I love a good cookbook. In an age where endless variations on any recipe are no more than a few clicks away on the internet, there is still a certain magic to buying, or receiving, a physical, curated collection.
Cookbooks can teach you something in a way that individual online recipes can’t. Whether exploring a new cuisine or trying a new technique, cooking from a cookbook means you can build up a whole repertoire of dishes and hone new skills. I love that you can annotate the pages, and it doesn’t matter if they get mucky (I find you can always tell the best recipes in a book by how dog-eared and food-splattered the pages are).
You can always tell the best recipes in a book by how dog-eared and food-splattered the pages are
Cookbooks impart culinary knowledge in a satisfyingly old-school way. You can learn which flavour combinations work and which don’t. You can discover all manner of tips and tricks – whether it’s the best way to prove dough for the perfect pizza or what ingredients make the best pickling liquid for a ceviche. There’s nothing quite like getting your newest acquisition down from the bookshelf and trudging off to the kitchen to put it to the test. It’s a rush I must confess I’m slightly addicted to.
But that isn’t the only reason cookbooks make excellent presents; the nicest are often visually beautiful too, with hi-res imagery and stylish, almost coffee table-worthy covers. So without further ado, here are some of 2022’s best and most delicious cookbooks, to satisfy any home cook at Christmas.
Borough Market: The Knowledge, £27
Borough Market: The Knowledge by Angela Clutton does exactly what the title suggests, bringing together the expertise of the traders of London’s Borough Market alongside more than 80 recipes. The cookbook is divided according to the different types of produce you’d find among the market’s stalls (butcher, fishmonger, dairy and so on) and includes pages of tips on how to source and choose the best ingredients. Each section contains drinks pairings and useful how-to guides, including instructions for jointing a chicken, filleting a fish and preparing a brown crab. The recipes are elegant, sophisticated and suited to a range of abilities. The roasted cod’s head with clams and seaweed transports you straight to the coast, while the venison steak with samphire is the perfect dinner party dish. The scallop and bacon bap is delicious in its simplicity. While shopping for ingredients at the market is great fun, to use this book it’s by no means a necessity: most recipes can be created using ingredients bought at your local butcher, grocer or even (as I did) from the supermarket. A must-have for any gourmet wanting to learn more.
Big Mamma Cucina Popolare, £27.95
Created by the minds behind the hugely popular restaurant group that includes Gloria in Shoreditch and and Circolo Popolare in Fitzrovia, Big Mamma Cucina Popolare is an encyclopaedic collection of more than 130 Italian recipes. The book is split into eight sections, with a whole chapter devoted to pizza and aperitivi in each. The recipes range from the simple (‘the real tomato sauce’) to the complex (rabbit-stuffed casoncelli with artichokes and fennel cream). Big Mamma Cucina Popolare is the perfect vehicle for getting to grips with the ins and outs of Italian cooking, with tips on technique and sourcing ingredients at the end of every entry. I can report that its recipe for Neapolitan pizza really does work in a bog-standard kitchen oven, producing delicious pizza with a crispy, charred crust. A recipe for a version of the restaurant group’s famous spaghetti carbonara (served in a wheel of pecorino cheese if you’re feeling fancy) also makes an appearance.
Mob Fresh, £20
The brainchild of innovative online cookery platform Mob, Mob Fresh is the perfect book for those wanting a healthier start to 2023. In recent years Mob has moved away from its origins as a recipe platform for students, broadening its appeal and elevating its dishes. Focusing on lighter, more balanced meals than its previous cookbooks, Mob has created a cheerful book that will appeal to younger home cooks and will see you right through the year. The book divides more than 100 recipes into eight sections, ranging from ‘brunch’ to ‘sharing’ to ‘summery’. The cavolo nero and wild mushroom risotto is to die for, while the baked miso chicken schnitzel with kimchi mayo is a genius fusion dish of perfection, light but nonetheless moreish.
Mezcla, £26
Mezcla, by Ixta Belfrage (co-author of Ottolenghi Flavour), is one of the hottest cookbooks of the year. Taking inspiration from Belfrage’s Italian, Mexican and Brazilian upbringing, flavours such as lime and chilli feature heavily, alongside plenty of spices. Many of the recipes call for a large amount of oil, but that only adds to their luxuriousness. The dishes Belfrage has created are vibrant and, as befitting fusion cuisine, exciting and inventive. The tomato and lime galette with crunchy spelt chipotle pastry is exquisite, zingy and fresh but nowhere near as tricky as it looks to make. The curried prawn and jalapeño croquettes with scotch bonnet salsa are the sort of thing you can gorge endlessly on, even when your mouth is on fire.
Bake It, Slice It, Eat It, £15
Bake It, Slice It, Eat It by Tom Oxford and Oliver Coysh is the perfect gift for anyone who loves baking. The concept is a straightforward one: more than 90 cake recipes all adapted to be baked in the same sheet pan. Ideal for home cooks who want to expand their repertoire without having to buy a load of fancy equipment, the recipes are roughly divided by level of ability – from ‘basic bakes’, including a raspberry and white chocolate bakewell, to ‘boss level’ and ‘technical’. There is a whole section devoted to flourless bakes, and a chapter on brownies featuring 19 different recipes. The flourless almond brownie is out of this world and an easy crowd-pleaser, while the intricate seabuckthorn cheesecake is a true showstopper.
The Little Book of Aperitifs, £10
Ideal for anyone wanting to learn a bit of mixology over the Christmas period, The Little Book of Aperitifs by Kate Hawkings is a great entry level guide. Complete with colourful, informative pictures of each drink, it contains 50 cocktail recipes, ranging from classics such as the negroni and bellini to elegant concoctions such as the gin and sparkling wine-based French 75. The sloe gin-based Charlie Chaplin looks like it would make the perfect festive tipple. The book’s size and price point makes it a perfect stocking filler or Secret Santa gift too.
Tava, £27
Irina Georgescu’s latest cookbook, Tava, is a great choice for any fans of afternoon tea keen to try something different. Bringing together more than 80 cake, pastry and dessert recipes, Tava is a deep dive into the sweet dishes that make up Romanian cuisine. With influences from Armenia, Hungary, Saxony and Swabia to name just a few, the recipes in the book combine the familiar with the unfamiliar: bakes you will recognise with ingredients and flavour combinations you might not. Each recipe has a charming introduction, providing a window into its history and heritage. The crumble cake with grape jam is a straightforward but delicious bake, perfect with a cup of tea. Meanwhile, the noodles in walnut and vanilla soup are as intriguing as they sound – a little pernickety, but the result is rich and comforting.
Comments