Book picks similar to
Ace of Cakes: Inside the World of Charm City Cakes by Duff Goldman
non-fiction
nonfiction
food
cooking
Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage & Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere
Ree DrummondRee Drummond - 2020
On her blog, in her magazine, and on her cooking show, Ree shares recipes, tales of her adventures in the country, and stories of everyday life with her four children and cowboy/rancher husband.In this down-to-earth and charming book, Ree shares real-life anecdotes about parenting from her own unique vantage point. While her busy life is constantly full of new surprises, what's most important to her is family. Over the years she's learned a few things about balancing motherhood with a million other things, and now she offers the wisdom of her experiences; the ups, the downs, the bumps in the road, the laughter and the tears; in stories brimming with the relatable wit and humor found in her cookbooks and her bestselling love story, The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels.A celebration of motherhood, family, love, and laughter, Frontier Follies is a keepsake to treasure and share with the wonderful women in your life
No Experience Necessary: The Culinary Odyssey of Chef Norman Van Aken
Norman Van Aken - 2013
In it he spans twenty-plus years and nearly as many jobs--including the fateful job advertisement in the local paper for a short-order cook with "no experience necessary." Long considered a culinary renegade and a pioneering chef, Van Aken is an American original who chopped and charred, sweated and seared his way to cooking stardom with no formal training, but with extra helpings of energy, creativity, and faith. After landing on the deceptively breezy shores of Key West, Van Aken faced hurricanes, economic downturns, and mercurial moneymen during the decades when a restaurant could open and close faster than you can type haute cuisine. From a graveyard shift grunt at an all-night barbeque joint to a James Beard-award finalist for best restaurant in America, Van Aken put his trusting heart, poetic soul, natural talent, and ever-expanding experience into every venture--and helped transform the American culinary landscape along the way. In the irreverent tradition of Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, and populated by a rogues' gallery of colorful characters--including movie stars, legendary musicians, and culinary giants Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Charlie Trotter--No Experience Necessary offers a uniquely personal, highly-entertaining under-the-tablecloth view of the high-stakes world of American cuisine told with wit, insight, and great affection by a natural storyteller.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
Barbara Kingsolver - 2007
Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is an enthralling narrative that will open your eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: You are what you eat.
Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste
Bianca Bosker - 2017
Until she stumbled on an alternate universe where taste reigned supreme, a world in which people could, after a single sip of wine, identify the grape it was made from, in what year, and where it was produced down to the exact location, within acres. Where she tasted wine, these people detected not only complex flavor profiles, but entire histories and geographies. Astounded by their fanatical dedication and seemingly superhuman sensory powers, Bosker abandoned her screen-centric life and set out to discover what drove their obsession, and whether she, too, could become a cork dork.Thus begins a year and a half long adventure that takes the reader inside elite tasting groups, exclusive New York City restaurants, a California winery that manipulates the flavor of its bottles with ingredients like Mega Purple, and even a neuroscientist's fMRI machine as Bosker attempts to answer the most nagging question of all: what's the big deal about wine? Funny, counter intuitive, and compulsively readable, Cork Dork illuminates not only the complex web of wine production and consumption, but how tasting better can change our brains and help us live better.
Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes
Shauna Niequist - 2013
Written by well-loved writer and blogger, Shauna Niequist, this mix of Girl Meets God and the Food Network is a funny, honest, and vulnerable spiritual memoir. Bread & Wine is a celebration of food shared and life around the table, and it reminds us of the joy we find in connection and relationship. It's about the ways that God teaches and nourishes us as we nourish the people around us. It's about hunger, both physical and otherwise, and the connections between the two. Recipes are included for the dishes you can almost taste as you read about them. From Butternut Squash Risotto to Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream and Salted Caramel Sauce, you will be able to recreate the comforting and satisfying meals that come to life in Bread & Wine.
Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat
Grant Achatz - 2011
In 2007, chef Grant Achatz seemingly had it made. He had been named one of the best new chefs in America by Food & Wine in 2002, received the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year Award in 2003, and in 2005 he and Nick Kokonas opened the conceptually radical restaurant Alinea, which was named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine. Then, positioned firmly in the world's culinary spotlight, Achatz was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma-tongue cancer. The prognosis was grim, and doctors agreed the only course of action was to remove the cancerous tissue, which included his entire tongue. Desperate to preserve his quality of life, Grant undertook an alternative treatment of aggressive chemotherapy and radiation. But the choice came at a cost. Skin peeled from the inside of Grant's mouth and throat, he rapidly lost weight, and most alarmingly, he lost his sense of taste. Tapping into the discipline, passion, and focus of being a chef, Grant rarely missed a day of work. He trained his chefs to mimic his palate and learned how to cook with his other senses. As Kokonas was able to attest: The food was never better. Five months later, Grant was declared cancer-free, and just a few months following, he received the James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef in America Award. Life, on the Line tells the story of a culinary trailblazer's love affair with cooking, but it is also a book about survival, about nurturing creativity, and about profound friendship. Already much- anticipated by followers of progressive cuisine, Grant and Nick's gripping narrative is filled with stories from the world's most renowned kitchens-The French Laundry, Charlie Trotter's, el Bulli- and sure to expand the audience that made Alinea the number-one selling restaurant cookbook in America last year.
The Little Paris Kitchen
Rachel Khoo - 2012
Six years later, she still lives and works in Paris, cooking up a selection of classic French dishes from all over the country and giving them a fresh makeover with her own modern twists. From a Croque Madame muffin and the classic Boeuf bourguignon, to a deliciously fragrant Provencal lavender and lemon roast chicken, Rachel celebrates the culinary landscape of France as it is today and shows how simple these dishes are.The 120 recipes in the book range from easy, everyday dishes like Omelette Pipérade, to summer picnics by the Seine and afternoon 'goûter' (snacks), to meals with friends and delicious desserts including classics like Crème brulee and Tarte tatin. It's a book that celebrates the very best of French home-cooking in a modern and accessible way. Real French food is no longer something only served in fancy restaurants; Rachel will show how you can add a little French culinary touch to your everyday life at home, no matter where you are in the world, or how big your kitchen is!
The Language of Baklava: A Memoir
Diana Abu-Jaber - 2005
Diana Abu-Jaber weaves the story of her life in upstate New York and in Jordan around vividly remembered meals: everything from Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts with her Arab-American cousins to goat stew feasts under a Bedouin tent in the desert. These sensuously evoked meals, in turn, illuminate the two cultures of Diana's childhood—American and Jordanian—and the richness and difficulty of straddling both. They also bring her wonderfully eccentric family to life, most memorably her imperious American grandmother and her impractical, hotheaded, displaced immigrant father, who, like many an immigrant before him, cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection on to his children.As she does in her fiction, Diana draws us in with her exquisite insight and compassion, and with her amazing talent for describing food and the myriad pleasures and adventures associated with cooking and eating. Each chapter contains mouthwatering recipes for many of the dishes described, from her Middle Eastern grandmother's Mad Genius Knaffea to her American grandmother's Easy Roast Beef, to her aunt Aya's Poetic Baklava. The Language of Baklava gives us the chance not only to grow up alongside Diana, but also to share meals with her every step of the way—unforgettable feasts that teach her, and us, as much about identity, love, and family as they do about food.
Black, White, and the Grey: The Story of an Unexpected Friendship and a Beloved Restaurant
Mashama Bailey - 2021
Morisano take turns telling how they went from tentative business partners to dear friends while turning a dilapidated formerly segregated Greyhound bus station into The Grey, now one of the most celebrated restaurants in the country. Recounting the trying process of building their restaurant business, they examine their most painful and joyous times, revealing how they came to understand their differences, recognize their biases, and continuously challenge themselves and each other to be better. Through it all, Bailey and Morisano display the uncommon vulnerability, humor, and humanity that anchor their relationship, showing how two citizens commit to playing their own small part in advancing equality against a backdrop of racism.
The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh
Barbara Fairchild - 2006
These are not the old-fashioned, lackluster choices found in most 30-minute cookbooks and cooking shows. The Bon Appetit Fast Easy Fresh Cookbook is all about ease, speed—and taste. There are 1,100 exciting, flavorful recipes, with dishes that take a fun, modern spin like Arugula Salad with Olives, Pancetta, and Parmesan; Roasted Garlic Beef Stew; Linguine with Winter Pesto; Shrimp with Ginger-Herb Butter; Grilled Steak with Fresh Garden Herbs; and Peach Pie with Berry Jam. All of the recipes are simple enough for weeknights, but with their focus on fresh ingredients and vibrant flavors, they're really special enough for weekends, too.Illustrated throughout with handsome line drawings and 32 pages of beautiful new color photographs, this collection of favorite Bon Appetit recipes is sure to quickly become the go-to resource for home cooks everywhere, whether they're beginners or simply looking to stay on top of their game. For everyone who's eager to make truly satisfying and delicious meals—without spending a lot of time in the kitchen—this is the cookbook to reach for every night of the week.
The New Way to Cake: 60 Simple, Stylish Treats with Unbelievable Flavor
Benjamina Ebuehi - 2019
After receiving countless accolades as a finalist on The Great British Baking Show, Benjamina is sharing her tricks of the trade with readers. Drawing inspiration from her Nigerian heritage, and her life in multi-cultural London, these gorgeous cakes are packed with exquisite flavor. Each recipe is perfectly composed to include a short list of key ingredients, making it quick and easy to bake stunning, occasion worthy desserts. New bakers will get the basics on layer cakes, bundts, loaves and more, while experienced bakers will learn to infuse their cakes with amazing flavor.Fresh fruits, aromatic herbs, toasted nuts and enticing spices make for irresistible, unexpected, combinations such as the Caramelized Plantain Cake, the Coconut, Raspberry and Rose Roulade, and the Prosecco, Mint and Ginger Cake. Rather than heavy layers of buttercream, these cakes take a trendy, minimalist approach to decoration. Readers will learn to use light glazes, artful frosting, fruit and nuts to add contemporary flair to irresistible bakes. From the Salted Chocolate and Praline Cake to the Turmeric Milk Bundt, these singular creations will impress at any party, family gathering or holiday.
Eating Wildly: Foraging for Life, Love and the Perfect Meal
Ava Chin - 2014
Time named foraging the "latest obsession of haute cuisine," but the quest to connect with food and nature is timeless and universal. Ava Chin, aka the Urban Forager, is an experienced master of the quest. Raised in Queens, New York, by a single mother and loving grandparents, Chin takes off on an emotional journey to make sense of her family ties and romantic failures when her beloved grandmother suddenly falls ill. She retreats into the urban wilds, where parks and backyards provide not only rare and delicious edible plants, but a wellspring of wisdom. As the seasons turn, Chin begins to view her life with new "foraging eyes"—experiencing the world as a place of plenty and variety, where every element, from flora to fauna to fungi, is interconnected and interdependent. Her experiences in nature put her on a path to self-discovery, leading to reconciliation with her family and finding true love. Divided into chapters devoted to a variety of edible/medicinal plants, with recipes and culinary information, Eating Wildly will stir your emotions and enliven your taste buds.
Quick Fix Meals: 200 Simple, Delicious Recipes to Make Mealtime Eas
Robin Miller - 2007
Her recipes are organized by these techniques, which include Meal Kits (pre-prepping the ingredients for a weeknight meal on the weekend, bagging them, and having them ready to go in the fridge; the result--meals that can be on the table in literally 10 minutes); Morph-It Recipes (enjoy Herb-Crusted Turkey Tenderloin one night and you've got the makings for Chili-Rubbed Turkey Medallions or Pan-Seared Turkey with Apples and Melted Blue Cheese another night), and Greased Lightning, unbelievably tasty recipes that can be put together and on the table in 20 minutes. There are also Simple Sides that go together in no time, as well as, for those who just can't live without dessert, a collection of In-a-Snap Sweets.
Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family in Cake [A Baking Book]
Odette Williams - 2019
All of these recipes and more are within your reach in Simple Cake, a love letter from Brooklyn apron and bakeware designer Odette Williams to her favorite treat. With easy recipes and inventive decorating ideas, Williams gives you recipes for 10 base cakes, 15 toppings, and endless decorating ideas to yield a treat--such as Milk & Honey Cake, Coconut Cake, Summer Berry Pavlova, and Chocolatey Chocolate Cake--for any occasion. Williams also addresses the fundamentals for getting cakes just right, with foolproof recipes that can be cranked out whenever the urge strikes. Gorgeous photography, along with Williams's warm and heartfelt writing, elevate this book into something truly special.
Clara's Kitchen: Wisdom, Memories, and Recipes from the Great Depression
Clara Cannucciari - 2009
Her YouTube® Great Depression Cooking videos have an army of devoted followers. In Clara's Kitchen, she gives readers words of wisdom to buck up America's spirits, recipes to keep the wolf from the door, and tells her story of growing up during the Great Depression with a tight-knit family and a "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" philosophy of living. In between recipes for pasta with peas, eggplant parmesan, chocolate covered biscotti, and other treats Clara gives readers practical advice on cooking nourishing meals for less. Using lessons she learned during the Great Depression, she writes, for instance, about how to conserve electricity when cooking and how you can stretch a pot of pasta with a handful of lentils. She reminisces about her youth and writes with love about her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Clara's Kitchen takes readers back to a simpler, if not more difficult time, and gives everyone what they need right now: hope for the future and a nice dish of warm pasta from everyone's favorite grandmother, Clara Cannuciari, a woman who knows what's really important in life.