The 20 best cookbooks to buy this autumn, chosen by Diana Henry
You might have thought that lockdown, with many cookbooks put on hold, would have resulted in slim pickings this autumn, but no. Big names – Nigella Lawson, Yotam Ottolenghi, Jamie Oliver – all have books out, and what strikes me most about the new crop is a thoughtful approach to flavour. Both Ottolenghi and American writer Nik Sharma have written about how to be more alert to flavour, and freer in the way we use it. Many cookbooks used to be about technique – how to braise; how to boil an egg – now the emphasis is more on what happens when you put food in your mouth.
In the three months since lockdown ended, cookbook sales are up by 33 per cent compared with the same period last year (and 2019 was itself a record year). Tom Tivnan, managing editor of The Bookseller, puts this down to the “lengthening” of the cookbook year. “In 2010,” he says, “75 per cent of the money from cookbooks would come in the months leading up to Christmas. In 2019, half the revenue came from sales before June. There are no ‘dead months’ now.”
I’m thrilled to read stories from areas of the world I don’t know: Parwana is about Afghan food; In Bibi’s Kitchen about food from eight African countries that touch the Indian Ocean. In these you have much more than a set of recipes –you have history, geography, clear voices, a whole culture.
COOK, EAT, REPEAT
by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus, £26)
Lawson’s latest book is the one I’ve been waiting for her to write. It picks up where How to Eat, her first book – now a classic – leaves off. You’d think she’d have already said all there is to say about food but more than anyone I know Lawson always has some new observation because she pays attention; she notices so much about the cooking process, the way ingredients behave, how small things can make a dish better. She also understands how eating fits into our lives, especially home life. Her aim is always to empower and demystify and to encourage everyone to get as much pleasure from cooking as she does. Out October 29.
THE FOOD ALMANAC: RECIPES AND STORIES FOR A YEAR AT THE TABLE
by Miranda York (Pavilion, £16.99)
There’s a real hunger for books about food that aren’t just cookbooks. This almanac takes you through the year – there’s a guide to what’s in season and a seasonal reading list too – with essays on food-related themes. There are menus for each month – so you can cook from it – but, more excitingly, editor Miranda York has given space to writers, such as Deborah Levy, Erica Wagner and Kit de Waal, who don’t usually write about food at all. Beautifully illustrated and produced, it’s a book to curl up with as we head towards the darker months. Out October 1.
SIMPLY
by Sabrina Ghayour (Mitchell Beazley,£26)
Sabrina Ghayour’s success can be attributed to an approach she acknowledges in the introduction to this book: she doesn’t care how things should be done, she approaches food with great freedom, substituting an ingredient that’s hard to find with one you can get in Tesco, making techniques simpler. Ghayour started off writing about Middle Eastern food – she was born in Iran and moved here when she was a child – and devotes a whole section to Iranian classics, done her way. Beyond that her influences come from everywhere - tahini, pomegranate molasses, coconut milk and paella rice all rub along together just fine – and the food hasimmediate ‘eat me’ appeal. Out now.
ROASTING PAN SUPPERS
by Rosie Sykes (National Trust, £14.99)
Sticking ingredients in a roasting tin and bunging it in the oven is how many of us cook these days, including me, and I’m always on the lookout for new ideas. Rosie Sykes is a wonderful cook – she’s worked with the best, including Shaun Hill and Joyce Molyneaux – but stays rather under the radar so you might not know about her. You need to know about her book, though – minted chicken with peas and lettuce, slow-cooked shoulder of lamb with Chinese pancakes, horseradish-baked salmon with beets and potatoes – this is lovely food for very little effort. Out now.
HOME COOKERY YEAR
by Claire Thomson (Quadrille, £30)
Many people, who previously had neither the time nor the inclination to cook, spent hours at the hob during lockdown so this book is very timely. Author Claire Thompson is both a chef and a home cook – she’s a mother to three children – and there are so many wantable dishes here. The recipes are arranged by season, further categorized by type (some to eat midweek, others for weekend cooking or celebration meals) and come from all corners of the globe. Among the dishes calling me are sausage and fennel focaccia rolls, squash baked with beer, cheese, cream and pretzels and cherry Bakewell pudding. Out now.
7 WAYS
by Jamie Oliver (Michael Joseph, £26)
Oliver is all about the numbers: 5 ingredients, 15 minute meals and now 7 ways. In this book he takes the staples we buy every week – chicken, eggs, mince – and offers 7 different ways to cook each one. It’s a smart idea. Some dishes – sweet potato stew with feta, or pepper and chicken Jalfrezi traybake – are simple and good and he’s happy to take as many shortcuts as possible. The trouble is, in an effort to keep both the ingredients lists and the methods short, important information (like keeping filo pastry under a damp tea towel so it doesn’t become brittle) is left out. Expect more hits than misses, though. Out now.
NADIYA BAKES
by Nadiya Hussain (Michael Joseph, £22)
Nadiya Hussain is back to her first love, baking, and offers tarts, cakes, puddings and breads, mostly with a twist. Sticky toffee pudding has the addition of earl grey tea and amaretti are made with freeze-dried raspberries. There’s a chapter on extravagant celebration cakes, such as chocolate-cola cake topped with cola caramel, but not everything is sweet. The savoury chapter offers seekh kebab toad in the hole and pepperoni pull-apart bread. The best thing about this book? Its joie de vivre and originality. Treacle and anise-flavoured madeleines with grapefruit syllabub - don’t you want to try that? Out now.
THE PIE ROOM
by Calum Franklin (Bloomsbury, £22.79)
This is a no-brainer. If you like making pies you have to have this. Chef Calum Franklin became well known for the pies he served at The Holborn Dining rooms, a large brasserie in central London, so much so that he designed and installed a Pie Room there. Here, surrounded by glowing copper cookware, he and his team turn out hundreds of intricately decorated pies, some traditional (they do a mean pork pie) and some entirely new – one of my favourites is the cheesy dauphinoise and caramelised onion pie. Not everything is encased in pastry, there are potato topped pies and a handful of old-fashioned puddings too. Out September 24.
NOSE DIVE – A FIELD GUIDE TO THE WORLD’S SMELLS
by Harold McGee (John Murray, £20.99)
Harold McGee – who usually writes about the science of cookery - had always been struck by the way foods can smell of something unrelated – the whiff of pineapple in Parmesan or chestnut honey in tortillas – so ten years ago he became a ‘smell explorer’, annotating not just the layers in specific smells but the molecules behind them. He takes apart the smell of rain on parched earth, candle flames, the scents created by parfumiers. McGee wants you to smell more, to pay attention, to enrich your life by using this sense more fully. I’m now a signed up ‘smell explorer’ too. Nose Dive opens up a world full of wonder. It’s an enthralling, extraordinary, life- affirming book. Out October 15.
EAT BETTER FOREVER: 7 SIMPLE WAYS TO TRANSFORM YOUR DIET
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Bloomsbury, £26)
Expecting more advice which I’m already aware of but don’t always find easy to follow, I didn’t think I’d like this but it has the potential to be life- changing. Fearnley-Whittingstall doesn’t just focus on personal health but on how the way we eat is effecting the planet. Instead of mantras he explains the science (about two-thirds of the book is devoted to this) clearly and convincingly. The recipes are a little worthy but there are good ideas for dishes you can incorporate into your daily diet. If you’re remotely tempted to eat better both for the planet and yourself this book will help you to steer a new course. Out December 31.
IN BIBI’s KITCHEN
by Hawa Hassan with Julia Turshen (Ten Speed Press, £25)
“Food is… just like language. For me, stopping traditions would almost be like throwing my culture away.” So says Ma Khanyisa, a grandmother from South Africa and one of the bibis (grandmothers) celebrated in this special book. Women from eight African countries – linked by their proximity to the Indian Ocean and their place in the spice trade – speak directly about their cooking and offer glorious dishes featuring spice blends, pulses, corn, greens, mangoes and coconut. The photography in this book is heart-stoppingly beautiful and it’s a joy to learn about the food of specific cultures – there’s background on every country – through voices from that culture. Out October 13.
BAKING AT THE 20TH CENTURY CAFÉ by Michelle Polzine (Artisan, £29.99) Author Michelle Polzine is one of the most gifted pastry chefs in America and owns the The 20th Century Café in San Francisco. She’s obsessed with the old-fashioned cakes and tarts of central Europe so there’s recipes for the classics (Sacher torte) and the not so classic (coconut, marmalade and chocolate torte). Mittel Europe isn’t Miss P’s only hunting ground, though, she also loves unusual ice-creams (like lemon verbena sherbet), savoury pastries (beetroot, cabbage and buckwheat strudel), jams, sponge puddings and breads, in fact this book, as you flick through it, just keeps on giving. An absolute joy for bakers and pudding lovers. Out October 1.
Ottolenghi FLAVOUR
by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage (Ebury, £27)
This is, quite simply, brilliant. The combination of flavours – pappa al pomodoro made with lime and mustard seeds or eggs braised with potatoes and gochujang – and the way Yotam Ottolenghi and co-author Ixta Belfrage confound your expectations make this my favourite Ottolenghi book yet.
Like most of the others, it focuses solely on vegetables (many recipes are vegan or can be made so), though there are some puddings, too. Ottolenghi writes about his Test Kitchen, the place where ideas are chewed over and recipes created, and acknowledges the work of his stellar team. Few authors are this upfront or generous. Right now, Ixta Belfrage is one of the brightest stars in his firmament. Out now.
THE LITTLE LIBRARY CHRISTMAS
by Kate Young (Anima, £15)
Author Kate Young isn’t just a great cook but also a huge lover of literature. She has already written two books tying food and fiction together and this is a lovely follow-up. The recipes are inspired by novels and there are lots of extracts to read as well as recipes to cook. The dishes – ginger beer ham on brioche buns and pear, chocolate and sherry cake - are delightful, they work and you can plan whole meals around them. Covered in cloth the colour of holly berries this is what I’ll be giving to friends who love to cook, love books and love Christmas. Out October 1.
A TASTE OF HOME
compiled by Kyle Cathie (The Passage Trading Services Ltd, £25)
Cookbooks in aid of charities present real challenges for those who edit them; they have to hound every chef, food writer and public figure for recipes and the results can be uneven. This book, however, has been edited by former publisher Kyle Cathie, someone who has produced scores of cookbooks – and it shows. The photography and design are pleasingly unfussy, but it’s the recipes you’ll want: braised chickpeas, carrots and dates from Yotam Ottolenghi, pappardelle with spiced lamb and yogurt from Claudia Roden, and bramble-butterscotch brownie cake from chocolatier Paul A Young. Proceeds go to The Passage, which provides food, advice, support and shelter to London’s rough sleeping community. Out Oct 15.
RED SANDS
by Caroline Eden (Quadrille, £26)
Caroline Eden, whose book Black Sea was showered with awards, is on the road again, this time traveling through the heart of Asia. It’s not your usual cookbook, it’s more a travel book with recipes, the recipes acting as postcards which she sends as she meets new characters, most of them involved with food. She eats glazed bread in the shape of sunflowers, Soviet-style cream cakes, the world’s best halva and, in Uzbekistan, sweet winter melons. Eden travels quietly and lets you in on every encounter and every bite. A moving – this lone female traveler is welcomed with such warmth - as well as a fascinating read. Out November 12.
THE FLAVOR EQUATION
by Nik Sharma (Chronicle Books, £26)
A scientific – but not nerdy – look at flavour, how it works and how we can become better cooks by understanding what comes into play when we eat. Sharma examines our responses through sight, sound, texture (and mouthfeel), aroma, memories and emotions. There are seven chapters, each one with recipes, dedicated to basic tastes and flavour ‘boosters’: bitterness, saltiness, savouriness, fieriness, richness and brightness. While cooking from Sharma’s first book, Season, I become more aware of how to harness sourness and build layers of spice. I expect this book, specifically designed to make us consider flavour, will have an even greater effect. Out October 27.
PARWANA: RECIPES AND STORIES FROM AN AFGHAN KITCHEN
by Durkhanai Ayubi (Murdoch, £20)
The story, with recipes, of how the Ayubi family fled Afghanistan for Australia and opened a restaurant, Parwana, both to hold onto their culture and to share it. It’s the story of Afghanistan too, the country where, as author Durkhanai Ayubi writes, has long been known as the ‘graveyard of empires.’ India, Mongolia and the countries of the Middle East have all left their stamp on Afghan food so you’ll find kebabs, dahls, dumplings and rice pilafs. I read this cover to cover, feeling grateful that someone had taken such care with both the story and the recipes. Then I make bolani – flatbreads – stuffed with coriander-spiced pumpkin. Parwana stole my heart. Out October 1.
THE HANDS AND FLOWERS COOKBOOK
by Tom Kerridge (Bloomsbury, £40)
I don’t often buy chef’s books. The recipes are complex and require a kitchen brigade to pull them off. But this contains recipes for dishes that have made The Hand and Flowers famous and fans will lap them up. There’s also recipes that you can make with fewer components, such as the apple and custard slice (just don’t make the sorbet that goes with it). Every chef says their cooking is about making ingredients taste even more of themselves - Kerridge really does it. Serious home cooks will pick up a lot from his recipes and techniques. Out November 12.
THE RANGOON SISTERS: RECIPES FROM OUR BURMESE FAMILY KITCHEN
By Amy Chung and Emily Chung (Ebury, £20)
I’m cheating a bit by putting this in the autumn round-up, but I completely missed it when it came out in July. It’s by two sisters (both doctors), Emily and Amy Chung, who became well-known for the Burmese supper clubs they ran (and hope to run again) where they served the dishes they grew up with. The recipes are great – big flavours – but I also loved the book for the Chungs’ warm voices. Out now.
BAKING AT THE 20TH CENTURY CAFÉ
by Michelle Polzine (Artisan, £29.99)
Author Michelle Polzine is one of the most gifted pastry chefs in America and owns the The 20th Century Café in San Francisco. She’s obsessed with the old-fashioned cakes and tarts of central Europe so there’s recipes for the classics (Sacher torte) and the not so classic (coconut, marmalade and chocolate torte). Mittel Europe isn’t Miss P’s only hunting ground, though, she also loves unusual ice-creams (like lemon verbena sherbet), savoury pastries (beetroot, cabbage and buckwheat strudel), jams, sponge puddings and breads, in fact this book, as you flick through it, just keeps on giving. An absolute joy for bakers and pudding lovers. Out October 1.
