The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook


Ina Garten - 1999
    For many of those years, people have tried to get the exuberant owner, Ina Garten, to share the secrets of her store. Finally, the energy and style that make Barefoot Contessa such a special place are shown here, with dozens of recipes and more than 160 breathtaking photographs, in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Ina's most popular recipes use familiar ingredients, but they taste even better than you would expect. Her Pan-Fried Onion Dip is the real thing, with slowly car-amelized onions and fresh sour cream. Tomato soup is created from oven-roasted tomatoes and fresh basil to intensify the flavors. Meat loaf is as good as your grandmother's, but it's healthier because it's made with ground turkey and fresh herbs. The light and flaky Maple-Oatmeal Scones are baked with rolled oats, whole wheat, and real maple syrup. Now these and other famous Barefoot Contessa recipes can be prepared at home. Ina says that before she owned a specialty food store she often spent a week making dinner for six friends. Her experience at Barefoot Contessa has given her hundreds of ideas for creating wonderful parties in a few hours. And they're all in this book. Crab Cakes with Rémoulade Sauce can be stored overnight in the refrigerator and sautéed just before the guests arrive. Cheddar Corn Chowder can be made days ahead, reheated, and served with a salad and bread for a delicious autumn lunch. The ingredients for Grilled Salmon Salad can all be prepared ahead and tossed together before serving. The batter for the Raspberry Corn Muffins can be mixed a day before and popped into the oven just before breakfast. Ina Garten teaches us how to entertain with style, simplicity, and a relaxed sense of fun. There are notes throughout the book for giving cocktail parties, lunches, and dinner parties where everything is done before the guests arrive. And there are easy instructions for creating gorgeous party platters that don't even require you to cook! With Ina Garten and The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, you have the perfect recipe for hosting parties that are easy and fun for everyone--including the cook.

Tasting Italy: A Culinary Journey


America's Test Kitchen - 2018
    Rich excerpts feature the origins of celebrated cheeses, the nuances of different wine growing regions, the best farmer's markets in Venice, and more. Intriguing prose illuminates key ingredients, from olive oil and how it's made to the various pasta shapes of Northern Italy. In every region, the food experts at America's Test Kitchen bring it all home, with foolproof recipes for standout dishes as well as hidden gems: Piedmontese braised beef in lustrous red wine sauce, crispy-custardy chickpea flour farinata pancakes from Genoa (achieved without the specialty pan and wood-burning oven), and hand-formed rustic malloreddus pasta of Sardinia that is a breeze to make.

Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond


Sabrina Ghayour - 2014
    A celebration of the food and flavours from the regions near the Southern and Eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea, with over 100 recipes for modern and accessible Middle Eastern dishes, including Lamb & Sour Cherry Meatballs; Chicken, Preserved Lemon & Olive Tagine; Blood Orange & Radicchio Salad; Persian Flatbread; and Spiced Carrot, Pistachio & Coconut Cake with Rosewater Cream.

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 Kinfolk Table


Kinfolk Magazine - 2013
    The journal has captured the imagination of readers nationwide, with content and an aesthetic that reflect a desire to go back to simpler times; to take a break from our busy lives; to build a community around a shared sensibility; and to foster the endless and energizing magic that results from sharing a meal with good friends. Now there’s The Kinfolk Table, a cookbook from the creators of the magazine, with profiles of 45 tastemakers who are cooking and entertaining in a way that is beautiful, uncomplicated, and inexpensive. Each of these home cooks—artisans, bloggers, chefs, writers, bakers, crafters—has provided one to three of the recipes they most love to share with others, whether they be simple breakfasts for two, one-pot dinners for six, or a perfectly composed sandwich for a solo picnic.

James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking


James Beard - 1977
    No one knew food better than Beard, and in these pages his timeless wisdom is on full display. Perfect for both seasoned chefs and those just starting out in the kitchen, James Beard’s Theory and Practice of Good Cooking will be one of the most comprehensive and important cookbooks in your library.   With a guide to kitchenware, step-by-step explanations of foundational cooking techniques, and more than 300 classic recipes to add to your repertoire, this invaluable volume provides all you need to become a star in the kitchen. Beard’s dishes, from poached pears to steak au poivre, stuffed clams to chocolate soufflé, will delight the senses. And his unpretentious advice, alongside personal anecdotes and food histories, will make cooking a joy.

The French Laundry Cookbook


Thomas Keller - 1999
    The most transformative cookbook of the century celebrates this milestone by showcasing the genius of chef/proprietor Thomas Keller himself. Keller is a wizard, a purist, a man obsessed with getting it right. And this, his first cookbook, is every bit as satisfying as a French Laundry meal itself: a series of small, impeccable, highly refined, intensely focused courses. Most dazzling is how simple Keller's methods are: squeegeeing the moisture from the skin on fish so it sautées beautifully; poaching eggs in a deep pot of water for perfect shape; the initial steeping in the shell that makes cooking raw lobster out of the shell a cinch; using vinegar as a flavor enhancer; the repeated washing of bones for stock for the cleanest, clearest tastes. From innovative soup techniques, to the proper way to cook green vegetables, to secrets of great fish cookery, to the creation of breathtaking desserts; from beurre monté to foie gras au torchon, to a wild and thoroughly unexpected take on coffee and doughnuts, The French Laundry Cookbook captures, through recipes, essays, profiles, and extraordinary photography, one of America's great restaurants, its great chef, and the food that makes both unique. One hundred and fifty superlative recipes are exact recipes from the French Laundry kitchen—no shortcuts have been taken, no critical steps ignored, all have been thoroughly tested in home kitchens. If you can't get to the French Laundry, you can now re-create at home the very experience Wine Spectator described as “as close to dining perfection as it gets.”

Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck


Thug Kitchen - 2014
    Beloved by Gwyneth Paltrow ("This might be my favorite thing ever") and named Saveur's Best New Food blog of 2013—with half a million Facebook fans and counting—Thug Kitchen wants to show everyone how to take charge of their plates and cook up some real f*cking food.Yeah, plenty of blogs and cookbooks preach about how to eat more kale, why ginger fights inflammation, and how to cook with microgreens and nettles. But they are dull or pretentious as hell—and most people can't afford the hype.Thug Kitchen lives in the real world. In their first cookbook, they're throwing down more than 100 recipes for their best-loved meals, snacks, and sides for beginning cooks to home chefs. (Roasted Beer and Lime Cauliflower Tacos? Pumpkin Chili? Grilled Peach Salsa? Believe that sh*t.) Plus they're going to arm you with all the info and techniques you need to shop on a budget and go and kick a bunch of ass on your own.This book is an invitation to everyone who wants to do better to elevate their kitchen game. No more ketchup and pizza counting as vegetables. No more drive-thru lines. No more avoiding the produce corner of the supermarket. Sh*t is about to get real.

Patricia Wells' Trattoria: Simple and Robust Fare Inspired by the Small Family Restaurants of Italy


Patricia Wells - 1993
    Patricia Wells' Trattoria now feeds America's passion for Italian food with 150 authentic recipes. Savor a Fresh Artichoke Omelet, succulent Lamb Braised in White Wine, Garlic, and Hot Peppers, a hearty portion of Lasagne with Basil, Garlic, and Tomato Sauce, or a luscious Fragrant Orange and Lemon Cake, and much more. This essential cookbook of Italian trattorias presents a full range of homemade recipes for antipasti, soups, dried and fresh pastas, polenta, seafood, poultry, and meat, with special chapters on breads, pizzas, and desserts. Come explore the heart and soul of Italian cooking in Patricia Wells' Trattoria.

Dessert Person: Recipes and Guidance for Baking with Confidence


Claire Saffitz - 2020
    In Dessert Person, fans will find Claire's signature spin on sweet and savory recipes like Babkallah (a babka-Challah mashup), Apple and Concord Grape Crumble Pie, Strawberry-Cornmeal Layer Cake, Crispy Mushroom Galette, and Malted Forever Brownies. She outlines the problems and solutions for each recipe--like what to do if your pie dough for Sour Cherry Pie cracks (patch it with dough or a quiche flour paste!)--as well as practical do's and don'ts, skill level, prep and bake time, and foundational know-how. With Claire at your side, everyone can be a dessert person.

The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adrià


Ferran Adrià - 2011
    It features nearly 100 delicious recipes by Ferran Adria that anyone can prepare, inspired by the dishes eaten every day by the staff at his legendary restaurant El Bulli, awarded World's Best Restaurant five times. The recipes in "The Family Meal" are easy-to-prepare and meant for family dining at home. From "Roast Chicken with Potato Straws, Sea Bass Baked in Salt and Mexican-style Slow-Cooked Pork to White Chocolate Cake" and "Baked Apples with Whipped Cream," there is a wide selection of everyday classics for every night of the week. The cookbook is also the first by such a renowned chef to ensure that the dishes are affordable and the ingredients are widely available at the local supermarket. "The Family Meal" is organized into three-course menus, with appetizers, mains and desserts, so you can prepare a well-balanced meal at home ? without fuss. Each recipe is shown with numerous step-by-step full-color photographs, and conversions on how you can prepare a meal for a small or large group - for 2, 6, 20 or 75 people. This is the cookbook by Ferran Adria everyone has been waiting for, it is sure to be one of the most talked about and popular cookbooks of the season.

Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand


Andy Ricker - 2013
    In 2005 he opened Pok Pok, so named for the sound a pestle makes when it strikes a clay mortar, in an old shack in a residential neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Ricker's traditional take on Thai food soon drew the notice of the New York Times and Gourmetmagazine, establishing him as a culinary star. Now, with his first cookbook, Ricker tackles head-on the myths that keep people from making Thai food at home, that it's too spicy for the American palate or too difficult to source ingredients. Fifty knockout recipes for simple and delicious Thai dishes range from Grilled Pork Collar with Spicy Dipping Sauce and Iced Greens to Andy's now-famous Vietnamese Fish Sauce Wings. Including a primer in Thai techniques and flavor profiles, with tips for modifying local produce to mimic Thai flavors, Pok Pok makes authentic Thai food accessible to American home cooks.

In Bibi's Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries That Touch the Indian Ocean


Hawa Hassan - 2020
    Most notably, these eight countries are at the backbone of the spice trade, many of them exporters of things like pepper and vanilla. We meet women such as Ma Shara, who helps tourists "see the real Zanzibar" by teaching them how to make her famous Ajemi Bread with Carrots and Green Pepper; Ma Vicky, a real-life princess from Tanzania, who now lives in suburban New York and makes a mean Matoke (Stewed Plantains with Beans and Beef); and Somalia's Ashura Babu-Bi Ashura, widow to Abdulrahman Babu, the late Zanzibari Marxist and revolutionary leader, known for her Samaki Wa Kupaka (Coconut Fish Curry).Through Julia and Hawa's writing--and their own personal stories--the women, and the stories behind the recipes, come to life. With evocative photography shot on location by Khadija Farah, and food photography by Jennifer May, In Bibi's Kitchen uses food to teach us all about families, war, loss, migration, refuge, and sanctuary.

Laura in the Kitchen: Favorite Italian-American Recipes Made Easy


Laura Vitale - 2015
    She went on to work in her father’s pizzeria, but when his restaurant suddenly closed, she knew she had to find her way back into the kitchen. Together with her husband, she launched her Internet cooking show, Laura in the Kitchen, where her enthusiasm, charm, and irresistible recipes have won her millions of fans.In her debut cookbook, Laura focuses on simple recipes that anyone can achieve—whether they have just a little time to spend in the kitchen or want to create an impressive feast. Here are recipes for quick-fix suppers, such as Tortellini with Pink Parmesan Sauce and One- Pan Chicken with Potatoes, Wine, and Olives; leisurely entrées, including Spinach and Artichoke-Stuffed Shells and Pot Roast alla Pizzaiola; and of course a few fan favorites, like Cheesy Garlic Bread and No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake. Laura tests her recipes dozens of times to perfect them so the results are always spectacular. With clear instructions and more than 100 color photographs, Laura in the Kitchen is the perfect guide for anyone looking to get comfortable at the stove and have fun cooking.

The Silver Palate Cookbook


Julee Rosso - 1982
    Originally published in 1982, the book's elegant, innovative recipes and emphasis on pure, fresh, ingredients ushered a new passion for food and hospitality into the American consciousness. The lively collection of clear, step-by-step recipes ranges from sublimely refined traditions-Pesto, Manhattan Clam Chowder, and Stuffed Artichokes-to original creations certain to become the topic of conversation at any dinner party. There's PatS de Campagne with Walnuts and Juniper Berries. Fruit-Stuffed Cornish Hens. Caviar Eclairs. Blueberry Bisque. Plus over 300 more recipes for hors d'oeuvres, dips and sauces, picnic fare, entrSes, salads, soups, breads, desserts. Throughout the book are valuable menu and serving suggestions, literary quotes, food guides, food lore, and whimsical illustrations. Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Quality Paperback Book Club, Book-of-the-Month Club's HomeStyle Books, Better Homes & Gardens Family Book Service, and the ABA Basic Booklist. A James Beard Book Awards inductee into the cookbook Hall of Fame.