Show us your latest cookbook acquisitions!

[Anna N]

I gritted my teeth at the unbelievable price of this Kindle book. But I still had a good chunk of a gift certificate I received at Christmas and I was curious about Taiwanese-American cuisine.

 

 

No comment yet. I am looking more for interesting reading material  than for something I will actually use for menu/meal planning. 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Anna N
Typo (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

Please read the title of this topic and show us the 6 cookbooks. Or at least tell us what you got!

With pleasure

 

 

And an extraordinary tome on Sicilian food with oddments from amazing Nonnas, and husband's pick, an entire book on Meatloaf!  Does this mean he may be staring to cook?

 

T

[SLB]

I had a mind-bogglingly delicious meal last week at the NYC resto of this cuisine, and so I finally broke down and bought the cheapest used copy of this book (I've been eyeing the used market on this item for a couple of years):

 

 

It was sold by the Hawaii Library Friends, and came wrapped.  Not fancy-wrapped, just wrapped in plain blue paper; I was totally charmed.  

 

And am looking forward to digging in.  

 

[weinoo]

At one of her book release parties last night (which took place here)

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by weinoo (log)

[gfweb]

11 minutes ago, weinoo said:

At one of her book release parties last night (which took place here😞

 

 

 

She seems nice

[weinoo]

On 2/27/2023 at 6:53 PM, SLB said:

I had a mind-bogglingly delicious meal last week at the NYC resto of this cuisine, and so I finally broke down and bought the cheapest used copy of this book (I've been eyeing the used market on this item for a couple of years):

 

 

 

 

La Vara?

 

6 minutes ago, gfweb said:

She seems nice

 

Very. We had first met her some 15 or more years ago - in Rome, and before she had written any cookbooks or done any cooking shows.  We had aperitivos in view of Trajan's Column. Her career has been a nice one.

[SLB]

Yes, La Vara.  

[Kim Shook]

@Katie Meadow and @Tropicalsenior have influenced me.  This arrived today:

😄

[ElsieD]

10 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

@Katie Meadow and @Tropicalsenior have influenced me.  This arrived today:

😄

Excellent!  You'll love it.

[eugenep]

I got that new David Chang book with Priya (formerly from Bon Appetit). 

 

 

What was sort of new and unique about this book was the design and the way they organized it. 

 

It's sort of like David would give you the recipe in a dialog form (like almost an interview) and then Priya would give a small paragraph that's mostly just her thoughts about what David said (sort of like how I'm posting thoughts about David's book right now). 

 

I think it really works for people that aren't used to sitting down and reading like a textbook from grade school or college etc. 

 

Traditional formats like The Food Lab etc. would have blocks of texts but this has snippets of dialog like content followed by nice pictures which makes it kind of entertaining to read. 

 

 

 

[Alex]

On 2/27/2023 at 6:53 PM, SLB said:

I had a mind-bogglingly delicious meal last week at the NYC resto of this cuisine, and so I finally broke down and bought the cheapest used copy of this book (I've been eyeing the used market on this item for a couple of years):

 

 

It was sold by the Hawaii Library Friends, and came wrapped.  Not fancy-wrapped, just wrapped in plain blue paper; I was totally charmed.  

 

And am looking forward to digging in.  

 

 

Ha! A week or so ago I also started eyeing prices, after reading the following book. There's a blurb by Gitlitz on the back cover. (Used copies of Honey are $34 and up. Too much for me, at least for now.)

 

[Kerry Beal]

 

This could go both here and in Unexpected Food Gifts. It contains a recipe for Callison!

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

It contains a recipe for Callison!

Had to look up Callissons. They sound very interesting. 

[hotsaucerman]

eater has a nice lil summary of a few cookbooks coming out this spring (LINK)

 

[blue_dolphin]

3 hours ago, hotsaucerman said:

eater has a nice lil summary of a few cookbooks coming out this spring (LINK)

 

 

Thanks!  Some of these sound very good.  

I have Pulp, Abra Beren's fruit-centric book on pre-order.  She uses fruit in some interesting ways in both Ruffage and Grist so I'm looking forward to seeing what she does with this one. 

 

Evan Kleiman had a nice interview segment on recently with Homa Dashtaki, author of Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life.  It was not previously on my radar screen but the interview piqued my interest and I'd really like to get a look at the book. Here's a link to the interview. 

 

I bought the UK edition of Nigel Slater's A Cook's Book when it came out, year before last, and have very much enjoyed reading it but, sadly, haven't cooked anything from it.  I should really do something about that before I buy more books!

 

I'm curious to see what Alison Roman does with a dessert book. I have her other 2 books and she's very good at writing recipes that work. 

 

Ditto Andrea Nguyen when it comes to recipe writing.  I love her books.

 

Heck, I'd like to check out almost all of them!

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by blue_dolphin
clarification (log)

[Alex]

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, blue_dolphin said:

I bought the UK edition of Nigel Slater's A Cook's Book when it came out, year before last, and have very much enjoyed reading it but, sadly, haven't cooked anything from it.  I should really do something about that before I buy more books!

Looking at the prices of some of these books I'm guessing many of us will be making better use of the libraries!  

[blue_dolphin]

15 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Looking at the prices of some of these books I'm guessing many of us will be making better use of the libraries!  

 

Yes, I had gotten quite good about doing that before purchasing but when things were initially shut down at the beginning of the pandemic and I felt like I deserved to treat myself, I got completely out of the habit. 

 

[C. sapidus]

4 hours ago, hotsaucerman said:

eater has a nice lil summary of a few cookbooks coming out this spring (LINK)

 

 

Thanks for posting this! Definitely going to check out Andrea Nguyen's latest. Her Into the Vietnamese Kitchen has been one of our most cooked-from.

 

Vietnamese food is like a gateway drug for southeast Asian cooking. 😁

Edited March 14, 2023 by C. sapidus (log)

[eugenep]

11 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

 

Thanks for posting this! Definitely going to check out Andrea Nguyen's latest. Her Into the Vietnamese Kitchen has been one of our most cooked-from.

 

Vietnamese food is like a gateway drug for southeast Asian cooking. 😁

I use that and her other Pho book a lot too. I think her recipes are very informative and useful. 

 

But I wonder if her recipes come from her family recipes growing up. It seems like that for her first book. 

 

But it looked like she did actual research and met with cooks in Vietnam for her Pho book. 

 

I would be interested in learning something more than family recipes and hear more about the technical and professional level stuff that might exist. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by eugenep (log)

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I have 'Into the Vietnamese Kitchen' and 'Asian Dumplings' by Andrea Nguyen. Both get used and have survived two book clearouts\purges 😋

I never purchase a cookbook before I either borrow from the library, read abridged segments online, check it out in a bookstore or borrow from a friend before deciding whether it's a keeper. 90% usually aren't.

 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I never purchase a cookbook before I either borrow from the library, read abridged segments online, check it out in a bookstore or borrow from a friend before deciding whether it's a keeper. 

 

 

I'm getting better at applying that philosophy, but I still occasionally succumb to the "shiny new object" syndrome. Even when it's a used copy!

[weinoo]

[hotsaucerman]

speaking of family recipes, KAL NYC got a cool looking book in...

 

Zapotec Identity:The Cuisine of Abigail Mendoza And Her Sisters

 

Abigail Mendoza is the chef and co-owner of Tlamanalli, a restaurant in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico where she and her sisters serve traditional foods of the Zapotec people who have inhabited the region for millennia. She has been celebrated by writers as varied as Diana Kennedy and Anthony Bourdain.  This handsome book presents Mendoza's cooking by rooting it firmly in Zapotec tradition and culture. A photospread of commonly used utensils and three others of local produce make it clear that Mendoza's cooking is tied to foodways of longstanding.   Throughout the book there are lengthy quotations from Abigail Mendoza as well her sisters which illuminate traditional practices and ideas, from religious observances and weddings to funeral foods and dishes prepared to satisfy dangerous cravings. A portrait of everyday family life emerges alongside the food. 

[heidih]

The issue that arises with regional cookbooks is (to me) how to deal with sourcing exact ingredients  versus exploring new uses and ideas within our available pantry. This came up with discussion around Diana Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto. The region has unique peppers and other foods. Do we take the general concepts or fall over ourselves sourcing what may be "authentic". I love her book for ideas. The above referenced  book sounds interesting.