♦ My very first cookbook was the Alpha-Bakery Gold Medal Children’s Cookbook, given to me by my maternal grandparents when I was a wee lass of four. I may prefer King Arthur flour now, but I still love making honey bee cookies and turtle bread from this little gem of a book.
♦ The Good Housekeeping Cookbook was the first encyclopedic cookbook I owned. That and How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman can answer every basic cooking question I could possibly ask.
♦ Jim Lahey’s book, My Bread, is a favorite. I’m still amazed that four ingredients, 24 hours, and almost no work can create such perfect bread.
♦ For all things ice cream, I have turned again and again to David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. The book features amazing step-by-step instructions on making the perfect custard. Recipes range from classic to seriously inventive. (Saffron ice cream??)
♦ I’ve loved every single recipe I’ve made from Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. This book has truly expanded my culinary horizons.
♦ The bulk of my meals over the past six months have come from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen. I love how thorough the instructions are, and the recipes are all fabulous.
♦ My favorite food blogger wrote a book! I love The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook and can’t wait for volume two.
♦ And, of course, I love Ina Garten. Whose kitchen would be complete without at least one of her gorgeous cookbooks?
♦ The following non-cookbook books have been incredibly eye-opening for me and continue to shape each and every decision I make in the grocery store:
- In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
- Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner
- Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss (and here’s a long-form article drawn from that book)
- Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck
- Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil by Tom Mueller
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Lingonberry Jam 