15 best cookbooks chosen by chefs

Table of Content

• Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations
• The best gifts for home cooks in 2022
• The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon (
• Simple Cake
• For the home cook who has everything
• The Art of Parsi Cooking: Reviving an Ancient Cuisine
• Green Plate Special: Sustainable and Delicious Recipes
• In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World: A Cookbook by Gabriele Galimberti

"Italian American is the first cookbook that I've wanted to cook my way through," says chef Max Sussman and restaurant vet Kate McCabe. "It's like a perfect blend of red sauce nostalgia and modern creativity. The experience has been unreal — everything I've made turns out perfectly." "This is not just a cookbook about pasta; it also sheds light on the history and intention for these pasta recipes," says Alex Tubero, executive chef at Amali. After researching pasta for more than a decade, award-winning chef Marc Vetri finally felt ready to publish Mastering Pasta. Whether you're a home cook or a professional, this comprehensive guide covers everything from gnocchi to risotto, stuffed to baked pasta, classic to innovative sauces, and everything in between. There are more than 100 easy-to-follow recipes, plus engaging anecdotes and informative explanations.

In part because of food stylists, whose job is to choose all those attractive plates and cups and tablecloths to enhance the food. If your favorite home cook loves to share their latest grain salads and roast chicken on the ’gram, give them some plates that will look great underneath. So much of the time, cookbooks are about professionals and experts imposing rules on your kitchen, telling things you should always do—or never, ever do. All of the people who have contributed to community cookbooks over the years certainly did. To me, cooking nirvana is when you have a recipe in mind, your mise en place all set, and you can focus on getting that perfect sear or saute. But before you get there, having the right equipment for the job goes a really long way.

Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook for Juneteenth and Black Celebrations

In particular, Nik Sharma also introduces many healthy ingredients and cooking methods. The book distills the quintessence of the kitchen, helping you tap into a culinary style that’s strong, discerning, and palatable. The author presents logically organized sections that make it easy to read and arrange everything in your head. René Redzepi is a chef and restaurant co-owner, with many important culinary awards in the US. The French Laundry Cookbook records memorable dishes’ photos by the prominent photographer Deborah Jones at major US restaurants. This cookery book shows you that every chef and recipe is excellent and unique.

That’s why this book should definitely be on every chef’s bookshelf. The most interesting part is 200 attractive photographs throughout every page. The talented photographer captures every aspect of recipes, ingredients, and how the great chef works in his kitchen.

The best gifts for home cooks in 2022

Delve in and soon you’ll be roasting, broiling, braising, stewing, sautéing, steaming, and poaching with confidence and competence. Rombauer self-published the first three thousand copies of Joy of Cooking in 1931, it has become the kitchen bible, with more than 20 million copies in print. This new edition of Joy has been thoroughly revised and expanded by Irma’s great-grandson John Becker and his wife, Megan Scott. The vacuum packer is brilliant, although the size of the food is limited by the size of the chamber. We found that having another vacuum packer, one that is used from the outside, is a big advantage, The water bath is great, one just has to collect the right recipes.

Some home cooks (myself included!) struggle with the timing of sourdough feeding and baking schedules, and Jensen demystifies all of it so that you bake delicious loaves with confidence. I keep a copy of The Food Lab by my desk for easy reference because J. He brings his meticulous, obsessive, scientific approach to The Wok, a technique-driven cookbook. You’re here to learn how to cook, not just what to cook, and López-Alt is the ultimate teacher. He fills the pages with pH charts and glutamic acid breakdowns, but his writing’s so funny he keeps you rapt. That said, you’ve also got plenty of “what” to cook, from Sichuan-style blistered green beans to cheesy scallion pancakes.

The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon (

I've long been a fan of David Asher's work through The Black Sheep School, where he teaches cheesemaking classes focused on sustainability and natural processes. Asher's passion and expertise are evident throughout the pages of this book, which makes the natural cheesemaking processes from the past relevant and accessible to cooks today. The best fermentation books for beginners to experts will help you make sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, bread, beer, and more at home.

The Moosewood Cookbook has inspired generations to cook simple, healthy, and seasonal food. A classic listed as one of the top ten bestselling cookbooks of all time by the New York Times, Mollie Katzen's seminal book will be a treasured addition to the cookbook libraries of fans young and old. The New York Times bestselling, IACP award-winning cookbook from the celebrated food blogger and founder of smittenkitchen.com. From salads and slaws that make perfect side dishes to savory tarts and galettes; from Mushroom Bourguignon to Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake, Deb knows just the thing for a Tuesday night, or your most special occasion.

Simple Cake

Taylor honors that history while pushing the recipes forward, defying stereotypes of what Black Southern food is and can be. “This book is intended to be light with the pleasures of good food and heavy with the weight of history,” she writes. The recipes embody Taylor’s “kaleidoscopic feasting,” from strawberry-sumac cake to very green coleslaw with charred poblanos and a bright red hibiscus snow cone. Kevin Bludso learned the art of brisket at his granny’s “illegal, bootleg BBQ stand” in Corsicana, Texas. His own spot in Compton took off and made way for a Bludso’s barbecue mini-empire.

Instead, Asher gives readers knowledge of cheesemaking techniques, plus the confidence to take that knowledge into the kitchen. This book is a great choice for someone new to cheesemaking or for the experienced cheesemaker looking to expand their knowledge of traditional techniques. Christina Ward is the Master Food Preserver for Wisconsin, which means she knows a ton about preserving food. This book explores the history and science of food preservation in a way that even non-scientists can understand.

For the home cook who has everything

Sidebars on oxidation and proper freezing technique will make you realize that this book is about much more than one kitchen tool. Whenwriter, podcaster, and professional cheese nerdChristine Clarkisn’t writing or teaching a cheese class, she’s digging through her library of 50+ cookbooks for inspiration on dinners, lunches, and ingredients. Her current favorite cookbook is "From the Tables of Tuscan Women"by Anne Bianchi.

This book is a guide to creating delicious food, with information on over 400 ingredients. With 20 big chapters to choose from, busy cooks can quickly locate exactly the kinds of recipes they need. Five helpful recipe icons—Eat Smart, Fast Fix, 5 Ingredient, Slow Cooker and Freeze It—make it even easier to choose just the right dishes. For more than 20 years, Taste of Home has served up delicious home-cooked dishes in Simple & Delicious magazine and other publications.

I was hooked by a gutsy chapter of cricket recipes, sketching out a future that embrace those nutrient-rich bugs as an alternative protein source. It’d make an unexpected and great gift for curious, science-minded cooks, or pro chefs who like to get a little weird. Featuring challenging dishes for professional chefs and accessible recipes for the home kitchen, “The Whole Beast” is a classic cookery book that every foodie should own.

Every sentence of this cookbook full of rubs, ribs, and curried oxtails is seasoned with Bludso’s colorful voice, heart, and sense of humor. There are some fun surprises in Bludso’s BBQ Cookbook, like the “Sweetest Things I’ve Ever Known” chapter , which opens with a recipe for Hennessy on the rocks. Many foods need to be cooked at one consistent temperature to avoid under- or over-cooking. A good standard rule of thumb is to only put breads, pastries, and any dishes containing eggs in an oven once the specified temperature in a recipe has been reached. Not understanding the difference between sauté, simmer, broil, and roast is one example of how one recipe could turn out vastly different depending on how a home chef prepares the food. It’s typical for information like definitions and measurement charts to be referenced in the introductory sections of a cookbook .