Your New Go-To Cookbooks
Cooking the Books.
Sees cookbook with clever conceit, checks out, peruses once, lets dust gather, gives away cookbook. You too? Despite the digitization of absolutely everything, we still believe in the power of the actual printed deal. The kind that has folded corners and slowly accumulates tiny specks of food-prep forensics on its pages, the breadcrumbs (so to speak) of your wander through each recipe. We are simply asking those tomes to justify their existence on our shelves by serving up the wonders of recipes worth making again and again. We’ve taken a cold, hard look at our cookbooks over this past year, challenging ourselves to either make something from them or say goodbye, already. What remains are those go-tos that never let us down.
It’s All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great
We know that Gwyneth can evoke strong responses, but this pre-Goop-industrial-complex cookbook is the real deal (in no small part because of Paltrow’s excellent writing partner Julia Turshen). The instructions are spot-on, with several “don’t despair” cues—giving us both inspired-ingredient (pickled ginger in your salmon burger, what?) and technique (freeze salmon a bit before making said burger) breakthroughs.
Yes, Yotam Ottolenghi’s migration of Middle East flavors and vegetable-forward cuisine so far into the mainstream may seem so obvious it was inevitable, but still, everytime we open this book, we are reminded just how innovative his cooking style was and is. Will it make you want to add new ingredients (we recommend this amazing tahini) to your pantry? Yes. Will they become staples? Also yes. Ottolenghi’s beautiful pictures and fanciful food styling also don’t hurt a bit—after all, we eat first with the eyes.
The Laura Lea Balanced Cookbook: 120+ Recipes for the Healthy Home Cook
We bought this one out of loyalty to our founder’s adored mentor (father of the talented author, Laura Lea) but its genius recipes quickly won our devotion—and we’ve been gifting it ever since. With a somewhat surprising healthy-meets-Deep South confluence, Lea’s concoctions find their way to our plates at least once a week. Those gluten-free among us will finally discover a healthy range of GF recipes without the literallywhobuysthat exotic ingredients (hold onto your xanthan gum). One of our favorites, Bryant Family Chili, will inspire you to use molasses more often, to deepen flavor in savory dishes. The book’s instructions are clear and approachable—just like the wonderful Laura Lea herself.
Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking
Several years ago, we took an illuminating culinary walking tour of Charleston. With so few truly regional cuisines, discovering low country cooking was a revelation. The larger take-away? So much of what we call “American” cooking is the work of African American people—many of them enslaved. The cookbook takes you on a historical journey of African American cooking, unearthing the stories of the earliest Black chefs and bringing you to the present day. Of course, learning this accurate narrative is essential—but the beloved recipes and fresh techniques that come with the education is the magic.
The Martha Stewart Cookbook: Collected Recipes for Every Day
One might wonder why, with everything within the reach of a careful Google search, you would need a solid, basic “How do I make...” sort of cookbook, but with Martha comes recipes you know have been tried and retried and edited just so. Complete with pantry suggestions and technique explanations, this bookshelf mainstay is more than recipes alone. We look forward to revisiting several of the entertaining-fare favorites, post-COVID.
Those of us with two in our nest appreciate any recipes sized juuuuust right. (Since grocery stores tend to supersize the fresh herbs—that’s too much thyme for two, thank you—we usually forego them, save parsley or cilantro.) Beyond shrinking down well-known dishes for a duo, there are a lot of new introductions here that keep true to their promise—they literally just take one pan. Count this as another brilliantly edited cookbook with helpful reminders, like waiting for meat to release from the pan instead of manhandling it with your spatula (advice after our own hearts).
