If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to cook more, it’s only March! It’s not too late to pick up that pan and try your hand at a new recipe.
Here are some of our favorite life-changing cookbooks for beginners.
Chef David Chang and food writer Priya Krishna come together in this unique anti-cookbook to teach home chefs true independence in the kitchen.
Rather than provide detailed recipes for Chang’s favorite meals, he emphasized the science and theory behind cooking fundamentals. Chang shies away from listing precise measurements for each recipe and instead provides recommended ingredients and basic order of instructions for preparing the dish.
Recipes to check out:
Chicken noodle soup on pg. 121
Jamaican-inspired oxtails on pg. 178
Gochujang jjigae on pg. 142
Brisket fried rice on pg. 114
The worst part of cooking is doing the dishes afterward. Elena Silcock agrees and has formulated the perfect collection of recipes for the reluctant dish washer. The instructions are straight forward, the ingredients are common and easy to source, and the meals are downright delicious!
Recipes to check out:
Cajun Prawn rice on pg. 74
Curried carrot lentils on pg. 107
Seafood and sweetcorn chowder on pg. 167
Giant bacon and egg hash brown on pg. 122
This cookbook ranks a little on the advanced end of this list, but is a must-have for the home cook with a sweet tooth!
If Christina Tosi is the sweets queen (and she is!), this book is a little peek into her brilliant recipe building process.
Like Chang’s book, many sections of this book focus on baking fundamentals such as temperature and measurements (hint: you’ll need to get SUPER comfortable with grams).
Tosi’s recipes are guaranteed to please everyone you know with a sweet tooth and are delightfully fun to make!
Recipes to check out:
Blueberry and cream cookies on pg. 80
Pistachio layer cake on pg. 83
Compost cookies on pg. 114
If you have ever been lucky enough to eat Hawaiian food (either in your town or on the islands), you have probably only skimmed the surface of the amazing recipes Hawai’i has to offer.
Chef Sheldon Simeon and food writer Garrett Snyder introduce readers to unique recipes and the cultural influences that created them.
Interspersed with recipes are personal stories about Simeon’s favorites as well as profiles of different cultures that have been key to developing unique fusion foods in Hawai’i.
Recipes to check out:
Miki noodles on pg. 183
Malasadas on pg. 258
Garlic shrimp on pg. 106
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