Favorite Cookbooks of Fall 2019:
A Holiday Gift Guide
I’ve spent a lot of time with pretty much every cookbook published in the last few months. After narrowing down about 20 favorites, I recruited some avid home and professional cooks to put them to the test. These were their, and my, top ten. —Samin
Perfect for Adventurous Home Bakers & Professional Pastry Chefs
Order from Amazon, Indiebound, Barnes and Noble, or Powell’s.
From Samin:
The takeaway: As all pastry chefs know, this book is a classic. I’ve been BEGGING every editor I know to reissue it for years, since the original edition has been a collectors item for the last two decades. Claudia Fleming is a genius, and this new generation of home cooks deserves to get to know her brilliance. Her not-too-sweet palate is amazing. Her use of savory ingredients in desserts was groundbreaking. And her recipes have been ripped off and replicated across the world—now, it’s time for folks to get to know the one and only original. This book is a gem, and everyone who loves dessert ought to have a copy.
Perfect for Anyone Interested in Learning More about Oaxacan Cooking
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From reviewer @melissabfernandez:
The concept: This book has great recipes that are easy to follow and yield authentic Oaxacan flavors. AND it has a fantastic recipe for one of my favorite Oaxacan dishes, sopa de guías con chochoyones, a squash vine soup with masa dumplings.
The recipes: There was a chicken soup recipe that blew my mind. It was simplicity at its finest. As I read the recipe, I thought about all of the things I wanted to change in it and realized I couldn’t change anything because of this project. I’m so happy I stuck to the recipe. I made it because it was the kind of day that called for a big warm hug and that recipe delivered. It tasted like home. I made it again the next day in a larger batch to put in quart containers in my freezer.
Perfect for Anyone Interested in American Cooking
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From reviewer @melissabfernandez:
The concept: The simple, comforting recipes comprise a vibrant collection of African-American cooking. This book is rich with historical context, flavor, and sense of place. And it shows us that Black cooking is so much more than just “soul food.”
The recipes: The red beans and rice were Off The Hook. The beans were f**king delicious!
The takeaway: I cooked the beans on a Sunday after a really long week at work. It was such a pleasant memory, being in the kitchen alone, listening to John Coltrane and dicing vegetables, the smell of the smoked ham hock cooking alongside the beans and vegetables, the steam coming from the pot as it all simmered together. It felt like a beautiful ritual. I loved this book and will definitely make those beans again.
Perfect for The Beginner Cook
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From reviewer @alealejandres
The recipes: The technique for the Stove Top Chicken Thighs was incredibly sound, and it led to endless variations. Since getting the book, I make a variation once a week. I also really liked the Sugo recipe for its simplicity and approachability (meat sauces used to scare me).
The takeaway: I think it’s best suited for people who find cooking challenging and who don’t understand themes or techniques. This cookbook is great to teach someone confidence in the kitchen with a core set of recipes that they can riff on.
Perfect for Fans of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
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From reviewer Kati Parker:
The concept: This book is almost like "cooking theory," going over a technique and then branching out from there to recipes and variations on those recipes. Her writing is very approachable and makes you believe you can do anything in the kitchen. While there are no photographs to show how the food should look, there is a lot of advice on how to make a variation of a recipe, which is a great way to educate and inspire confidence. Also, this book is not divided up by courses, as most cookbooks are—it’s divided by methods.
The recipes: The gumbo was a hit. It turned out perfect and created a magical dish from simple ingredients. The chicken korma was also a great intro to Indian cooking for me, with clear instructions. And, I made the creme caramel, which, like a lot of this book, has motivated me to get out of my comfort zone/rut in the kitchen.
The takeaway: I was intimidated by the lack of pictures and in some cases, recipe lists, at first glance. However, after reading the intro and delving in to the rest of the book, I like how this book's main message is if you master one technique, you now know 100 recipes that include that technique. I also liked that it educated the reader on cuisine from various cultures, and had relatively complex recipes that didn't pander to the reader.
Perfect for The Adventurous Home Cook
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From reviewer @lvollm:
The concept: The context on Tex-Mex cooking, interwoven with the story of the author's family, was very enjoyable to read and contributed a lot to the whole experience of cooking from this book.
The recipes: There were no duds in the six recipes I cooked! The Broccolini Torrada, which had a pretty straightforward ingredient list and quick prep was suuuper delicious. I also made and enjoyed the puffy tacos - definitely project cooking but a lot of fun!
The takeaway: I loved that the book has a range of recipes with different levels of commitment - dishes that can take you a day or two, things that are quick to put together and everything in between. It definitely took me away from my normal kind of cooking and eating in a festive way and found some new staple recipes to add to my repertoire.
Perfect for Bakers of All Skill Levels
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From reviewer Darien:
The concept: For some reason, recipes from famous chefs rarely come out tasting like what you’d have at a restaurant – maybe it’s that people are hesitant to share all their secrets, lest someone steals them and becomes a competitor. It’s different with Joanne Chang’s Pastry Love, which generously bursts with tips for professional-quality pastries that taste like what you'd order at her Boston-based Flour bakery.
The recipes: The double chocolate cookies are the equivalent of a bunch of head-exploding emojis – cookies that taste, in some ways, more chocolatey than a bar of chocolate itself. Maybe it’s the addition of rye flour, which makes the cookies less sweet while adding a nuttiness that boosts the chocolate flavor. Whatever it is, these are equal parts fudgy, chewy, and soft, with caramelized edges to boot: a perfect bite – or several, because it's incomprehensible to stop at just one.
The takeaway: If pastry is a love language, this book is DuoLingo: you’ll learn the language fast, and soon you’ll be connecting with others so expertly that you’ll wonder why more conflicts in this complicated world aren’t solved with Joanne’s sticky buns with apple cider goo or slices of olive oil cake studded with fresh grapes that turn jammy in the oven. There's something in here for everybody, whether you’re a novice or advanced home baker, are vegan or gluten-free, or prefer savory over sweet – and each and every recipe is accompanied by beautiful sets of photos. The recipes, not to mention, are forgiving. The end result did exactly what I hoped, every time: soothing stressed co-workers and comforting heartbroken friends, communicating more to them than my awkward and inarticulate self could never properly say. When words fail, as they say, Pastry Love is there to help.
Perfect for Anyone Interested in Middle Eastern and Jewish Flavors
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From reviewer @ridgesandvalleys:
The concept: I thought this book was a super approachable entry into Israeli, Middle-Eastern and Jewish cooking. This book has all the staples (hummus, babaganoush, recipes with za'atar, tahini, lemons, chickpeas, couscous, lamb), but it also has advanced basics (pita, preserved lemons, pomegranate molasses), weeknight dinner recipes (roasted carrots, harissa honey pargiyot, various pasta recipes and salads) as well as a nice mix of "project" recipes (the stuffed grape leaves, a two-day recipe for a sabbath loaf, pelmenyi), plus a fun selection of desserts. I thought this was a surprisingly well-rounded cookbook, and one I might turn to for a variety of occasions.
The recipes: My favorites were basics that helped me nail down some essential techniques. The ones I particularly loved were: Cast-Iron Skillet Pita—great, basic recipe with excellent results. The 24-Hour Salted Lemon Spread is a really excellent condiment! The instructions were perfect (including timing) for the Roasted Sheet Pan Tomatoes. The Roasted Tomato and Labeneh Pappardelle was a great marriage of the roasted tomatoes and homemade labeneh, and I loved how rich it was, especially with the cumin in the sauce. Finally, we've made the Persimmon, Goat Cheese and Pecan Salad four (!!) times since we picked up the cookbook.
The takeaway: Adeena Sussman seems to cook the way so many of us do, taking influences and techniques from lots of places and applying them in ways both familiar and novel. She draws on her history with Jewish cooking (kugel, challah, pelmenyi), and also looks broadly across the Middle East for ideas (stuffed eggplant). She also isn't afraid to mix metaphors in her cooking in a way that feels familiar rather than tone-deaf (Israeli street corn, toasted challah caprese salad), because it reflects an American ecumenical approach to culinary influence. While I thought many of the recipes we tried skewed a sweet for my taste, overall I loved how approachable this book felt. I'd happily have it on my shelves and would turn to it again and again.
Perfect for Anyone Interested in Weaving Simple, Traditional Japanese Cooking into Their Repertoire
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From reviewer @AyaBrackett:
The concept and recipes: The recipes are very authentic and taste familiar to my Japanese mother's traditional cooking, but Sakai also incorporates influences from her time spent in California. For example, there is a granola recipe with roasted soybeans, soy lees breakfast pancakes and photography of her life in California. There is a sense that the tenets of Japanese cooking which require seasonality, freshness and local ingredients are easily translated to Sakai's life in California. As a Japanese-American kid who grew up in California, I related and enjoyed her reflections of living in California and eating Japanese food!
The takeaway: The recipes are authentic and thorough - she calls for traditional ingredients (no strange or dumbed-down substitutions), while still encouraging seasonality and local ingredients. The book is a comprehensive overview of familiar and important Japanese home dishes. Since it's hard to get my Japanese mother to write down her recipes, this feels like the next best thing as a guide for cooking Japanese food for my family.
Perfect for Anyone Interested in Korean Cooking, (even total amateurs!)
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From reviewer @whoisgarylee:
The concept: Maangchi ties the recipes to her family and experiences in Korea, giving you a sense of place.
The recipes: The Chive Pancake, Stir-Fried Fish Cakes, and Pan-Fried Cod Fillets were all dishes I grew up helping my parents make. Maangchi simplifies Korean cooking to make it accessible for amateur home cooks everywhere.
Takeaway: As a Korean-American, I admit to being deeply protective of the cuisine I grew up eating but had rarely cooked. Any skepticism I had melted away with my first delicious and crunchy bite of her chive pancake. Maangchi brings all of the charm and helpful information of her popular YouTube videos into print form. She helps the reader navigate the Korean grocery store aisles and simplifies age-old traditional Korean dishes that not even I, a terribly-handsome yet actually terrible home cook, can mess it up! I think the more people cooking and eating Korean food, the better!