, tips on how to streamline cooking and economize, instructions on making stock and other dishes in the Instant Pot, and much more — the newest edition will give both beginning and experienced cooks a great deal to work with. Chicago Tribune

Check out The Joy Of Cooking by Irma S Rombauer at al. online. Get a copy here .

Jerusalem | A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

More than just an exploration of Israeli food; this is about the food created when cultures intermingle and sometimes clash.

120 recipes of exceptionally interesting food.

You’ll enjoy reading this as much as you do making the recipes.

For a more in-depth examination of the book check out the review on Serious Eats .

Check out Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi online. Get a copy here .

Baking | From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

You can’t talk cookbooks without at least nodding toward dessert recipes.

In Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, the whole focus on baked desserts and we love each and every one of them and we think you will too.

Check out Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan online. Get a copy here .

The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis

This may be the first ever Southern Food cookbook and it was released a long time before the current trend for this cuisine.

Edna Lewis grew up in a farming community of freed slaves and her recipes are fine tuned to reflect the passing of the seasons.

They’re truly special.

Check out The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis online. Get a copy here .

El Bulli: 1998 – 2002 by Ferran Adria and Juli Soler

You are only going to be buying this one if you have very deep pockets.

But it’s impossible not to include the cookbook behind what was one of the world’s greatest ever restaurant ventures.

El Bulli was an institution that defied convention and Ferran Adria’s work is innovative and sublime.

There’s not a chef on earth that doesn’t wish, at least a little, that they cooked like this.

Check out El Bulli: 1998 – 2002 online. Get a copy here .

La Technique by Jacques Pepin

I can be a bit of a dunce sometimes and whenever there’s something I struggle with in the kitchen and usually turn to La Technique.

It’s an illustrated idiot’s guide that absolutely explains every last thing you need to know in simple, easy to understand steps.

Check out La Technique by Jacques Pepin online here .

The Vegetable Butcher: How to Select, Prep, Slice, Dice and Masterfully Cook Vegetables from Artichokes to Zucchini by Cara Mangini

Vegetables are the coming trend in food but they can be immensely improved by the right preparation and cooking.

Many modern consumers were never taught to do this and Cara Mangini is ready to be by your side and make everything green!

Check out The Vegetable Butcher: How to Select, Prep, Slice, Dice and Masterfully Cook Vegetables from Artichokes to Zucchini by Cara Mangini here .

Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point and Thomas Keller

If you don’t want a bland recipe book with nothing to hold your attention then Ma Gastronomie might have been written for you.

One of France’s greatest chefs, eaters and drinkers in the shape of Fernand Point has 200 recipes and endless silly stories to share in this masterwork.

Check out Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point and Thomas Keller here .

Roast Chicken And Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson

This was voted the most useful cookbook in the world by Simon’s peers.

We’re not sure it’s the number one best ever but it’s entertaining and the recipes are both simple and elegant.

Simon knows food and it shows in every word.

We love working from this cookbook.

Check out Roast Chicken And Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson here .

White Heat By Marco Pierre White

The rock and roll rebel of cuisine kicks ass.

He often inflames tempers and created a ruckus out of nothing but at his best, as in White Heat, Marco Pierre is nothing short of sublimely talented.

If you want your food to sing you need this superbly accessible book today.

Check out White Heat By Marco Pierre White here .

Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone by Deborah Madison

Deborah Madison did what was always though to be impossible.

She turned vegetarian food from something considered niche and slightly freaky into a massive mainstream hit.

She knows her food and celebrates the joy of the vegetable on the plate.

There’s no need for meat when the food’s this good is her basic argument and we’re sold.

We’re not giving up meat totally but we do eat less of it thanks to Deborah.

Check out Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone by Deborah Madison here .

Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan

Some will argue that this is too much a text for the professional chef to be included on our list; we argue that those people are dead wrong.

Sure, it’s not the simplest or easy read.

We wouldn’t pick it for a first-time chef but if you’ve been cooking for a year or two this is the best way to learn Japanese food ever and you will not get lost while using it.

Check out Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan here .

Mexico – One Plate At A Time by Rick Bayless

It’s not American food without a nod to Mexico, right?

We have skirted around the idea of solid Tex-Mex and gone with a very authentic and solid introduction to the cuisine of our good neighbours to the south.

The attention to detail always impresses us and we feel wiser for reading Rick’s words.

Check out Mexico – One Plate At A Time by Rick Bayless here .

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Fannie Merrit Farmer (and revised by Marion Cunningham)

This was the cookbook which taught America how to use measurements in recipes.

Back in 1896 people measured with whatever was handy until Fannie came along and standardized things.

Even today her recipes are highly regarded, thanks in no small part to Marion Cunningham who has completely revised and rejuvenated the original work.

Check out The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Fannie Merrit Farmer (and revised by Marion Cunningham) here .

Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck

Before 1961, no one cooked French food at home in America.

Then Julia Child released this incredible book and nothing was ever the same again.

Americans fell in love with great French meals and gourmet cookery.

The rest, as they say, was history and the national palate has remained broad and interesting to this very day.

Check out Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck here .

The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash

We’d assert that this is the only “twofer” on this list. It’s both an incredible recipe book but also an instructional guide on how to grow and prepare your own food from scratch.

So many Americans could get so much pleasure from having their own garden that Marian Morash’s work is essential reading.

Check out The Victory Garden Cookbook by Marian Morash here .

The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham

Marion is the only person to make our list twice. Once as an editor and once as an author.

In this wonderful book she brings to life the most important meal of the day – breakfast and makes it thoroughly delicious and exciting.

288 recipes gives you nearly a year of early morning treats and every single one is a gem!

Check out The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham here .

The Cake Doctor by Anne Byrne

It has a hilarious yesteryear vibe to it but for our money, there is no better cake maker in the world than Anne Byrne.

She knows how to take a few simple ingredients and create something so special that people will be talking about it weeks after the last crumb has been devoured.

What more could you ask for?

Check out The Cake Doctor by Anne Byrne here .

An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler

This one’s a little unusual but we think in times of economic uncertainty that you ought to be looking to get the most bang for your buck out of your food budget.

Tamar Adler is an expert in turning leftovers into lunches that you’d be proud to serve to the queen!

We can’t believe how helpful this book is.

Check out An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler on Amazon here .

Dinner: Changing The Game by Melissa Clark

Melissa may be one of the busiest creators in the world.

She’s always releasing new recipes and she writes about food too in her newspaper column.

Despite this, she’s also really good and there’s not a single miss in this wonderful collection.

The recipes specifically designed for today’s busy lifestyles to deliver a great cooked dinner with no fuss at all.

Check out Dinner: Changing The Game by Melissa Clark here .

James Beard’s American Cookery by James Beard

It would be completely remiss of us to fail to include the man known as “The Father of American Cuisine”.

He was the first person to set out the case that America really does have its own food culture and its not one borrowed from the colonizing nations.

You can’t fail to enjoy his words or his food.

Check out James Beard’s American Cookery by James Beard here.

Betty Crocker’s Cook Book For Boys And Girls by Betty Crocker

As you probably know Betty Crocker is a marketing creation and no boys or girls are cooked in this book.

However, this book from 1957 is the ultimate guide to creating child friendly meals with nothing but real wholesome ingredients.

You’re not going to find a single chicken nugget or hamburger in sight.

Thank goodness.

Check out Betty Crocker’s Cook Book For Boys And Girls by Betty Crocker here.

The Pleasures Of Cooking For One by Judith Jones

We said at the beginning this list wasn’t in order and we wanted to emphasize that with a book with “one” in the title to finish.

Judith Jones is most famous for her editorial prowess but we’d argue that she also put together one of the finest cookbooks of all time.

And it’s focused on something so many cookbooks ignore; the necessity of sometimes eating alone.

You won’t feel alone with Judith to guide you to something tasty.

Check out The Pleasures Of Cooking For One by Judith Jones here.

Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries Of African American Cooking by Toni-Tipton Martin

Toni-Tipton Marie brings her experiences to bear on the best of African American cooking in the modern era whilst shining a light on how the contributions of the past influence the present.  

You can find  Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries Of African American Cooking by Toni-Tipton Martine  online. 

Check out Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries Of African American Cooking by Toni-Tipton Martine .

Vegan For Everybody: Foolproof Plant-Based Recipes For Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and In-Between by America’s Test Kitchen 

This is an old-fashioned traditional no fuss cookbook but with a plant-based focus.

America’s Test Kitchen has put together 200 amazing vegan recipes that everyone will love.  

You can find  Vegan For Everybody: Foolproof Plant-Based Recipes For Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and In-Between by America’s Test Kitchen  online. 

Check out Vegan For Everybody: Foolproof Plant-Based Recipes For Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and In-Between by America’s Test Kitchen 

Bitter: A Taste Of The World’s Most Dangerous Flavor 

In some food cultures, bitter flavors are at the core of the way they cook but in North America, bitterness is often neglected.

McLagan’s James Beard Award winning cookbook aims to remedy that.  

You can find  Bitter: A Taste Of The World’s Most Dangerous Flavor by Jennifer McLagan  online. 

Check out Bitter: A Taste Of The World’s Most Dangerous Flavor 

In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World: A Cookbook by Gabriele Galimberti 

This touching homage to home cooking from around the world is as beautiful a collection of photography as it is of recipes. 

There’s something here to warm every heart and satisfy every belly.  

You can find  In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World: A Cookbook by Gabriele Galimberti  online. 

Check out In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World: A Cookbook by Gabriele Galimberti 

Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by David Sterling 

The Yucatan Peninsula is home to one of the world’s greatest regional cuisines – Maya dishes.

With a touch of Mexican familiarity but with an all-new twist, David Sterling brings this rich culinary culture to the world.  

You can find  Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by David Sterling  online. 

Check out Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition by David Sterling 

Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz 

Any of Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s vegan cookbooks could have made our list but this is the one that did because the recipes are so quick to prepare.

Every hungry vegan family needs this book to keep the table fresh and interesting.  

You can find  Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz  online.  

Check out Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week by Isa Chandra Moskowitz 

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W Twitty 

A fascinating exploration of Southern African American food and the controversies of its history. 

There’s never been a better time to tackle this important but tasty subject.  

You can find  The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W Twitty  online. 

Check out The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W Twitty

Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom by Deborah Madison 

Not vegan but vegetarian, Deborah Madson’s book ought to be the standard reference for anyone looking to make the most out of plants in their kitchen.

She even tackles edible flowers! 

You can find  Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom by Deborah Madison  online. 

Check out Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom by Deborah Madison 

The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson 

This Ethiopian born chef turns to an entire continent and brings you a host of recipes from every country and if that wasn’t enough – he adds a few creations that are uniquely his own! 

You can find  The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson  online. 

Check out The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson 

Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop 

She may not sound very Chinese but Fuschia Dunlop was trained in China in both Sichuan and Hunan cookery and here she shares everything that she learned.  

You can find  Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop  online. 

Check out Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop 

Smoke: New Firewood Cooking: How To Build Flavor with Fire on the Grill and in the Kitchen by Tim Byres 

There’s nothing more American than barbecue and no-one should approach barbecue without a copy of this book in hand.

It elevates barbecue to an art form.  

You can find  Smoke: New Firewood Cooking: How To Build Flavor with Fire on the Grill and in the Kitchen by Tim Byres  online. 

Check out Smoke: New Firewood Cooking: How To Build Flavor with Fire on the Grill and in the Kitchen by Tim Byres 

The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts by Judith Choate and The French Culinary Institute 

Gordon Ramsay may be dismissive of pastry but it’s much harder to get right than it looks and this is the finest guide to pastry ever written.  

You can find  The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts by Judith Choate and The French Culinary Institute  online.  

Check out The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts by Judith Choate and The French Culinary Institute 

The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews 

Ireland has a superb history of food and Colman Andrews imbues this hearty cuisine with life and vigor in this farm-to-table guide to Irish cookery.  

You can find  The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews  online. 

Check out The Country Cooking of Ireland by Colman Andrews 

The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden 

Originally published in 1972 but revised several times, this book hailed by James Beard as “a landmark in the field of cookery” makes Middle Eastern Food accessible and easy for everyone.  

You can find  The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden  online. 

Check out The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden 

Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs 

The culinary heritage of the original Americans is one that often goes unexplored, but it shouldn’t because these dishes are alive and shared by Native Americans all over the country today.

This is a fantastic celebration of American food.  

You can find  Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs  online. 

Check out Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs 

Sweet Home Café Cookbook: A Celebration of African American Cooking by NMAAHC et al. 

This Food & Wine magazine’s best cookbook is the official cookbook of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and the 109 recipes within will inspire you to take your cooking to another level.  

You can find  Sweet Home Café Cookbook: A Celebration of African American Cooking by NMAAHC et al.  online. 

Check out Sweet Home Café Cookbook: A Celebration of African American Cooking by NMAAHC et al. 

Related Posts

Castaway Cuisine: Cookbooks for When Your Pantry is Bare (and Maybe There’s a Shark Outside)

• May 7, 2024

From Schnitzel to Strudel: The Top 10 German Cookbooks You Need in Your Kitchen

• March 27, 2024

Pizza Paradise: Beyond Pepperoni – Unveiling Unexpected & Divine Gourmet Toppings

• February 19, 2024

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

The best new cookbooks for 2024 so far

From a cookbook all about eggs, to a colourful Italian book with recipes in 30 mins, these are the new cookbooks our food team is loving right now.

A good cookbook is an essential item in the kitchen , and whether you need a quick and easy midweek meal , or you want to cook low and slow for a hearty dish , there's no doubt a cookbook is the best place to look.

Along with developing and creating our own delicious recipes and cookbooks , we couldn't wait to share what our cookery and food team has been loving this year, and why their picks are worthy of a place on your book shelf.

This list covers many different cookbooks and cuisines, loved by our cookery team, from an egg-specific book, a book on how to grow your own mushrooms, to an essential guide to all things baking. Plus, a must-have cocktail book to accompany your bar cart .

Read on for our list of new cookbook recommendations for 2024 so far.

Good Eggs by Ed Smith

"I'm a huge fan of Ed's recipes and regularly cook from his book called Crave, so when he teased us with egg-related recipes on his Instagram for a while, it was no surprise he laid (sorry I had to) this new cookbook in front of us all. It features over 100 tasty egg recipes, including fried eggs with a crispy cheese skirt and a fragrant kimchi and blue cheese omelette." says our Senior Food and Drink Writer, Mel Giandzi.

Growing Mushrooms at Home by Elliot Webb

Our Cookery Director, Meike Beck has "long been a mushroom-lover, but not (unless highly supervised) a forager. This book will remove that fear, by enabling you to grow them at home with helpful step-by-step guides. The rewards will be speedy, delicious and plentiful!"

Funky by Caitlin Ruth

Cookery Editor, Emma Franklin says "This fab little book full of colourful illustrations is jam-packed with inspiration to make your own pickles, and it’s part of an ongoing series of single-topic culinary books (including such diverse topics as cookies, tacos, whole fish and Filipino cuisine) that together make a very aesthetically pleasing selection on your bookshelf that will broaden your culinary horizons."

Easy Wins by Anna Jones

"Anna Jones' hotly anticipated new book Easy Wins is a true veggie masterpiece. As with all her recipes, the book features so many new ways of making vegetarian cooking interesting and I can't wait to cook from it. From easy recipes like the lemongrass dal with garlic and curry leaves, to more complex smoky aubergines with tahini and spiced tomatoes - it all looks delicious!" says our Cookery Assistant, Georgie D'Arcy-Coles.

Chili Crisp by James Park

“Jam-packed full of flavourful recipes, I want to cook every page in this vibrant cookbook. If you don’t fancy making your own chilli-crisp, you can use a shop-bought one instead (I like Laoganma Crispy Chilli in Oil best)", says our Senior Cookery Writer, Alice Shields.

Big Mamma Italian Recipes in 30 Minutes

"If you’re a fan of the Big Mamma Group restaurants (and even if you’re not!) then this new book from the Italian restaurant group is one for you. All 100 recipes take just 30 minutes, from pizzas, pasta, secondi and many more delights!"

"Some of my favourites include ‘ASAP Gnocchi’ and a fried courgette flower recipe, and with all recipes being peppered with top tips and anecdotes, this is so much more than just a cookbook, it transports you to Italy", says our Senior Cookery Writer, Grace Evans.

Make More With Less by Kitty Coles

"I first came across Kitty through her instagram page and instantly fell in love with her effortless food styling shots, making even the simplest dish look incredibly appetising. So, when she announced her new cookbook, not only would the imagery be drool-worthy but the recipes are things you actually want to make immediately. Expect gorgeous, hearty food, all using up odds and ends in your fridge and pantry", says our Senior Food and Drink Writer, Mel Giandzi.

Max's World of Sandwiches by Max Hailey and Ben Benton

Cookery Director, Meike Beck says she "adores bread in all forms, so anything served on, or in bread is going to be a winner in my books. The style of photography won’t be for everyone, but with ideas like Coronation Fried Chicken Sandwich and Breakfast Boa, your stomach will certainly be feasting."

Rice: 80 Nice Rice Recipes from Asia

Our Senior Food and Drink Writer, Mel Giandzi says "From Sushi to Biryani, this colourful cookbook is full of all the amazing rice recipes across Asia. Plus, all the basic tips and tricks to cooking rice perfectly, every time. Notable favourite recipes include the Khao Mun Gai (similar to Hainanese Chicken) and the Filipino dish, Arroz Caldo with a fragrant ginger and fish sauce flavour base."

SIFT by Nicola Lamb

“I’ve been following Nicola’s substack newsletter Kitchen Projects for a while now and I love the incredibly detailed research that goes into the technique of each recipe. So, when I heard she was releasing a cookbook I knew I had to pre-order it.” says our Senior Cookery Writer, Alice Shields.

Pulp by Abra Berens

Our Senior Cookery Writer, Grace Evans says she's "not usually a fan of fruit in savoury dishes, but this book has converted me. It also lives on my coffee table and doubles up as a display book because the imagery is divine”.

Flayvaful by Nathaniel Smith

Nathaniel Smith (better known as The Grubworks Kitchen) climbed his way to popularity on Instagram with tempting fake-away recipes and Caribbean-infused offerings but it was his fried chicken posts that initially caught our attention. Naturally when Flayvaful arrived in our laps we hunted out those recipes among all the exciting options. We tried out his garlic parmesan tenders; the perfectly-seasoned coating had the desired crunch and complimented the cheesy, garlicky flavor. These we teamed up with his chilli roast potatoes which were moreishly crisp, sweet (thanks to the hot honey) and fiery.

The Connaught Bar: Cocktail Recipes and Iconic Creations

"For the serious cocktail enthusiasts, the legendary Connaught bar has launched its first cocktail book and the recipes are stunning. The book is filled with all the expert advice and essentials you'll need for your bar cart, plus, recipes for some really unique cocktail recipes to really get stuck into", says our S enior Food and Drink Writer, Mel Giandzi.

@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-o9j0dn:before{margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-right:0.625rem;color:#ffffff;width:1.25rem;bottom:-0.2rem;height:1.25rem;content:'_';display:inline-block;position:relative;line-height:1;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}} Book Reviews

How I write: David Nicholls

13 best fantasy books

13 best romance novels

Books for every holiday destination

How I write: Cathy Rentzenbrink

The best Amazon Spring Day books deals

12 best book festivals

Women's Prize for Fiction longlist is here

How I write: Clare Mackintosh

The best books to give on Mother's Day

Women's Prize for Non-Fiction shortlist announced

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

The 50 best cookbooks

Our panel of judges: Raymond Blanc, Bill Buford, Rachel Cooke, Monty Don, Fuchsia Dunlop, Fergus Henderson, Mark Hix, Simon Hopkinson, Atul Kochar, Prue Leith, Thomasina Miers, Tom Parker-Bowles, Jay Rayner, David Thompson and the OFM team

10 GREAT DISHES OF THE WORLD Robert Carrier (Marshall Cavendish, 1963)

Good cookery books capture the culinary zeitgeist; truly great cookery books shape it. Few are as important or, frankly, as indispensable as Carrier's Great Dishes of the World , which gently explained to a Britain for whom the memories of rationing were still fresh, that there really was a world of food beyond their shores. Carrier delivered fabulously detailed and uncompromising recipes for the likes of beef stroganoff and bouillabaisse. The writer's attention to detail , and commitment to getting it right, is obvious on every page and explains why the books has endured. Carrier, who died in 2006 , continued to update Great Dishes , and it remained in print for years. Though the colour plates now have a certain kitsch quality there is no doubting its reach or ambition. As well as roaming far and wide across Europe there were also recipes from China, India, the Middle East and Caribbean. Even so there's no doubting that its heart really belongs to France. Jay Rayner

9 SICHUAN COOKERY Fuchsia Dunlop (Penguin, 2003)

Before I had finished even half of Fuchsia Dunlop's introduction to her first cookbook, I was kicking myself for knowing so little about such a diverse and clearly delicious food region that's as big as France and more populous than Britain. Her entertaining descriptions of her time spent cooking in Chendung's famous cooking school combined with her simple, concise translations of what she learned made me yearn to start cooking immediately. I was in Chinatown a few days later, loading up on ingredients, though many are readily available in good supermarkets.

The recipes veer from the incredibly simple, such as stir-fried potato slithers with chillies to the more elaborate, such as dry-braised fish with pork in spicy sauce. Clear chapters cover cold food, poultry, fish dishes and street food. The vegetable chapter includes a recipe for fish-fragrant aubergine that is so simple and yet so good that it would convert anyone to Sichuan food. Concise sections detail most common ingredients and different cooking methods. You're left aching to visit the region, just to learn more. Thomasina Miers

8 THE CLASSIC ITALIAN COOKBOOK Marcella Hazan (Papermac, 1973)

Marcella Hazan often gets the blame for the craze for balsamic vinegar, and she has been known to complain people use it far too much. But in other matters, her influence has only ever been benign. Hazan, knowing that some pastas are most definitely not best made at home, has made cooks everywhere feel truly proud of their jars of dried spaghetti. She has also, down the years, encouraged them to chuck out their garlic presses, and use instead the blade of a knife to crush our cloves. Best of all, she has taught us to elevate what we used to call spaghetti sauce to the status of ragu, an altogether more sophisticated beast. We know now to add milk to it, and nutmeg and, if we are feeling really chi-chi, we can throw in some chicken livers, too, and call it 'ragu di fegatini'.

The Classic Italian Cookboo k was published in 1973 in America, where Hazan taught cookery in her New York apartment. Then, in 1980, it was adapted for a British audience by Anna del Conte, at which point she won herself a whole lot of new fans, plus an Andre Simon Award. It is a very good book indeed: comprehensive, straightforward, with recipes that really work. If you want to know how to make proper risotto, minestrone, or lasagne, this is where to look. But it includes other delicious things, too: pot-roasted squab, stewed rabbit, braised oxtail. As Hazan notes, the Italians like to describe such dishes as "un bocone da cardinale", or a "morsel for a cardinal". We don't know too many cardinals, but we know what she means: this is gloriously tasty food, to be cooked for those you really love. Rachel Cooke

7 THAI FOOD David Thompson (Pavillion Books, 2002)

Australian chef David Thompson first went to Thailand almost accidentally when some holiday plans fell through, and was smitten by the country and its food. He moved to Bangkok, where he studied in the kitchens of people skilled in the noble arts of traditional cookery, pored over the memorial books that documented palace recipes, and explored the food sold on the streets. He originally promised his publisher a small book on Thai snacks, disappeared for years of intensive and obsessive research, and finally came up with this remarkable and comprehensive study of Thailand's culinary traditions. (With characteristic irony, he mentions in his acknowledgments that writing it was 'an interesting, prolonged experience'.) Within its gorgeous pink covers, you will find information cultural, geographical, historical, spiritual and culinary, not to mention a vast collection of recipes that range from street food through palace cooking, to exquisite desserts. It's a book of rare depth and complexity, demanding and exotic, and one that opened the door to a new appreciation of Thai cookery among readers of the English language. Fuchsia Dunlop

6 ENGLISH FOOD Jane Grigson (Ebury Press, 1974)

The great Jane Grigson, the Observer's food writer from 1968 until her death in 1990, was also the author of many wonderful cookbooks. It's perhaps debatable which is the best of these, but the one for which she will always be most celebrated is English Food . As the critic Fay Maschler put it: "She restored pride to the subject of English food and gave evidence that there is a valid regional quality still extant in this somewhat beleaguered cuisine."

English Food (it contains recipes from Wales, too) is undoubtedly a work of scholarship: carefully researched, wide-ranging and extremely particular. But it is also contains hundreds of excellent recipes, the vast majority of them short, precise and foolproof. Who could resist poached turbot with shrimp sauce, or a properly made Cornish pasty? As for the puddings, Grigson delivers recipes for some of our favourite ever: Yorkshire curd tart, brown bread ice cream, queen of puddings, and Sussex pond pudding. There is also an excellent – and blissfully long – section on teatime: every possible cake and bun is here in all their sugary, buttery glory. Rachel Cooke

5 ROAST CHICKEN AND OTHER STORIES Simon Hopkinson with Lindsey Bareham (Ebury Press, 1994)

Simon Hopkinson is not a great cook because of his mastery of technique, though he has that by the bucketful. Nor is it his flair for innovation that makes him; even he would say his food cleaves tightly to the great European traditions. What defines him is his exquisite good taste. Nowhere is that better demonstrated than in this cleanly written, utterly reliable, delicious book. It is organised by ingredient – A is for anchovy, B is for Brains, P is for pork pieces and bacon bits – with a short essay on each. Then come the recipes, be it the roast chicken of the title – the trick is to rub it with butter and then squeeze over the juice of a lemon – one of his beloved tripe stews, or his saffron mash, pretty much the only dish he claims as his own invention. Pleasingly there is a direct link in this book back to the great Elizabeth David with recipes that she first introduced to these shores, such as the saffron soup with mussels or the heart stopping St Émilion au chocolat, refined for a modern palate. Jay Rayner

4 KITCHEN DIARIES Nigel Slater (4th Estate, 2005)

Nigel Slater is the Philip Roth of food. The towering writer of his generation by whom all others are judged. Or simply "a bloody genius", according to Jamie Oliver. Real Fast Food is Slater's Portnoy's Complaint , the bold and brilliant arrival, packed with precocious appetites and ideas, that changed for ever the thought of what to do with food in the cupboard or fridge. But Kitchen Diaries is the full flowering of a mature talent , with a clear knowledge of who he is, where he comes from and what he wants to say.

Moving on from Richard Olney's defining understanding of seasonality, Diaries places food back in the heart of the British home, the garden, the market, the farm. "Roast rhubarb on a January morning; pick-your-own strawberries in June; a piece of chicken on a grill on an August evening; a pot-roast pigeon on a damp October afternoon." The concept was simple but game-changing. British food from now on would celebrate the right food at the right time. Open it on any page (but start, say, with 1 January on page 4) and savour the simple beauty of the recipes and the writing. Allan Jenkins

3 THE BOOK OF JEWISH FOOD Claudia Roden (Penguin, 1996)

Cairo-born Roden has published many great recipe books, and there are few who can touch her knowledge of the Mediterranean and Middle East. But it is The Book Of Jewish Food which will stand as her masterpiece. In truth it is less a cookbook than a cultural over view of the entire Jewish diaspora, with appropriate recipes attached. It is a mark of just how reliable a piece of scholarship it is that, on publication, it was greeted with almost universal acclaim; a rare achievement for any work wading into the notoriously rancorous Jewish community. Every page and, more important, every recipe bursts with the vigour of a people that spent 2,000 years on the move. The dishes of the Sephardic Jews of North Africa and Spain are as rich and varied as you would expect of a writer who made her name with the food of the Middle East. Here are instructions for Iraqi date-filled pies, Tunisian couscous cakes and quinces in wine. More compelling still is her codifying of the eastern European Ashkenazi tradition: her irrefutable instructions for perfect chopped liver, latkes, gefilte fish and the rest. Any edition of this book is a joy, but the beautifully illustrated American version, published by Knopf, is particularly special. Jay Rayner

2 FRENCH PROVINCIAL COOKING Elizabeth David (Penguin, 1960)

Elizabeth David came to me somewhat late, in cookery calendar terms. My mother, a very good cook indeed, had not, to my knowledge, a book of hers anywhere in the house when I was fettling away at the Aga in my early to late teens. Cordon Bleu, yes. Dad's dog-eared EP Veerasawmy paperback for his curries, indeed. But no Elizabeth David. It was not until I was 21 years old when friends in West Wales gave me a set of her Penguin paperbacks for my birthday, hoping that they may further inspire me in the kitchen of my little restaurant by the sea. Although I had already worked in a French restaurant and eaten in France with my parents, nothing compared to that which I was to learn and devour from French Provincial Cooking . Nothing had previously evoked such a sense of place and time with the richest prose. It was and remains, intoxicating. The recipe for poitrine d'agneau Sainte Ménéhould is a case in point, where this meagre, though supremely flavoursome joint, is quietly poached with aromatics, cooled, carefully divested of its flacid, corset-like bones and excess fat, it is then pressed between weighted plates, or some such. Once firm, this now flat cut is sliced into thick strips, smeared with mustard, beaten egg and coated with breadcrumbs. Gently grilled, or fried till crisp – not 'crispy', a description Elizabeth David abhorred. This is a remarkably good plate of food. Simon Hopkinson

1 THE FRENCH MENU COOKBOOK Richard Olney (Ten Speed Press, 1970)

On a summer afternoon at his home in Provence in 1999, the American food writer Richard Olney went to lie down after a light lunch, and never woke up. He was 72, and had led an interesting and fulfilling life (his friends included the writer James Baldwin, the poet John Ashbery, and the painter John Craxton). He had also, unlike many people, been able to cook his own last meal. The story goes that when his brothers arrived to arrange the funeral, they found a plate and a glass by the sink. The plate contained traces of a tomato pilaff; the glass, red wine. The remaining pilaff was in the fridge. The brothers took it out, heated it up, and toasted him before tucking in.

This pilaff tells you everything you need to know about Olney. People favour risottos now, but before there was risotto, there was pilaff: buttery rice mixed with onions, garlic and tomatoes that have first been fried in olive oil. If the tomatoes are good and fresh, the oil sufficiently grassy, and the onions just so, this is the food of the gods. Olney was a hugely accomplished and knowledgeable cook, but his mantra was simplicity and, in this sense, he was ahead of the times. When The French Menu was first published in 1970, its determinedly seasonal approach was considered revolutionary. Four years later, he published Simple French Food, and his reputation was sealed.

Some read Olney for his uncompromising style alone. His sentences are longer than a prize pike; his salads are "composed", not tossed. Others like the way he pairs every dish with a wine. But it's his menus that really slay you. Olney lived alone, but he was a generous host, and his friends must have considered themselves truly lucky. Imagine a friend who cooked you sorrel soup, followed by frito misto, pheasant salmis with ceps, and an orange jelly. Or crayfish mousse, ravioli of chicken breast, roast leg of venison and moulded coffee custard. Or, perhaps best of all, cucumber salad, baked lobster, braised and roasted partridge, and fresh figs with raspberry cream. With this raspberry cream, we quietly rest our case. Rachel Cooke

• OFM 50 best cookbooks
• Food and drink books

Comments (…)

Most viewed.

• How to Cook
• Competitions

Search by ingredient, dish or cuisine

Search history.

• Meat and Poultry
• Fish and Seafood
• Cakes and Baking
• Everyday and easy
• See more meat and poultry recipes
• See more fish and seafood recipes
• Petits fours
• Pescatarian
• Gluten-free
• See more cakes and baking recipes
• Dinner party
• Sunday roast
• All-day brunch
• Midweek meal
• Easy chicken
• See all easy recipes
• Cauliflower
• Blood orange
• Meat and poultry
• Fish and seafood
• Knife skills
• Cakes and baking
• Chef tricks
• See all meat and poultry guides
• See all fish and seafood guides
• Butternut squash
• Red cabbage
• Sweet potato
• See all vegetables guides
• Fish preparation
• Vegetable preparation
• Sharpen a knife
• See all knife skills guides
• Line a tart tin
• Make macarons
• Make sweet pastry
• Make biscuits
• Sous vide meat
• Sous vide fish
• Sous vide vegetables
• Sous vide fruit
• Tips and tricks
• See all sous vide guides
• Pickled asparagus
• Pickled mackerel
• Pickled gooseberries
• Pickled cucumber
• Pickled red cabbage
• See all pickling guides
• Rib-eye steak
• Chorizo crisps
• Pomme purée
• Crispy chicken skin

Cookery book reviews

Latest feature

Book review: sex and drugs and sausage rolls by graham garrett.

Eliot Collins reviews Graham Garrett's Sex and Drugs and Sausage Rolls, a book that is part memoir, part cookery book. Discover more about the chef's background in the music industry and his journey to earning his first Michelin star, with recipes for a number of his signature dishes to try at home.

When looking for inspiration in the kitchen, a good cookbook is a great place to start. We review some of the most interesting new books on the market, as well as classic culinary tomes, aiming to find new recipes, top advice and techniques we can all try at home.

You may also like

• Michelin star results 2022
• Restaurant map
• Ingredients
• Recipe collections
• How to cook

INFORMATION

• Work with us
• Insights and consultancy
• Great British Chefs shop
• Great British Chefs x TheFoodMarket.com
• Join our Great British Chefs Cookbook Club
• Contributors
• Photography
• Privacy Policy
• Terms and Conditions

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• UK Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Betting Sites
• Online Casinos
• Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Why trust us?

10 best cookbooks you’ll return to time and again

While there’s no nigel or nigella on this list, these recipes will leave you wanting more, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping experts

Sign up for our free indybest email, thanks for signing up to the indybest email.

Whether you’re partial to cheese , vegan -curious, accomplished baker in need of a challenge, or just after recipes that will breathe new life into your repertoire, there’s a cookbook for you. Owing to the sheer breadth of these cookery tomes, it may be difficult to narrow them down to what you’ll find most useful, but that’s where this guide can help.

If you’re looking for dishes to serve up while entertaining, you need to flick through something like Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many by Jeremy Lee. Meanwhile, a cookery tome such as Ixta Belfrage’s Mezcla: Recipes to Excite will lend ample inspiration when it comes to colourful, adventurous dishes. But if it’s vegan and a little vegetarian food you’re looking for, take a look at Georgina Hayden’s  Nistisima , and find recipes from Cyprus, Greece, Syria, and beyond.

What makes a cookbook a firm favourite for you will depend on the foods that make your mouth water, but more often, some of the best cookbooks worth keeping on stand-by in the kitchen will take you beyond the ingredients on the plate, to the culture and history behind it. Here, we’ve shared the best cookbooks that we’ve tried and tested.

Related stories

How we tested.

Choosing just 10 cookbooks was a torturous exercise of fervid comparison and agonised debate. We were on the lookout for books that will be absolute keepers – the ones you’ll still be using a decade from now. We valued those likely to top wish lists, too – books that would produce a thrill of excitement when the fancy wrapping paper was torn off.

We also highly rated books that broke new ground, that showed originality, great writing and gave fresh insight into food and culture. It goes without saying the recipes tested had to taste great, too.

The result? A round-up of cookbooks to see you peacefully into the new year and the years to come.

The best cookbooks for 2024 are:

• Best cookbook overall – ‘Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect’ by Olia Hercules, published by Bloomsbury: £18.38, Amazon.co.uk
• Best for a slice of social history – ‘West Winds: Recipes, History and Tales from Jamaica’ by Riaz Phillips, published by DK: £18.38, Amazon.co.uk
• Best for keen entertainers – ‘Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many’ by Jeremy Lee, published by 4th Estate: £25, Amazon.co.uk
• Best for adventurous cooks – ‘Mezcla: Recipes to Excite’ by Ixta Belfrage, published by Ebury Press: £22.59, Amazon.co.uk
• Best for cheese-lovers – ‘A Portrait of British Cheese’ by Angus D. Birditt, published by Quadrille: £18.52, Amazon.co.uk

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

‘Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect’ by Olia Hercules, published by Bloomsbury

• Best : Cookbook overall
• Cuisine : Comfort food with influences from Ukraine, Cyprus, Italy and beyond
• Recipes : 100

Olia Hercules’ name will be familiar to many food lovers. When Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, the world changed – and Hercules’ life was transformed – she is now an activist as well as a cook. #CookforUkraine, set up by Hercules and several colleagues, has raised almost £800,000 for victims of the war, and she keeps her 148,000 Instagram followers up to date on the conflict with regular updates.

Home Food is her fourth book. The collection of essays and 100 recipes, photographed by her husband, Joe Woodhouse, is her most personal and heartfelt to date. Dishes span Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Italy, India, Cyprus and beyond (her recipe for dark greens with nettles and yoghurt was simple but stunning). Some recipes are brought to life by QR codes linked to videos showing techniques, such as making brown butter and hand-rolling pasta.

The driving force behind Home Food is the sense of connection – to family, friends, community ­– that cooking can bring in times of hardship, and it thoroughly deserves a place on every cook’s shelf.

• Apple Books: £17.99, Apple.com
• Kindle: £11.83, Amazon.co.uk

‘West Winds: Recipes, History and Tales from Jamaica’ by Riaz Phillips, published by DK

• Best : For a slice of social history
• Cuisine : Caribbean
• Recipes : Over 100

Riaz Phillips is a rising star in the food-writing world, and this book blazes a trail for Caribbean food – Jamaican food in particular. His first book, Belly Full: Caribbean Food in the UK, earned him a Young British Foodie Award and this, his debut cookbook, has already won the Jane Grigson Trust Award for first-time cookbook authors.

Phillips is a skilled and engaging writer, and this book is far more than a collection of recipes. Phillips takes his research seriously, and his well-observed essays cover topics as broad as the history of Christianity in the Caribbean, the bittersweet legacy of sugar, and the fundamental importance of soup to the islands’ cooks. It’s a joy to read: informative, eloquent and engaging.

The recipes are as broad-ranging as the book’s bibliography, going well beyond Carnival favourites such as jerk chicken and ackee and saltfish (though there are recipes for those too). Escovitch fish, Phillips tells us in the detailed headnote, “derives from the Spanish word ‘escabeche’, which in turn is believed to come from the Arabic iskabej, meaning ‘pickled fish’.” Sharp with vinegar and zingy with Scotch bonnets, it’s a recipe that demonstrates the islands’ complex social history in a single delicious dish.

• Apple Books: £9.99, Apple.com
• Kindle: £9.99, Amazon.co.uk

‘Cooking Simply and Well, for One or Many’ by Jeremy Lee, published by 4th Estate

• Best : For keen entertainers
• Cuisine : Simple and traditional
• Recipes : Unspecified

Jeremy Lee is that rare thing: a talented chef who also happens to be a great writer. The Dundee-born chef, who’s been at Quo Vadis restaurant in London’s Soho since 2012, has helped shape contemporary British cooking. He’s worked with Simon Hopkinson and the late, great Alastair Little, and he wrote a food column for a national broadsheet for years. So, why did it take him so long to write a cookbook?

The pandemic may have played a part. “Those warm, comforting, nourishing dishes that I made during lockdown form the heart of the book,” he writes. Better late than never, we say.

Chapters on blood oranges, potatoes, offal and chocolate are woven around essays that draw on Lee’s childhood in Scotland, as well as his lengthy career. His recipes resonate with conviviality. Profiteroles, steamed puddings, hearty chops and savoury pies are among the soothing yet sophisticated recipes. The Arbroath smokies with sea purslane, green beans and potatoes recipe we tested was a success, even without the hard-to-find sea purslane.

Lee assumes a bit of kitchen know-how on the part of the reader, and these are dishes that reward time spent in the kitchen. Many serve six to eight, making them ideal dinner-party fare.

Lee’s delicious prose is like a long, slow braise, making this is a cookbook that doubles as bedside reading.

• Apple Books: £14.99, Apple.com
• Kindle: £14.99, Amazon.co.uk

‘Nistisima’ by Georgina Hayden, published by Bloomsbury

• Best : For creative meat-free cooking
• Cuisine : Vegan
• Recipes : 120

Once in a while, a new cookbook makes you think “Genius!” This is one of those – a collection of mainly vegan recipes from countries where abstaining from meat for religious or cultural reasons is the norm. The Greek word ‘nistisima’ is used to describe foods that adhere to the Orthodox church’s fasting rules and are made without meat or dairy (people following the Orthodox faith may abstain from meat or dairy for up 210 days each year). The recipes come from Cyprus (where Hayden’s family are from), Greece, Russia, Romania, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Serbia, Armenia and beyond.

Nistisima is carefully researched and lovingly written, and the recipes are excellent. Middle Eastern batata harra couldn’t be easier – you roast a pan of cubed potatoes until crisp, make a dressing of slow-cooked onion and garlic, spices, fresh coriander and lemon juice, and mix to serve.

There is no moralising or proselytising here. This refreshing book might just make anyone who’s sceptical about eating vegan food re-think plant-based cooking.

‘The British Cookbook’ by Ben Mervis, published by Phaidon

• Best : For rethinking British food
• Cuisine : British
• Recipes : Over 550

If you think you know all there is to know about British food, this book might make you think again. Four years in the making, The British Cookbook is a meticulously researched, 460-page love letter to British cuisine.

Ironically, perhaps, Mervis isn’t British. Born and brought up in Pennsylvania, he moved to the UK for university, fell in love with the place and stayed. He now lives in Glasgow, and part of what keeps him here is the food.

Mervis employed the expertise of food historian Dr Neil Buttery and food writers Elisabeth Luard, Sumayya Usmani, Nichola Fletcher and others in writing this book, which delves deeply into regional food history (Scottish recipes are particularly strong). The 500-plus recipes go well beyond the usual roll call of British fare, and Mervis makes space for contemporary dishes such as chicken madras and jerk chicken, too.

The recipe we tested, mussels with bacon and cream, was simple and satisfying – although those who like a kitchen challenge will find plenty to interest them. Mervis really understands and appreciates British food, and his perspective is thought-provoking – enticing readers to enjoy all its delicious quirks and nuances.

‘Moro Easy’ by Sam and Sam Clark, published by Ebury Press

• Best : For Moro devotees
• Cuisine : Moro

The fifth cookbook from Sam and Sam Clark will put smiles on the faces of Moro fans. The Clarks are the husband-and-wife team behind Moro, the iconic London restaurant that opened in 1997 and has made Moorish cooking a thing, as well as training a generation of chefs – Oliver Rowe and Jacob Kenedy among them.

In Moro Easy , flavours stay true to the cooking of southern Spain, the Levant and Turkey, which now defines the Clarks’ cooking, but accessibility is key. Ingredients lists are brief and the instructions snappy – mostly kept to one page. The book is about “not too many ingredients, and uncomplicated methods”, say the authors.

This is a straight-up recipe collection, with narrative kept to a minimum. Recipes are based on top-quality ingredients, simple cooking methods and a few shortcuts. Labneh, for example, is made by mixing Greek yoghurt and cream cheese. The resulting dish of labneh, sun-dried tomato, coriander and fennel seeds was ready in a flash and tasted sensational, as did fried potatoes with za’ater, peppers and feta. The dishes in chapters “Easy toasts”, “Easy dairy” and “Easy one-pots” give rewarding results to the time-poor.

• Apple Books: £12.99, Apple.com
• Kindle: £12.99, Amazon.co.uk

‘Mezcla: Recipes to Excite’ by Ixta Belfrage, published by Ebury Press

• Best : For adventurous cooks
• Cuisine : Italian, Brazilian, Moroccan and more

The word “mezcla” means “mix” or “blend” in Spanish, and it’s a term that aptly describes the author’s background and cooking style. The daughter of a well-known wine writer, Belfrage has family roots in Brazil and Mexico, and lived in Italy as a youngster. Fans of Yotam Ottolenghi may already be familiar with the author’s name, as Belfrage worked at NOPI and at Ottolenghi’s Test Kitchen, and co-authored Flavour with the chef and restaurateur in 2020.

The colourful recipes in this, her debut cookbook, sing with big, bold flavours – they’re a hedonistic mash-up, combining tastes and textures from far-flung places. A recipe we tested for chicken with pineapple and ’nduja successfully married ingredients from Calabria and the tropics in a dead-simple traybake that was so delectable we made the dish twice. There’s an emphasis on vegetable-first recipes and, for the most part, cooking instructions are kept short.

This is a book for have-a-go cooks with a well-stocked store cupboard and a taste for adventure.

‘The Last Bite’ by Anna Higham, published by DK

• Best : For bakers, old hands and newbies
• Cuisine : Dessert and pastries
• Recipes : Over 190

Pastry chef Anna Higham has a dream CV. She’s plied her trade at some of London’s best kitchens, including River Café, Gordon Ramsay Group, Lyle’s and Flor. Yet this is not an intimidating, hidebound rulebook for would-be confectioners. Instead, Higham encourages readers – especially those who are intimidated by baking and desserts – to approach desserts in the same way they would savoury dishes. It’s “just cooking”, she says, to be approached in “the same way as making a bowl of pasta or roasting a chicken”. The key to success, she says, is to learn to trust your instincts, and her recipe instructions are refreshingly free of bossiness – she actively encourages experimentation.

Unusually for a baking book, this one is divided up by season and the fruits that are best throughout the growing cycle – strawberries, figs, blood oranges and rhubarb, as well as chocolate, nuts, flowers and herbs. Higham has a flair for putting together tastes and textures, and her recipe for olive oil and ricotta cake was gloriously squidgy and moreish.

This is a book that will suit Bake Off fans and experienced bakers keen to build on their skills, but there is plenty of clear-eyed advice here for bakers who are just starting out, too.

• Apple Books: £8.99, Apple.com
• Kindle: £8.99, Amazon.co.uk

‘A Portrait of British Cheese’ by Angus D. Birditt, published by Quadrille

• Best : For cheese-lovers
• Cuisine : British cheese
• Recipes : 30

Angus D. Birditt travelled from the Isle of Mull to Jersey and Northern Ireland, researching and photographing this book. Profiled are 30 of the UK’s top artisan and farmhouse cheesemakers, among them Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk (maker of Baron Bigod), Charles Martell & Son in Gloucestershire (maker of the wonderfully named Stinking Bishop) and Sparkenhoe Farm in Warwickshire (which makes Shropshire Blue and an artisanal Red Leicester).

The book is part reference and part recipe book, with chapters on the history of British cheese chronicling the industry’s many ups and downs, and the basics of how cheese is made. Birditt cleverly pieces together the ways in which the landscape, the animals, the local community – and the cheesemakers themselves – contribute to each cheese’s individual taste and character.

Recipes range from the intriguing (Stichelton ice cream with candied apple) to the straightforwardly pleasing (Lincolnshire poacher soufflé, which rose to the occasion when tested). It’s a snapshot of where British cheese is now, and where it may be headed as farming practices change and the industry matures. It will appeal to anyone whose cheesy interests lie beyond mild cheddar.

• Kindle: £8.96, Amazon.co.uk

‘Hoppers: The Cookbook’ by Karan Gokani, published by Quadrille

• Best : For those who like it spicy
• Cuisine : Sri Lankan

Since the first Hoppers launched in Soho in 2015, it’s helped to put Sri Lankan cooking on the radar of London’s fashionable restaurant-goers. This cookbook, written by the restaurant’s co-founder and creative director, gives home cooks the tools and recipes to take cooking matters into their own hands by trying Sri Lankan dishes at home.

The book is a freewheeling foray into the island nation’s food culture, with beautiful photographs shot on location in Sri Lanka, as well as favourite dishes from the restaurants themselves, including the hoppers (pillowy rice and coconut pancakes) for which it is named.

The book gives readers a thorough grounding in the country’s signature dishes, from lamprais, a multi-course meal wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed, to the myriad sambols (relishes) served with Sri Lankan meals.

Devilled dishes, influenced by Chinese cuisine, says Gokani, are another signature. The devilled paneer version we tested was hot, sweet, and layered with spice but deceptively easy to put together. Who needs a takeaway?

The verdict: Best cookbooks

In 2022, cookbook sales were down somewhat since the height of the pandemic, but sales remain buoyant and there is a multitude of books for every level of cook. The books that made it into our review go beyond just recipes and were chosen for their excellent writing, the knowledge imparted and the pleasure given to readers, most notably in books by Olia Hercules , our best buy, and Riaz Phillip s. These books (and the others in our round-up) will earn their place on bookshelves – and in the kitchen – for years to come.

Books such as Ben Mervis’s The British Cookbook , Jeremy Lee’s Cooking Simply and Well and Angus D. Birditt’s A Portrait of British Cheese highlight the best of British food and cooking, while Georgina Hayden’s Nistisima and Anna Higham’s The Last Bite highlight exceptional vegan cooking and baking, respectively.

The author of this review was a proofreader on ‘The British Cookbook’ and ‘A Portrait of British Cheese’.

Cook with the planet in mind, and try the best sustainable cookbooks

Voucher Codes

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Want an ad-free experience?

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

SUBSCRIBE NOW! $25 FOR 4 ISSUES

The bookmonger’s book review: miss williams’ cookery book.

• November 16, 2021

Edible San Francisco is published four times a year. Subscriptions are $25 for four issues.

236 West Portal #191 SF CA 94127 415-322-3615

We are a proud member of Edible Communities.

© Edible San Francisco | All Rights Reserved

CONTACT   |  ADVERTISE  |  SUBSCRIBE   |  PRIVACY POLICY

• Cookbooks, Food & Wine
• Regional & International

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } -20% $21.69 $ 21 . 69 FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35 Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Save with Used - Like New .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } $17.43 $ 17 . 43 $3.99 delivery May 16 - 23 Ships from: indoobestsellers Sold by: indoobestsellers

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Edmonds Cookery Book (Fully Revised) (-) Spiral-bound – December 6, 2022

Purchase options and add-ons.

New Zealand's favourite and bestselling cookbook! The Edmonds Cookery Book has been an essential ingredient in New Zealand kitchens for over 100 years. Containing a wide selection of both baking and cooking recipes that are sure to be a success from Afghans to Bacon and Egg Pie. It's not a Kiwi Kitchen without Edmonds.

• Print length 252 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand
• Publication date December 6, 2022
• Dimensions 5.75 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• ISBN-10 1869713427
• ISBN-13 978-1869713423
• See all details

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand; 69th edition (December 6, 2022)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Spiral-bound ‏ : ‎ 252 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1869713427
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1869713423
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.6 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• #44 in Pacific Rim Cooking, Food & Wine
• #2,553 in Culinary Arts & Techniques (Books)

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Advertisement

Supported by

Seven Dazzling New Cookbooks Bring the World to Your Table

Let yourself by enticed by satiny flan, savory dumplings, Swiss almond cookies and more.

• Share full article

By Jennifer Reese

Getting to know a cookbook is like getting to know a person, and it can take months or even years until you figure out that a cookbook is colorless and totally reliable — or maybe a charmer with cool ideas and no follow-through.

Hundreds of cookbooks were published this summer and fall exploring the cuisines of whole nations and celebrated restaurants, expounding on a single cooking technique at intimidating length, or just gathering beloved recipes from an individual’s lifetime in the kitchen. To get to know them all was impossible; to get to know even a few dozen sometimes felt like speed dating. My criteria for a cookbook are simple: I need to like the look and feel of the book, and it needs to tell me something I don’t know. I also have to want to cook the recipes — and those recipes have to work. Here are the seven cookbooks from this fall’s crop that earned a permanent place on my shelf. Two of them are dazzlers; all of them are keepers.

Let’s start with the dazzlers. A cookbook can be anthropology, artwork, prose poem, kitchen manual, manifesto or memoir. Occasionally a title hits all those marks, and FILIPINX: Heritage Recipes From the Diaspora (Abrams, $40), by Angela Dimayuga and Ligaya Mishan — a playful, inventive celebration of the funky, tangy, salty flavors of Filipino American cooking — is one of them. Put a copy of “Filipinx” on a low table and you’ll find small children gawking at photographs that somehow manage to be mischievous, edgy and appetizing at once. A whole fried fish swims across a retro plate. A slab of daffodil-yellow chiffon cake reclines on a bed of dewy dust-pink roses. Halo halo soars above the rim of a glass, an extravaganza of purple ice cream, inky sweet adzuki beans, electric-green palm seeds, a single rectangle of satiny beige flan.

Exciting though it is to look at, “Filipinx” is even more fun to read. Dimayuga, who opened New York City’s Mission Chinese Food, and Mishan, who writes for this newspaper, excel at sensuous, funny descriptions. (Although they co-wrote the book, the first-person “I” here, along with the personal stories, is Dimayuga’s.) Tagilo, a condiment made from fermented shrimp and rice, “has a whiff of rot, but so does fine aged cheese, and once you get past that (or embrace it!) the taste is sublime.” The traditional Filipino adobo is “a duel between vinegar and soy sauce, sour and salt, with whole black peppercorns that soften as they braise and pop in the mouth.” If that doesn’t make you want to eat adobo, perhaps you just don’t like to eat.

I made Dimayuga’s mother’s pork chops, which are marinated in vinegar, “fried hard,” and sauced with enough butter to make Julia Child blush. They were outstanding. Also outstanding: collards braised to velvety softness in coconut milk, then topped with nutty brown coconut-milk curds. (You make the curds by boiling coconut milk for an hour or so, an easy, interesting project.) Then I tried the Filipino spaghetti, which involves simmering a traditional bolognese sauce for a few hours before stirring in some thinly sliced fried hot dogs. I had my doubts. Spaghetti bolognese is what you order at a nice Italian restaurant; hot dogs are what you scarf down at the baseball game. But the combo is magic. Those springy, salty little hot dog coins make ordinary bolognese seem monotonous.

Not all of the recipes in “Filipinx” are Filipino. Dimayuga includes her own “reverse aging cocktail” that you make by mixing coconut milk, simple syrup, lime juice and vodka, topped off with club soda. It looks like Alka Seltzer, but if you fall for this strange elixir you’ll want to make it for all your friends immediately. It’s rich and refreshing, fizzy and silky, brand-new and an instant classic. Just like this book.

Another instant classic: MOON CAKES AND MILK BREAD: Sweet and Savory Recipes Inspired by Chinese Bakeries (Harper Horizon, $29.95), by the first-time author Kristina Cho. “Chinese bakeries have been around for a long time and deserve time in the spotlight,” Cho writes in the introduction. I couldn’t agree more. If there’s been a reliable English-language book about the stuffed buns, savory dumplings, crumbly almond cookies and custard tarts sold at Cantonese bakeries across America, I have not seen it. Cho’s book is so smart and thorough, I’m not sure we’ll need another book on the topic anytime soon.

“Moon Cakes and Milk Bread” will inspire some readers to seek out a Chinese bakery. Other readers will go straight to the kitchen. The milk bread of the title turned out exactly as Cho promised, with a “lovely, sweet flavor and almost cotton-candy texture.” This bread stays fresh for days, and I cut the last of it into thick slices to make Hong Kong-style French toast. Per Cho’s recipe, you spread peanut butter on the bread, soak it in eggs and milk, fry it in butter until “brilliantly golden brown and crisp,” drizzle with condensed milk and crown with another pat of butter “for good measure.” This is an ideal breakfast for when you don’t have time for lunch.

Some of these recipes are tricky, but Cho anticipates questions and concerns before they arise. In her recipe for sausage and cilantro pancakes, she writes: “If the pancake bursts in some places, don’t panic! That’s natural!” When one of my pancakes subsequently burst, I didn’t panic! It was natural! The pancakes were as Cho advertised them: “salty, crispy and a little greasy (in a good way).” Everything I made from this book has been great. Everything I haven’t made, I want to.

I feel the same way about TREASURES OF THE MEXICAN TABLE: Classic Recipes, Local Secrets (Mariner, $35), by Pati Jinich. As its title promises, this is a carefully curated treasury of Mexican recipes, from the familiar (crunchy tostadas heaped with shrimp and avocado) to dishes many of us haven’t encountered before, like salsa macha, a toasty, chunky sweet-tart medley of nuts, seeds, garlic, chiles, brown sugar and vinegar that you can serve, Jinich tells us, on anything from an omelet to ice cream.

Jinich, who hosts the PBS series “Pati’s Mexican Table,” has traveled widely through her native country collecting recipes. She found the recipe for sopa de ombligo — bellybutton soup — in the tiny mountain town of Jinetes de Machado, accessible for part of the year only by mule. I’d ride a mule to eat a bowl of this soup, thick with beans and packed with tender masa dumplings. (It gets its name from the dimples you poke in those dumplings that, as Jinich puts it, “trap the hearty flavors of the soup they cook in.”) You’ll want to buy a bag of widely available masa harina if you cook much from this book, as well as an assortment of dried chiles, but I appreciated that Jinich tailors her recipes to the realities of standard American supermarkets.

Vallery Lomas, the author of LIFE IS WHAT YOU BAKE IT: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top (Clarkson Potter, $29.99), won “The Great American Baking Show” in 2017, but the series was canceled before her victory aired. Lomas incorporates this tale of hopes raised and dashed into her beguiling cookbook, which is as much about resilience, persistence and family as it is about cornbread and challah. Although she includes recipes for her own inventions, like a zingy ginger-spiked lemon tart, as well as ambitious baking projects, like canelés and macarons, Lomas is a traditionalist at heart. Both her baking and the values she extols are rooted firmly in family. Her mother, sister and both grandmothers pop up repeatedly in snapshots and anecdotes, and their recipes are among the best in the book. Lomas recorded the recipe for her grandmother Willie Mae’s “million dollar cake” in a notebook when she was 11. “The cake was money ,” Lomas writes of this tall yellow cake with its layers of pineapple filling and cream cheese icing. It’s still money. So is punch bowl cake, a trifle her Grandma Leona constructed from chunks of box-mix cake, jarred maraschino cherries, Cool Whip and Jell-O vanilla pudding. Lomas may have updated the recipe, but she won’t tolerate food snobbery, pointing out that the kinds of shortcuts her grandmothers used liberated women, particularly Black women, from unceasing domestic drudgery. “There is no shame in using box cake mixes,” she concludes, even if she herself rarely uses them. Amen.

Ever since New York’s specialty grocery Sahadi’s opened in 1895, its aisles of pungent spices, plump dried fruits, nuts, olives and cheeses have drawn immigrants pining for a taste of home and ambitious cooks seeking za’atar and sumac to try Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest pilaf. “I always know when The New York Times or Bon Appétit magazine has published a new Middle Eastern-inflected recipe because the store is inundated with customers clutching a clipping or peering at their phones,” writes Christine Sahadi Whelan, a co-owner of the family company. “I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been asked ‘What can I do with the rest of the date molasses I bought?’ or ‘What else is Urfa pepper good for?’” Whelan wrote FLAVORS OF THE SUN: The Sahadi’s Guide to Understanding, Buying, and Using Middle Eastern Ingredients (Chronicle, $35), a big and useful book, part encyclopedia, part recipe collection, to answer those questions. Have you ended up, as I have, with a container of ras el hanout in the back of your spice cabinet? This tawny mix of spices — including cinnamon, cloves, allspice and turmeric — enlivens Whelan’s vegan red lentil soup, probably the simplest I’ve ever made and one of the best, as well as warming up her sticky ginger cookies. A jar of harissa that’s been sitting in the refrigerator for years, I’m ashamed to say, brought gentle heat to a pan of mac and cheese. As to orange flower water, Whelan proposes using it to perfume her ethereal gin cocktail, a batch of snowy white cupcakes or, if you’re sick of cooking, a warm bath.

Paging through Carla Lalli Music’s scrapbooky THAT SOUNDS SO GOOD: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week (Clarkson Potter, $35) is like hanging out at the home of a happy multigenerational Italian American family where a pot of ragu bubbles on the stove and a nectarine crisp cools on the counter. “The purpose of this book is to provide recipes and kitchen encouragement to go with every hunger,” Music writes in the introduction. “I have a recipe for everything!” That’s hardly an exaggeration when you consider the flexibility she works into every one of the 100 recipes just by listing possible substitutions at the end of each. If you want to make her short rib noodle bowl and can’t find good beef, she explains how to sub in chicken thighs. You can swap lime juice for the rice vinegar, red onion for the shallots and whatever hot sauce you have in the refrigerator for sambal oelek. I was surprised at how useful this was and how many options it opened. I threw together her pasta with cacio and walnuts one night, subbing Pecorino for the called-for Manchego, and it was probably the most luxurious dish I’ve eaten at my kitchen counter.

Her take on the ubiquitous smashed cucumber salad incorporates cubes of quenching watermelon and fried sugary-salty peanuts, additions that make the salad more complex and satisfying. Her recipe for broccoli with avocado sauce is a masterpiece. Music roasts spears of broccoli until charred, then serves them with an avocado sauce enriched by sour cream and sharpened with lime and chili, the whole production showered with fried sunflower and coriander seeds. She really does have a recipe for everything, and this is the one for converting broccoli haters.

Don’t let the mystifying title of Cal Peternell’s fourth cookbook — BURNT TOAST AND OTHER DISASTERS: A Book of Heroic Hacks, Fabulous Fixes, and Secret Sauces (Morrow, $25.99) — mislead you: This isn’t a madcap chronicle of dinners gone sideways, but an invaluable little cookbook you will turn to again and again. Yes, there’s a chapter on salvaging mushy rice and burned toast, but the rest of this book is about transforming charmless supermarket staples into tasty meals. The longtime chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Peternell noticed — how could he not? — that the pristine ingredients he took for granted on the job were unavailable at the Piggly Wiggly near his parents’ home in South Carolina. “Despair soon turned to inspiration,” he writes, “and ‘Burnt Toast and Other Disasters’ was born.” He assures us that he is not trying to write “Mr. Cheffy-Pants Goes to Walmart,” but that’s exactly what he’s done. It’s a valuable service. Along with a jogging bra and chain saw, you can find all the ingredients for Peternell’s miraculous 20-minute clam chowder — “briny, milky and slightly sweet” — at Walmart. Peternell works similar alchemy with tins of anchovies, cans of chickpeas, the crushed dregs at the bottom of a bag of tortilla chips and out-of-season bell peppers. His recipe for peppers sautéed until “melty” with mustard and cumin seeds, then doused with cream and finished with a splash of vinegar, sounds like nothing special, but I’ve never tasted anything like it. Other than my beef with the title, I have one criticism of “Burnt Toast”: This book is too short.

Jennifer Reese’s work has appeared in the Book Review and The Washington Post.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

The complicated, generous life  of Paul Auster, who died on April 30 , yielded a body of work of staggering scope and variety .

“Real Americans,” a new novel by Rachel Khong , follows three generations of Chinese Americans as they all fight for self-determination in their own way .

“The Chocolate War,” published 50 years ago, became one of the most challenged books in the United States. Its author, Robert Cormier, spent years fighting attempts to ban it .

Joan Didion’s distinctive prose and sharp eye were tuned to an outsider’s frequency, telling us about ourselves in essays that are almost reflexively skeptical. Here are her essential works .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .