Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir


Padma Lakshmi - 2013
    Shuttling between continents as a child, she lived a life of dislocation that would become habit as an adult, never quite at home in the world. And yet, through all her travels, her favorite food remained the simple rice she first ate sitting on the cool floor of her grandmother’s kitchen in South India.Poignant and surprising, Love, Loss, and What We Ate is Lakshmi’s extraordinary account of her journey from that humble kitchen, ruled by ferocious and unforgettable women, to the judges’ table of Top Chef and beyond. It chronicles the fierce devotion of the remarkable people who shaped her along the way, from her headstrong mother who flouted conservative Indian convention to make a life in New York, to her Brahmin grandfather—a brilliant engineer with an irrepressible sweet tooth—to the man seemingly wrong for her in every way who proved to be her truest ally. A memoir rich with sensual prose and punctuated with evocative recipes, it is alive with the scents, tastes, and textures of a life that spans complex geographies both internal and external.Love, Loss, and What We Ate is an intimate and unexpected story of food and family—both the ones we are born to and the ones we create—and their enduring legacies.

Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food


Megan Kimble - 2015
    But she cared about where food came from, how it was made, and what it did to her body: so she decided to go an entire year without eating processed foods. Unprocessed is the narrative of Megan's extraordinary year, in which she milled wheat, extracted salt from the sea, milked a goat, slaughtered a sheep, and more--all while earning an income that fell well below the federal poverty line.What makes a food processed? As Megan would soon realize, the answer to that question went far beyond cutting out snacks and sodas, and became a fascinating journey through America's food system, past and present. She learned how wheat became white; how fresh produce was globalized and animals industrialized. But she also discovered that in daily life, as she attempted to balance her project with a normal social life--which included dating--the question of what made a food processed was inextricably tied to gender and economy, politics and money, work and play.Backed by extensive research and wide-ranging interviews--and including tips on how to ditch processed food and transition to a real-food lifestyle--Unprocessed offers provocative insights not only on the process of food, but also the processes that shape our habits, communities, and day-to-day lives.

Simple to Spectacular: How to Take One Basic Recipe to Four Levels of Sophistication


Jean-Georges Vongerichten - 2000
    Simple to Spectacular introduces a unique concept developed by one of the world's top chefs, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything and the New York Times's hugely popular column "The Minimalist." Ever since their award-winning collaboration on Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef, the acclaimed duo has been cooking up a repertoire of new dishes that can be prepared in any of five progressively sophisticated ways.Simple to Spectacular features a total of 250 recipes in 50 groups. Each group begins with a simple, elegant recipe--a few ingredients combined for maximum effect--followed by fully detailed, increasingly elaborate variations. For example, a recipe for Grilled Shrimp with Thyme and Lemon leads to Grilled Shrimp and Zucchini on Rosemary Skewers, Grilled Shrimp with Apple Ketchup, Thai-style Grilled Shrimp on Lemongrass Skewers, and Grilled Shrimp Balls with Cucumber and Yogurt.Every aspect of the meal is covered, from superb soups and salads to unforgettable side dishes, entrees, and desserts. In Simple to Spectacular, everything--from the basics to innovations by a four-star chef--is tailored for a quick Tuesday night dinner or an elegant weekend party.  And in the now-classic Vongerichten-Bittman style, all of the recipes can be made in the kitchen of any home cook. With 80 full-color photographs giving a mouthwatering view of the Simple-to-Spectacular transformations, readers and cooks will eagerly explore the possibilities.Jean-Georges Vongerichten (right) won the 1998 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef and Best New Restaurant. His Manhattan restaurants include Vong, Jo Jo, The Mercer Kitchen, and Jean Georges, which earned a rare four-star rating from the New York Times.  In Simple to Spectacular, two titans of the food world have created a truly groundbreaking cookbook.  Here are 250 superb recipes arranged in a uniquely useful way: a basic recipe and four increasingly sophisticated variations, with each group (there are 50 groups in all) based on a given technique.  This ingenious organization enables cooks of all levels of expertise to understand how a recipe is created and to re-create the brilliantly simple recipes and dazzling variations from one of our best food writers and home cooks teamed with one of America's greatest chefs.

Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America


Maricel E. Presilla - 2012
    In one volume it gives home cooks, armchair travelers, and curious chefs the first comprehensive collection of recipes from this region. An inquisitive historian and a successful restaurateur, Maricel E. Presilla has spent more than thirty years visiting each country personally. She’s gathered more than 500 recipes for the full range of dishes, from the foundational adobos and sofritos to empanadas and tamales to ceviches and moles to sancocho and desserts such as flan and tres leches cake. Detailed equipment notes, drink and serving suggestions, and color photographs of finished dishes are also included. This is a one-of-a-kind cookbook to be savored and read as much for the writing and information as for its introduction to heretofore unrevealed recipes.

Spork-Fed: Super Fun and Flavorful Vegan Recipes from the Sisters of Spork Foods


Jenny Engel - 2011
    With full-color photographs throughout, this visually striking book shows you how to make everything from decadent desserts to homemade tofu. The Spork Sisters share more than 75 delicious recipes, along with dozens of health tips. In addition to the recipes, Spork-Fed's themed menu pairings will help any cook prepare for special occasions, quick family weeknight meals, or extravagant feasts sure to impress any guest.

Dinner: A Love Story: It All Begins at the Family Table


Jenny Rosenstrach - 2012
    Even when they work long days. Even when their kids' schedules pull them in eighteen different directions. They are not superhuman. They are not from another planet.With simple strategies and common sense, Jenny figured out how to break down dinner—the food, the timing, the anxiety, from prep to cleanup—so that her family could enjoy good food, time to unwind, and simply be together.Using the same straight-up, inspiring voice that readers of her award-winning blog, Dinner: A Love Story, have come to count on, Jenny never judges and never preaches. Every meal she dishes up is a real meal, one that has been cooked and eaten and enjoyed at least a half dozen times by someone in Jenny's house. With inspiration and game plans for any home cook at any level, Dinner: A Love Story is as much for the novice who doesn't know where to start as it is for the gourmand who doesn't know how to start over when she finds herself feeding an intractable toddler or for the person who never thought about home-cooked meals until he or she became a parent. This book is, in fact, for anyone interested in learning how to make a meal to be shared with someone they love, and about how so many good, happy things happen when we do.

Milk Bar Life: Recipes & Stories


Christina Tosi - 2015
    Join Christina and friends as they cook their way through “weaknights,” sleepovers, and late-night snack attacks to make mind-blowingly delicious meals with whatever is in the pantry.

Come On Over: 111 Fantastic Recipes for the Family That Cooks, Eats, and Laughs Together


Jeff Mauro - 2021
    Her favorite phrase? Come on over! When Jeff heard those three words, he and his siblings knew company was coming and there would be good food to accompany their visit. A boy who loved to eat and make people laugh, Jeff was in heaven.Now the host of the Emmy-nominated The Kitchen on Food Network, Jeff still loves entertaining with his family. For Jeff, there’s no better way to create shared memories than over a good meal. In Come on Over he invites everyone to share in the fun, providing delicious recipes for all occasions, from game day to birthdays to brunch, along with fun stories from his life. Whatever the get-together, Jeff has the perfect food to make it memorable—and make everyone feel like family—with recipes such as:Early Bird Gets the Brunch . . . Come On OverSausage, Egg, and Cheese "MoMuffins"Marjorie Alice Ross Jones' Fried Pork Chops . . . for BreakfastHey Bro, We're Watching the Game . . . Come On Over . . . And Pick Up Some Ice on the WayBLT Sliders with Candied BaconPancetta and Parm PopcornCome On Over . . . I'm Throwing an Island PartyCrispy Plantain ChipsTakeout-Style Chinese Spare RibsDo You Smell That Meat Smoke? That's Right, It's Coming from my Backyard . . . Come On OverSmoked Cheez-ItsSmoked Honey-Glazed Cedar Plank SalmonSarah's Baking . . . Come On OverSarah's Famous Sea Salt Pecan Chocolate Chip CookiesNo-Bake Cookie Butter PieOverflowing with Jeff’s big personality, celebration-ready food for friends and family, and gorgeous food and lifestyle color photographs, this laugh-out-loud-funny cookbook will inspire you to pick up the phone and invite your favorite people to share good times, eat good food, and make wonderful memories.

The Book of Tofu


William Shurtleff - 1976
    An all-in-one reference, this book covers the production of tofu and other soy products, Asian cooking techniques and equipment, and much much more. With over 350,000 copies in print, THE BOOK OF TOFU has been hailed by the Vegetarian Times as "an awesome book about the most incredible of foods"; by the Washington Post as "a seminal work"; and by the New York Times as the book that "awakened the West to the wonders of tofu." With over 300 illustrations and an extensive bibliography, you'll never be at a loss for how to prepare this perfect vegan protein.

A History of Food in 100 Recipes


William Sitwell - 2012
    But do we know where these everyday recipes came from, who invented them, and using what techniques? This book provides a colourful and entertaining journey through the history of cuisine, celebrating the world's greatest dishes.

The New Pie: Modern Techniques for the Classic American Dessert


Chris Taylor - 2019
     Get ready for a new, fresh take on baking the ultimate feel-good dessert: pie! In The New Pie, Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin--winners of more than 500 awards for baking (including the 2017 Best of Show Award at the National Pie Championships)--re-examine the wholesome world of pie. Through traditional time-honored techniques, modern cooking methods (like sous vide), innovative flavors (birthday cake; Tahitian pineapple; and mocha "mystery"), and a love for kitchen gadgets (like immersion circulators and silicone texture mats), these legendary competition circuit pie experts reinvent the traditional pastime of pie-making. With step-by-step instructions and playful photography, you'll learn to make groundbreaking creations, including a magnificent Blueberry-Maple Pie with wood-grain lattice, the King Fluffernutter Pie, and a striped chocolate Pie of the Tiger. Whether you are a pie voyeur, new baker, or baking enthusiast you will find inspiration at every turn and pies to satisfy every craving.

Nantucket Open-House Cookbook


Sarah Leah Chase - 1987
    Now, cooks everywhere can create more than 250 of the recipes that have drawn hungry visitors and residents to her popular gourmet shop, Que Sera Sarah on Nantucket Island. The author's eclectic combinations center on the freshest of seafood and produce, and induce hearty summer appetites to indulge in a unique chilled clam chowder, a fresh beachfront salad of Scallops with Orange and Chervil Vinaigrette, savory empanadas and turnovers, or a beautifully grilled bluefish redolent with lavender. Sumptuous meals must end with the proper desserts: an extravagantly rich Chocolate Bombe or a fruit tart glistening with a fortune of fresh raspberries and blueberries. Complete with just-baked muffins and breads for breakfasts best enjoyed in a huge wicker chair and cool summer drinks for whiling away long afternoons, Nantucket Open-House Cookbook is for anyone who wants to make the most of fair-weather dining all year round. Over 214,000 copies in print.

Don't Try This at Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World's Greatest Chefs


Kimberly Witherspoon - 2005
    From hiring a blind line cook to flooding the room with meringue to being terrorized by a French owl, these behind-the-scenes accounts are as wildly entertaining as they are revealing. A delicious reminder that even the chefs we most admire aren't always perfect, Don't Try This at Home is a must-have for anyone who loves food or is fascinated by those who masterfully prepare it.

The Slow Cook Book


Heather Whinney - 2011
    Meat will be gloriously tender, flavors will combine beautifully - and all with minimal attention from the cook. This book celebrates slow cooking in all its forms. Its 200 recipes range from typical slow-cook fare - hearty, warming stews and pot roasts - to more surprising inclusions such as cakes and bakes. Acknowledging the different ways of approaching slow cooking, it contains two methods for each recipe: one using an electric crockpot, the other using a combination of traditional pots, pans, stovetop, and oven. A practical introduction demonstrates techniques step-by-step and provides information on key ingredients and how to use them for the best results. Find everything you need to become a slow-cook expert in this attractive, but great-value, technique resource and recipe book.

The Comfort Table


Katie Lee Joel - 2008
    And the best home cooking starts with fresh ingredients found close to home with foods that are local, seasonal, and organic. Raised in her grandmother's Southern kitchen, Katie Lee Joel comes from a "family of great cooks and big eaters." And she knows exactly what appeals to the home cook: recipes that are delicious, easy to follow, quick to prepare, and made with readily available seasonal ingredients.In The Comfort Table, Katie dips into her archive of family recipes and updates all the classics from her childhood growing up in West Virginia, and also creates some inventive new favorites. This mouthwatering assortment of more than 125 recipes includes Southern staples like Fried Green Tomatoes, Chicken and Dumplings, Peach Cobbler, Meatloaf, and the quintessential Pulled Pork BBQ, which stand alongside contemporary classics like Roasted Carrot and Ginger Soup, Citrus-Tarragon Mahi-Mahi, and Dijon and Pistachio-Crusted Rack of Lamb.But The Comfort Table is about more than just good old-fashioned home cooking. It's about sharing delicious, healthful meals -- made with love -- for friends and family. Katie's rich assortment of recipes for starters, salads, soups, entrees, side dishes, breads, breakfast, desserts, and drinks, is accompanied by entertaining tips and anecdotes to delight the modern foodie. The Comfort Table is a comprehensive, unpretentious, refreshingly accessible guide to creating unforgettable meals for occasions big and small.