Books to Give and to Get
For those of you familiar with Alana Chernila’s first book The Homemade Pantry and blog, her second cookbook The Homemade Kitchen (Clarkson Potter, 2015) is another fresh reminder to stay present in the kitchen, slow down and love life. This collection of earthy, simple and colorful recipes embodies her motto, “Do your best, and then let go.”
She begins with the basics (how to cook an egg, how to transform milk) and gradually builds upon these fundamental skills to introduce more intricate processes for a happy and healthy home (baking animal crackers, preserving lemons, fermenting homemade kimchi). From there she keeps the momentum going, walking you along with helpful tips and inspirational quotes, to incorporate more flavor with new spins on classic recipes, constructing everything (butternut squash pasta with bacon and sage brown butter; broccoli raab and sausage bread pudding; chevre cheesecake with mint and berries) that you’d ever want in a meal.
If you are a Food52 fan, then you know all about Genius Recipes—every week, Genius Recipes is updated online with new recipes and tips collected from the editors’ and contributors’ favorite chefs. Kristen Miglore took the yummy ideas, recipes and notes and translated them into a book. Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes that Will Change the Way You Cook (Ten Speed Press, 2015) takes the best parts of the food blog world and combines them with the best parts of the publishing world.
The sections are easily understood and broken up by course and ingredients, making the chapters and pages easily navigable—just like a food blog. Plus, the photos are gorgeous, reminiscent of those beautiful foodie Instagrams that we are all too guilty of liking. Snacks, drinks and all meals are covered. The recipes are accessible, delicious and ingredient-driven, encouraging even those of us who are uncertain in the kitchen to try something new.
There is plenty of hype these days about the healing and nourishing value of food. With new trends popping up every day, why not take your health and food consciousness back to the basics? Sally Fallon Morell and Dr. Kaayla T. Daniel’s nod to their grandmothers’ remedies, Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World (Grand Central Life & Style, 2014), hits the spot.
Morell and Daniel incorporate the timeless recipes for broth into modern health necessities. The book begins with Basic Broth Science, including overviews of the ailments that the authors reference throughout the book, and thoughts on how broth and other remedies can help heal. The following sections are broth-heavy, and go into detail on the power of broth for ailments, and then (what you all are looking for) the authors’ favorite broth recipes. Overall, the authors write about informative, delicious and healing broth—the perfect combination for a wintertime cookbook.
