Cookbooks & Food Writing from our 2021 Winter Newsletter

Black Food, a “recipe-driven anthology,” is one of the most exciting and moving books I’ve read. Food activist and cookbook author Bryant Terry’s groundbreaking collection brings together recipes, art, poetry, and essays representing some of the depth and breadth of Black food and the people who make it. This very special book, rich with the voices of so many who together paint a history as well as join in celebration, will be hailed for years to come.—S.B.

I’m a huge fan of the New York Times cooking app, so I was excited to delve into more recipes from the Times. What I found was even better: one woman’s wonderful and wry journey through American cooking history. The Essential New York Times Cookbook is an atlas for the cooks who are endlessly curious and are interested in everything from the history of the gin fizz to the countless ways immigrants have shaped the food we eat. Happy cooking!—Jax

Filipinx welcomes you in, gives you a beautiful orientation to Filipino food, and inspires you to embrace all of the stories and flavors that come from Dimayuga's heritage recipes. The book includes more than a hundred dishes, with detailed recipes and vibrant photography. Modern, but inspired by the traditional meals made by Dimayuga’s immigrant parents, the personal food in Filipinx is for both experienced and home cooks.—Jenny

What a beautifully insightful and reflective book. Between the covers of Taste Makers, you will meet seven immigrant women who used food to retain their identity and recreated a sense of connection and belonging to their home country. Mayukh Sen, the son of immigrant parents, is known for his nuanced, award-winning profiles of food personalities. This collection of stories is rich with history, culture, and the strength of women. Read one story a night and in a week, you'll have seven lifetimes and a world of knowledge, understanding, and curiosity about the origin of food in America.—Jenny

Books by baking legend Dorie Greenspan are some of the most used and most loved in my house, and her newest is yet another excellent one. Baking with Dorie includes recipes for pastries, cakes (the Lemon Meringue Layer Cake is amazing!), cookies, pies, and even some savory baked goods, all of which are easy enough for beginners to make. Greenspan is such an accomplished baker and her wisdom will improve any baker’s technique, but her books are always accessible—from the friendly tone of her voice to her use of ingredients that can be found at regular supermarkets. I can’t say enough good things about this 5-time James Beard Award winner!—S.B. 

Don’t miss our virtual event with Dorie Greenspan on November 16th, 2021.

Abra Berens has followed up her excellent vegetable cookbook Ruffage with an equally fantastic book on grains, seeds, and legumes. I never thought I could get so excited about barley, buckwheat, and bulgur, but Berens makes every ingredient so interesting and appealing. Whether boiled, stewed, or fried, peas, corn, rice, chickpeas, and more are showcased in all their humble glory. With its profiles of farmers, gorgeous photographs, delicious recipes, and great writing, Grist belongs in every home cook’s kitchen.—S.B. 

In time for the holidays, Provecho is here to give us mouth-watering, life-saving vegan spins on the classic family staples of any Latinx household, from agua de jamaica and horchata to pozole verde, tacos, and many familiar antojitos and desserts. As a first-gen Mexican American like Edgar Castrejón, I truly appreciated the care that he put into all of the recipes.—Andrea C.

To know him is to love him, and to love him is to want to cook his recipes. Queer Eye cutie Antoni Porowski delivers big with his newest cookbook, Antoni: Let’s Do Dinner. Easy-to-follow recipes meet gorgeous plates in this compilation of Antoni’s favorites. He may not be able to join you at your dinner table but he’ll coach you through the cooking process with all the delightful encouragement he’d give any Queer Eye guest.—Jess

James Beard award winner Joshua McFadden’s previous book, Six Seasons, was a game-changer in vegetable cookery, and he brings that same inventiveness to the world of whole grains in his new book. He shows how to maximize the flavor and texture of grains, and has recipes for using them in savory and sweet dishes (such as Meat Loaf with Barley and Mushrooms and Peanut Butter–Barley Cookies). More than two hundred recipes for salads, soups, pastas, grain bowls, pizzas, bread, and more showcase McFadden’s creativity and grains’ infinite possibilities.—S.B. 

David Chang doesn’t do anything traditionally. Cooking at Home is a great addition for anyone cooking for a household, with its easy, versatile recipes designed for multiple mouths and week-long leftover adaptation. But it is also a philosophical treatise, a Lucky Peach–esque assemblage of articles, and an extremely entertaining (and enlightening!) discourse between Chang and Priya Krishna, page to page, on taste, technique, gastronomical identity, and how hard it is to write a cookbook with David Chang. Fun and delicious.—Jocelyn