I recently gave a friend a copy of Missy Robbins’ new cookbook, Pasta. No gift has been more joyfully received; my friend is determined to cook every single recipe. What cookbooks do you give your friends? Why?
I pick up used copies of Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking to have on hand when I need a present for someone who I think will appreciate Laurie, her writing and her recipes.
I have bought many used copies of the French Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis (1996) for friends. I put tabs on all the pages with the recipes I love before giving it. Wonderful recipes and great narratives. I have learned a lot form it and use it all the time. Wonderful simple French home cooking. Three of my favorites make a wonderful dinner, Endive and Walnut Salad, Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Apple Tart with Apircot Preserves. Delicious!
I have many cookbooks that I love and really use. One book that holds my heart is "L'Auberge of the Flowering Hearth" by Andres DeGroot. I have given it a number of times to friends that love the subject of food and cooking. Andres talks about his experience while staying at this Inn and the 2 ladies who own it. It is a true love and appreciation of food along with recipes. I adore this book!
I loved reading about all the books previously mentioned, and while my own overcrowded cookbook library contains many of them, I must add to this illustrious list the Silver Palate Cookbook, because ... chicken Marbella ... salmon mousse ... Basque salad ... banana cake! My son recently gave me an updated edition to replace my tattered original copy, which was held together with a rubber band. A lifetime ago I owned a restaurant and catering business in NJ and used SPC often as a reference because all the recipes scaled so well!
On a more current note, I just gave Annie Mahle's new book, "The Tiny Kitchen Cookbook" to a single friend of mine. All of the fabulous recipes serve 2. Annie was the co-captain of one of Maine's grand schooners and cooked amazing meals aboard (using a wood-fired stove) for many summers. This is her fourth book.
What a fun thread! I have given Salt Fat Acid Heat a few times as a college graduation gift. She's a great teacher, and this is the cookbook I wish I'd had when I was starting out. Also for my son: Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian recipes. Its casual, friendly, hey-you-got-this vibe makes it perfect for Gen Z dudes. I've also given Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian as well as Deborah Madison's New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Bittman for the shortest, simplest way to the table, and Madison for the meticulous, word-perfect instructions. There's a Scottish author named Ghillie Basan whose Moroccan cookbooks are splendid. Ottolenghi's Plenty is a classic, and I have given it, but my heart will always be with his Jerusalem. I'll look for the pasta book, but I have learned so much from the Pasta Grannies youtube site and love the connection with traditional foodways. For giving, I'm less inclined to give cookbooks these days (aside from new college grads, who obviously need them), and more tempted by classic food writing: M.F.K. Fisher, Marcella Hazan's Amarcord, Laurie Colwin, Julia Child's My Life in France, Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.... The list goes on!
If you feel like I do that a good soup stock is essential to life, the Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon makes a great gift. Yes, she has a strange name but the woman makes great soup, honed by her years of running a country inn. Mulligatawny, Mushroom-Barley and Greek Lentil/Spinach with lemon soups are some favorites. And her Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread is simply the best. Originally published in the early 90's, a 30th. anniversary edition has been released.
I always give Moosewood, the original, to anyone I know who's even slightly interested in delicious food that just happens to be vegetarian. It's such a classic. I used it throughout the late 70s when I was in college, and its recipes have more than stood the test of time.
I LOVE cookbooks, but my favorite gift to give is an app called Paprika. It makes collecting recipes from the internet so easy, and I love having all my favorites with me everywhere me and my iPad go.
I'd be remiss in not mentioning Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat. I give this to many just-starting-out cooks, including each of my children. Even my husband now mutters to himself, "salt, fat, acid, heat" when trying to figure out what's wrong with a recipe. Success!
The Basics, by Julee Rosso and Shelia Lukins is terrific for new home/bridal shower celebrations. Any of the Silver Palate cookbooks rock. Mine is falling apart at the seams: so well loved and used. Memorable recipes with helpful tips get kitchens started, stocked, and ready to go!
Tassajara Cooking by Edward Espe Brown. Great gift for beginning cooks, it starts by showing how to cut a carrot. And The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison and Edward Espe Brown. These are my go-to books, and I'm not even a vegetarian.
When we received the news of the demise of Gourmet Magazine, my husband immediately went to local bookstores and bought Gourmet Magazine cookbooks for all my friends.
We got a copy of Snacking Cakes for our 9-year-old niece, and it hit the spot - the recipes can be mixed in one bowl, but feels fancy to get a grown-up cookbook!
Judy Rogers, Zuni Cafe Cookbook. She writes and explains in a way that convinces you she’s sitting right there on your shoulder and just as you begin to panic her narrative says “ you’re going to see this happen, don’t worry, etc, etc. Great, diverse recipes from a wonderful restaurant.
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. I once met him at the Oxford Symposium. He was seated. I found I had actually gone down on one knee to speak to him.
Six Seasons by Joshua Mcfadden. Everything I have cooked from it is fantastic and all of the ingredient lists are simple except for the veggie stars found seasonally at the market. Approachable and delicious.
There is something about The Joy of Cooking and Fannie Farmer. I find myself using them as reference when trying any new recipe. I enjoy giving them to young new cooks.But there are sooo many more......
I like to give young people “starting out” some of the older cookbooks, sometimes out of print, that I buy used. I then add notes as to recipes I particularly love. Some of my favourites are The Union Square Cookbook, Marcella Cucina, The Periyali Cookbook, Claudia Ronan and for newer ones Sababa, Unforgettable…it all depends upon to whom and my mood.
It really depends on the goal of a gift: am I trying to introduce someone to a new cuisine (hello Madhur Jaffrey! What about Sababa?)? Ease a first-time apartment dweller into exploring the kitchen (hello Alison Roman!)? Do I want breadth (hello Gourmet cookbooks!)? Or am I talking just bread (Alexandra Stafford et al!)? Vegetarians? Eric Ripert's latest is lovely. And Moosewood is eternal. And don't get me started on cookbooks for gadgets: I have shelves of those I recommend for new Instant Pot owners, slow cooker converts etc.... :)
I have and have given many of the books here though I love reading about some I don’t have. One I haven’t seen listed that is wonderfully simple, casually elegant is Peggy Knickerbocker’s Simple Soirees. I also can’t help but giving a shout out to Laurie Colwin; I have given her books many times. She is homecooking to me!
“The Way to Cook”, Julia Child. We think it is a good foundational cookbook. Over the last 20 yrs we have given copies to each of our three daughters. Only one has embraced it. One uses it as a paperweight, and the last likely doesn’t know where she put it. Hint: Maybe under the empty Burger King bags? Needless to say, new cookbooks are now gifted to the daughter that cooks.
Jim Leahy’s My Bread. An incredible book for anyone who wants to learn great breadmaking, instantly — and who doesn’t want to do that!?!?! For all who like to cook vegetable-centric fabulous foods, Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. Nobody leaves these vegetables uneaten!
I just wrote and self-published my first cookbook, so I've been giving that one as gifts A LOT! It's called ZEST: Simple ways to elevate your favorite foods. I've been getting great responses so far, which is encouraging.
Other books I like to give are anything by Ottolenghi or Melissa Clark, Josh McFaddon's "Six Seasons", and Sami Tamimi's "Falastin." True gems!
My number one gift cookbook is The Frog Commissary Cookbook by Steven Poses, Anne Clark, and Becky Roller. The recipes are great, the writing is interesting, and the illustrations are charming. It is, unfortunately (unfathomably?) out of print now. After that are two more favorite books to gift - also out of print - The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan and The Victory Garden Cookbook, two books I use often and would hate to be without. Feasts by Leslie Newman is a good book if you are looking for a present for someone who entertains large numbers of people at a time; it's also a good read. And I hate to think there's anybody out there who doesn't have Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. I think it's about how to live.
When I was learning to cook in 1970, a dear friend, who was a caterer, told me to buy The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, The Betty Crocker Cookbook and The James Beard Cookbook. All three were "user friendly" and, while I no longer use them very often, I still have them on my bookshelf.
Until recently it was Farm to Table by Lynne Crawford. Right now I am obsessed with Eve: Contemporary Cuisine Methode Traditionnelle by Eve Aronoff, and I am looking for someone to give it to. Those are both good for real foodies who don't mind fussing in the kitchen for spectacular results. If I wanted to give a cookbook to someone who doesn't really like cooking, I would probably give something in the Jamie Oliver series of easy cookbooks like Fifteen Minute Meals.
Ruffage by Abra Berens! She has such a wonderful way of teaching people how to appreciate and cook with vegetables. And now she has Grist which does the same for beans and grains!
For young couples as wedding gifts or bridal shower gifts I love to give Pam Anderson's book - How to Cook Without a Book. There is old version and a newer version and I am pretty much sure everyone of my neighbors kids have this book in their home. They love it!
So many great ideas here! Thanks so much for sharing.
My Kitchen Year
Truly - I gave it to several friends and all loved it and cook from it regularly
Salt Fat Acid Heat-Nosrat
The Art of Simple Food-Waters
Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking
Ottolenghi Simple along with a gift card to The Spice House to get them started.
Judy Rogers, Zuni Cafe Cookbook
Thank you Ruth for sharing PASTA with your readers! Loving the newsletter
Ottolenghi's Jerusalem Cookbook. A timeless classic.
I pick up used copies of Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking to have on hand when I need a present for someone who I think will appreciate Laurie, her writing and her recipes.
I have bought many used copies of the French Farmhouse Cookbook by Susan Herrmann Loomis (1996) for friends. I put tabs on all the pages with the recipes I love before giving it. Wonderful recipes and great narratives. I have learned a lot form it and use it all the time. Wonderful simple French home cooking. Three of my favorites make a wonderful dinner, Endive and Walnut Salad, Roast Chicken with Tarragon and Apple Tart with Apircot Preserves. Delicious!
Marcella Hazan. Claudia Rosen. Elizabeth David. And Ruth Reichl.
I have many cookbooks that I love and really use. One book that holds my heart is "L'Auberge of the Flowering Hearth" by Andres DeGroot. I have given it a number of times to friends that love the subject of food and cooking. Andres talks about his experience while staying at this Inn and the 2 ladies who own it. It is a true love and appreciation of food along with recipes. I adore this book!
I loved reading about all the books previously mentioned, and while my own overcrowded cookbook library contains many of them, I must add to this illustrious list the Silver Palate Cookbook, because ... chicken Marbella ... salmon mousse ... Basque salad ... banana cake! My son recently gave me an updated edition to replace my tattered original copy, which was held together with a rubber band. A lifetime ago I owned a restaurant and catering business in NJ and used SPC often as a reference because all the recipes scaled so well!
On a more current note, I just gave Annie Mahle's new book, "The Tiny Kitchen Cookbook" to a single friend of mine. All of the fabulous recipes serve 2. Annie was the co-captain of one of Maine's grand schooners and cooked amazing meals aboard (using a wood-fired stove) for many summers. This is her fourth book.
What a fun thread! I have given Salt Fat Acid Heat a few times as a college graduation gift. She's a great teacher, and this is the cookbook I wish I'd had when I was starting out. Also for my son: Lucky Peach 101 Easy Asian recipes. Its casual, friendly, hey-you-got-this vibe makes it perfect for Gen Z dudes. I've also given Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian as well as Deborah Madison's New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Bittman for the shortest, simplest way to the table, and Madison for the meticulous, word-perfect instructions. There's a Scottish author named Ghillie Basan whose Moroccan cookbooks are splendid. Ottolenghi's Plenty is a classic, and I have given it, but my heart will always be with his Jerusalem. I'll look for the pasta book, but I have learned so much from the Pasta Grannies youtube site and love the connection with traditional foodways. For giving, I'm less inclined to give cookbooks these days (aside from new college grads, who obviously need them), and more tempted by classic food writing: M.F.K. Fisher, Marcella Hazan's Amarcord, Laurie Colwin, Julia Child's My Life in France, Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.... The list goes on!
If you feel like I do that a good soup stock is essential to life, the Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread cookbook by Crescent Dragonwagon makes a great gift. Yes, she has a strange name but the woman makes great soup, honed by her years of running a country inn. Mulligatawny, Mushroom-Barley and Greek Lentil/Spinach with lemon soups are some favorites. And her Skillet-Sizzled Cornbread is simply the best. Originally published in the early 90's, a 30th. anniversary edition has been released.
I always give Moosewood, the original, to anyone I know who's even slightly interested in delicious food that just happens to be vegetarian. It's such a classic. I used it throughout the late 70s when I was in college, and its recipes have more than stood the test of time.
I LOVE cookbooks, but my favorite gift to give is an app called Paprika. It makes collecting recipes from the internet so easy, and I love having all my favorites with me everywhere me and my iPad go.
I'd be remiss in not mentioning Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat. I give this to many just-starting-out cooks, including each of my children. Even my husband now mutters to himself, "salt, fat, acid, heat" when trying to figure out what's wrong with a recipe. Success!
Not a book, but I gift this Kitchen Chart a lot!! https://archiespress.com/collections/food-drink/products/kitchen-chart-print
The Basics, by Julee Rosso and Shelia Lukins is terrific for new home/bridal shower celebrations. Any of the Silver Palate cookbooks rock. Mine is falling apart at the seams: so well loved and used. Memorable recipes with helpful tips get kitchens started, stocked, and ready to go!
I gave the two Laurie Colwin books, Home Cooking and More HC to a friend recently.
When “Gourmet” arrived years ago, I looked in the table of contents and went to Laurie’s column first!
I miss Laurie’s columns and I miss Gourmet.😘
Already mentioned, but Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything is a great gift for someone who is getting started in their own kitchen.
Tassajara Cooking by Edward Espe Brown. Great gift for beginning cooks, it starts by showing how to cut a carrot. And The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison and Edward Espe Brown. These are my go-to books, and I'm not even a vegetarian.
When we received the news of the demise of Gourmet Magazine, my husband immediately went to local bookstores and bought Gourmet Magazine cookbooks for all my friends.
We got a copy of Snacking Cakes for our 9-year-old niece, and it hit the spot - the recipes can be mixed in one bowl, but feels fancy to get a grown-up cookbook!
I have given every one of my close friends Patricia Well's Bistro Cooking. It remains a classic.
Judy Rogers, Zuni Cafe Cookbook. She writes and explains in a way that convinces you she’s sitting right there on your shoulder and just as you begin to panic her narrative says “ you’re going to see this happen, don’t worry, etc, etc. Great, diverse recipes from a wonderful restaurant.
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. I once met him at the Oxford Symposium. He was seated. I found I had actually gone down on one knee to speak to him.
Six Seasons by Joshua Mcfadden. Everything I have cooked from it is fantastic and all of the ingredient lists are simple except for the veggie stars found seasonally at the market. Approachable and delicious.
Please link to independent bookstores like the amazing Omnivore Books (https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com/) for your book recs (not Amazon). Thanks.
Esp. for beginning cooks, I try to track down old copies of Craig Claiborne’s Kitchen Primer; I also love to gift Joy of Cooking.
And, giving food memoirs is great: Garlic and Sapphires and Yes, Chef have been universally loved!
There is something about The Joy of Cooking and Fannie Farmer. I find myself using them as reference when trying any new recipe. I enjoy giving them to young new cooks.But there are sooo many more......
I like to give young people “starting out” some of the older cookbooks, sometimes out of print, that I buy used. I then add notes as to recipes I particularly love. Some of my favourites are The Union Square Cookbook, Marcella Cucina, The Periyali Cookbook, Claudia Ronan and for newer ones Sababa, Unforgettable…it all depends upon to whom and my mood.
It really depends on the goal of a gift: am I trying to introduce someone to a new cuisine (hello Madhur Jaffrey! What about Sababa?)? Ease a first-time apartment dweller into exploring the kitchen (hello Alison Roman!)? Do I want breadth (hello Gourmet cookbooks!)? Or am I talking just bread (Alexandra Stafford et al!)? Vegetarians? Eric Ripert's latest is lovely. And Moosewood is eternal. And don't get me started on cookbooks for gadgets: I have shelves of those I recommend for new Instant Pot owners, slow cooker converts etc.... :)
I have and have given many of the books here though I love reading about some I don’t have. One I haven’t seen listed that is wonderfully simple, casually elegant is Peggy Knickerbocker’s Simple Soirees. I also can’t help but giving a shout out to Laurie Colwin; I have given her books many times. She is homecooking to me!
“The Way to Cook”, Julia Child. We think it is a good foundational cookbook. Over the last 20 yrs we have given copies to each of our three daughters. Only one has embraced it. One uses it as a paperweight, and the last likely doesn’t know where she put it. Hint: Maybe under the empty Burger King bags? Needless to say, new cookbooks are now gifted to the daughter that cooks.
Jim Leahy’s My Bread. An incredible book for anyone who wants to learn great breadmaking, instantly — and who doesn’t want to do that!?!?! For all who like to cook vegetable-centric fabulous foods, Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. Nobody leaves these vegetables uneaten!
My all time favorites to gift are: Nigella: How to Eat. John Pawson: Living and Eating. Laurie Colwin's two books. The first Moro cookbook.
Pasta Grannies. Not only a cookbook but an incredible view into an ‘old world.’
The Food Lab by Kenji. Or, not a cook book Per Se (pun intended), The Making of a Chef by Ruhlman.
I just wrote and self-published my first cookbook, so I've been giving that one as gifts A LOT! It's called ZEST: Simple ways to elevate your favorite foods. I've been getting great responses so far, which is encouraging.
Other books I like to give are anything by Ottolenghi or Melissa Clark, Josh McFaddon's "Six Seasons", and Sami Tamimi's "Falastin." True gems!
Nigel Slater's "A Cook's Book" was my favorite cookbook for gifts this year. I so enjoy his writing and love how he works with the seasons!
A Treasury of Great Recipes by Mary and Vincent Price
It was published in 1965 and has so many fabulous recipes from famous restaurants around the world.
My number one gift cookbook is The Frog Commissary Cookbook by Steven Poses, Anne Clark, and Becky Roller. The recipes are great, the writing is interesting, and the illustrations are charming. It is, unfortunately (unfathomably?) out of print now. After that are two more favorite books to gift - also out of print - The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan and The Victory Garden Cookbook, two books I use often and would hate to be without. Feasts by Leslie Newman is a good book if you are looking for a present for someone who entertains large numbers of people at a time; it's also a good read. And I hate to think there's anybody out there who doesn't have Nigella Lawson's How to Eat. I think it's about how to live.
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman is comprehensive and clear.
When I was learning to cook in 1970, a dear friend, who was a caterer, told me to buy The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, The Betty Crocker Cookbook and The James Beard Cookbook. All three were "user friendly" and, while I no longer use them very often, I still have them on my bookshelf.
Until recently it was Farm to Table by Lynne Crawford. Right now I am obsessed with Eve: Contemporary Cuisine Methode Traditionnelle by Eve Aronoff, and I am looking for someone to give it to. Those are both good for real foodies who don't mind fussing in the kitchen for spectacular results. If I wanted to give a cookbook to someone who doesn't really like cooking, I would probably give something in the Jamie Oliver series of easy cookbooks like Fifteen Minute Meals.
Ruffage by Abra Berens! She has such a wonderful way of teaching people how to appreciate and cook with vegetables. And now she has Grist which does the same for beans and grains!
I still adore and turn to A Book of Middle Eastern Food Claudia Roden
For young couples as wedding gifts or bridal shower gifts I love to give Pam Anderson's book - How to Cook Without a Book. There is old version and a newer version and I am pretty much sure everyone of my neighbors kids have this book in their home. They love it!