The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches


Andrea Nguyen - 2014
    Who can resist the combination of crisp baguette, succulent filling, and toppings like tangy daikon and carrot pickles, thin chile slices, refreshing cucumber strips, and pungent cilantro sprigs? You’ll have ample opportunities to customize your sandwich with filling options such as grilled pork, roast chicken, and “the special”—a delectable combination of garlicky pork, liver pâté, and Vietnamese cold-cuts. Opening a new realm of flavor for anyone tired of standard sandwich fare, The Banh Mi Handbook presents more than fifty recipes and numerous insights for crafting a wide range of sandwiches, from iconic classics to modern innovations, including: Crispy Drunken Chicken Shrimp in Caramel Sauce Grilled Lemongrass Pork Beef and Curry Sliders Coconut Curry Tofu Lettuce Wrap Banh Mi Respected food writer Andrea Nguyen’s simple, delicious recipes for flavor-packed fillings, punchy homemade condiments, and crunchy, colorful pickled vegetables bring the very best of Vietnamese street food to your kitchen.

Dim Sum: The Art of Chinese Tea Lunch: A Cookbook


Ellen Leong Blonder - 2002
    More than sixty carefully crafted, authentic recipes, each illustrated with Ellen's exquisite watercolor paintings, put the key to re-creating these delectable morsels in every cook's hand. Anyone who has enjoyed the pleasures of a dim sum meal has inevitably wondered what it would be like to create these treats at home. The answer, surprisingly, is that most are quite simple to make. From dumplings to pastries, Dim Sum is filled with simple, foolproof recipes, complete with clear step-by-step illustrations to explain the art of forming, filling, and folding dumpling wrappers and more. Ellen Blonder offers her favorite versions of traditional Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai, Turnip Cake, and Shrimp Ha Gow, each bite vibrantly flavored, plus recipes for hearty sticky rice dishes, refreshing saut�ed greens, tender baked or steamed buns, and a variety of pastries and desserts--all the ingredients required for an authentic, restaurant-style dim sum feast. Practical advice on designing a tea lunch menu and making dim sum ahead of time round out this irresistible collection.Lovingly created from years of tasting, refining, and seeking out the best dim sum recipes from San Francisco to Hong Kong, Dim Sum is a gem that any student of Chinese cooking will treasure.

Mary Berry Everyday


Mary Berry - 2017
    With this book I hope that you will feel encouraged to create new favourites, making everyday meals into something extra-special.’ Add a little Mary magic to your cooking with 120 brand-new recipes from the inspiring new BBC series. Delicious family suppers, tempting food for sharing and plenty of sweet treats, all made with everyday ingredients and a clever twist.

Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier


Andrea Immer Robinson - 2000
    Avoiding the traditional and confusingly vague wine language of “bouquet” and “nose,” and instead discussing wine in commonsense terms, the book launched Andrea’s career as a wine authority without pretense.Now, thoroughly revised, Great Wine Made Simple lives up to its title by making selecting and enjoying wine truly simple. With Andrea Immer Robinson as your guide, you will never again have to fear pricey bottles that don’t deliver, snobby wine waiters, foreign terminology, or encyclopedic restaurant wine lists. You’ll be able to buy or order wine with confidence--and get just the wine you want--by learning how the “Big Six” basic styles (which comprise 80 percent of today’s top selling wines) taste and how to read any wine label. Ten new flavor maps show what tastes you can expect from climates around the world.Andrea Immer Robinson genuinely knows more about wine than most wine lovers could ever hope to learn. But she doesn’t believe that you have to join a stuffy, exclusive wine-tasting set, or study a lot, to become a savvy wine buyer. Unlike other wine guides, Great Wine Made Simple makes it easy to master the ins and outs of choosing a wine that you and your guests will love—on any budget.In her down-to-earth style, Andrea guides you through follow-along-at-home wine tastings that are easy, fun, and affordable, and even suggests a milk tasting for understanding variations in wine-body style. Building on this foundation, she covers the rest of the wine landscape with her inimitable style, candor, and humor, from classic regions to new tastes, plus a bevy of practical issues like wine gear and proper storage. A refreshing blend of in-depth knowledge and accessibility, Great Wine Made Simple is a welcome resource for those who are intrigued by wine but don’t know where to start.

Taste What You're Missing: The Passionate Eater's Guide to Why Good Food Tastes Good


Barb Stuckey - 2012
    But you may not know the amazing story behind why you love some foods and can’t tolerate others.Whether it’s a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup, maple-cured bacon sizzling hot from the pan, or a salted caramel coated in dark chocolate, you know when food tastes good to you. But you may not know the amazing story behind why you love some foods and can’t tolerate others. Now, in Taste What You’re Missing, the first book that demystifies the science of taste, you’ll learn how your individual biology, genetics, and brain create a personal experience of everything you taste—and how you can make the most of it. A seasoned food developer to whom food companies turn for help in creating delicious new products, Barb Stuckey reveals that much of what we think we know about how taste works is wrong. And the truth is much more fascinating—for instance, your tongue is not divided into quadrants for sweet, sour, salt, and bitter and only a fraction of what you taste happens in your mouth. As Stuckey explains how our five senses work together to form “flavor perceptions,” she tells intriguing stories about people who have lost the sense of smell or taste and the unexpected ways their experience of food changes as a result. You’ll learn why kids (and some adults) turn up their noses at Brussels sprouts and broccoli, how salt makes grapefruit sweet, and why you drink your coffee black while your spouse loads it with cream and sugar. Stuckey also provides eye-opening experiments in which you can discover your unique “taster type” and learn why you react instinctively to certain foods, in particular why your response to bitterness is unique. You’ll find ways to improve your ability to discern flavors, detect ingredients, and devise taste combinations in your own kitchen for delectable results. Taste What You’re Missing gives curious eaters, Food Network watchers, kitchen tinkerers, and armchair Top Chefs the understanding and language to impress friends and families with insider knowledge about everything edible. What Harold McGee did for the science of cooking Barb Stuckey does for the science of taste in Taste What You’re Missing, a calorie-free way to get more pleasure from every bite.

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!

Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography & Styling


Helene Dujardin - 2011
    Discover how the food stylist exercises unique techniques to make the food look attractive in the finished product. You’ll get a taste of the visual know-how that is required to translate the perceptions of taste, aroma, and appeal into a stunning, lavish finished photograph. Takes you through the art and techniques of appetizing food photography for everyone from foodies to food bloggers to small business owners looking to photograph their food themselves Whets your appetite with delicious advice on food styling, lighting, arrangement, and more Author is a successful food blogger who has become a well-known resource for fellow bloggers who are struggling with capturing appetizing images of their creations So, have the cheese say, "Cheese!" with this invaluable resource on appetizing food photography.

VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good


Mark Bittman - 2013
    But the Standard American Diet (yes, it’s SAD) got to me as it gets to almost everyone in this country.”Six years ago, an overweight, pre-diabetic Mark Bittman faced a medical directive: adopt a vegan diet or go on medication. He was no fan of a lifelong regimen of pills, but as a food writer he lived—and worked—to eat. So neither choice was appealing. His solution was a deal with himself. He would become a “flexitarian.” He adopted a diet heavy in vegetables, fruits, and grains by following a healthy vegan diet (no meat, dairy, or processed foods) all day. After 6:00 p.m. he’d eat however he wanted, though mostly in moderation. Beyond that, his plan involved no gimmicks, scales, calorie counting, or point systems. And there were no so-called forbidden foods—he ate mostly home-cooked meals that were as varied and satisfying as they were delicious, but he dealt with the realities of the office and travel and life on the run as best he could. He called this plan Vegan Before 6:00 (VB6 for short), and the results were swift and impressive. Best of all, they proved to be lasting and sustainable over the long haul. Bittman lost 35 pounds and saw all of his blood numbers move in the right direction. Using extensive scientific evidence to support his plan, the acclaimed cookbook author and food policy columnist shows why his VB6 approach succeeds when so many other regimens not only fail, but can actually lead to unwanted weight gain. He then provides all the necessary tools for making the switch to a flexitarian diet: lists for stocking the pantry, strategies for eating away from home in a variety of situations, pointers for making cooking on a daily basis both convenient and enjoyable, and a complete 28-day eating plan showing VB6 in action. Finally, Bittman provides more than 60 recipes for vegan breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, as well as non-vegan dinners that embrace the spirit of a vegetable- and grain-forward diet. If you’re one of the millions who have thought of trying a vegan diet but fear it’s too monotonous or unfamiliar, or simply don’t want to give up the foods you love to eat, VB6 will introduce a new, flexible, and quite simply better way of eating you can really live with . . . for life.

Drink This: Wine Made Simple


Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl - 2009
    Now she presents a handy guide that will show you how to stop being overwhelmed and intimidated, how to discover, respect, and enjoy your own personal taste, and how to be whatever kind of wine person you want to be, from budding connoisseur to someone who simply gets wine you like every time you buy a bottle. Refreshingly simple, irreverent, and witty, Drink This explains all the insider stuff that wine critics assume you know. It will teach you how to taste and savor wine, alone, with a friend, or with a group. And perhaps most important, this book gives you the tools to learn the only thing that really matters about wine: namely, figuring out what you like.Grumdahl draws on her own experience and savvy and interviews some of the world’s most renowned critics, winemakers, and chefs, including Robert M. Parker, Jr., Paul Draper, and Thomas Keller, who share their wisdom about everything from pairing food and wine to the inside scoop on what wine scores and reviews really mean. Readers will learn how to master tasting techniques and understand the winemaking process from soil to cellar. Drink This also reveals how to get your money’s worth out of wine without spending all you’ve got.At last there’s a reason for wary wine lovers to raise a glass in celebration. Savor the insider’s viewpoint and straight talk of Drink This, and watch your intimidation of wine transform into well-grounded, unshakeable confidence.

Whole Beast Butchery: The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb, and Pork


Ryan Farr - 2011
    Dubbed a rock star butcher by the New York Times, San Francisco chef and self-taught meat expert Ryan Farr demystifies the butchery process with 500 step-by-step photographs, master recipes for key cuts, and a primer on tools, techniques, and meat handling. This visual manual is the first to teach by showing exactly what butchers know, whether cooks want to learn how to turn a primal into familiar and special cuts or to simply identify everything in the case at the market.

Big Gay Ice Cream: Saucy Stories & Frozen Treats: Going All the Way with Ice Cream


Bryan Petroff - 2015
    Welcome to Big Gay Ice Cream’s debut cookbook, a yearbook of ice cream accomplishments—all the recipes you need to create delicious frozen treats• New to making ice cream at home? Never fear—freshman year starts off simple with store-bought toppings and shopping lists for the home ice cream parlor.• Sophomore year kicks it up a notch with tasty sauces and crunchy toppings.• Junior year puts your new skills to work with shakes, floats, and sundaes inspired by some of Big Gay Ice Cream’s top-selling treats, including, of course, the Salty Pimp.• In Senior year, get serious with outrageously delicious sorbets and ice cream recipes.Along the way, you can enjoy Bryan and Doug’s stranger-than-fiction stories, cheeky humor, vibrant photography and illustrations, and plenty of culinary and celebrity cameos (including an introduction by Headmaster Anthony Bourdain).

Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey


Robert V. Camuto - 2010
    Camuto set out to explore Sicily’s emerging wine scene. What he discovered during more than a year of traveling the region, however, was far more than a fascinating wine frontier.   Chronicling his journey through Palermo to Marsala, and across the rugged interior of Sicily to the heights of Mount Etna, Camuto captures the personalities and flavors and the traditions and natural riches that have made Italy’s largest and oldest wine region the world traveler’s newest discovery. In the island’s vastly different wines he finds an expression of humanity and nature—and the space where the two merge into something more.  Here, amid the wild landscapes, lavish markets, dramatic religious rituals, deliciously contrasting flavors, and astonishing natural warmth of its people, Camuto portrays Sicily at a shining moment in history. He takes readers into the anti-Mafia movement growing in the former mob vineyards around infamous Corleone; tells the stories of some of the island’s most prominent landowning families; and introduces us to film and music celebrities and other foreigners drawn to Sicily’s vineyards. His book takes wine as a powerful metaphor for the independent identity of this mythic land, which has thrown off its legacies of violence, corruption, and poverty to emerge, finally free, with its great soul intact. Watch the Palmento book trailer on YouTube.

Tartine


Elisabeth Prueitt - 2006
    Acclaimed pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt and master baker Chad Robertson share their secrets, fabulous recipes, and expertise to create a truly priceless collection of culinary delights."One peek into Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson's sensational cookbook whisks you into their popular Tartine Bakery and reveals everything you need to know to create their superb recipes in your own home." –Flo Braker, author of The Simple Art of Perfect Baking and Sweet MiniaturesIt's no wonder there are lines out the door of the acclaimed Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Tartine has been written up in every magazine worth its sugar and spice. Here, the bakers' art is transformed into easy-to-follow recipes for the home kitchen. The only thing hard about this cookbook is deciding which recipe to try first.Features easy-to-follow recipes meant to be made in your home kitchen. There's a little something here for breakfast, lunch, tea, supper, hors d'oeuvres and, of course, a whole lot for dessert.Includes practical advice in the form of handy Kitchen Notes, that convey the authors' know-how.Gorgeous photographs are spread throughout to create a truly delicious and inspiring party cookbook.Makes a delectable gift for any dessert lover or aspiring pastry chef.Pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt's work has appeared in numerous magazines, including Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on the television program Martha Stewart Living. France Ruffenach is a San Francisco-based photographer whose work has appeared in magazines and cookbooks including Martha Stewart Living, Real Simple, and Bon Appétit magazines, and in Cupcakes, Everyday Celebrations, and Ros.

Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering


Joanna Gaines - 2018
    Magnolia Table includes 125 classic recipes—from breakfast, lunch, and dinner to small plates, snacks, and desserts—presenting a modern selection of American classics and personal family favorites. Complemented by her love for her garden, these dishes also incorporate homegrown, seasonal produce at the peak of its flavor.Full of personal stories and beautiful photos, Magnolia Table is an invitation to share a seat at the table with Joanna Gaines and her family.

Cooking with the Two Fat Ladies


Jennifer Paterson - 1998
    Based on their wildly popular cooking series -- an Absolutely Fabulous for the culinary crowd -- the Two Fat Ladies' first American publication features sumptuous recipes from the biggest new talents on the food scene.