There is nothing simpler and tastier than a juicy, vine-picked tomato sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil, or a freshly caught mackerel stuffed with bay leaves, and grilled on an open fire. Food that is simple and natural is part of a continuing trend of going locavore, growing, cultivating and eating from one’s own garden or farm. And this continues in this spring’s cookbooks.
In The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food, Ian Knauer, who develops recipes for the Food Network and writes for Bon Appetit and Men’s Health, takes home cooks to his farm in Pennsylvania. He offers such recipes as spinach and walnut lasagna, and radishes spread with bacon butter.
Moving off the land to the sea and rivers—though still local, mind you—Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the stubbornly opinionated author of the River Cottage series of cookbooks, turns his attention to sourcing and cooking sustainable fish in The River Cottage Fish Book.
The number of vegan titles continues to expand like coagulated soy milk, and John Schlimm, author of the Tipsy Vegan, takes vegan recipes outdoors in Grilling Vegan Style: 125 Fired-Up Recipes to Turn Every Bite into a Backyard BBQ.
In her bestselling book The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl, blogger Ree Drummond tells of leaving L.A. for her hometown in Oklahoma to rediscover her cowgirl roots. She returns with The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier.
A couple of big-name authors and food network personalities are coming out with books this season, including Ted Allen, former aficionado on Queer Eye and current host of Chopped. Here he offers an entirely stress-free dining experience with In My Kitchen. Minimalist writer Mark Bittman is releasing what’s sure to be another hit, How to Cook Everything—The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food. April Bloomfield, the chef of New York City’s great upscale pubs—the Spotted Pig, the Breslin, the John Dory—shares her hearty recipes in A Girl and Her Pig.
New York Times contributor and Southern food expert John T. Edge writes books on some of America’s most-loved, homemade dishes like fried chicken and hamburgers; here he follows food trucks all over the country in search of the best, in The Truck Food Cookbook: 150 Recipes and Ramblings from America’s Best Restaurants on Wheels. Meanwhile, “Ask a Mexican!” author Gustavo Arellano takes a look at Mexican-American culture through a single dish in Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America (the dish happens to be the subject of half a dozen cookbooks pubbing this year).
And to wash all this good food down, Jay McInerney collects his musings on wine in The Juice: Vinous Veritas.
PW’s Top 10: Cookbooks
The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food
Ian Knauer. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mar. 21.
The River Cottage Fish Book: The Definitive Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Fish and Shellfish
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Ten Speed, Mar. 20.
Grilling Vegan Style: 125 Fired-Up Recipes to Turn Every Bite into a Backyard BBQ
John Schlimm. Da Capo Lifelong Books, Apr. 17.
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier
Ree Drummond. HarperCollins/William Morrow, Feb. 22.
In My Kitchen: 100 Recipes and Discoveries for Passionate Cooks
Ted Allen. Clarkson Potter, May 1.
How to Cook Everything—The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food
Mark Bittman. Wiley, Mar.
A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories
April Bloomfield. Ecco, Apr 4
The Truck Food Cookbook: 150 Recipes and Ramblings from America’s Best Restaurants on Wheels
John T. Edge. Workman, May
Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America
Gustavo Arellano. Scribner, Apr. 10.
The Juice: Vinous Veritas
Jay McInerney. Knopf, May 8
Cookbooks Listings
Andrews McMeel
Lard: The Lost Art of Cooking with Your Grandmother’s Secret Ingredient by editors of Grit magazine (May 15, paper, $24.99, ISBN 978-1449409746). What was once considered an old-fashioned ingredient is making a comeback, thanks to the editors of Grit magazine; their book offers 150 sweet and savory recipes using the classic component in such dishes as beef Wellington and butterscotch peach pie.
Artisan
Charred & Scruffed by Adam Perry Lang with Peter Kaminsky (May 22, paperback, $24.95, ISBN 978-1579654658). Classically trained chef–turned–barbecue champion Adam Perry Lang reimagines the flavors and textures of American barbecue. His new techniques, from roughing up meat and vegetables (“scruffing”) to cooking directly on hot coals (“clinching”) enhance crust formation and build layers of flavor.
Atria Books/Emily Bestler
The Fire Island Cookbook by Jeffrey J. Jenssen (Apr., hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-1451632934) offers a selection of recipes, wine pairings, and dinner menus for anyone planning to throw an elegant yet casual dinner party with friends and family.
Avery Books
Sticky Fingers’ Sweets: 100 Super-Secret Vegan Recipes by Doron Petersan (Feb., hardcover, $27.50, ISBN 978-1583334638). A Food Network Cupcake Wars winner shares her sweet secrets that have attracted vegans and omnivores alike.
Ballantine
Jeffrey Saad’s Global Kitchen: Recipes Without Borders by Jeffrey Saad (Mar., paper, $22, ISBN 978-0345528360). In his cookbook debut, Saad—restaurateur and star of United Tastes of America—takes readers on a journey through popular culinary hotspots from France, Italy, and Spain to India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
Boston Common Press/America’s Test Kitchen
Pasta Revolution: 200 Foolproof Recipes That Go Beyond Spaghetti and Meatballs by the editors at America’s Test Kitchen (Feb., paper, $26.95, ISBN 978-1936493043) takes a fresh look at everything pasta, offering new techniques, modern flavors, and a host of simple variations on the classics.
Chelsea Green Publishing
Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilization by Paul Kindstedt (Mar. 14, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-1603584111) is a comprehensive look at the 9,000-year history of cheese, the ways in which it has shaped civilization, and what it can tell us about the future of food.
Chronicle Books
At the Farmer’s Market with Kids: Recipes and Projects for Little Hands by Leslie Jonath and Ethel Brennan, photos by Sheri Giblin (Mar. 21, paper, $22.95, ISBN 978-0811875028) brings exploring food and tasting unique flavors to life at the farmer’s market by profiling fruits and vegetables and providing age-specific tips that cater to children of all ages.
Clarkson Potter
In My Kitchen: 100 Recipes and Discoveries for Passionate Cooks by Ted Allen (May 1, hardcover, $35, ISBN 978-0307951861). From PW’s review: “During his day job, as host of Chopped on the Food Network, [Allen] presides over tense, high-speed cook-offs. Here, the focus is on food that takes time, and its inherent pleasures.”
Martha’s American Food: A Celebration of Our Nation’s Most Treasured Dishes, from Coast to Coast by Martha Stewart (Apr. 24, hardcover, $40, ISBN 978-0307405081) celebrates America and its diversity of food with 190 recipes that represent the best of the country’s flavors.
Weeknights with Giada: Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner by Giada De Laurentiis (Mar. 27, hardcover, $35, ISBN 978-0307451026). “Motivated by her desire to sit down to dinner with her husband and four-year-old daughter despite her busy schedule, De Laurentiis delivers on her promise—the book is full of quick, easy dishes that follow her formula.” said PW’s review.
Da Capo/ Lifelong Books
Grilling Vegan Style: 125 Fired-Up Recipes to Turn Every Bite into a Backyard BBQ by John Schlimm (Apr., paper, $20, ISBN 978-0738215723). The author of The Tipsy Vegan returns with recipes for the ultimate summertime party, from cookouts to campfires—it’s How to Grill but animal-free.
Ecco
A Girl and Her Pig: Recipes and Stories by April Bloomfield (Apr., hardcover, $29.99, ISBN 978-0062003966). The long-awaited cookbook from the critically acclaimed chef behind the smash hit New York restaurants the Spotted Pig, the Breslin, and the John Dory takes home cooks on an intimate tour of the food of her kitchens.
Dinner: A Love Story: It All Starts at the Family Table by Jenny Rosenstrach (May 16, hardcover, $27.99, ISBN 978-0062080905). Inspired by her popular blog, DinnerALoveStory.com, Rosenstrach offers what the publisher says is a practical, readable, inspiring mix of recipes and stories from a dinnertime doyenne that will be indispensable in the kitchen.
The Experiment
Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking: 275 Great-Tasting, From-Scratch Recipes from Around the World, Perfect for Every Meal and for Anyone on a Gluten-Free Diet—and Even Those Who Aren’t by Kelli Bronski and Peter Bronski (May 1, paper, $21.95, ISBN 978-1615190508). An expanded, updated, four-color edition of the category-leading gluten-free cookbook that PW called “an essential, horizon-broadening tool for those off gluten.”
Firefly
Best Summer Weekends Cookbook by Jane Rodmell (Apr., $29.95, ISBN 978-1554078103) makes use of fresh seasonal ingredients in more than 300 pages of recipes plus menu suggestions, make-ahead tips, and quick tricks to reduce kitchen work. Barbecue choices are also suitable for year-round stovetop grilling.
Firefly Books/Robert Rose
150 Best Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and More Slow Cooker Recipes by Sunil Vijayakar (Mar., paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-0778804048) includes slow cooker recipes for rice, chickpeas, lentils, beans and peas, in addition to tasty curries.
Free Press
Chloe’s Kitchen: 125 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Making the Food You Love the Vegan Way by Chloe Coscarelli, M.D., and Neal D. Barnard (Mar. 6, paper, $18.99, ISBN 978-1451636741). “With the explosion of vegan cookbooks on the scene, there are more meatless Monday options than ever, and this book, from the winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars, is an accessible addition to the fold,” said PW’s review.
Globe Pequot Press
Stephane Reynaud’s Barbecue & Grill by Stephane Reynaud, illus. by Jose Reis De Matos (Apr., $27.95, ISBN 978-0762778959). The latest cookbook from French chef Reynaud tackles the barbecue, and who better to fire up the grill than the man who is an expert on meat and the author of Pork & Sons, Ripailles, and Rotis.
Good Books
Fix-It and Forget-It Vegetarian Cookbook: 200 Delicious Slow Cooker Recipes with 200 Stove-Top and Oven Recipes by Phyllis Pellman Good (May, paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-1561487530). Those looking to cook for their vegetarian friends and family can find more than 500 slow-cooker as well as stove-top and oven recipes, plus 50 menus for making well-balanced meals.
Grand Central Publishing
Vegan Cooking for Carnivores: Over 125 Recipes So Tasty You Won’t Miss the Meat by Roberto Martin, photos by Quentin Bacon, foreword by Portia de Rossi, afterword by Ellen DeGeneres (Apr., hardcover, $29.99, ISBN 978-1609412425). DeGeneres’s personal chef, Roberto Martin, shares more than 125 vegan recipes he’s created for her and Portia de Rossi.
Harlequin
Sugarlicious by Meaghan Mountford (Feb., paper, $17.95, ISBN 978-0373892549). The Decorated Cake blogger shows how to create treats with a dab of bright icing and a sprinkle of color, transforming drab sugar cookies into glowing planets and plain marshmallows into scary zombies.
Harvard Common
Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes by Michael Natkin (May, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-1-55832-745-0) provides advice on how to craft vegetarian meals that amply deliver nutrients; imaginative menus deliver balanced and complementary flavors.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Gourmet Weekday: All-Time Favorite Recipes by Gourmet magazine (Apr., hardcover, $20, ISBN 978-0547842318).From the hundreds of dishes published in Gourmet over the years, the editors selected the best loved, the most memorably simple, and the riotously tasty—that is, the ones that have entered their personal repertoires.
The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food by Ian Knauer (Mar., hardcover, $30, ISBN 978-0547516912) collects 150 recipes revolving around the author’s life on the family farm.
Hyperion
Food Network Magazine 1,000 Easy Recipes: Super Fun Food for Every Day by Food Network Magazine (Feb., paper, $24.99, ISBN 978-1401310745). The follow-up to the New York Times’s bestselling Food Network Magazine Great Easy Meals, this book will combine the best of those recipes with more than 300 photographs and tips from Food Network’s test kitchens.
Imagine Publishing
Cupcake Cakes by Danielle Levy (May, hardcover, $18.95, ISBN 978-1936140572). The ever-popular cupcake is re-envisioned into works of art and merriment that can become the centerpiece of a party, a romantic gift, or a holiday treat.
Knopf
Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well) by Peter Kaminsky (May, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-0307593375). A formerly overweight veteran food writer tells how he lost 35 pounds and kept them off by thinking more—not less—about food, and shows how to eat in a healthy way without sacrificing any of the fun and pleasure.
The Juice: Vinous Veritas by Jay McInerney (May, hardcover, $26.95, ISBN 978-0307957283). In pieces originally published in House & Garden and the Wall Street Journal, McInerney provides a master class in the almost infinite varieties of wine and the people and places that produce it.
McSweeney’s Books
At Home on the Range by Margaret Yardley Potter, intro. by Elizabeth Gilbert (Apr., hardcover, $24, ISBN 978-1936365890). Featuring a comprehensive and moving introduction from Potter’s great-granddaughter, this book is an eminently usable and humorous cookbook—and an heirloom, an into-the-wee-hours dinner with relatives and ancestors.
William Morrow
The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier by Ree Drummond (Feb., hardcover, $29.99, ISBN 978-0061997181). In the follow-up cookbook to her #1 New York Times bestseller, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, Drummond serves up another helping of cowboy-approved comfort food.
Phaidon
Fish: Recipes from the Sea by the editors of Phaidon Press and Carol-Jane Jackson (Feb., hardcover, $39.95, ISBN 978-0714863870). From traditional seafood soups to simple grilled fish, this cookbook contains more than 200 accessible and authentic Italian recipes from the Silver Spoon kitchen; Jackson is a Cordon Bleu trained chef, food consultant, and food writer.
Quirk Books
The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook: Cookies, Cakes, Candies, and More by Lindsay Landis (June, hardcover, $18.95, ISBN 978-1594745645). Blogger Landis shares her secret recipes for egg-free cookie doughs that are meant to be eaten raw, with recipes for more than 50 delicious cookie dough desserts.
Rizzoli/PIE Books
Nobu’s Vegetarian Cookbook by Nobu Matsuhisa, photos by Masashi Kuma, foreword by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Eric Ripert (Feb., hardcover, $39.95, ISBN 978-4894449053). In this first cookbook by Nobu to focus on vegetable dishes, the master chef shares his expertise and deep knowledge of Japanese cuisine.
Reader’s Digest
Taste of Home Farm Fresh Favorites: Cook It, Can It, Freeze It by Taste of Home (Apr., paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-0898219616) brings home cooks more than 300 recipes and strategies to preserve and savor delicious produce at its very best.
Rizzoli
Alain Ducasse Nature: Simple, Healthy, and Good by Alain Ducasse, Paula Neyrat, and Christophe Saintagne (Feb., hardcover, $45, ISBN 978-0847838400). Michelin-starred chef Alain Ducasse challenges the clichéd image of French food as complicated and heavy and goes back to basics, rediscovering the pleasures of simple French food based on healthy, locally sourced ingredients that are in season.
Rodale Books
Tyler Florence Fresh: A New Perspective on Flavor. One Simple Idea by Tyler Florence (May 16, paper, $30, ISBN 978-1605293370). Haute meets healthy in the Food Network star’s first book on healthy cooking—featuring dishes that are boldly flavored, vibrantly beautiful, and above all fresh.
Running Press
Eat More of What You Love by Marlene Koch (Running Press, $27, ISBN 978-0-7624-4589-9) demonstrates how to transform high-fat comfort foods and rich restaurant favorites into dishes that are low in fat, sugar, and calories, but high in flavor.
Ryland Peters & Small
Tacos, Quesadillas, and Burritos by Laura Washburn (Apr., hardcover, $15.95, ISBN 978-1849752152). Eschewing the notion that tacos are greasy, unhealthy fast food, Washburn offers fresh, tasty ingredients that are good for you.
Scribner
Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America by Gustavo Arellano (Apr. 10, hardcover, $24, ISBN 978-1439148617). The nationally syndicated columnist and bestselling author of Ask a Mexican! presents an entertaining, tasty trip through the history and culture of Mexican food.
Skyhorse
Swedish Desserts: 80 Traditional Recipes by Cecilia Vikbladh (May, hardcover, $17.95, ISBN 978-1616086374). Swedish pastry chef Vikbladh offers traditional desserts such as kransekake (Swedish almond cake with icing), knapriga sirapskakor (syrup cookies), and vaniljkringlor (vanilla biscuits).
Square One Publishers
Complete Wood Pellet Barbecue Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide & Recipe Book for Wood Pellet Grills by Bob Devon (Mar., paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-0757003370). The barbecue expert shows how to use a wood-pellet grill as a smoker, grill, barbecue, oven, and broiler to cook virtually any food out of doors.
St. Martin’s Press
Rao’s on the Grill by Frank Pellegrino Jr. (May, hardcover, $35, ISBN 978-1250006271). New York City’s Rao’s restaurant now takes on barbecuing with a new cookbook that gets you out of the kitchen and onto the patio.
Sterling Epicure
Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food: More Than 100 Delicious, Super-Fast, and Easy Recipes by Gordon Ramsay (Mar. 6, paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-1402797873) serves up a feast of doable ideas: more than 100 recipes and 15 great menus for putting food on the table every day.
SprinkleBakes: Dessert Recipes to Inspire Your Inner Artist by Heather Baird (May 1, paper, $19.95, ISBN 978-1402786365). Food blogger Baird sees dessert making as one of the few truly creative outlets for the home cook and arranges her recipes by line, color, and sculpture, rather than dessert type.
Sterling/Hearst Books
Delish Cooking School: Learning to Cook Step-by-Step by the editors of Delish (Apr. 3, hardcover, $34.95, ISBN 978-1588169303). The first cookbook from delish.com not only presents 450 triple-tested recipes but, according to the publisher, also a complete cooking course.
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
Hazan Family Favorites: Beloved Italian Recipes by Giuliano Hazan, foreword by Marcella Hazan (Apr. 4, hardcover, $29.95, ISBN 978-1584799047) offers Giuliano’s interpretations of 85 recipes beloved by his family, especially as prepared by his mother, Marcella.
Taunton Press
Salad for Dinner: Simple Recipes for Salads That Make a Meal by Tasha DeSerio (Mar. 13, paper, $19.95, ISBN 978-1600854316) features whole-meal salads that encompass everything from greens to meat and fish, dairy, and pasta and grain for healthful, year-round eating.
Ten Speed Press
The River Cottage Fish Book: The Definitive Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Fish and Shellfish by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Mar. 20, hardcover, $45, ISBN 978-1607740056) offers an opinionated, passionate, and definitive guide to catching, buying, cooking, and eating fish and shellfish, with an emphasis on making sustainable choices.
Tuttle Publishing
Little Vietnam: From Lemongrass Chicken to Rice Paper Rolls, 79 Exciting Signature Dishes by Nhut Huynh (May 10, hardcover, $24.95, ISBN 978-0804842808). Vietnamese chef Huynh shares his passion for the food that sustained his family during times of war and separation, and introduces traditional classics alongside the eclectic street-stall dishes he has collected on his trips back to Vietnam to visit friends and family.
Westholme
Mrs. Goodfellow: The Story of America’s First Cooking School by Becky Diamond (May 20, hardcover, $26, ISBN 978-1594161575). The “Mother of American Cooking” and inventor of the lemon meringue pie receives her first biography, demonstrating all the ways 19th-century Philadelphian Mrs. Goodfellow changed the way we cook and prepare meals.
Wiley
How to Cook Everything—The Basics: All You Need to Make Great Food by Mark Bittman (Wiley, $35, ISBN 978-0-470-52806-8) reveals how truly easy it is to learn fundamental techniques and recipes. From dicing vegetables and roasting meat to cooking building-block meals that include salads, soups, poultry, meats, fish, sides, and desserts, Bittman explains what every home cook, particularly novices, should know.
Workman
The Mom 100 Cookbook: 100 Recipes Every Mom Needs in Her Back Pocket by Katie Workman (Apr. 3, paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-0761166030). The Workman editor offers what the publisher believes is the only cookbook each mom needs on hand to keep the family fed and happy every night of the week.
The Truck Food Cookbook: 150 Recipes and Ramblings from America’s Best Restaurants on Wheels by John T. Edge (May 8, paper, $18.95, ISBN 978-0761156161). Visiting hundreds of restaurants on wheels, Edge has collected the best, including Kogi tacos from Los Angeles, Moroccan chicken crepes from Austin, and lemon crepes from Philadelphia.
