This holiday season, jazz up your parties with recipes from these eclectic cookbooks. Bake your own breads and baked goods from all over the world, whip up easy appetizers in a jiffy, delve into the vast world of tacos and modern Mexican haute cuisine, have a ball with unconventional and delicious Asian-American creations, and make elaborate meals with the guidance of two revered Brooklyn chefs.
A. Joseph Ogrodnek, Walker Stern and Andrew Friedman
I was eager to check out Battersby’s new cookbook since I love and admire the restaurant and its food, so I was excited at the prospect of reproducing some of the dishes at home. However, when the book arrived and I began leafing through the pages, I got the sense that it was more of a monograph, meant to showcase beautiful photos of the... full article
B. Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez and the bakers of Hot Bread Kitchen
“The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook” shares the delicious baked recipes of Hot Bread Kitchen goods that I can’t live without, including Moroccan m’smen, Middle Eastern lavash, Mexican tortillas, Jewish onion bialys and challah. The book also tells the story of how founder Jessamyn Waldman Rodriguez started Hot Bread... full article
C. Deborah Holtz and Juan Carlos Mena
“Tacopedia” is an essential reference guide for any taco lover (I like to refer to it as the taco bible). A bestseller in Mexico, it’s now translated into English, so you can follow Deborah Holtz and Juan Carlos Mena as they trace the history of tacos, from the domestication of maize to the discovery of nixtamal, which led to the... full article
D. Enrique Olvera
“Mexico from the Inside Out” is a pleasure to read, equal in measure to the delight of eating at Enrique Olvera’s restaurant Pujol in Mexico City. Pujol is my favorite restaurant in the world, and in this book, Olvera articulates his journey that led to a modern interpretation of his native Mexican cuisine, and to the... full article
E. Martha Stewart
Martha Stewart has done it again. Just when you think she’s dropped off the radar, she comes out with “Appetizers,” a cookbook with over 200 recipes for easy-to-make hors d’oeuvres. This book has proven to be a heavy hitter for me, as I’m constantly looking for party starter ideas but am inclined to choose recipes... full article
F. Dale Talde with JJ Goode
Dale Talde grew up bicultural in Chicago, an American of Filipino heritage. He was immersed in Filipino foods at home, but also adored American fast food — two passions that melded together in his life as a chef, resulting in his own style of cuisine that is “proudly inauthentic” but true to the heart and relatable (hence why his... full article
