Fall Preview 2021: Chef and Restaurant Books
Fall Preview 2021: Chef and Restaurant Books
Let's get cheffy!
Fall Cookbook Preview 2021: Chef and Restaurant Books
Maman: The Cookbook: All-Day Recipes to Warm Your Heart by Elisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte with Lauren Salkeld
The proprietors of NYC cafe Maman are here with a book celebrating their casual French fare in their first cookbook. Over 100 recipes for all-day favorites include “Banana Lavender Waffles with Vanilla Mascarpone, Roasted Delicata Squash, Hazelnut and Taleggio Focaccia Tartine,” and, yes, their extremely popular chocolate chip cookies. Clarkson Potter: September 19.
Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy's Greatest Food, with Recipes by Missy Robbins and Talia Baiocchi
Missy Robbins pasta book! Missy Robbins pasta book! The New York City chef and pasta genius is here to show you how to make 40 different pasta shapes and use them in 100 recipes, including Italian America recipes, regional Italian recipes, and her own inventions. Ten Speed: October 12.
Italian American: Red Sauce Classics and New Essentials by Angie Rito and Scott Tacinelli with Jamie Feldmar
I am always going to be pumped for Italian American cookbooks, and this one, from the folks behind New York’s Don Angie, promises to be a showstopper. Written with veteran cookbook author Jamie Feldmar, this book contains 125 recipes both classic and modern including “pinwheel lasagna, ribs glazed with orange and Campari, shrimp parm meatballs, and a cheesy, bubbling gratin of broccoli rabe and sharp provolone.” Clarkson Potter: October 19
Septime by Bertrand Grébaut and Théophile Pourriat with Benoit Cohen
Let Paris chef Bertrand Grébaut and company take you inside their highly-influential, thoughtful, and frankly cool restaurant Septime, as well as their natural wine bar La Cave, seafood spot Clamato, and rural guest house D’une Île. The book explores the food of Grébaut—who trained with chefs Joël Robuchon and Alain Passard, the latter of whom wrote the foreword to the book—which helped “[move] French cuisine away from the ceremony and grandeur of haute cuisine…by introducing an air of simplicity and modernity.” Phaidon: October 20.
Unelaborated Products: Definition and Classification by Ferran Adrià
So, okay, I have read the description for this book three times and what I think is going on here is an attempt to classify ingredients and flavors much like scientists classify plants, animals, and elements. From the publishers’ copy: “a deep dive into unprocessed and raw culinary ingredients and explores why identifying, classifying, and categorizing food is essential to refining every chef's culinary skills.” Adriá doing what he does best. Phaidon: October 20.
Grist: A Practical Guide to Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds, and Legumes by Abra Berens
I’m a big fan of Michigan chef/farmer Abra Berens’ 2019 ode to vegetables, Ruffage, so I am super excited to see what she does with grains in Grist. 29 different grains and legumes, in fact—amaranth, barley, black-eyed peas, buckwheat, bulgur, chickpeas, common beans, corn, cowpeas, crowder peas, farro, fava beans, field peas, fonio, freekeh, legumes, lentils, lima beans, millet, oats, quinoa, rice, sorghum, split peas, soy beans, teff, tiny seed grains, and wheat berries—in 125 recipes with 300 variations. What more could you need? Chronicle: October 26
Cooking at Home: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Recipes (And Love My Microwave) by David Chang and Priya Krishna
Perhaps the biggest name release of 2021 is David Chang’s first cookbook since 2009’s Momofuku. Written with New York Times food writer Priya Krishna, the book is Chang’s approach to the home kitchen: getting food ready fast, with what’s on hand. And, yes, using a microwave sometimes. (Chang is a partner in a line of microwavable bowls.) Expect shortcuts and substitutions and recipes written to maximize flexibility. Clarkson Potter: October 26.
Trap Kitchen: Mac N' All Over The World by Malachi Jenkins and Roberto Smith with Nicholas Porcelli'
Los Angeles chefs Malachi Jenkins and Roberto Smith are back with a follow-up to their 2017 cookbook, this time looking at international riffs on the all time classic macaroni and cheese. Frankly a brilliant idea for a cookbook; more mac-n-cheese all the time, please. Recipes include General Tso Chicken Mac, Maine Lobster Mac, Greek Gyro Mac, Aleppo Broccoli Mac, Spicy Grilled Gulf Shrimp Mac, and more. Kingston Imperial: November 2.
Grains for Every Season: Rethinking Our Way with Grains by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg
Here we go: chef Joshua McFadden’s followup to his 2017 smash hit, Six Seasons. The focus here is grains, with a similar format (albeit less seasonally focused, naturally, as grains are sort of an all-the-time thing). 200 recipes organized by type of grain, including “barley, brown rice, buckwheat, corn, millet, oats, quinoa, rye, wheat (bulgur, farro, freekeh, spelt, wheat berries, and whole wheat flour), and wild rice.” (Quick note here, also, that while comparisons between this and Abra Beren’s Grist are somewhat inevitable, from what I have seen of both, I think each will find an enthusiastic audience.) Artisan: November 9.
Acorn: Vegetables Re-Imagined: Seasonal Recipes from Root to Stem by Shira Blustein and Brian Luptak
A seasonal vegetable-focused cookbook from the folks behind Vancouver restaurant Acorn, with an emphasis on “minimizing waste and maximizing the potential of each plant.” Recipes include spring radishes with ashed spring onion almond sauce, fried garlic scapes or stinging nettle soup, fried zucchini blossoms with fermented zucchini puree and apricot chili sauce, smoked caramelized parsnip and potato pate, and squash and chanterelle gnocchi. Also, Julia Stiles wrote the intro! Appetite by Random House: November 9.
Gabriel Kreuther: The Spirit of Alsace by Gabriel Kreuther with Michael Ruhlman
A classic chef cookbook from New York chef Gabriel Kreuther, Gabriel Kreuther looks at both the traditional foods of his native Alsace as well as his restaurant’s dishes. Recipes include a traditional flammekueche and pot-au-feu, roasted button mushroom soup with toasted chorizo raviolis, smoked sturgeon and sauerkraut tart, chilled white asparagus soup with morels, and more. Abrams: November 9.
Slippurinn: Recipes and Stories from Iceland by Gísli Matt and Nicholas Gill
Slippurinn is chef Gísli Matt’s restaurant in the remote Westman Islands of Iceland. The island was forever changed in 1973 by a volcanic eruption, and now Matt’s cooking takes advantage of the unique environment, local traditions, and his own take on cuisine. Expect epic photography by Gunnar Freyr (landscapes) and Karl Petersson (food)…and a sudden hankering to go to Iceland. Phaidon: November 10.
Also looking forward to:
Roots: Farm to Table Recipes from The Black Swan, a Restaurant in the English Countryside by Tommy Banks. Rizzoli: September 11.
Peace, Love, and Pasta: Simple and Elegant Recipes from a Chef's Home Kitchen by Scott Conant. Abrams: September 14.
The Row 34 Cookbook: Stories and Recipes from a Neighborhood Oyster Barby Jeremy Sewall with Erin Byers Murray. Rizzoli: October 5.
Beat Bobby Flay: Conquer the Kitchen with 100+ Battle-Tested Recipes by Bobby Flay with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson. Clarkson Potter: October 5.
The Kitchen Studio: Culinary Creations by Artists. Phaidon: October 20.
Essential by Ollie Dabbous. Bloomsbury: November 2.
Roberta’s: Still Cookin’ by Carlo Mirarchi and Brandon Hoy. Rizzoli: October 5.