It’s that time of year!! All the shopping deals are here. You need something for that special someone with whom you share your day-to-day cooking woes and responsibilities. Do you wish that your weeknights could be easier in the meal department? Are you feeling uninspired?
Here’s a list of books that we either use on a regular basis OR that changed how we cook forever. These will help anyone learn the basics about cooking or inspire even experienced cooks on the most mundane of Mondays.
A Tim Ferris fan, my husband had read most of this author’s books before acquiring the 4-Hour Chef. This was a game changer for both of us! I had been the primary cook for a long time, but this book in particular sparked interest in specific types of cooking for my husband. Braised short ribs? Yum. While he doesn’t make the recipes often, we still use a lot of the gadgets and products Ferris recommends years later. Maldon? ✅ Cento San Marzano Tomatoes? ✅ Thermopen Digital Thermometer? ✅ Note: This is a quick read and you may get away with a digital version of this book.
This is a beautiful book that contains three categories of recipes: Sheet Pan, pressure cooker, and air-fryer meals. During the week, my family survives thanks to the Instant Pot. After having tried recipes in from several of Gina Homolka’s previous books, this one was a must-buy after 12 plus months of using my InstantPot. My neighbor also borrowed it for several weeks for her air fryer. It’s so pretty, I would buy a hard copy, but note that Skinnytaste has an incredible search engine online. You can search for whatever you have on hand (chickpeans. mushrooms. chicken thighs.) and recipes will populate that you KNOW are healthy. No-brainer for working parents.
3. The Food Lab
Kenji Lopez-Alt’s classic will teach you how to properly cook meat. Okay, it can teach you hundreds of other techniques and has awesome recipes, but this has been our most valuable takeaway. This, along with the 4-Hour Chef, sparked my husband’s interest in cooking and for that I’ll be forever grateful. From these books to his own research, he started smoking meat and preparing protein so well at home that I’m rarely impressed when I order protein at restaurants.
The Food Lab is a great reference book to have on hand. The sauce recipes and chili paste….the breads….and yeah, even the veggies. You can’t go wrong. Definitely follow Kenji on Instagram. He posts actively, lives in San Mateo (and has Wursthall), and you will discover some great local places thanks to him if you live in the Bay Area.
This 2019-revised version of the 1931 is a true “flipper” for your kitchen. You need it in physical form. You can grab it and look up practically any classic American recipe. Waffles? There are 10 entries. Are you throwing a shower and are dying to make a watermelon basket? You know you are, and that is one of the FORTY-FIVE HUNDRED recipes in this book. Now that we have kids, I actually have started using it a lot more for different types of crepes, etc…that my toddler can help me make now that he’s old enough. This is also an excellent wedding gift. Combine it with a Williams Sonoma gift card and can jumpstart a couple’s culinary adventures.
The Life So Valley 