You can’t beat a beautiful cookbook for holiday gift-giving. Whether you’re aiming to start a new family tradition, or are looking for a crowd-pleaser for a gift exchange, almost everyone can appreciate the sensory delight of a new cookbook filled with vivid photographs and tantalizing recipes to try. Sure, anyone can save recipes to Pinterest or download a cookbook to their device, but it’s so much more satisfying to feel a printed book’s weight and prop it open on your counter, to become annotated over time with sauce splatters and fingerprints. Here is a variety of cookbooks that are guaranteed to bring delight to their recipients.
Baking Across America: A Vintage Recipe Road Trip, opens a new window by B. Dylan Hollis
This book offers a delicious road trip across the United States, showcasing nostalgic, forgotten, and famous dessert recipes spanning from the 1900s to the 2000s. With his signature wit, social media personality and baker Hollis explores America's cultural capitals to uncover the history and significance of beloved local bakes such as Boston Cream Pie and New Orleans Beignets. It provides a unique, vintage-style tour through the nation's diverse regional baking traditions.
Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love, opens a new window by Samin Nosrat
How can you capture the real-life feeling of food in written format? Such is the question James Beard Award-winner Nosrat has long pondered. Thankfully, she seems to have figured it out, presenting over 125 recipes in this essential and joyful guide to cooking for loved ones. Nosrat shares both simple and mouth-watering dishes, from Warm Tomato Soup to comfort a sick friend, to a flavorful Calabrian Chili Crisp fit for any gathering. Tips and techniques are sprinkled throughout this practical guide to elevating everyday cooking and hosting.
Bitter & Sweet: Global Flavors From an Iranian-American Kitchen, opens a new window by Omid Roustaei
Roustaei’s beautifully crafted debut offers 75 accessible recipes designed to make Iranian cuisine more inviting to both experienced and beginner cooks. Sprinkled with personal anecdotes, practical tips, and stunning photographs, Bitter & Sweet presents both traditional Iranian flavors as well as mouthwatering cultural mashups. Cooks of all levels will appreciate Roustaei’s easy-to-follow instruction, accompanied by gentle guidance on how to use sensory cues in cooking.
Turtle Island: Foods And Traditions Of The Indigenous Peoples Of North America, opens a new window by Sean Sherman
James Beard Award-winning Oglala Lakota chef Sherman takes you on an exploration of Indigenous foodways across North America, from the Canadian Arctic to southern Mexico. Journey through the territories, traditions, and diverse regional foods of Indigenous peoples, featuring recipes such as Sunflower Seed "Risotto" and Walleye Cakes. With striking color illustrations of ingredients, dishes, and landscapes, Turtle Island serves as an essential resource for those interested in culinary and Indigenous history.
Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice: Cocktails From Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, opens a new window by Toni Tipton-Martin
I had the pleasure of hearing Tipton-Martin speak at the recent University of Mary Washington Leadership Colloquium, and she is a delightful person as well as a talented author, nutrition journalist, and editor. Juke Joints delves into the overlooked history of Black mixology and its enduring influence on cocktail and drinking culture. Drawing on deep research from rare and historic cookbooks, Tipton-Martin dispels stereotypes by highlighting the skill, intelligence, and excellence needed to develop complex (and delectable) cocktails such as the Absinthe Frappe and the Jerk-Spiced Bloody Mary.
Bad B*tch in the Kitch: Craveable Asian Recipes to Ditch the Takeout, opens a new window by Cassie Yeung
Content creator and Next Level Chef competitor Yeung provides an excellent, wide-ranging beginner's guide to Asian cooking, with a focus on Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Singaporean recipes. The cookbook features concise, easy-to-follow instructions for dishes, such as General Tso's Chicken, and innovative desserts, such as Vietnamese Coffee Tiramisu. It includes a helpful section on essential pantry basics and Yeung’s preferred ingredients, making it a valuable addition for any home cook looking to confidently ditch the takeout.
For more holiday cooking recommendations, as well as festive Central Rappahannock Regional Library events for all ages, visit librarypoint.org/holiday., opens a new window
Tracy McPeck is the Director of Adult Services at Central Rappahannock Regional Library. This column first appeared in the Free Lance-Star newspaper.
