Thursday, December 10, 2020

cookbooks

 

The next Reader’s Advisory Roundtable meeting will be on Zoom on Wednesday, February 10 at 9am and the topic up for discussion is inspirational fiction. 

As a reminder, you can find RART here in the blogosphere (how long has it been since you’ve seen that word?) at www.raroundtable.blogspot.com and on Facebook under RA Reading (www.facebook.com/jcplareadersadvisory.roundtable).

Yesterday, RART met to discuss cookbooks and it was lively!  And delicious!  COVID prevented us from having the usual holiday potluck, but maybe next year!

 

15 in attendance:

Holley W, O’Neal

Samuel R, BPL Springville Road

Judith W, Homewood

Leslie W, Homewood

Laura T, Homewood

Joi M, Vestavia

Melissa B, Homewood

Veronica C, Homewood

Maura D, Trussville

Heather C, Homewood

Shawn C, Pinson

Nicole L, Tarrant

Riana M, Pinson

Tamiko N, BPL

Martella N, Center Point

 

Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking by Samin Nosrat      

A visionary new master class in cooking that distills decades of professional experience into just four simple elements, from the woman declared “America’s next great cooking teacher” by Alice Waters.

Holley

The Lebanese Palate: Recipes and Traditions from Saint Elias Maronite Church

This title is not in the Jefferson County Library system, nor could I find it for sale online.  Contact St. Elias Church directly if you are interested! Recipes from The Ladies' Altar Society of St. Elias Maronite Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Includes the church history, historical photos, and blessings.

Holley

Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a F*ck

Yeah, plenty of blogs and cookbooks preach about how to eat more kale, why ginger fights inflammation, and how to cook with microgreens and nettles. But they are dull or pretentious as hell—and most people can't afford the hype. Thug Kitchen lives in the real world. In their first cookbook, they're throwing down more than 100 recipes for their best-loved meals, snacks and sides for beginning cooks to home chefs.

Leslie

Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines

Magnolia Table is infused with Joanna Gaines' warmth and passion for all things family, prepared and served straight from the heart of her home, with recipes inspired by dozens of Gaines family favorites and classic comfort selections from the couple's new Waco restaurant, Magnolia Table.

Leslie

Lidia’s Celebrate Like an Italian: 220 Foolproof Recipes That Make Every Meal a Party by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

Beautifully illustrated throughout with full-color photographs and filled with her trademark warmth and enthusiasm, this is Lidia's most festive book. Whether you're planning a romantic picnic for two, a child's birthday party, a holiday gathering, or a simple weeknight family dinner, Lidia's flavorful, easy-to-follow recipes and advice will have you calling to your guests: "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!"

Samuel

The Mediterranean Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone

With the combination of tradition, innovation, and ease that have made her recipes so popular, Michele Scicolone gathers intriguing dishes from every corner of the Mediterranean and streamlines them for the slow cooker.

Samuel

Middle Eastern Home Cooking: Quick, Easy, Delicious Recipes to Make at Home by Tess Mallos

With beautifully illustrated easy-to-follow recipes, Middle Eastern Home Cooking is the perfect guide for cooks of all abilities.

Samuel

Delish Ultimate Cocktails: Why Limit Happy to an Hour? By Joanna Saltz

100+ insanely great cocktail recipes for every occasion including margaritas, mimosas, martinis and more, each with a fresh and fun twist. Plus, super-creative boozy sweets!

Joi

Son of a Southern Chef: Cook with Soul by Lazarus Lynch

In his debut cookbook, Laz offers up more than 100 recipe hits with new takes on classic dishes. Packed with splashy color photography that pops off the page, this cookbook blends fashion, food, and storytelling to get readers into the kitchen. It's a Southern cookbook like you've never seen before.

Joi

Christmas with Kim-Joy: A Festive Collection of Edible Cuteness by Kim-Joy

Kim-Joy's baked creations have charmed fans since she was in the final of the Great British Bake Off 2018. Following on from her bestselling debut book, Baking with Kim-Joy, she's turning to everyone's favourite time of year – Christmas!

Joi

Nadiya Hussain’s “Bake Me a Story” children’s cookbook series

Join Great British Bake Off sensation Nadiya Hussain for scrumptious stories and delicious bakes that all the family can enjoy.

Laura

The Little Women Cookbook: Tempting Recipes from the March Sisters and Their Friends and Family by Wini Moranville

Here at last is the first cookbook to celebrate the scrumptious and comforting foods that play a prominent role in Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women. 

Laura

Niche/pop culture cookbooks:

The Golden Girls Cookbook, The Downton Abbey Cookbook, The Madmen Cookbook, The Harry Potter Cookbook, The Star Wars Cookbook, Chrissy Teigen’s cookbooks, the HungryGirl cookbooks

Shawn

The Power of Sprinkles: A Cake Book by the Founder of Flour Shop by Amirah Kassem

Flour Shop’s rainbow explosion cakes have become an international sensation! And now, with The Power of Sprinkles, Flour Shop Founder Amirah Kassem reveals the secrets to making her magical cakes at home.

Judith

The Wizard’s Dessert Cookbook: Magical Recipes Inspired by Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Fantastic Beasts, The Chronicles of Narnia, and More by Aurelia Beaupommier

From Hobbits to Willy Wonka to Ghostbusters, from Harry Potter to Merlin, wizards and fantastic creatures alike like to put a little sweetness in their daily lives. There are bites to snack and share, charming cookies and cakes, and divine desserts that are full of mystery!

Judith

The Perfect Cookie: Your Ultimate Guide to Foolproof Cookies, Brownies, and Bars edited by America’s Test Kitchen

America's Test Kitchen has years of experience making the very best cookies; in The Perfect Cookie, the test kitchen has collected all of that knowledge in one place for the definitive guide to cookie baking.

Judith

Let’s Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook by Hugh Amano

A comic book cookbook with accessible ramen recipes for the home cook, including simple weeknight bowls, weekend project stocks, homemade noodles, and an array of delicious accompaniments, with insights and tips from notable ramen luminaries.

Shawn

Cook Anime: Eat Like Your Favorite Character-From Bento to Yakisoba by Diana Ault

Learn to recreate delicious dishes referenced in over 500 of your favorite anime series with this practical guide to anime food.

Shawn

Paul Hollywood’s baking books

Heather

Sally’s Cookie Addiction: Irresistible Cookies, Cookie Bars, Shortbread, and More form the Creator of the Sally’s Baking Addiction Blog by Sally McKenney

Bake exquisite cookies, bars, and doughs perfectly every time with Sally's Cookie Addiction, the long-awaited follow-up to baking addict and food blogger Sally McKenney's popular cookbook, Sally's Baking Addiction. A world of baking wonder awaits you and all the lucky people you’ll share these treats with.

Heather

The Whole30 Slow Cooker: 150 Totally Compliant Prep-and-Go Recipes for Your Whole30 – With Instant Pot Recipes by Melissa Hartwig

The Whole30 Slow Cooker features delicious, no-fuss dinners that cook while you work; roasts that transform into tacos, salads, and soups, for easy meals throughout the week; and satisfying one-pot meals that make prep and cleanup a breeze. These creative meals use whole-food ingredients found in any supermarket, and as an added bonus, feature recipes and directions for making your meals Instant Pot-friendly!

Heather

Keto Instant Pot: 130+ Healthy Low-Carb Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker by Maria Emmerich

 In this book, international bestselling author Maria Emmerich presents more than 160 delicious low-carb, high-fat keto recipes designed to be cooked in an Instant Pot or other multi-cooker. The recipes run the gamut from appetizers and sides to soups to main dishes to sweet treats and even a few drinks, along with some handy keto basics. As a bonus, Maria also includes slow-cooking instructions (which can be done either in the Instant Pot or in a separate slow cooker) for each recipe for those days when set-it-and-forget-it convenience takes precedence over the need for speed.

Heather

The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook edited by King Arthur Flour

The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion is the definitive kitchen resource. Exhaustive in scope, authoritative in style, and offering clear, practical, and encouraging instruction, it is the one book you'll turn to every time you bake. Like your set of measuring cups and favorite wooden spoon, it will become an essential kitchen tool. No kitchen in America should be without a copy.

Heather

Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs by Beth Ricanati

What if you could bake bread once a week, every week? What if the smell of fresh bread could turn your house into a home? And what if the act of making the bread―mixing and kneading, watching and waiting―could heal your heartache and your emptiness, your sense of being overwhelmed? It can. This is the surprise that physician-mother Beth Ricanati learned when she started baking challah: that simply stopping and baking bread was the best medicine she could prescribe for women in a fast-paced world.

Heather

Will it Waffle?: 53 Irresistible and Unexpected Recipes to Make in a Waffle Iron by Daniel Shumski

How many great ideas begin with a nagging thought in the middle of the night that should disappear by morning, but doesn’t? For Daniel Shumski, it was: Will it waffle? Hundreds of hours, countless messes, and 53 perfected recipes later, that answer is a resounding: Yes, it will! Steak? Yes! Pizza? Yes! Apple pie? Emphatically yes.

Melissa

Cook Korean!: A Comic Book with Recipes by Robin Ha

A charming introduction to the basics of Korean cooking in graphic novel form, with 64 recipes, ingredient profiles, and more, presented through light-hearted comics.

Melissa

Bento Blast!: More Than 150 Cute and Clever Bento Box Meals for Your Kids by Li Ming Lee

With more than 160 step-by-step tutorials on how to assemble balanced bento boxes, create food art, and cook individual recipes that bridge the East and the West, Bento Blast turns food preparation into an art and makes eating fun again for both parent and child. 

Melissa

The SkinnyTaste cookbook series

Get the recipes everyone is talking about, handy nutrition facts, and stunning photographs in the cookbooks from the wildly popular blog Skinnytaste.

Riana

Cooking Light: The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook by the editors of Cooking Light

For quick, healthy, no-fuss recipes, home cooks count on Cooking Light The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook--the ultimate dinner guide for making, healthy tasty dishes in minutes using game plans, nutritional analyses, and over 350 recipes.

Riana

The Manga Cookbook, illustrated by Chihiro Hattori

Reading manga sure can make a person hungry! Food appears frequently in Japanese comics, but what exactly is it that the characters are eating? Introducing The Manga Cookbook, an illustrated step-by-step guide to preparing simple Japanese dishes using ingredients found in every Western kitchen.

Nicole

Rose Water and Orange Blossoms: Fresh & Classic Recipes from my Lebanese Kitchen by Maureen Abood

Pomegranates and pistachios. Floral waters and cinnamon. Bulgur wheat, lentils, and succulent lamb. These lush flavors of Maureen Abood's childhood, growing up as a Lebanese-American in Michigan, inspired Maureen to launch her award-winning blog, Rose Water & Orange Blossoms. Here she revisits the recipes she was reared on, exploring her heritage through its most-beloved foods and chronicling her riffs on traditional cuisine. 

Maura

See You on Sunday: A Cookbook for Family and Friends by Sam Sifton

From big meats to big pots, with a few words on salad, and a diatribe on the needless complexity of desserts, See You on Sunday is an indispensable addition to any home cook’s library. From how to shuck an oyster to the perfection of Mallomars with flutes of milk, from the joys of grilled eggplant to those of gumbo and bog, this book is devoted to the preparation of delicious proteins and grains, vegetables and desserts, taco nights and pizza parties.

Maura

The Duke’s Mayonnaise Cookbook: 75 Recipes Celebrating the Perfect Condiment by Ashley Strickland Freeman

Celebrate the South's favorite mayonnaise and learn how to cook with it in new delicious ways with this cookbook from food writer and Duke's lover Ashley Freeman.

Maura

 

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Youtube cooking shows: Sam the Cooking Guy, Mr. Make It Happen, Mandy in the Making, Roman’s Cooking Corner, FlavCity with Bobby Parrish, Joshua Weissman, Gourmet Makes

Japanese bento box cookbooks are very popular.

The Mealime meal planning website and app is fun. (www.mealime.com)

Blog: Sally’s Baking Addiction - https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/

NPR interview with author of “See You On Sunday: A Cookbook for Family and Friends,” Sam Sifton:

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/17/836907993/best-of-sam-sifton-on-quarantine-cooking-jason-bateman

Healthy cooking is in the bag with this list of delectable cookbooks, curated by the Homewood Public Library: https://hpladultservices.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/healthy-holiday-cooking/.  Or, abandon healthy and bake ALL THE COOKIES: https://hpladultservices.wordpress.com/2020/12/12/9777/


OUTSTANDING COOKING SHOWS

Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix)

"Everybody Loves Raymond" creator Phil Rosenthal travels the globe to take in the local cuisine and culture of Bangkok, Lisbon, Mexico City and more.

The Eater’s Guide to the World (Hulu)

Join narrator Maya Rudolph on a quest to find the most unexpected places to score an epic meal, while drinking and dining with the locals along the way.

Flavorful Origins (Netflix)

Embark on a delightful journey through the culinary traditions of China and uncover the stories of the people who create and cherish its dishes.

Ugly Delicious (Netflix)

All the flavor. None of the BS. Star chef David Chang leads friends on a mouthwatering, cross-cultural hunt for the world's most satisfying grub.      

Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi (Hulu)

In Taste the Nation, award winning cookbook author, host and executive producer Padma Lakshmi, takes audiences on a journey across America, exploring the rich and diverse food culture of various immigrant groups, seeking out the people who have so heavily shaped what American food is today.             

Samurai Gourmet (Netflix)

Recent retiree Takeshi rediscovers his passion for food and life by getting in touch with his inner warrior and eating what he truly desires.