A selection of cookbooks and food writing to appease your appetite.
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Cookbooks
Chef and writer Samin Nosrat has taught everyone from professional chefs to middle school kids to author Michael Pollan to cook using her revolutionary, yet simple, philosophy. Master the use of just four elements—Salt, which enhances flavor; Fat, which delivers flavor and generates texture; Acid, which balances flavor; and Heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food—and anything you cook will be delicious. By explaining the hows and whys of good cooking, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat will teach and inspire a new generation of cooks how to confidently make better decisions in the kitchen and cook delicious meals with any ingredients, anywhere, at any time.
Whether you're short of time or just prefer to keep things simple, From the Oven to the Table shows how the oven can do much of the work that goes into making a great meal. Diana Henry's favorite way to cook is to throw ingredients into a dish or roasting pan, slide them into the oven, and let the heat behind that closed door transform them into golden, burnished meals. From quick after-work suppers to feasts for friends, the dishes are vibrant and modern, and focus on grains, pulses, and vegetables as much as meat and fish.
In Jubilee, Tipton-Martin brings masters of African American cuisine into our kitchens. Through recipes and stories, we cook along with these pioneering figures, from enslaved chefs to middle- and upper-class writers and entrepreneurs. With more than 100 recipes, Jubilee presents techniques, ingredients, and dishes that show the roots of African American cooking—deeply beautiful, culturally diverse, fit for celebration.
In Feast, award-winning chef Anissa Helou—an authority on the cooking of North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East—shares her extraordinary range of beloved, time-tested recipes and stories from cuisines throughout the Muslim world.
There was a time when, for Ella Risbridger, the world had become overwhelming. Sounds were too loud, colours were too bright, everyone moved too fast. One night she found herself lying on her kitchen floor, wondering if she would ever get up - and it was the thought of a chicken, of roasting it, and of eating it, that got her to her feet and made her want to be alive. This is a cookbook to make you fall in love with the world again.
From One-Bowl Devil’s Food Layer Cake to a flawless Cherry Pie that’s crisp even on the very bottom, BraveTart is a celebration of classic American desserts. Whether down-home delights like Blueberry Muffins and Glossy Fudge Brownies or supermarket mainstays such as Vanilla Wafers and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, your favorites are all here. These meticulously tested recipes bring an award-winning pastry chef’s expertise into your kitchen, along with advice on how to “mix it up” with over 200 customizable variations—in short, exactly what you’d expect from a cookbook penned by a senior editor at Serious Eats.
Available to download: eBook
Indian food is everyday food! This colorful, lively book is food writer Priya Krishna’s loving tribute to her mom’s “Indian-ish” cooking—a trove of one-of-a-kind Indian-American hybrids that are easy to make, clever, practical, and packed with flavor. Think Roti Pizza, Tomato Rice with Crispy Cheddar, Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Green Pea Chutney, and Malaysian Ramen.
Available to download: eBook
After the extraordinary success of Cravings, Chrissy comes back with more of her signature wit and take-no-prisoners flavor bombs. This time the 100 recipes are even simpler and more bang-for-your-buck--it's how she's cooking now as a new parent, but it's perfect for all busy cooks. Building on Cravings and the establishment of Chrissy as a major new culinary voice, this follow-up takes us further into her kitchen--a kitchen now marked by new parenthood, a need for some quicker meals, and multi-purpose sauces and condiments, without sacrificing any of Chrissy's signature need for maximum flavor.
Available to download: eBook
The Food of Sichuan shows home cooks how to re-create classics such as Mapo Tofu, Twice-Cooked Pork and Gong Bao Chicken, or a traditional spread of cold dishes, including Bang Bang Chicken, Numbing-and-Hot Dried Beef, Spiced Cucumber Salad and Green Beans in Ginger Sauce. With gorgeous food and travel photography and enhanced by a culinary and cultural history of the region, The Food of Sichuan is a captivating insight into one of the world’s greatest cuisines.
In this insightful and enchanting cookbook, new flavors, textures, techniques, and ways to enjoy all the vegetables you want to eat are revealed by chef and former farmer Abra Berens. Not only a terrific resource, with more than 300 recipes written in Berens' uniquely succinct style, the book also presents evocative storytelling to open each chapter, and photography that conveys the seasons and rugged beauty of Michigan farm country.
A collection of stories and 100 sweet and savory French-inspired recipes from popular food blogger David Lebovitz, reflecting the way Parisians eat today and featuring lush photography taken around Paris and in David's Parisian kitchen.
Deravian's family left Iran during the height of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, when she was eight years old. In their new Canadian home, she became aware of the power of her mother's home-cooked Persian meals to break down barriers and connect newly-made friends to her culture-- and herself. Years later the kitchen became a place where Deravian could relax and reconnect with herself, preparing meals for her own family that reflected her life both in and outside Iran.
Food Writing
Baffled by the language, but convinced that he can master the art of French cooking--or at least get to the bottom of why it is so revered--Bill Buford begins what becomes a five-year odyssey by shadowing the esteemed French chef Michel Richard, in Washington, D.C. But when Buford (quickly) realizes that a stage in France is necessary, he goes--this time with his wife and three-year-old twin sons in tow--to Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France. Studying at L'Institut Bocuse, cooking at the storied, Michelin-starred La Mère Brazier, enduring the endless hours and exacting rigeur of the kitchen, Buford becomes a man obsessed--with proving himself on the line, proving that he is worthy of the gastronomic secrets he's learning, proving that French cooking actually derives from (mon dieu!) the Italian.
Available to download: eBook
Growing up in the Bronx and Nigeria, food was Kwame Onwuachi's great love. He launched his own catering company with twenty thousand dollars he made selling candy on the subway, and trained in the kitchens of some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. By the time he was twenty-seven, Onwuachi had competed on Top Chef, cooked at the White House, and opened and closed one of the most talked about restaurants in America. In this memoir, he shares the remarkable story of his culinary coming-of-age.
Available to download: Audio
Trailblazing food writer and beloved restaurant critic Ruth Reichl took the job (and the risk) of a lifetime when she entered the glamorous, high-stakes world of magazine publishing. Now, for the first time, she chronicles her groundbreaking tenure as editor in chief of Gourmet, during which she spearheaded a revolution in the way we think about food.
Professional journalist and amateur drinker Bianca Bosker didn't know much about wine - until she discovered the world of elite sommeliers who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of flavour. Astounded by their fervour and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, she set out to uncover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a 'cork dork.' With boundless curiosity, humour and a healthy dose of scepticism, Bosker takes the reader inside underground tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, California mass-market wine factories and even a neuroscientist's fMRI machine as she attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what's the big deal about wine?
Available to download: eBook
Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who "owns" it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes readers to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine.
A wildly hilarious and irreverent memoir of a globe-trotting life lived meal-to-meal by one of our most influential and respected food critics. From dim sum in Hong Kong to giant platters of Peking duck in Beijing, fresh-baked croissants in Paris and pierogi on the snowy streets of Moscow, Platt takes us around the world, re-tracing the steps of a unique, and lifelong, culinary education. Providing a glimpse into a life that has intertwined food and travel in exciting and unexpected ways, The Book of Eating is a delightful and sumptuous trip that is also the culinary coming-of-age of a voracious eater and his eventual ascension to become, as he puts it, “a professional glutton.”