I love cookbooks. I watch for grilling cookbooks in the spring. But fall...fall is new cookbook season. Every fall the best general cookbooks are released.
This year is no different; some of my favorite authors are releasing new cookbooks. Here are the cookbooks I'm lusting after looking forward to this fall.
Ruhlman's Twenty
Michael Ruhlman explains the twenty techniques every cook needs to know, and shows how to use those techniques to make 200 different recipes. I'm a huge fan of Mr. Ruhlman's writing; his Ratio is a brilliant concept, but definitely not the first book a beginner needs. I hope this book is an alternative to the best introduction to real cooking, Pam Anderson's How to Cook Without a Book.
Cook Without A Book: Meatless Meals
Speaking of Pam...
I've been trying to be a part time vegetarian. Really. I try to cook vegetarian one day a week. I know my loyal readers will find this hard to believe; this blog tends to be heavy on the meat.
*To the point that someone from an animal protection agency left a comment about the evils of factory farmed pork on one of my posts. Dude...I know, it's awful...but did you bother to check where I got my pork before you left the comment?
My problem with part-time vegetarianism is, well, I need protein. Let me restate that: I. Need. Protein. I can eat as much salad as you put in front of me, and when I'm done, my jaw will be tired, but I will not feel full. The exception is meals involving rice and beans. Red beans and rice, chana masala, lentil stew with rice...fill me up with beans and I'm good. But...beans and rice every week gets repetitive. I hope Pam has some ideas here to move me past my beans and rice dependency.
Why? Why did you have to leave us? WHY?!?
<sobbing>
I'll be OK, really, I will...
<more sobbing>
..and, this is the...the...the LAST <sob> collection of Good Eats episodes. Alton's notes, recipes, behind the scenes information.
<sniffle>
---
Honorable Mention:
When I need an obscure technique, like, say, how to section a rabbit, I turn to Jaques Pepin's Complete Techniques. I'm intrigued by his new book:
Essential Pepin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food
Wow, there are a lot of famous chefs cooking for their family this fall:
Molto Batali: Simple Family Meals from My Home to Yours
Home Cooking with Jean-Georges: My Favorite Simple Recipes
The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria
The last one, in particular, has me flabbergasted. Ferran Adria? Mr. Molecular Gastronomy? Home cooking? I picture his home kitchen looking like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's laboratory...
I'm not a baker. But my wife is, and she swears by Carol Field's The Italian Baker, published in 1985. Mrs. Field is releasing a revised edition, and I know what someone's getting for Christmas:
The Italian Baker, Revised: The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside--Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies
Last but not least, Lynn Rossetto Kasper, my favorite radio food talk show host:
The Splendid Table's How to Eat Weekends: New Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show
What do you think? Any new cookbooks you can't wait for? Leave them in the comments section below.
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MikeV @ DadCooksDinner
@Debbie Fox:
Thank you! I missed that one, somehow; I've taken a number of classes at WRSOC, and love Lisa...so I just put a pre-order.
Thank you for the heads up.
Linda
Yep, want all three!
Debbie Fox
Mike: Lisa Abraham (food writer with the Beacon Journal) has a book coming out this fall: Famous Chefs, Fabulous Recipes. It is a history of the Western Reserve School of Cooking, along with interviews of guest chefs and recipes. It can be preordered on Amazon.