A Mini Fall Cookbook Preview

Every day is like Christmas when it comes to the mail lately. I’ve gotten review copies of some pretty exciting cookbooks, which isn’t surprising considering we are heading into the holidays, traditionally when all the Big Ones come out. A few to put on your gift-giving radar: Black Food, a collection of recipes and stories from the African diaspora (and the first book to be published by Bryant Terry’s new imprint 4c), wrapped in possibly the most gorgeous cover I’ve seen this year; Also in the department of The Highly Anticipated is Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking: A category-killer packed with sunny, happy vibes and recipes for things like Hummingbird Cake, Lane Cake (a whisky-laced custard frosted cake that made a cameo in To Kill a Mockingbird), Chocolate Church Cake and, perhaps most relevant right now, all things pies: Slab pies, Pecan Pie, Sweet Potato Pie; Mina Stone’s Lemon, Love, & Olive Oil, as much an objet as a cookbook devoted to simple, elegant Greek home cooking; Pasta, a deep, authentic dive into every possible angle on the topic from the Lilia and Misi chef Missy Robbins (co-authored by Talia Baiocchi) and coffee-table-worthy to boot; Cooking at Home, by Momofuku founder David Chang (with an assist from co-author Priya Krishna) has the ambitious goal of creating “something as delicious as possible, in the least amount of time possible, while making as little mess as possible.” There are NO recipes, just a lot of “about this much” and mix in a “glug” of this or a “squirt” of that. Along the same lines, famously fussy Ottolenghi gives us Shelf Love, a collection of recipes inspired by his pantry and quick-and-easy cooking he mastered during the pandemic. 

Reminder! The supply chain disruption is affecting products far and wide, including books. If you plan to order any book for a holiday gift — including The Weekday Vegetarians! — do it sooner rather than later.

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