4 New Culinary Titles that Expand What a Cookbook Can Do

Unlike novels or memoirs, cookbooks usually offer little literary mystery. When you pick one up, you know you're in for recipes and instructions, generally well worth it from a sage cook. But on occasion, a cookbook comes along that surprises. Within its pages are deep stories from in and out of the kitchen, history lessons that expand generations and cultures, and admissions of hope found in the symphony of chopping vegetables and peeling fruits. These are the cookbooks we devour at PrimaFoodie. Thankfully, this fall, there's a bounty of these gems just out or on the horizon. These are the new culinary titles that are exciting and inspiring us the most right now. 

My Healthy Dish

By My Nguyen

My Nguyen has millions of followers for a good reason: Her accessible, nourishing take on cooking is based on her honest journey of needing to better care of herself so she could take better care of her two toddlers. So, she chose to get rid of the calorie counting and lean into her intuition, and she takes us along on the journey in her new book My Healthy Dish. Nguyen shares her approachable, intuitive, playful take on home cooking, offering recipes for protein-packed breakfasts and snacks and easy weeknight meals, much of which are inspired by her Southeast Asian heritage. What we love most, though, is how she's helped her kids reach for the veggies. "Once picky eaters who longed for McDonald's, my girls now prefer my cooking to what we get at restaurants," writes Nguyen. "I'm making sure that they get plenty of time to play in the kitchen, too, starting them off on a path to lifelong good health a lot sooner than I did!”

The Bean Book 

By Steve Sando

We've been fans of Steve Sando and his heirloom bean company, Rancho Gordo, for a long time (did you catch his conversation with Nichole on the podcast?), so we jumped when we learned he was coming out with a cookbook. The Bean Book showcases what Sando knows best: growing, sourcing, and cooking with beans—but not just beans; the best heirloom beans. This book is fun, just like Sando. It offers over 100 recipes that incorporate beans in conventional and unexpected ways. (One of our favorites is the Clay-Baked Pacific Cod Gratin with Onions and White Beans.) The best part is that Sando offers a history lesson about each bean variety he cooks, making this book rich in ideas and lessons. 

What Goes with What

By Julia Turshen

We consistently turn to Julia Turshen for her kitchen wisdom by picking up one of her cookbooks (Small Victories is a PrimaFoodie favorite), reading her beloved cooking newsletter, or taking one of her online cooking classes. Her way of making cooking feel creative, adventurous, and empowering is unparalleled. And her dishes are always so satisfying. Her new book, just out this month, Turshen, focuses on the foundations of a meal, offering us readers with charts and recipes to help us build a dish while allowing room for personal iterations. She also weaves in personal essays, making this book both a literary gift and a culinary guide.

Food Is Love

By Palek Patel

Roasted Butternut Squash with Makani Sauce. Roasted Vindaloo Mushroom Wraps. Braised Vegetable Dal. These are just a few of the warming, nourishing dishes chef Palak Patel includes in her new book, Food Is Love. Seeing food as the ultimate act of love, Patel includes stories and recipes from her upbringing in West India and global travels that put love and care as the star ingredients. As she writes, she wants readers to view this book as an "opportunity to create memories with food and be more intentional, present, and open while cooking." She also includes deep dives into spices (a topic we love).

9 Cookbooks that Teach and Inspire

A good cookbook gets you cooking. A great cookbook gets you cooking—and thinking and discovering and coming back to the kitchen over and over. Any cookbook can be a guide in helping you make a decent meal, but a really inspiring resource stretches you. It helps you to understand the alchemy of food and the whys and hows behind delicious—emboldening you to make your own creations. 

For all of us at PrimaFoodie, a great cookbook is like having a loyal friend or mentor in the kitchen. You can hear the author’s voice offering wisdom about the culture behind the spices, the chemistry of the salt and heat, and the history for using certain methods. The pages offer more than step-by-step instruction. They offer the best counsel for becoming a better cook. 

These nine cookbooks do just that. With their oil-stained, dog-eared pages, we reach for these when we need a quick gut-check (400° or 425°? Coconut or olive oil?) or inspiration to try something new. 

Where Cooking Begins

By Carla Lalli Music

This technically is a cookbook (a great one), but it’s also a way to hang out with Carla Lalli Music, the hilarious long-time chef and editor-at-large for Bon Appetit. Music makes cooking fun. (Just watch one of her cooking videos and you’ll see.) She also makes it super inclusive. Every one of the comforting recipes in her book comes with a “spin it” list that offers various alternatives—meaning, if you want to swap beef for chicken, or a gluten-free starch for wheat, go for it. This is such a fun resource that proves there doesn’t need to be any perfection in cooking, only the permission to go with what feels right. 

Small Victories

By Julia Turshen

For years, Julia Turshen was the skillful co-author and co-chef behind so many fantastic cooking endeavors, including the making of Gwyneth Paltrow’s book, My Father’s Daughter. Finally, in 2016, she came out with her first cookbook entirely of her own: Small Victories. (Since she’s followed with several more.) This lovely resource layers healthy recipes with comforting spins and helpful tips. Throughout, Turshen offers bits of wisdom and lessons she’s learned in the kitchen along the way. When we’re looking to make a simple, comforting dish, this is one of the first we pull from the shelves. 

Sweet Laurel: Recipes for Whole Food, Grain-Free Desserts

By Laurel Gallucci and Claire Thomas

This bakery, based in Pacific Palisades, California, has gained a sort of cult following for their grain-free, sugar-free, additive-free baked goods. The treats—cakes, breads, cookies, muffins, scones, crackers—are incredible, even when compared to any conventional desserts. But the story goes much deeper. Longtime baker Laurel Gallucci started experimenting with alternative flours and whole ingredients after she was diagnosed with autoimmune conditions. Her recipes quickly took off. She teamed with friend and photographer, Claire Thomas, and the two brought the Sweet Laurel brand to life. This book unveils it all—the journey, the secrets, the whole ingredients—and proves ever-the-more that delicious and satisfying doesn’t require anything artificial. 

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

By Yotam Ottolenghi and Sam Tamimi

Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi—who were both born in Jerusalem and lived in Tel Aviv—met while working at a bakery in London. The two instantly connected over a love of foods from their native lands and a confusion for traditional English fare. Their kinship grew and eventually the two opened the coveted Ottolenghi deli in London, which has grown into six delis and restaurants throughout London. Their food is unparalleled: super fresh, nothing artificial, organic, and heavily influenced by the Mediterranean. Every recipe here pleases for a cozy weeknight meal or a dinner party. 

Practical Paleo

By Diane Sanfillippo

Our founder, Nichole, taught herself how to cook Paleo with this cookbook when she started following the diet out of necessity. Certified nutritionist Diane Sanfillippo unpacks the Paleo diet in this New York Times bestseller in such a dense yet approachable way. And thank goodness that she does, because Practical Paleo is one of the few available resources that truly explains the whys and hows behind the diet, and the ways in which it can lead to healing and better health. Sanfillippo also offers more than 150 recipes and various meals plans that are catered to different health conditions, from brain health to liver detox. What we most love about this cookbook are its simple recipes. The fiery jalapeño buffalo burgers with sweet potato pancake "buns" and zucchini pancakes are favorites. 

Good + Simple 

By Jasmine Hemsley and Melissa Hemsley

Food writers and clean-eating advocates Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley have become well known over the past several years for their nutrient dense recipes and fun approach to healthy cooking. The sisters have authored several cookbooks together, including their best-selling premier, The Art of Eating Well, as well as a few titles on their own. Each is excellent, but we especially love Good + Simple. Offering a more accessible take on the sisters’ love for grain- and sugar-free cooking, Good + Simple offers a bunch of healthy, easy meals that can be altered according to any dietary need. What Nichole particularly loves is the Hemsley sisters’ varied palette. Their quick sausage ragu with celeriac spaghetti is a family favorite. 

Flavor Flours

By Alice Medrich

This cookbook expands the way we look at baking. Pushing wheat out of the conversation, it offers a primer on how to incorporate various alternative flours, from those made from ancient grains to others made from nuts, rice, or coconut (and more). It helps to get you more comfortable and nimble in the kitchen, giving you information on the different flour structures and textures so you know what to use and when. Every recipe Nichole has made from this book has come out beautifully. One PrimaFoodie favorite, The Queen of the Nile, is an elegant and simple chocolate cake that always impresses at a dinner party. 

Every Last Crumb

By Brittany Angell

These recipes are exquisite. Fluffy blueberry pancakes, calzones, soft plantain tortillas, cinnamon rolls—we could go on. There are so many, and every one is entirely gluten-free. Some of the recipes are more complicated or require multiple steps, but each one is entirely worth it. 

My Paleo Patisserie

By Jenni Hulet

This book is filled with beautiful photography, and recipes for delicious baked goods, including desserts and savory pastries. Entirely self-taught, Jenni Hulet  has figured out how to make some absolutely delicious grain and dairy-free versions of timeless hits, such as popovers and tarts. She also lays out the technical aspects of baking in an easy-to-understand format. At the end, she includes great tools, charts, and step-by-step instructional photos. Her basic chocolate cake is a recipe to always have in your back pocket.