By Leslie Brenner
[Editor’s note: This is Part II of our two-part Cookbook Gift Guide.]
Part I of our roundup of our favorite and most promising cookbooks published this year included 8 outstanding new titles. Here is the second inspiring batch. We’re working on full reviews of a number of them, and have already cooked from most.
Any one of the books below will thrill an adventuresome cook on your list.
Mezcla: Recipes to Excite
Author Ixta Belfrage had a truly international childhood. She grew up in Tuscany, with a Brazilian mother and a New York-born father whose family relocated to Mexico during the McCarthy era (when his own British-born father was deported). Italian, Brazilian, Mexican, American and English culture — including food culture — were important parts of Belfrage’s life, as she spent a good deal of time as a child with her grandparents in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in her mother’s hometown of Natal, Brazil, and, as a 19-year-old, living in Rio de Janeiro. All of these culinary cultures come to play in her cooking, along with the outsized influence of Yotam Ottolenghi — with his wide palette of flavors. She worked for the chef-author for five years, first at NOPI restaurant, and then in the OTK (Ottolenghi Test Kitchen).
Belfrage’s first solo book celebrates this far-flung mix of influences (mezcla means “mixture” in Spanish), and the result is a collection of highly original recipes expressing a fresh, open cooking style that you might think of as joyous fusion. It’s a style very much in the idiom of Ottolenghi Flavor, which she co-authored. She divides Mexcla into two sections: “Everyday” (quick and easy recipes) and “Entertaining” (more elaborate, weekend-project-type recipes). Sometimes, but not always, the fusion is within a dish, such as Hake Torta Ahogada with Shrimp Miso Bisque. We test-drove one recipe that keeps the flavor profile Italian and preparation minimal: an ingenious vegetarian dish of tagliatelle dressed in an intensely flavorful porcini ragù that cooks in about 10 minutes. Verdict: Want to cook more!
Mezcla: Recipes to Excite by Ixta Belfrage, photographs by Yuki Sugiura, Ten Speed Press, $35.
The Vegan Chinese Kitchen
Hannah Che, creator of the excellent blog The Plant-Based Wok, has published one of the most inspiring and beautiful books to hit the shelves in some time. (Our Cookbook of the Year, Via Carota, is another.) Now based in Portland, Oregon, Che studied in Guangzhou, at the only vegetarian cooking school in China. There she immersed herself in zhai cai, the plant-based cuisine with centuries-old Buddhist roots that emphasizes umami-rich ingredients. If you like flipping through a cookbook filled with photos of dishes that are absolutely gorgeous, you’ll love this — and Che took those photos herself. I’ve marked probably at least three-quarters of the recipes as “want to cook,” and very much enjoyed the first one I tried: Napa Cabbage and Vermicelli Salad.
The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories from a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition by Hannah Che, Clarkson Potter, $35.
Dinner in One: Exceptional and Easy One-Pan Meals
In Dinner in One, New York Times cooking columnist and award-winning author Melissa Clark focuses on streamlining: All 100 recipes wrap maximum deliciousness in minimum effort. Her smart introduction explains why home cooking is fundamentally different than restaurant cooking — and consequently most chef recipes — requiring a completely different approach. In her new book, she explains in the intro, “The recipes are simple but not simplistic, with complex, layered flavors that you can achieve with minimal stress.” Mission accomplished: Cooks both experienced and just starting out will love the results. Try this recipe for a sheet-pan chicken “tagine” to see what we mean.
Dinner in One: Exceptional and Easy One-Pan Meals by Melissa Clark, Photographs by Linda Xiao, Clarkson Potter, $29.99.
Masa
Jorge Gaviria’s important, encyclopedic volume is a must-have for Mexican cooking aficionados, including chefs and serious home cooks. We reviewed it last month.
Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple by Jorge Gaviria, photographs by Graydon Herriott, Chronicle Books, $35.
First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home
Here’s another super-appealing debut from the creator of a popular blog. If there’s someone on your list who loves dumplings and appreciates wonderful writing, choose First Generation. Author Frankie Gaw, the cook behind the delightful Little Fat Boy blog, weaves terrific personal stories into his headnotes. Excellent step-by-step visuals (expertly illustrated and photographed by Gaw) show how to pull noodles, wrap wontons, make braided bao wrappers and more. I haven’t yet cooked from it, but can’t wait to let Gaw teach me how to make Sesame Shaobing, Lau-Kee Congee, Pork Belly Mushroom Corn Soup and more.
First Generation; Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home by Frankie Gaw, Ten Speed Press, $32.50.
Buy First Generation at Bookshop
Buy First Generation at Amazon
In Diasporican, Illyanna Maisonet reflects, unflinchingly, on the Puerto Rican disapora and why it’s been so difficult for the cooking of Puerto Rico to take off stateside. “The truth is,” she writes, “Puerto Rican cuisine shares a lot in common with the cuisines of Hawai‘i, Guam and the Philippines — all the places that got fucked by Spanish and United States colonialism.” Winner of an IACP award for narrative food writing and former columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, Maisonet offers a compelling collection of very personal recipes mixed in with traditional ones, many inspired by her grandmother, from whom she learned to cook when she was growing up in Sacramento, California. High on my list of dishes to try is saucy shrimp with chorizo served over funche, the cornmeal-and-coconut milk pudding that historically was eaten by enslaved people working on sugar-cane plantations. Maisonet’s holiday recipes are particularly enticing; I might just make her fabulous-looking, oregano-happy Pernil (long-roasted pork-shoulder roast) this Christmas, and her Thanksgiving Leftovers Pavochon Pasta Bake may become a serious challenger to my Turkey Tetrazzini. This much I know: Next time I see ripe hachiya persimmons, I’ll be making Maisonet’s Persimmon Cookies.
Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet, Ten Speed Press, $32.50.
The Mediterranean Dish
The debut cookbook from Suzy Karadsheh, founder of the hugely popular cooking and lifestyle website The Mediterranean Dish, includes recipes drawn from the Middle East to North Africa and Southern Europe. Born and raised in the Egyptian city of Port Said, Karadsheh began to learn to cook from her mom, who loved to entertain, and after she was married and living in the United States, from her Jordanian mother-in-law. I love reading about how her mom would prepare for an Egyptian azooma (feast), or about making mahshi — stuffed vegetables — which Karadsheh describes as “a sport among Egyptian women, who compete to throw the best mahshi dinner in the neighborhood.” Better to wait for the next tomato season to make her recipe for stuffed bell peppers and tomatoes. In the meantime, her Sicily-inspired saucy baked cod, which uses Roma tomatoes, is delicious any time of year. This one’s a great choice for cooks who are just starting out.
The Mediterranean Dish By Suzy Karadsheh with Susan Puckett, photographs by Caitlin BenseL, Clarkson Potter, $32.50.
Evolutions in Bread
Ten years after the publication of the ground-breaking, IACP and James Beard Award-winning bread-baking bible Flour Water Salt Yeast, Ken Forkish gives us Evolutions in Bread. A focus on artisan pan loaves is what the evolution is all about; it was borne from Forkish’s fondness for the artisan pan loaves that are constantly selling out at his Ken’s Artisan Bakery in Portland, Oregon. But that’s not the only innovation: Forkish also developed a new, simplified, flour-efficient way to establish and maintain your sourdough — which is not required in most of the recipes, but benefits them. Ancient grains such as einkorn, emmer and spelt also figure prominently. If I were to own just one book about bread-baking, this would be it.
Evolutions in Bread: Artisan Pan Breads and Dutch-Oven Loaves at Home by Ken Forkish, photographs by Alan Weiner, Ten Speed Press, $35.
Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking
Finally, three years after the first Pasta Grannies cookbook, based on Vicky Bennison’s popular YouTube channel, comes Volume II — Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking. The myriad pasta dishes look incredible, from Ernestina’s Cannelloni Verdi Ripieni di Carne (Spinach Cannelloni with Meat Filling from Romagna) to Iginia’s Princisgras (Porcini and Proscuitto Lasagna from Macerata) to Biggina’s Fettucine con Coniglio all’Ischitana (Fettuccine with Braised Rabbit from Ischia). And the other comfort dishes are just as enticing: Enrica’s Torta Verde con Prescinsêua (Cheese and Chard Pie from Genova); Teresa’s Tajedda Salentina (Mussel Bake from Salento); Ida’s Chocolate Bunet (Chocolate Pudding from Piedmont). I love flipping through its pages and seeing the smiling faces of those beautiful nonnas and their irresistible dishes: How refreshing to see older cooks celebrated and appreciated.
Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking by Vicky Bennison, Hardie Grant Books, $32.50.
Buy Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking at Bookshop
Buy Pasta Grannies: Comfort Cooking at Amazon
Also recommended:
The Wok: Recipes and Technique by Kenji López-Alt, W.W. Norton, $50.
Masala: Recipes from India, the Land of Spices by Anita Jainsinghani, Ten Speed Press, $35.
Ottolonghi Test Kitchen Extra Good Things, Clarkson Potter, $32
Buy OTK Extra Good Things at Bookshop.
Buy OTK Extra Good Things at Amazon.
Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home by Eric Kim, Clarkson Potter, $32.50.
READ Part I of our Holiday Cookbook Gift Guide: “The year’s best cookbooks make the season’s greatest gifts”
