Show us your latest cookbook acquisitions!

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

They (Ruth and Nancy) talked about Cafe Fanny's blueberry muffins as being exemplary; and they contain millet (maybe one of the obscure ingredients people complain about on that fb group).  I've already bought some millet and extra-large eggs; the blueberry muffins will be my first bake from the book.

Good choice!  That was another recipe that people liked and at least one thought they were the best blueberry muffin they’d ever had. There's also a corn muffin with cornflakes on top that I thought sounded interesting although at least one person said the fuss wasn’t worth the effort. 

[weinoo]

I was also thinking of making this one. I like using 3 ingredients!

 

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

@weinoo, another three ingredient almond cookie is this one from Doris Greenspan:

https://food52.com/recipes/67683-dorie-greenspan-s-3-ingredient-almond-crackle-cookies

 

They are best eaten within 12 hrs of baking for the most crunch. After that, even kept in a tin, they get chewy, which isn't bad either. Sliced almonds, sugar and a whole egg, and that's it. Really easy, really good, perfect with pears in wine for dessert. Great choice for gluten-averse dinner guests. I have a close friend, very appreciative of all dinner invites,, not gluten-free at all, but who is cooking-averse and loves these. Even she can make them. 

[blue_dolphin]

It's been quite some time since I shared my cookbook acquisitions here. Guess I've been lazy but there's also the fact that for many years, I've viewed every cookbook post to be the beginning of a conversation with @Anna N and it makes me sad to know those convos are no more.  There are some books on this list that I haven't cooked from yet and that certainly wouldn't have happened when Anna was around as I always tried to cook at least a few recipes before mentioning a new book.  I'll try to come back and update this when I get around to more cooking.  

Onward...to the new-ish arrivals shelf...

 

Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Nigella Lawson - I think this one would have been right up Anna's alley as I know she mentioned cooking from Nigella's recipes multiple times.  It came out in 2021, but I haven't seen many specific mentions of it here on eG. It was the December book in my cookbook group and I didn't cook as much from it as I wanted but really enjoyed the experience and would very much recommend it to anyone who enjoys Nigella's writing.  There are a ton of what I'll call "stealth recipes" that are tucked into essays that begin chapters or header notes or even buried right in another recipe. Eat Your Books is your friend in ferreting out these little gems.  

 

Veg-table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Focused Meals (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Nik Sharma - this is Nik's latest book and came out towards the end of last year.  It's not a vegetarian cookbook, plenty of meat, fish and chicken here but it's organized by vegetable "families" so it's kind of the focus.  It's this month's book in my cookbook group and I haven't cooked a ton from it yet but I've liked what I've made and have a lot of recipes marked to try. He uses a lot of interesting flavor combinations and a fair number of unusual ingredients.  On the downside, he's formatted the recipes without a separate ingredient list and has instead incorporated them into the recipe text, as they are used in the recipe, using a bold font so they stand out.  You can see what this looks like in the Amazon sample. He claims that this is the style used in the Joy of Cooking and some other classics.  Those books do list ingredients as they are called for but they stand proud of the instructional text, instead of being incorporated in it as this book does.  My gripe with the format is that I usually scale recipes and like to write the amounts I actually use next to the ingredients and that's entirely impossible with this style.  Some people absolutely refused to even try cooking from the book.  For me, it's not a tragedy, just an annoyance. Photos are Nik's signature dark, sometimes moody style. Sometimes takes a little sorting to identify which photo goes with which recipe.  

 

Snacking Bakes: Simple Recipes for Cookies, Bars, Brownies, Cakes, and More (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Yossy Arefi - bought this one because I really enjoyed her previous book, Snacking Cakes,  full of easy, one-bowl, modestly-sized cakes.  Haven't touched it yet but am looking forward to it.

 

Zingerman's Bakehouse Celebrate Every Day: A Year's Worth of Favorite Recipes for Festive Occasions, Big and Small (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Amy Emberling, Lindsay-Jean Hard, Lee Vedder and Corynn Coscia - I believe this was the November book for the Food52 Baking group, although it's not strictly a baking book as there are plenty of soups and plenty of savory baking, too.  It's organized by season with a few recipes for a range of well-known and more unusual holidays, like the Moroccan Harira Soup, Za'atar Flatbreads and Nutty Butterball Cookies that I made and enjoyed on  World Kindness Day.  I think this one would make a fun gift book as it kind of puts you in the mood to celebrate 

 

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Diana Henry - This book was originally published almost 20 years so this is kind of an anniversary re-issue but contains a bunch of new recipes as well.  I know I called this out in the Kindle bargain topic but it's still only $1.99 for the Kindle edition of the new book.  Diana's one of my favorite cookbook authors so I'm very much looking forward to diving into the book as it will be the March selection for my group.  Honestly, I'll probably be dipping into it sooner as it's really a book made for cold weather cooking.  I'd highly recommend this to anyone looking for some warming winter recipes.  Sadly, Diana got Covid around the same time I did after Christmas and has been in the hospital with that and pneumonia and was still in ICU a couple of days ago, although her Instagram post sounded like she was getting better.  Hope she'll be back to herself soon.

 

50 Great Curries of India (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Camellia Panjabi - this was totally an eG-enabled purchase.  There's a topic about it in the Cooking forum and it pops up in discussion often.  Looking forward to diving in!

 

Latinísimo: Home Recipes from the Twenty-One Countries of Latin America: A Cookbook (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Sandra Gutierrez - I ordered this one after listening to a few author interviews and reading articles, like this excellent one in the Washington Post: A life’s work: Celebrating the glories of Latin American home cooking (that should be a gift link.)  It's described as being about home cooking in 21 different Latin American countries. The recipes are organized by ingredient, which makes for a nice way to compare and contrast recipes from different areas.  My gripe with the book is in the formatting, where there's a ton of white space on most pages but the font is quite small.  I'm nearsighted and usually have no problem with small print but this is right on the edge of being annoying - I love to settle in and read a cookbook and this one just isn't a relaxing experience.  So I'm going to recommend the book but advise purchasing it in an ebook format to avoid being annoyed. 

 

Bold Beans: recipes to get your pulse racing (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Amelia Christie-Miller - I think I've mentioned this one in a bean topic and maybe a Kindle bargain topic.  The authors own a UK company that sells fancy-ish jarred beans and these recipes make use of their products, although they also provide instructions for cooking your own dried beans.  I found the flavor combinations to be interesting and lots of the recipes are super quick and easy to toss together.  A good addition for any beaniac's cookbook collection. 

 

Grilled Cheese: 50 Recipes to Make You Melt (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by @marlena spieler - after we learned of Marlena's passing earlier this year, I spent some time reading her contributions here and found several mentions of this book.  It's chock full of sandwiches made with interesting cheeses, all sorts of breads and delicious-sounding accompaniments.  I'm pretty sure it's out of print, but I picked up a used copy and I believe there's an e-book version as well. 

 

Veg Forward: Super-Delicious Recipes that Put Produce at the Center of Your Plate (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) by Susan Spungen - Like Nik Sharma's Veg-Table, this one is touted as having a vegetable focus but not strictly vegetarian though this one comes closer to veg, including small amounts of meat or fish more or less as seasonings rather than the center of the plate.  Like Nik, Susan did her own photography for the book although the layout is less artsy:  Recipe on one page and photograph of the finished dish on the facing page. This one is organized by season rather than veg family.  I confess that I put it away on the shelf when I got it, planning to compare with Veg-Table when it came in and promptly forgot about it.  I'll have to pull it out and line up some comparisons in the next month or so. 

 

I'll try to update these as I cook more from the books and add new books more frequently to avoid a big dump like this. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29 by blue_dolphin
Photographed the wrong Susan Spungen book (log)

[ElsieD]

Well, darn you, @blue_dolphin look at what you made me do! 😀 I'm now the proud owner of Snacking Bakes.  I too have her Snacking Cakes and really like it so i look forward to baking from it.  My tally today, thanks to the Merry Band of eGullet Enablers is 3 cookbooks.

Edited January 29 by ElsieD
Fixed typo (log)

[AAQuesada]

[rotuts]

this is a pic

 

from a current GB TV show   Criminal Record

 

 

nest I could capture

 

more on ether side  and below these

 

what does one make of them ?

[blue_dolphin]

25 minutes ago, rotuts said:

this is a pic

 

from a current GB TV show   Criminal Record

 

 

nest I could capture

 

more on ether side  and below these

 

what does one make of them ?

What info are you looking for?

The only ones I can make are River Cottage Veg, the pink one in the middle, to the right of that is Diana Henry's Salt, Sugar, Smoke, and to the right of that is Paul Hollywood's How to Bake. 
To the left of Veg, I believe is Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. 
 

Edited January 31 by blue_dolphin (log)

[rotuts]

I was just curious what sort of props 

 

they were using on this set.

 

thanks

[Katie Meadow]

I don't buy a lot of cookbooks, but recently I bought several used ones on eBay:

Root to Leaf / Steven Satterfield (of Miller Union in Atlanta)

Open Kitchen / Susan Spungen

50 Great Curries of India

Frida's Fiesta / a lovely book that has recipes for some of Frida Kahlo's favorite meals for entertaining.

[blue_dolphin]

Well, I won't have it for months, but I caved on yet another Ottolenghi and pre-ordered his upcoming release, Comfort, co-authored with Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley.

I ordered from Blackwell's so I'll get the graphic UK cover instead of the North American photo version.

 

[weinoo]

On 1/26/2024 at 5:01 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I'll say first that I've found her recipes in previous cookbooks to be unnecessarily fussy

 

So I finally got around to making the blueberry/millet muffins from Nancy Silverton's latest cookbook (yesterday)...

 

 

In addition to not winning any beauty contests, the recipe turns out to be fussier that I need in my life (between cracking the millet, and melting the butter, and cooling the butter, and ribbonning the egg and sugar, oy vey - just stop!).  They taste good, though. 

[dans]

I picked these up at the local second hand shop. 

[Kim Shook]

@weinoo - I just put a hold on Jubilee at the library.  Abebooks.com has a couple copies for $12 free shipping.  If I like it, I'll hope they still have them!  Thanks for posting that.

 

So, do these count?

😄😄😄

Jessica picked these up for me during one of her thrifting jaunts.  The first one is from 1966, the second from 2007, and the third from 1987.  I've been watching a fun YouTube channel lately called Cooking the Books.  She collects and cooks recipes from cookbooks and pamphlets from mostly the 1940s-1970s.  She's in her early 40s, so it's all "retro-new" to her, but to me it represents some memories - of eating these foods from my grandmothers and mother and from my own interest in vintage cookbooks.  I'd kind of gone away from that in the past couple of years, but I've gotten more interested again watching this channel.  I can't help but think of @David Ross and how much he would have enjoyed her.  

[blue_dolphin]

12 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

@weinoo - I just put a hold on Jubilee at the library.  Abebooks.com has a couple copies for $12 free shipping.  If I like it, I'll hope they still have them! 

 

I really like Jubilee.  The amount of scholarship and research that went into it is truly impressive.  I think you will enjoy reading it whether or not you cook from it. I love the extra light buttermilk cornbread, the shrimp & grits, salmon croquettes, gingerbread waffles and sweet potato biscuits.  And a bunch of the cocktails, of course! 

[Katie Meadow]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:00 AM, weinoo said:

 

So I finally got around to making the blueberry/millet muffins from Nancy Silverton's latest cookbook (yesterday)...

 

 

In addition to not winning any beauty contests, the recipe turns out to be fussier that I need in my life (between cracking the millet, and melting the butter, and cooling the butter, and ribbonning the egg and sugar, oy vey - just stop!).  They taste good, though. 

Lotta work for a muffin.

[AAQuesada]

For those who like their cookbooks to clock in at 1k+ pages, no pictures and read like a PhD dissertation, this might be the book for you! 

 

I  love it so far!

 

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I picked this up in a used book store a week or so ago for $4 Cdn.

'Cooking with Patrick Clark. a tribute to the man and his cuisine' 

 

 

After doing a bit of research I found that Clark died in 1998 at the age of 42 and the cookbook was put together by the late Charlie Trotter and other collaborators.

The first half is composed of Clark's recipes and the second half of recipes submitted by other chefs (around 50) including Pepin, Keller, Trotter, Van Aiken, Samuelsson, Lagasse, Ducasse and Silverton among others.

One of my best finds.

I don't have any personal experience with or knowledge of the NY restaurant scene and its history so any comments welcome.

Looking at you @weinoo and @KennethT.

 

 

Edited April 18 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[weinoo]

10 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

After doing a bit of research I found that Clark died in 1998 at the age of 42 and the cookbook was put together by the late Charlie Trotter and other collaborators.

The first half is composed of Clark's recipes and the second half of recipes submitted by other chefs (around 50) including Pepin, Keller, Trotter, Van Aiken, Samuelsson, Lagasse, Ducasse and Silverton among others.

One of my best finds.

I don't have any personal experience with or knowledge of the NY restaurant scene and its history so any comments welcome.

Looking at you @weinoo and @KennethT.

 

 

I think I ate at Tavern on the Green once, and I'm pretty sure it was post Patrick's tenure there. He was a highly regarded chef, whose food I sadly never got to taste.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I wasn't quite sure where to put this as it's not really a cookbook although it does have recipes.

'Flavorama' by Arielle Johnson Ph.D.

An interesting read at a level for the non technical reader or you can just skip the intro level science background.

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

4 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I wasn't quite sure where to put this as it's not really a cookbook although it does have recipes.

'Flavorama' by Arielle Johnson Ph.D.

An interesting read at a level for the non technical reader or you can just skip the intro level science background.

 

 

I have been reading that book as well (I got it from the library before deciding if I want to buy it or not). Arielle Johnson has an enviable job for sure, she is the science director for Noma!

[FrogPrincesse]

Not a cookbook either although it has a few recipes, I am reading Ruth Reichl’s memoir about her time at Gourmet magazine, Save Me the Plums. I realized it was the only book of hers I hadn’t read other than her latest, The Paris Novel, that is also on my to-read list. 
Fun read so far! And I connect with it on the food aspect of course, but the career angle as well as she describes what it is like tackling a role that is a stretch opportunity outside her comfort zone. 
 

 

Edited July 1 by FrogPrincesse
Added photography (log)

[rotuts]

@FrogPrincesse

 

Ive read Tender at the Bone  and Garlic and Sapphires  

 

missed this one

 

thanks for the reminder.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

7 hours ago, FrogPrincesse said:

I have been reading that book as well (I got it from the library before deciding if I want to buy it or not). Arielle Johnson has an enviable job for sure, she is the science director for Noma!

 

I borrowed it from the library as well. Although a good read not one I would buy and use.

 

 

 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Again not a cookbook but one of my favorites is Jacques Pepin's 'The Apprentice'.

It has a place in one of my bookcases.