Cookbooks published in 2022

[blue_dolphin]

No, I haven’t purchased any 2022 cookbooks yet but I thought I’d start a thread for discussing them. 
Eat Your Books has a long list of upcoming releases, sorted by month here. 
Time magazine has a list of 'most anticipated' 2022 cookbooks here. 
 

The only one I’ve pre-ordered is Six California Kitchens (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). Author Sally Schmitt and her husband opened and operated The French Laundry in Napa for 16 years before selling it to Thomas Keller. There's a little video of her here.

There are others I’d like to read and will recommend that my library purchase. 

 

I might end up getting The Wok: Recipes and Techniques (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).  Grace Young says:

Quote

"The Wok offers a new approach to mastery of this ancient and venerated culinary workhorse. López-Alt’s groundbreaking kitchen science is an unprecedented contribution to our understanding of wok cooking. This book will inspire a new generation of home cooks to embrace the wok."

 but is Kenji is really going add much to her marvelous The Breath of a Wok and Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge? I dunno. 
 

Anyone got any must-haves coming out this year?

[Honkman]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Kenji is really going add much to her marvelous

Not that his previous book was bad but he adds a lot  of marketing/self promotion to the equation. Some of his recipes are good, some are quite bad and his spin on “new/never seen before techniques”can be a bit tiring (especially if they are not that new.)

Edited January 9, 2022 by Honkman (log)

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

No, I haven’t purchased any 2022 cookbooks yet but I thought I’d start a thread for discussing them. 

Thanks for this and most especially for being very specific about the title!

 

There are only a couple that I would like to scroll through:

The Half Baked Harvest one (I seem to recall that @liamsauntis a fan), the Anna Jones offering and I would even want to scroll through the Kenji book. 

[JeanneCake]

I'm getting RLB's newest Cookie book (bible?) whenever it gets published....it was supposed to be fall of 2021 but like so many other things, it got pushed to this year.  The anticipated date for release is October 2022.  I'm happy to let you all enable me it's been a while since I added to my collection....

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

I'm getting RLB's newest Cookie book (bible?) whenever it gets published....it was supposed to be fall of 2021 but like so many other things, it got pushed to this year.  The anticipated date for release is October 2022.  I'm happy to let you all enable me it's been a while since I added to my collection....

 

I ordered The Cookie Bible from amazon when it was first announced.  Miffed that it didn't come this fall.  Rose is perhaps mildly miffed herself.

 

[Orbit]

I'm thinking about this one:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/latin-american-cookbook

[blue_dolphin]

13 hours ago, Orbit said:

I'm thinking about this one:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/latin-american-cookbook

 

That one sounds good.  I saw it pop up on several "best of 2021" lists. 

[nickrey]

Kenji has a technique that I hadn't seen before, which is using a gas blow torch while wok cooking inside to give Wok Hei. I've done this and it works marvellously. With even one more tip like this, the book is going to be worth buying. 

 

For those who comment on his style, how many new techniques does he need to come up with? Even one is an advance in cooking!

 

I see that there is an eGullet topic on this from 2020 

 

[weinoo]

12 hours ago, nickrey said:

how many new techniques does he need to come up with?

 

If he could disappear, I'd buy it!!

[Maison Rustique]

If you ordered a new cookbook and haven't received it, this may be the reason.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

44 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

If you ordered a new cookbook and haven't received it, this may be the reason.

 

 

I was just reading about that. What a mess!  It’s good to see that at least 2 of the authors are reacting with a sense of humor. 

[SLB]

I consume a fair amount of content from the low-carb-o-sphere, so Paul Saladino's name jumped out at me from the Eat Your Books index.  

 

Dudes.  A warning:  whether or not you would benefit from the diet known at "carnivore", and whether or not you experience Saladino as a straightahead whackjob; I can tell you from trying to listen to his podcast that the man's palate should not be trusted.  

Edited March 10, 2022 by SLB (log)

[weinoo]

I hear the Chowhound cookbook is gonna be a hot item...

[blue_dolphin]

I received Kenji's Wok book. Quite the tome, weighing in at 4 lbs 12 oz.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I received Kenji's Wok book. Quite the tome, weighing in at 4 lbs 12 oz.

 

Thanks!  I had forgotten I had wanted that.  Delivery tomorrow, $32 limited time deal.

 

Meanwhile I have started reading Zoe Adjonyoh's Zoe's Ghana Kitchen.  Never mind, I see the publication date is from last fall.  Although, in my defense, the library just received our copy.

 

[Greg Jones]

On 3/10/2022 at 7:14 PM, weinoo said:

I hear the Chowhound cookbook is gonna be a hot item...

Not familiar with their upcoming cookbook, but is it still going to happen? Chowhound is shutting down next Monday.

[mgaretz]

On 3/10/2022 at 4:32 PM, blue_dolphin said:

I received Kenji's Wok book. Quite the tome, weighing in at 4 lbs 12 oz.

Costco has it for about $25. How do you like it?

[weinoo]

Just ordered and received this (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)...

 

 

Based on I dunno what, but it was something I read.

 

And the author is Benmont Tench's wife. I like Benmont, maybe that's it.

[blue_dolphin]

On 4/12/2022 at 8:05 PM, mgaretz said:

Costco has it for about $25. How do you like it?

 

Sorry for not responding earlier.  So far,  I've just been reading and haven't cooked anything from the book yet so I've been reluctant to comment.  That said, I think it's a very good book, with a lot of useful information.  As someone who already owns a good selection of Asian cookbooks, I probably don't need to own it but it's so big, I'd never get through it on a library loan and I can see referring back to it from time to time, as I do with his other book, so I don't regret the purchase. 

 

As usual, Kenji has quite a lot to say about pretty much everything from buying a wok and pantry ingredients to knife skills, to the actual recipes and cooking so it's quite a comprehensive book.  I happen to enjoy his writing so I've been enjoying reading.  As with his Food Lab, a lot of the information I found useful is in the background materials rather than part of individual recipes so I think a person who wants to open the book to a recipe and start cooking is kind of missing the boat on this sort of book.

 

The photos are utilitarian and tend to be small and simple.  I think they serve the purpose of the book, the process photos are clear enough to see what's going on but the finished dishes aren't displayed in the highly styled glamour spreads that appear in many recent cookbooks.  I'm happy to see the actual dish, cooked per the recipe rather than one where a food stylist decided to arrange a dish with ingredients that are not cut, mixed or cooked according to the recipe ....or even stuff that doesn't even appear in the recipe... for the sake of a photo. 

[blue_dolphin]

On 1/9/2022 at 10:13 AM, blue_dolphin said:

The only one I’ve pre-ordered is Six California Kitchens (eG-friendly Amazon.com link). Author Sally Schmitt and her husband opened and operated The French Laundry in Napa for 16 years before selling it to Thomas Keller. There's a little video of her here.

I received Six California Kitchens a couple of weeks ago and just finished reading it.  If you enjoy food-related memoirs, it's very much worth a read. I think the recipes sound delicious and look forward to cooking from the book.

 

I've mentioned elsewhere that Sally Schmitt passed away last month which is certainly sad but what a lovely memoir she's left behind in this book.  It's full of stories, recipes and photos woven together to take us through a lifetime of cooking - from her mother's 1930's kitchen where she first learned to cook to her restaurant kitchens (The Vintage Cafe, The Chutney Kitchen and The French Laundry) to the Apple Farm where instead of retiring, she continued to cook and teach cooking for years to the Elk Cottage on the Mendocino coast where she and her husband lived for 8 years before returning to the Apple Farm to live closer to family.  Such a treat to read.  I feel like I just had a cooking lesson from my grandmother....if, you know, my grandmother had started the French Laundry 🙃 Sally advises us to read through a recipe carefully, three times before beginning to cook, to clean as we go and to take a break for a few minutes if the soup seasoning isn't coming together as you'd like.  The recipes are written with clear, simple instructions paired with the ingredients as they are used.  Measurements are given in both cups and spoons and grams and milliliters. She doesn't use any equipment fancier than a blender or mixer and while she's mostly a "scratch" cook, she doesn't shy away from doctoring up some good old Best Foods Mayo.

 

I haven't started cooking from the book yet but have quite a few recipes marked to try. 

 

Amazon's "Look Inside" feature includes the recipe listing and several recipes so you can see what's included and how they are formatted.   That Amazon sample is from the Kindle edition so notes that appear in the margins of the hard copy are kind of merged in with the rest of the text although they appear in red for memories or stories or blue for notes that pertain directly to a recipe, the same text color scheme used in the hard copy. 

 

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

I like food essay collections that connect the people and the land. This just came up for me. https://www.amazon.com/Edible-North-Carolina-Journey-across/dp/1469667797   Vivian Howard wrote the forward. 

[Norm Matthews]

  I ordered from ThermoWorks and awaiting Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue by Tuffy Stone.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Norm Matthews (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Since the library is closed for our move, and I can't get a copy of The Economist to read at dinner, I've been making my way through The Wok.  I haven't gotten that far yet but I see Kenji has a section on frying naked.  I am so excited!

 

Not sure if he counts a pinafore or not.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Bait and switch.  Too late to return to amazon.

 

[liuzhou]

I'm going to have to get hold of Rambutan by Cynthia Shanmugalingam - a new Sri Lankan cookbook. Possibly the best food I ever ate was in Sri Lanka in the the 1970s. More peaceful times.

A couple of recipes and more information here.