This year, why not give the gift of a cookbook to someone on your list. Not only do they spark wanderlust taking you through food to far off destinations, but they help you achieve one of your resolutions have more balance and eating well as you work your way through the cookbooks. To help you find a cookbook for a gift this year, we’ve rounded up 13 of our favourite books on the shelves this year.
Where Cooking Begins by Carla Lalli Music
The indispensable recipes and streamlined cooking techniques in Where Cooking Beginsare an open invitation to dive into Carla Lalli Music’s laid-back cooking style. The food director at Bon Appétit, her intuitive recipes are inspired by the meals she makes at home for her family and friends and the joy she takes in feeding them. Here, too, is her guide to the six essential cooking methods that will show you how to make everything without over-complicating anything—and every recipe includes suggestions for swaps and substitutions, so you’ll never feel stuck or stymied.
Fraiche Food, Full Hearts by Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer
Fraiche Food, Full Hearts includes over 100 heart-warming recipes–from breakfasts, soups, salads, veggies, sides, and mains to snacks, appetizers, drinks, and desserts–for everyday meals, along with celebration menus and ideas for casual gatherings with family and friends. Gorgeously designed with dreamy full-colour photography throughout, the recipes also incorporate vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options.
Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
Yotam Ottolenghi is one of the world’s most beloved culinary talents. In this hotly anticipated follow-up to his bestselling Plenty, he continues to explore the diverse realm of vegetarian food with a wholly original approach. Organized by cooking method, the more than 150 dazzling recipes emphasize spices, seasonality, and bold flavours. From inspired salads to hearty main dishes and luscious desserts, Plenty More is a must-have for vegetarians and omnivores alike. This visually stunning collection will change the way you cook and eat vegetables.
Joy of Cooking: 2019 Edition Fully Revised and Updated
John and Megan developed more than six hundred new recipes for this edition, tested and tweaked thousands of classic recipes, and updated every section of every chapter to reflect the latest ingredients and techniques available to today’s home cooks. Their strategy for revising this edition was the same one Irma and Marion employed: Vet, research, and improve Joy’s coverage of legacy recipes while introducing new dishes, modern cooking techniques, and comprehensive information on ingredients now available at farmers’ markets and grocery stores.
The Official Downton Abbey Cookbook
With a foreword by Gareth Neame, executive producer and co-creator of Downton Abbey, and featuring over 100 stunning colour photographs, The Downton Abbey Cookbook also includes a special section on hosting Downton-themed dinner parties and presents stills from across the TV series as well as the latest film. Notes on the etiquette and customs of the times, quotes from the characters, and descriptions of the scenes in which the foods appear provide vivid context for the dishes.
The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner
The Homemade Vegan Pantry celebrates beautiful, handcrafted foods that don’t take a ton of time, from ice cream and pizza dough to granola and breakfast sausage. Miyoko Schinner guides readers through the techniques for making French-style buttercreams, roasted tomatoes, and pasta without special equipment. Her easy methods make “slow food” fast, and full of flavour. The Homemade Vegan Pantry raises the bar on plant-based cuisine, not only for vegans and vegetarians, but also for the growing number of Americans looking to eat lighter and healthier, and anyone interested in a handcrafted approach to food.
Vegetarian Indian by Madhur Jaffrey
No one knows Indian food like Madhur Jaffrey. For more than forty years, the “godmother of Indian cooking” (The Independent on Sunday) has introduced Western home cooks to the vibrant cuisines of her homeland. Now, in Vegetarian India: A Journey Through the Best of Indian Home Cooking, the seven-time James Beard Award-winning author shares the delectable, healthful, vegetable- and grain-based foods enjoyed around the Indian subcontinent.
Marth Stewart’s Cookie Perfection
The editors of Martha Stewart Living present a new, fun source for anyone looking to make their go-to cookies even better and bolder. These recipes make ordinary cookies absolutely extraordinary–all the familiar favourites you love but taken up a notch in variety, flavour, and creativity.
The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook by
On Spice: Advice, Wisdom, and History with a Grain of Saltines by Caitlin PenzeyMoog
These notes On Spice come from three generations of a family in the spice trade, and dozens upon dozens of their collected spice guides and stories. Inside, you’ll learn where spices come from: historically, geographically, botanically, and in the modern market. You’ll see snapshots of life in a spice shop, how the flavours and stories can infuse not just meals but life and relationships. And you’ll get straightforward advice delivered with wry wit.
For Children:
Natural Baby & Toddler Treats by
Work your way through flavorful purees that will delight your baby’s taste buds and get them excited for real food. Then, you’ll transition into little bites, breakfast bowls, smoothies, and special lunch box and snack time treats, that get them ready to participate in family mealtime! (And enjoy the special mamas-only chapter at the end—you deserve it!).
MasterChef Junior Bakes!
Like the dishes featured in the MasterChef Junior Cookbook, the 100 recipes in the MasterChef Junior Bakes! celebrate creativity, technique, and deliciousness, embracing simple to sophisticated and sweet to savoury baked goods. Young bakers will learn how to cream butter for Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies; shallow fry dough for Glazed Jelly Doughnuts with Powdered Sugar; whip a silky chocolate ganache for German Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling; and knead the dough for cheesy Garlic Knots. Packed with baking guidance and know-how, insider info from MasterChef Junior alumni, and photographs from your favourite show moments, home bakers of all skill levels will be excited to bake like a MasterChef.
Science You Can Eat by Stefan Gates
Science You Can Eat will transform your kitchen into a lab through 20 fun food experiments. Cooking is chemistry, and all of the fun science experiments inside this book are edible! This exciting kid’s book tackles all those tasty science questions you have about food, plus plenty more that you hadn’t thought of. Once you understand science, you understand food – so find out why popcorn go “pop” as you test it out for yourself; explore how taste is affected by smell, and discover the secret to making a perfect cookie.
