Since I’m still recovering from Covid, my big field trip today was to the…wait for it…GROCERY STORE!! Yeah, not gonna write a post on that. So instead, here’s a top-10 list of my favorite cookbooks:
- Food of the Southwest Indian Nations. I grew up eating some of these dishes but learned a lot of new ones I didn’t know, and Lois Frank’s photography is gorgeous.
- Southwest Flavor. Longtime New Mexico Magazine food columnist Adela Amador’s wonderful cookbook/memoir about growing up and cooking in Madrid (that’s MAD-rid, New Mexico, not the city in Spain; I know….)
- The Good Life. Fabiola C. de Baca’s cookbook/memoir about growing up in Las Vegas (again, not *that* Vegas).
- The Food I Love. This guy! Neil Perry was the chef at Rockpool in Sydney, where I had one of the best meals of my life about 10 years ago. But at first, when friends got me his first cookbook, I looked at the recipes and either yawned or raised an eyebrow: roasted red peppers in red wine vinegar and olive oil? You call that a recipe? I’m sorry, steak with anchovy butter? A room-temperature tagine of beets and green beans and peas? Yes, yes, and yes. Perry’s palate is insane: he combines flavors I never would have thought of, and yet he never adds one more ingredient to a dish that is required. At this point in our relationship, if he told me to cook lima beans in milk, I would do it no questions asked, and I HATE lima beans.
- Joy of Cooking. The controversial 1997 edition! Out with possum casserole, in with sushi! Look, I’m not here to defend this edition, but it’s the one I learned to cook from, and it’s still my starting place for recipe standards (especially cakes and cookies) I haven’t made before. It works.
- How to Cook Everything. Mark Bittman’s recipes are simple, basic, and good. If I don’t break out the ’97 Joy to figure out a new recipe, this is the book I turn to. His “shrimp my way” is on regular rotation in my kitchen, and it’s hard to beat his banana bread.
- Japanese Farmhouse Cooking. This is my frenemy cookbook. First, it’s gorgeous (though badly bound; it’s already falling apart on me). Second, I love the sound of almost every recipe in it. Making those recipes, however, is often an exercise in frustration. Some, like the spinach with walnut miso pesto, come together in a flash with easy-to-find ingredients and are fabulous. With others…well, you know you’re in trouble when you read, “Procure one pound of the freshest artisanal soybeans from your local organic farmer.” OK, Nancy. And not all her recipes work for those who don’t have her years of experience–like her tofu recipe, which was an unmitigated disaster for me. Still, I come back to this cookbook as often as I do to any in my collection.
- Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking: This is a recent acquisition for me, but thanks in part to an intensive cooking jag my sister and I went on over the holidays, I’ve already cooked like a quarter of the recipes in it. They’ve all worked very well and have been delicious.
- Tartine: I don’t have a huge sweet tooth, and I’m not a gifted baker. And this cookbook is not for the faint of heart (or short on time). But it’s meticulously detailed and features a good mix of classic and original baked goods. So, when I do try something out of here, it usually comes out. I’m a big fan of her savory gougères, which are easy, fast, and a crowd-pleaser. Her double-chocolate cookies are great, too. I did, however, figure out that it would take me less time to drive to her bakery in San Francisco and buy her croissants than it would take me to make them myself following her recipe, so I didn’t bother with that one.
- Sweet Spot. I ended up with this cookbook by a series of accidents: Pichet Ong was the guest chef on an Alaskan cruise my mom took me on in 2009. I think at the time he was the pastry chef at one of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurants…. Anyway, to while away one of the loooong afternoons onboard, I attended a demo and signing Ong did. First of all, he’s super nice. Second, he’s insanely talented. And third, this cookbook is the bomb–Asian fusion desserts that have aged well because they’re just really, really good. The recipes are precise and reliable. The Vietnamese coffee and blueberry cream popsicles are lifetime favorites. And his carrot cake is the best I’ve ever tried.
The Rookery 