Howdy cookbook fans!

Big news day! New books by old faves (Samin! Yotam!) were announced this week, the Art of Eating Prize was announced, and much more. As always, if you like what you see in these free Wednesday issues, you can get a second Friday issue each week for $5/month or $50/year. WHAT A DEAL. Click below for more, let’s get to it.

Obituaries: B. Smith and Norene Gilletz

First, though, some sad news. Two legends of cookbookery died this week, and I have rounded up several odes to their lives and work below. Rest in peace.

B. Smith

• B. Smith, Model Turned Restaurateur and Lifestyle Guru, Dies at 70 [NYT]

• B. Smith, restaurateur and cookbook author, has died [CNN]

• B. Smith, Restaurateur And Lifestyle Icon, Dies At 70 [NPR]

• What B. Smith Meant to Black Women [WaPo]

• For DC’s Black Chefs and Restaurateurs, B. Smith Was an Inspiration [Washingtonian]

Norene Gilletz

• Norene Gilletz was ‘Kosher Julia Child of Canada’ [CJN]

• Jewish Cookbook Legend Norene Gilletz Is Mourned [Quebec Confidential]

• Queen of the Kosher Kitchen: Norene Gilletz, BDE [Jewish Link NJ]

• Is There a Jewish Woman who Doesn’t Own a Copy of Norene Gilletz’s Classic Cookbook? [CJN]

  ---

Ottolenghi Flavo(u)r Coming this Fall

ottolenghi

Big news.. This is the UK cover of my next book, Flavour!! And next to me is my very clever co-author @ixta.belfrage who brought in some amazing new techniques and flavours from Mexico, Italy, Brazil and more.  There are more than 100 recipes there and they reveal how to get the best flavour out of the wonderful world of vegetables. Out in UK 3rd September, in North America on 13th October (stay tuned for North American book news coming next week!). Details of all international publishing dates are in the link in my bio. Ixta and I have signed 2000 copies for @Waterstones which are available to pre-order now. Signed copies are also available to pre-order from the Ottolenghi website. I’ll be going on a 9 date tour across the UK and Ireland discussing my life in Flavour. Dates and locations are in the link in my bio, tickets will go on sale this Friday 28th. I am also going on a North American tour in October, but more on that next week.

February 26, 2020

Bestselling UK cookbook author/chef/restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi has announced his next cookbook: Ottolenghi Flavour. (No word on whether the North American edition will get to keep the “U.” I assume no.) Out October 13 in the US from Ten Speed, the book is co-authored by Ixta Belfrage (pictured) and will boast 100ish vegetable-focused recipes.

According to the Bookseller, Flavo(u)r will explore "three principles that create great flavour": Process, Pairing, and Produce. Recipes include “Aubergine Dumplings alla Parmigiana, Celeriac and Goat’s Cheese ‘Tacos’, Spicy Mushroom Lasagne, and Romano Pepper Schnitzel.” Vegetables!

Samin Nosrat Working on New Cookbook

ciaosamin

I got to have a deeply enjoyable, meandering conversation on the state of my life with @helenr for @newyorkermag recently. Link in bio if you’d like to read it. 🧡 photos by @aysia

February 23, 2020

In an interview with the New Yorker’s Helen Rosner, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat author and Netflix show host Samin Nosrat announced her next project: “a book that’s trying to answer the question ‘How do you know what to cook?’” Rosner has more details (and the interview is worth a read just for the Samin-ness of it all), but Nosrat is again teaming up with illustrator Wendy MacNaughton for this project. No word on pub date. Apparently there will be fart jokes.

2020 Art of Eating Prize Goes to Caroline Eden’s Black Sea

Congratulations to Caroline Eden, author of Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes, Through Darkness and Light [Quadrille] and winner of the 2020 Art of Eating Prize. In addition to one of the best cookbook covers I’ve ever seen, Eden swayed the judges with her artful prose. Writes judge/chef Frank Stitt, “Eden’s writing is so evocative, so precise, with a rare ability to weave history into travel and an eye towards food and how cooking brings diverse people together.” The Art of Eating Prize comes with a $10,000 and a custom ladle trophy.

Check this out!

• Are the internet recipe headnote wars the “dumbest foodie battle of our time”? IDK there are a lot of really dumb foodie battles out there. But this ranks for sure. [Slate]

• I mentioned this book, which chronicles the food/history of New Orleans HBCU Dillard University, very briefly in a past newsletter, but now The American South has more, including details on what was likely one of renowned chef Leah Chase’s last interviews before she died. [TAS]

• “I really feel that everyone should make a family cookbook. It’s the way that you share your favorite recipes with your family and friends, and save them forever. We all have memories of foods our parents or grandparents made that we wish we had gotten the recipe for or taken the time to learn.” [Sidney Daily News]

• “We need to keep handing down recipes from generation to generation. Recipes are cultural place holders serving as autobiographical accounts of days gone by.” [Livermore Falls Advertiser]

• The African-American foodscape, as captured in historic cookbooks. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

• 'Microwave Cooking for One': the surprisingly joyful story behind the world’s saddest cookbook. [Thrillist]

• Cookbook review: Sour by Mark Diacono. [AJC]

• Cookbook review: Making Bread at Home by Jane Mason. [Telegraph]

• Cookbook review: The Brisket Chronicles by Steven Raichlen. [Marin Independent Journal]

• What’s the best Indian cookbook? [PureWow]

• Okay, but what’s the best regional Indian cookbook? [Vogue India]

• Buddhist cookbooks for a mindful kitchen. [Lions Roar]

• The underrated joy of Irish cuisine in Jp McMahon’s The Irish Cookbook. [Stylist]

  ---

  WOO that was a lot. See Friday people Friday and as always happy cooking.