12 Days of Cookbooks (!!!) — Chatting About The Season’s New Books with Margaret Roach
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♬♬♬ It’s the most wonderful time of the year… ♬♬♬
I hum this to myself a lot: When my first CSA arrives in June. When the first good tomatoes all but fall of the vine in early September. When snowflakes the size of golf balls drop from the sky. AND, most of all, when it’s time to talk about cookbooks with my friend Margaret Roach, the master gardener behind A Way to Garden
Last year, we talked about all-time favorites, the first books we ever owned, and the ones with the most besmirched pages. This year, we’ve kept our chat to the latest crop: the fall and winter 2018 cookbooks, and we hope our chat might give you some ideas for gift giving this season. Rest assured, there is something for everyone — the bakers, the boozers, the pie lovers, the pizza lovers, the Ina fans, the Dorie fans, the gadget collectors, and more.
Read the transcript or listen here.
I have not had a chance to cook from all of the books we discussed, and there are many others I haven’t even had a chance to page through yet, namely Emily: The Cookbook, which is #1 on my Christmas wishlist—Santa, hope you’re reading. That said, I have cooked from a number of the season’s new books, and I’ve included some notes below.
ALSO, Margaret and I are each giving away 12 cookbooks (!!!). To enter, leave a comment below: tell me what your favorite cookbook is for gifting (or just your favorite) and a little bit about why. Now, go double your chances to win by copying your comment into the comment box over at Margaret’s website.
Starting Monday Dec. 3, 2018, we’ll each draw one random winner a day through Dec. 14th. Here’s the order of the 12 Days of giveaways. The list will be updated daily to reflect the winner.
- Season: UPDATE: Winner is Cara Priddy
- Everyday Dorie UPDATE: Winner is Frank Wilk
- Israeli Soul: UPDATE: Winner is KARA P.
- Cooking with Scraps: UPDATE: Winner is Katherine Hubbard
- Sister Pie: UPDATE: Winner is Renee D
- Cook Like a Pro: UPDATE: Winner is Jo Kurdzeil
- Genius Desserts: UPDATE: Winner is Susan Rode
- Skinny Taste One and Done: UPDATE: Winner is Amy Olmsted
- All About Cake: UPDATE: Winner is Marie Guiles
- Milk Street Tuesday Nights: UPDATE: Winner is Sarah Bach
- Comfort in an Instant: UPDATE: WINNER is Michelle Swift
- Now and Again: UPDATE: WINNER is Paulina Muratore
One entry per person. Entries end at midnight Thursday, Dec. 13, before the final drawing. U.S. only. Good luck to all.
Category #1: Weeknight-ish/Everyday Cooking
Cook90: On January 1st 2016, David Tamarkin of Epicurious resolved to cook more — to cook 3 meals a day for an entire month — an experiment he called “Cook90”. In the end, he emerged a better, faster, and healthier cook, and he has since inspired hundreds of thousands of others to take the challenge. His cookbook, Cook90, outlines exactly how to do it: recipes, strategies, meal plans, and more.
Category #2: Global Flavors
Category #3: Baking
Category #4: Nose-to-Tail
Waste Not: Learned about this one through Margaret and her podcast with Top Chef star Tiffany Derry. Waste Not is a new cookbook from the James Beard Foundation and a campaign of anti-food waste advocacy spearheaded by that organization.
Now and Again: The latest from Julia Turshen, who believes a complete meal doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive, that leftovers can lead to inventive/fun cooking, and that gathering people around the table for a meal is a good thing. Organize both by season and menu — a brunch or an easy Thanksgiving. Helpful tips about what can be made ahead of time. Each menu is followed by a section called “It’s Me Again,” which offers a few recipes for using the leftovers.
And last but not least:
Rebekah Peppler’s Apéritif: For Francophiles and beyond, Apèritif offers recipes for both classic and modern French cocktails, along with French-inspired bites and hors d’oeuvres.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
740 Comments on “12 Days of Cookbooks (!!!) — Chatting About The Season’s New Books with Margaret Roach”
Scratch: Home Cooking for Everyone Made Simple, Fun, and Totally Delicious by Maria Rodale. I love the healthy back to basics recipies. I’d love to win any of the cookbooks but especially the Red Truck bakery or Sister Pie.
I love Alton Brown, or Jamie Oliver. They are simple and easy to make, and it’s usually fast!!!! I’m interested in getting a copy of the instant pot one tho! Love my instant pot!
I love gifting Ottolenghi’s Plenty because it is my absolute favorite! I can’t wait to try some recipes from Simple ????
I really like Season. I’m teying to get my kids to try new flavors and this book has everyday ingredients with Indian flavors.
The Joy of Cooking has recipes for almost anything you will ever want to cook. You learn so much about cooking by just reading the recipes. Blood sausage, anyone?
I love gifting anything Ottolenghi at the moment – loads to choose from too. They have a huge variety of vegetable recipes thrown in with some sweets.
My favorite cookbook is seasons. I love the variety of techniques and flavors!
Currently obsessed with Lets Eat France and Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat. The former has recipes but it’s also a massive amount of interesting information, charts, pictures and graphics about French food and everything anyone who is interested in food like to read about to learn more. Salt, Acid, Fat, Heat is an awesome learning tool and has given me a lot of knowledge on how to think about cooking in general. I also love how you can sit and look at both of these cookbooks for hours.
Tartine Bread Book!
I give it to folks that I think would want to immerse themselves in high hydration bread making along with the wonderful explanations and stories of Baker Chad Robertson.
There are two books I love to give, one is the food lab I love it and refer to it all time, I think it is just so interesting, I loved the egg section haha. The second is Thug Kitchen, it’s a great, fun way to introduce some plant based recipes into your diet. I love cookbooks and would love to win a new one to read and enjoy!
I have quite a cookbook collection so it’s hard to name just one. This season, I gave my son’s girlfriend, an aspiring baker, the Food52 Genius Desserts book, which is a nice collection of all types of dessert. I just love cookbooks! Thanks for the opportunity!
I loved Julia’s Small Victories and I would love to own Now and Again. I am trying to be better with my use of leftovers.
I’m currently obsessed with “Ottolenghi Simple,” but I also love to gift “Plenty.”
I love Melissa Clark’s Dinner!
Love Julia turshen’s Everyday Victories! So many good, simple recipes plus some tips thrown in! I haven’t read her newest book but would love to!!
OMGosh I love so many books it seems I have a new favorite every month. If I had to pick one that’s been a favorite over the years it would be a trusty Joy of Cooking. Thanks for the chance to win! I’m so excited!
Yay! Love this idea. My absolute favorite cookbook that I think anyone would enjoy as a gift is Smitten Kitchen Everyday. I trust in Deb entirely and her recipes always turn out great. Salt Fat Acid Heat is beautiful and would be a great gift too! I selfishly wouldn’t want to gift Bread Toast Crumbs because family and friends are still impressed when I bring fresh baked bread to any get together. If they only knew how easy and fun you made it! ❤️
My favorite cookbook for gifting is Bread Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen. Many people are so scared of making bread – but that cookbook is foolproof and inspiring!
I still love Silver Palate after all of these years, but my favorite book to gift is still the Joy of Cooking. It is so classic.
I just purchased Anthony Bourdain’s Appetites and love it – it will be a gift to many this year!
My favorite cookbook atm is ‘palestine on a Plate’.
almost 10 years ago my grandma assembled a 3 inch recipe binder of family recipes. She took contributions from all her kids and grandkids. We each got a copy and had to ‘sign our life away’ not to share what was inside. Now, when we attend weddings, I start a a binder with my tread and tire recipes and basics to get people started.
I love Joy of Cooking, you can find any recipe there. I also enjoy Ina’s books. I really enjoy just setting and reading through the recipes.
I really love the cookbook Real Food by Katherine Taylor of the Cookie and Kate blog. The salads in there are amazing, and her recipes always incorporate tons of veggies.
There’s nothing better than gifting or receiving cookbooks of any kind, always my “go to” gift idea.
Pioneer Women is a favorite.
I love Ina Garten and would love to cook like a pro. She is such an inspiration and constantly challenges me with each recipe.
I’m currently working my way through “What Kate Ate on the weekend” by Katie Quinn Davies (I got this on a trip to Napa for my birthday this year in January) and “What’s Gabby Cooking-Everyday California Food” by Gabby Dalkin. I liked the style and since I follow her on Instagram, decided to get the cookbook this summer.
I love every cookbook that I lay my eyes on; but I return to The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook again and again.
It depends upon the cooking level of the recipient. Joy of Cooking was my first favorite, then Silver Palate, then Ina, on to Smitten Kitchen and finally The Pleasures of Cooking for One.
My favorite cookbook is Jerusalem by Ottolenghi
Delicious healthy Mediterranean food!
My current favorite is Mellisa Clark’s Comfort in an Instant.
I like ATK for new cooks, that they include all the variations/experiments they tried and how they got to their final ‘best’ recipe is helpful.