Cookbooks

We caught up with Yasmin Khan in London to talk about her massively ambitious cookbook and the important stories she's excited about telling next.

The cookbook: Brown Sugar Kitchen by Tanya Holland The angle: Best recipes from Oakland’s own little “soul food outpost.” Recipes for right now: Cornmeal Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup, Creole Shrimp & Grits, Green Chile-Harissa Potato Gratin, Herbed Mushroom Spoon Bread, Jerk Baby Back Ribs, Black-Bottom Maple-Pecan Bars Who would enjoy this book? If reading any of those recipes has your stomach rumbling, you would enjoy this book.

We’re jumping up and down with excitement over here at The Kitchn — our very own Megan Gordon has just published her first cookbook and it is gorgeous! The cookbook is called Whole-Grain Mornings: New Breakfast Recipes to Span the Seasons and it is full of recipes to start your day, take to a brunch, or linger over on a lazy Saturday morning.

Now that we know lard isn’t the devil’s plaything that we once thought it was, many people are interested in rediscovering how this healthier fat can be brought back into their kitchens. The editors of Grit Magazine heard our cries and created a cookbook packed with homespun recipes and fun, nostalgic reminiscences of the days when nose-to-tail eating was simply called dinner.

Most people who find out they have to stop eating gluten don’t turn towards pastry school, but that’s exactly what Kyra Bussanich did. Taking her experience at Le Cordon Bleu, she developed a science and art to her baking and went on to become the first gluten-free winner of Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” If you’re looking for desserts that satisfy gluten-free and non-gluten-free eaters alike, check out Bussanich’s new cookbook, Sweet Cravings.

The book: The New Classics Cookbook from The Editors of Saveur The angle: Iconic, everyday foods from all over the world. Recipes for right now: Deviled Eggs with Smoked Trout, Burmese Ginger Salad, Iranian Chicken and Walnut Stew, Coq au Vin, Savory Noodle Kugel, Cheddar Cheese Biscuits, Lebanese-Style Green Beans with Chickpeas Who would enjoy this book? Saveur magazine devotees as well as busy home cooks who can never have too many dinner ideas.

You could create an entire book club based around Real Housewives publications and never run out. Tinsley Mortimer has a novel. Bethenny Frankel has a children’s book about her dog. The Dubrows have an anti-aging book where they refer to themselves as “Dr. and Mrs. Guinea Pig.” There’s almost a dozen tell-all-but-not-quite-all memoirs.

We’re big fans of Yotam Ottolenghi here at The Kitchn, and we shared several of his recipes and thoughts about lunch last month. But NPR snagged a chance to visit the Ottolenghi test kitchen, where his team was currently testing recipes for Nopi: The Cookbook. NPR learned several things about how Ottolenghi’s team tries to test recipes for the home cook.

This may be hard to believe, but there’s an elusive corner of the internet where everyone is really, really, really nice to each other. No, it’s not Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood Dot Com — it’s the world of secret, invitation-only, food-centric Facebook groups. And we believe that they’re some of the few places where the words “happy” and “internet” can coexist.

Last fall, I was standing in line to meet one of my idols, Chrissy Teigen, at the Los Angeles launch of her latest cookbook, Hungry for More. I’d spent the past year cooking her first cookbook from cover to cover — and I was finally going to get to meet her in person to tell her about it. But let me start at the beginning. A few years ago, I set a New Year’s resolution to cook my way through Chrissy Teigen’s first cookbook, Cravings.

One doesn’t generally think of French cuisine as being vegetarian-friendly, yet vegetables are front and center in Clotilde Dusoulier’s French Market Cookbook. In this charming new vegetarian cookbook, the Chocolate & Zucchini author highlights seasonal, meatless dishes that anyone can love.

A new study from researchers at North Carolina State University looked at best-selling cookbooks and found that 99.7 percent of recipes don’t address food-related risks. Is this a problem? The study, published in the British Food Journal, looked at 1,749 recipes containing “raw animal ingredients” from 29 cookbooks featured on the New York Times best-sellers list.

You don’t have to go far out of your way (or dig very deeply into the dark corners of the internet) to find vegan, keto, Paleo, or healthier Instant Pot versions of your all-time favorite foods. Cashew cheese sauce is the new “easy” mac. Keto bread is the new Wonder Bread. Zoodles with cauliflower “cream” sauce are the new fettuccine Afredo. Instant Pot cilantro lime rice is the new Chipotle. See where I’m going with this?

Q: My dad was recently diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and he needs to make some big changes in his eating habits. He is an amazing cook who makes dinner on a nightly basis, but those dinners are filled with carbs, which he needs to cut down on.He is not really quick to embrace new health food trends and wants to avoid changing his cooking lifestyle completely.

Once you start traveling with kids, you develop a deeper appreciation for the vacation rental. Beyond the obvious amenities like kitchens with full-sized fridges and bath tubs, these rentals have more space for the kids to run around and also to give you some peace and quiet to relax. Hey, it’s your vacation too, right?

If I were to guess which city had the most guidebooks written about it, my guess would be Paris. Paris is, after all, the city many romanticize, regardless of whether or not they have actually been there. There is a charm to Paris, a pull for many travelers — it’s a city full of quirks, mystery, hidden streets, and tucked-away gardens. But as a resident of Paris, I am here to tell you: the guidebooks don’t tell you everything.

Picture this: traveling around the world via yacht, shopping in local markets wherever you dock, and cooking delicious meals inspired by your travels back at sea. Some dream, right?! Try not to get too jealous when I tell you that Jane Coxwell has created just such a life for herself. She’s personal chef to Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg aboard their yacht Eos. Yeah. Wow. But we’re in luck!

This is a cookbook about celebration: celebrating women who have survived war and other conflicts, and celebrating the foods that nourish us and bring us together. With recipes like sweet, cakey Sudanese Baseema and fragrant Burmese tomato fish curry, it’s also a cookbook that will lift you right up from your seat and carry you  straight into the kitchen.

It was December 1982. I had a dream job: Culinary Editor of Food & Wine magazine. I was 26 years old and in love with a man who grew up in New York City. I also happened to be in love with New York (as a suburban girl, I had always dreamed of living in the city). There was no way I was going to give up my job or my zip code. I landed an assignment to write about the best restaurants along the New England coast.

Hedgebrook is a retreat center for women writers located on Whidbey Island in Washington, not too far from Seattle. Their purpose is to offer women a quiet, beautiful space, surrounded by nature, so they can direct their energies towards their writing. Called radical hospitality, the staff is dedicated to providing an atmosphere that nourishes and supports the creative process.

So what’s a grocery store in San Francisco doing with a cookbook and why should you care? Take a peek at that lovely cake pictured above and then read on for my review.“Wendell Berry said that eating is an agricultural act; I say that shopping is a community building act.” — Sam Mogannam, owner, Bi-Rite MarketAt first glance it may seem like Eat Good Food is for Bay Area shoppers only.

When I was facing a significant birthday a few years ago (one that ended in a “0”) I began my celebration at SFMOMA, specifically at the Blue Bottle Cafe with a slice of Thiebaud Cake: a chocolate cake covered in strawberry buttercream and filled with Lillet- and vanilla-poached strawberries. Clearly it was going to be a good decade!

Alice Waters’ last cookbook, The Art of Simple Food, made the top of many people’s favorite and most-used cookbook lists. Her newest cookbook, The Art of Simple Food II, is sure to follow suit as she continues her crusade to encourage and inspire people to cook at home. This volume take things one step further by highlighting the garden and by natural extension the importance of freshness and the seasonality of ingredients.

The long-awaited, much anticipated Tartine Book No. 3 is here at last! Are you already a fan of the two previous Tartine books and have been waiting patiently for this latest installment? If so, you will not be disappointed. Or maybe you’ve never heard of Chad Robertson or his San Francisco based Tartine Bakery or his previous cookbooks but are interested in making your own bread using ancient and whole grains? Then dive in: this book is a game-changer.

The release of Chad Roberson’s Tartine Book No. 3 this week has created quite a lot of buzz in the food world. Building on his previous two cookbooks, but especially Tartine Bread, No. 3 takes us on journey into the fascinating world of ancient and whole grains. Not a gluten-free journey, mind you, but a passionate, innovative exploration into the ways these long-forgotten gains can add flavor, texture and character to breads and pastries.

Restaurant cookbooks are a tricky thing. On one hand, a lot of food cooked in restaurants is simply more than a home cook can to tackle: more ingredients, more technique, more time, more expense. And that’s one of the reasons we go to restaurants, right? So that they will cook all this amazing stuff for us so we don’t have to.

I’ve been eyeing the Roberta’s Cookbook sitting in a stack of cookbooks on my kitchen counter for a few weeks now. I’ve never been to Roberta’s, a pizza restaurant located in a cement bunker somewhere in Brooklyn. But Roberta’s legend is far-reaching and I’ve certainly heard of the joint, probably first through a podcast from Heritage Radio Network, which broadcasts shows about food and other cool things.

Cookbook: Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food by Jody Williams Overall Impression: This book is for lovers of simple, good, unfussy food. From soft scrambled eggs to sumptuous lentils, Buvette has each meal and moment covered to the fullest. I can’t put this one down. Buvette is my favorite restaurant in New York City. I discovered it a few years ago with my partner Sam as we were stumbling through the West Village one hot, muggy July morning.

Suzanne Goin’s previous cookbook, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, is one of my top favorite cookbooks of all time. I love it for its casual elegance, for its tried and true restaurant-tested recipes that are also accessible to the home cook. Not a beginner’s cookbook, it is aspirational but within reach, a perfect balance of professional technique and warm, inviting recipes that make you want to invite a bunch friends over to dinner right now!

I’ll admit that I starting off judging this book by its cover. Not that Sweet doesn’t have a nice cover; as you can see above, it’s very enticing. But when my review copy arrived in the mail several weeks ago, I just assumed this was another average sweets/baking cookbook, and while I do bake on occasion, it’s really not where my passion lies.

Italian cuisine is near and dear to many of our hearts, and so I think we can all nod in understanding when Nigella Lawson says, “It was when I was sixteen or seventeen that I decided to be Italian.” Nigellissima is an ode to her younger self and to the food she fell in love with way before Nigella Lawson became a household name. These are simple, nourishing Italian dishes that are as satisfying to make as they are to eat.

To capture the entire sense of a place between the covers of one cookbook is no small task. Yet, here is a photo of bobbing fishing boats that feels so close that I can practically smell the salt water. And a woman making fresh couscous that I want to scoop with my hands, and a basket of silvery fresh-caught anchovies for dinner, and spirals of yellow pasta, and…and…and. Sicily is one of those cookbooks that transports and inspires.

Maybe vegetables aren’t the first thing to jump to mind when you think of Italian cuisine, but that’s about to change. After all, what goes on top of our pizzas, gets tossed with our pastas, and is stirred into our risottos? That’s right: fresh, seasonal vegetables. Domenica Marchetti is here with her latest book of Italian cuisine to make sure we don’t forget about all the beautiful — nay, glorious!

From Marcella Hazan’s post in 2011: Cooking Still Matters It was announced yesterday that beloved cookbook author and teacher Marcella Hazan passed away after 89 years on this planet. For American cooks of a certain generation, she was instrumental in opening up the world of authentic Italian cuisine when she published The Classic Italian Cookbook in 1973. The fact that several of her books from those early years are still in print to day is a testimony to her skills and expertise.

The angle: Vibrant, gorgeous classic Italian food, ’nuff said. (You know you want it.) Recipes for right now: Pecorino and Honey Dip, Pasta alla Norma “Nuda,” Pesto Lasagne, Shrimp and Zucchini Risotto, Peach and Fennel Salad, Florentine Steak, Drunken Tuna, White Pizza with Prosciutto and Arugula, Panna Cotta Who would enjoy this book? Italian-ophiles.

If you’re anything like us, you travel to eat and drink your way through the cultures of the world, shamelessly plugging five meals a day into your itineraries in the name of research, gluttony, and personal glory. There’s nothing more gratifying than finally eating that Bistecca alla Fiorentina we read about months ago or feeling ultra-cool when we discover a street cart other tourists are missing — am I right?

The Angle: Cook like a (real) Irishman. Eat like a (real) Irish family. Recipes for right now: Dublin Coddle; Smoked Haddock and Shellfish Soup; Sardines Braised in Spicy Tomato Sauce; Fish and Seafood Pie; Baked Whole Salmon with Hollandaise Sauce; Roast Duck with Sherry Vinegar Gastrique; Corned Beef; Braised York Cabbage; Brown Bread; Bakewell TartWho would enjoy this book? Anyone hoping to coddle a Dubliner; St.

The angle: This is not the Paris you know from restaurants or movies or the trip you took 15 years ago. This is modern day Paris, as told through the lens of David Lebovitz’s kitchen. Recipes for right now: Artichoke Tapenade with Rosemary Oil, Spiced Meatballs with Sriracha Sauce, Baked Eggs with Kale and Smoked Salmon, Counterfeit Duck Confit, Dukkah-Roasted Cauliflower, Coffee Crème Brulée, Honey-Spice Bread Who would enjoy this book?

The angle: Provence! Wine! Sunshine! Good food! You know you want it. Recipes for right now: Vegetable Soup with Pistou, Bouillabaisse, Barbequed Mussels, Tian à la Provençale, Niçoise Salad, Lemon Tart Who would enjoy this book? Cooks planning a trip to Provence — or dreaming of their last time there.

The book: A Kitchen in France by Mimi Thorisson The angle: With a little attention to the seasons and a few core recipes, you can eat like you live in a French farmhouse, no matter where you are. Recipes for right now: Onion Tarts, Lobster with Jura Wine Sauce, Bouillabasse, Black Pig Pork Roast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Hazelnut Blancmange, Potato Pie with Comte Cheese, Garlic Soup, Beef Cheek Stew Who would enjoy this book? Anyone who dreams in French.

Cookbook: My Little French Kitchen by Rachel Khoo Overall Impression: Drawing inspiration from her travels throughout France, Rachel Khoo puts her distinctive stamp on the country’s regional cuisines. What do you do when you’ve got a case of Parisian ennui? Why, cavort all over France with an ace photographer, gathering gorgeous images and riffing on classic recipes from the country’s various food-producing regions, of course!

Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries II has not yet been published in the US, but I’m sharing this review anyway because I know I’m not the only non-UK citizen who’s a big fan of Mr. Slater and his gorgeous but quite useful cookbooks. You can find copies of the UK edition here and there, and it will be published in the US this fall. But if you’re like me and can’t wait that long, read on for a peek into this beautiful, inspiring volume.

Where’s the voice of moderation this holiday season? We’ve got the Martha Stewart and Co. on one side of the aisle calling for elaborate homemade holiday spreads. On the other side, Rachael Ray and her ilk are encouraging us to assemble “fake-out” holiday foods like a croquembouche made out of donut holes.

If your heart stopped when you heard the news that Fixer Upper would be ending Joanna Gaines Yes, that’s right! In addition to launching a tableware and home decor line for Target, the house-flipping duo will be putting together their best recipes for you to make at home. In a recent post on Instagram, Joanna revealed two dishes she’s been working on for the release.

If you’re a lover of delicious, accessible recipes, chances are you’ve been waiting with bated breath for Chrissy Teigen’s new cookbook. The best-selling cookbook author, supermodel, TV host, Twitter titan, and new mother to little girl Luna told Refinery29 in an interview last year that she took some time off from Cravings 2 while experiencing postpartum depression.

Chrissy Teigen’s first cookbook, Cravings, took care of practically all of my gift-giving needs for an entire year. Everyone in my life seemed to want it, from very serious cooks to people who don’t cook at all. And even though people might initially have been skeptical of a celebrity cookbook in general and a supermodel’s cookbook in particular, Cravings was an enormous bestseller.

Ina Garten’s next cookbook, Cook Like a Pro, won’t come out until fall, but she’s already given us a couple of ideas about what’s to come. First there was the big reveal of the cover, and yesterday she shared her favorite summer salad from the book. It’s a simple tomato and avocado number, and it’s just the kind of thing I want to eat right now. “I’ve been making it so much this summer I just had to share it with you early!

Queen Ina is at it again on Instagram: She just gave us another glimpse into her new cookbook, Cook Like a Pro, coming out this October. A month ago she let us in on a recipe from her upcoming cookbook — a super simple tomato salad — which she said is her favorite summer salad. And yesterday she posted a quick video where she explained her easy yet essential tip for making better homemade croutons. It also just happens to be the recipe she’s making on the cover of her cookbook!

Meghan Markle: Duchess of Sussex, and queen of the kitchen. Long before she married into England’s royal family, the former actress scooped frozen yogurt, kept a food-focused lifestyle blog, and made three-ingredient pasta sauce. Now, she’s using her pull to help publish a cookbook to support a community ravaged by tragedy.

Musician John Legend has a really, really impressive resumé. (He’s the latest person to complete the incredibly rare accomplishment of winning an Academy, Emmy, Oscar, and Tony Award.) All things considered, though, our absolute favorite credential that John Legend gets to hold over all of our heads is that he’s the hype-man and muse to his wife, Chrissy Teigen (also an incredibly impressive human).

For her show, Getting There, on The Skimm, Katie Couric interviews amazing women on how they made it to where they are — and this week’s episode, featuring Ina Garten, gave us all that info, plus a hot tip on Ina’s favorite recipe from all 11 of her books — the fig ricotta cake recipe they make on camera. Katie deserves major props for her bravery: she arrived at Ina’s house with a batch of chocolate pecan scones from Ina’s latest book, Cook Like a Pro.

I first became aware of the British writer and cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop when her book Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper: A Sweet-Sour Memoir of Eating in China was published in the US back in 2008. It’s a fascinating tale of how she discovered and fell in love with a culture much different than the one she grew up in, mostly through eating and preparing and educating herself in their cuisine.