The New Fall 2019 Cookbooks We Can’t Wait to Cook From

BUY IT: Canelle et Vanille: Nourishing, Gluten-Free Recipes for Every Meal and Mood, $25 on Amazon, out September 24

Umami Bomb: 75 Vegetarian Recipes That Explode with Flavor by Raquel Pelzel

“The food in this book is cheesy and smoky and unctuous and earthy and packed with miso, mushrooms, and soy sauce—and (surprise!) it’s all vegetarian,” says David. You’ll learn to do crazy things like drizzle soy sauce into a chocolate cake batter, and you’ll add aged cheese and caramelized onions to pretty much everything. All of that is to say: Pelzel’s path to tasty vegetarian food is a more thrilling way to eat more plants than, say, another basic salad book.

BUY IT: Umami Bomb: 75 Vegetarian Recipes That Explode with Flavor, $20 on Amazon, out September 3

And a few more to look out for…

If you’re trying out the ketogenic diet but can’t handle another twist on bacon and eggs: Buy The Mexican Keto Cookbook: Authentic, Big-Flavor Recipes for Health and Longevity by Torie Borelli, $18 on Amazon, out November 19

Simple, Everyday Cooking

Canal House: Cook Something by Melissa Hamilton and Christopher Hirsheimer

“There are plenty of traditional recipe-recipes in Canal House’s latest cookbook, with ingredients in a column and steps listed in bullet points. And those are wonderful, if you’re into that sort of thing. But my favorite recipes in this book come in a more conversational-style, written out in a single paragraph. They remind me of recipes you might find scribbled on an index card, passed down from a family member. Because they’re only two or three sentences, these little notes feel made to memorize, which is probably the point. Cook Something is full of recipes to fall-back on, ones you want to make again and again. ” —Andrew Speana, Associate Social Media Manager

BUY IT: Canal House: Cook Something: Recipes to Rely On, $34 on Amazon, out September 10

Half Baked Harvest: Super Simple By Tieghan Gerard

The follow up to Tieghan Gerard’s blog and first book, both called Half Baked Harvest, focuses on full-flavor food with fewer ingredients and less prep time. As you would expect from a food blogger in 2019, Tieghan makes use of the Instant Pot regularly and is partial to displaying her meals on boards. But, with recipes like a rich chocolate icebox cake and mahi-mahi tacos, we’re too busy cooking her recipes over and over to hold it against her.

BUY IT: Half Baked Harvest Super Simple: More Than 125 Recipes for Instant, Overnight, Meal-Prepped, and Easy Comfort Foods, $20 on Amazon, out October 29

If you’re undyingly loyal to your cast-iron skillet: Buy From The Oven To The Table by Diana Henry, $21 on Amazon, out October 1

If the classics will always have your heart: Buy Joy of Cooking: 2019 Edition Fully Revised and Updated, $28 on Amazon, out November 12

Entertaining

Nothing Fancy By Alison Roman

You can’t open Instagram these days without running into Alison Roman or one of her dishes—and for good reason. Roman, who creates crowd-pleasing fare that tends to be generous on salt, acid, and (a personal favorite) cheese, has mastered the art of impressive but unfussy food that’s easy for even a novice host to recreate. “This book is heavy on the ease, and focuses on the simple essentials party guests actually want—like a DIY cocktail bar (which means I don’t have to make the drinks). I’m hopeful that Roman’s advice will relieve me of my party-throwing anxiety and give me the motivation and confidence to finally pull one off,” says Editorial Assistant Tiffany Hopkins.

BUY IT: Nothing Fancy: The Art of Having People Over, $30 on Amazon, out October 22

Cooking for Good Times by Paul Kahan

For those who frequently find friends lingering around the kitchen hoping to be fed, Cooking for Good Times is the easygoing, on-the-fly entertaining guide you need. “I want my life to be as uncluttered as the photos and as streamlined as the recipes in Paul Kahan’s newest cookbook,” says Associate Editor Joe Sevier. “The chef was inspired to write it after a trip to the Swiss Alps, so it has a bit of that lagom aesthetic: beatuiful, rich, and delicious—but without pretense. The dishes here are so casually elegant and homey (brined and braised pork shoulder with Alsatian dumplings and cabbage; roasted leek and apple panzanella) they’ll make quick work of weeknight dinners while also making you fantasize about throwing a last-minute harvest party where your guests’ plaudits are met with your effortlessly cool demeanor.”

BUY IT: Cooking for Good Times: Super Delicious, Super Simple, $35 on Amazon, out October 15

Middle Eastern

Shuk by Einat Admony & Janna Gur

If your knowledge of Israeli cooking starts and ends with Ottolenghi, we have a new book for you. Shuk by Einat Admony, chef and owner of New York’s Balaboosta, and Janna Gur, founder of Israel’s premier food and wine magazine Al Hashulchan, provides both approachable recipes and an education in Israeli eating. The detailed instructions on the building blocks of Israeli cusine, like a six panel labneh photo series, will comfort even the most timid of cooks, while the border-crossing dishes—like a fragrant Ethiopian Doro Wot—provide insight into what a modern day Israelite eats. If you’re visiting Tel Aviv any time soon or just dreaming of it, this book doubles as travel inspiration: Lush photo essays from a handful of choice outdoor markets, or shuks, appear between recipes.

BUY IT: Shuk: From Market to Table, the Heart of Israeli Home Cooking, $25 on Amazon out September 17

Sababa by Adeena Sussman

While Adeena Susmann has co-authored eleven cookbooks (Chrissy Tiegen’s recent bookl Cravings showcases Susmann’s handiwork), Sababa focuses on the author’s own favorite cuisine: Israeli. Sussman, who is American but based in Tel Aviv, leads her reader through traditional Israeli dishes like Toasted Challah Caprese Salad with Za’atar Vinaigrette and Harissa Honey Chicken Thighs, focusing on fresh produce and vibrant spices at every turn.

BUY IT: Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors From My Israeli Kitchen by Adeena Sussman, $25 on Amazon, out September 3

Mexican

Made In Mexico by Danny Mena with Nils Bernstein

Danny Mena of New York’s (now closed) Hecho En Dumbo and La Loncheria gives us Made In Mexico: part cookbook, part travel guide. Mena visits his favorite restaurants around Mexico City and then recreates their specialties with his own twist. Many recipes use less than five ingredients, and even more build on others in the book—which means preparing a Mexican feast for a crowd is a no brainer.

BUY IT: Made in Mexico: The Cookbook: Classic And Contemporary Recipes From Mexico City, $40 on Amazon, out September 10

American

The Saltwater Table by Whitney Otawka

The home cooking of coastal Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas shines in this book by Whitney Otawka. Otawka’s is the chef at Grayfield Manor, a bed and breakfast built and still operated by the Carnegie family on undeveloped Cumberland Island. The recipes here lean much lighter than most Southern cookbooks: local seafood and produce star in every dish. Otawka’s cooking is approachable and meant to be shared—this is a book you could dive into right away, relying mostly on pantry staples. It’s also one of the most beautiful books to be released this year—illustrations and hand lettering by Jessie Pickren Warner of Hew & Co. and photos by Emily Dorio make The Saltwater Table (which was shot, designed, edited, and produced by an all female team) a welcome addition to any coffee table.

BUY IT: The Saltwater Table: Recipes from the Coastal South, $40 on Amazon, out October 22

Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin

Jubilee celebrates African-American food in recipes from trained chefs and home cooks alike. The result: just like in her earlier James Beard Award-winning book, The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks, Tipton-Martin tells a story much larger than the small confines of ‘soul food’ we’ve written African American food into.

BUY IT: Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African-American Cooking, $35 on Amazon, out November 5

South by Sean Brock

If you’re after paleo, keto, or plant-based cooking, look elsewhere. South, by the chef of Charleston’s Husk and author of the James Beard Award-winning cookbook Heritage, features many an heirloom tomato and braised meat—but is still very much a celebration of all things battered, buttered, and fried. Okra coated in a golden cornmeal crisp, lusciously creamy grits, and four whole pages on how to make butter will convince even the staunchest low-fat eaters to reconsider.

The book demonstrates the nuances in cuisine across the American South, and shines a light on the “use it all” mentality of much of the rural South in the stocks, broths, and preserves that appear throughout the book. Brock, who recently announced a 10,000-square-foot restaurant complex in Nashville, shows you how to make the food he’ll feature there.

BUY IT: South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations, $28 on Amazon, out October 15

And one more to look out for…

If you were the designated chef of your high school NOLS trip: Buy The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery Revised Edition, $38 on Amazon, out September 2

Asian

The Gaijin Cookbook by Ivan Orkin and Chris Ying

Ivan Orkin is adored as the founder of the Ivan Ramen restaurants in New York, some of our favorite places to slurp dashi-seasoned chicken broth and noodles. But while ramen is what Orkin has made his name in, it’s all of Japanese cuisine that has his heart: “I can’t help being head over heels in love with Japan,” he says in the introduction of The Gaijin Cookbook. Not a comprehensive study of Japanese food but rather an outsider’s, or gaijin, survey of favorite dishes, his latest cookbook—written with former editor-in-cheif of Lucky Peach Chris Ying—focuses mostly on Orkin’s own home cooking.

The Food of Sichuan by Fuschia Dunlop

Fuschia Dunlop first became interested in China through a job at the BBC in London. After taking classes in Mandarin, then moving to Chengdu, she became not just a chef but a scholar of Chinese cooking—Dunlop has earned four James Beard awards for her writing on the topic. Of course, The Food of Sichuan doesn’t skimp on process or history: Note the tables on the 23 flavors and 56 different cooking methods of Sichuan, study the 200 recipes, and then pull out your cleaver and wok and get to work.

BUY IT: The Food of Sichuan, $38 on Amazon, out October 15

And one more to look out for…

If you want Korean recipes served up in an endlessly friendly tone:Buy Maangchi’s Big Book of Korean Cooking by Maangchi with Martha Rose Shulman, $25 on Amazon, out October 29

Bread and Baking

Pastry Love by Joanne Chang

Pastry Love is not about quick and easy baking. Pastry Love, the verb, is, according to Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery, a whole page in her bakeries’ training manuals. It’s an act of attention—no, devotion— to the pastry counter that aims to make a harried guest “stop… in her tracks and bring delight to her afternoon.” If this sounds a bit dramatic for you, I dare you to open up this book and argue. The clouds of gently swirled Candied Almond Meringues and buttery, perfectly pleated chaussons aux pommes will make you take Chang’s statement that “pastry is love” very seriously.

BUY IT: Pastry Love: A Baker’s Journal of Favorite Recipes, $28 on Amazon, out November 5

Sourdough on the Rise by Cynthia Lair

“There have been dozens of bread-baking books published over the past few years. So why is this compact book the one that finally got me to make my first starter? It’s all about the approach. This book is short, friendly, packed with helpful sidebars, and suggests that the first thing you make with your starter be pancakes (always a way into my heart). Yes, I know, sourdough is complicated, and those trendy door-stopping bread books probably have more details about how to not mess it up. But Sourdough on the Rise makes me believe I can make sourdough in a more relaxed way. Which is, frankly, the only way I’m ever going to get off my ass and do it.”—David Tamarkin

BUY IT: Sourdough on the Rise: How to Confidently Make Whole Grain Sourdough Breads at Home, $14 on Amazon, out October 15

Baking With Kim-Joy

There’s a time and a place for dumping six different food dyes into the layers of a candy-filled Orange & Amaretto Layer Cake. Now is the time and Baking with Kim Joy is the place. The Great British Bake Off finalist brings us a book bursting with her signature joy, color, and quirk. A classic Japanese sweet bread, melonpan, gets shaped into space turtles with glittering sugar-paste stars on their shells, pastry gets folded into jam-filled envelopes, and donuts get iced into a series of barnyard animals. If you want to lure your kids into the baking process (or just need a dose of cute for yourself) this is the guide to turn to.

BUY IT: Baking with Kim-Joy: Cute and Creative Bakes to Make You Smile, $18 on Amazon, out September 3

Midwest Made by Shauna Sever

The great baking traditions of Europe have been passed down through immigrant families in the Midwest for generations. Sever is determined to share each and every one of them: from a nutty Slovenian (or Croatian, depending on who you ask) potica to an airy, meringue-filled German schaum torte, there’s a dessert here for everyone. “As a carb-obsessed Ohioan, I can tell you that nobody loves a bundt cake (or a cinnamon roll, or a bar cookie) like a Midwesterner. But it’s a particular style of baked good we like—comforting, not too fussy. From the looks of this book, Shauna Sever has gotten that style exactly right,” says David.

BUY IT: Midwest Made: Big, Bold Baking from the Heartland, $30 on Amazon, out October 22

And a few more to look out for…

If you agree with Martha Stewart that the P in Poilâne stands for ‘perfect’: Buy Poilane: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery by Apollonia Poilane, $31 on Amazon, out October 29

If giving the one gift of Tartine’s morning bun is your entire love language:Buy Tartine: A Classic Revisited by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Roberston, $32 on Amazon, out October 1

If the idea of chewy, salty, slightly charred lavash makes your mouth water:Buy Lavash: The Bread That Launched 1,000 Meals, Plus Salads, Stews, and Other Recipes from Armenia by Ara Zada, $25 on Amazon, out October 29

If you’re after bread that’s as impressive-looking as it is tasty:Buy Living Bread by Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman, $40 on Amazon, out October 1

Pasta

Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbook by Anna Hezel

“Lasagna never fails to amaze me. I’m convinced that even chopped liver would taste good when masked in layers of sauce, ricotta, and pasta. I tend to play it safe and classic with my lasagna, so with this book I’m excited to master a new lasagna recipe I’ll make again and again. I’m also excited to try out different combinations of carb, cheese, and sauce since the cookbook contains recipes for all manner of baked pastas.” —Elaheh Nozari, Senior Commerce Editor

BUY IT: Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbook, $12 on Amazon, out September 10

American Sfoglino by Evan Funke with Katie Parla

If fresh out of the box has always been fresh enough for you when it comes to pasta, prepare to have your mind changed by American Sfoglino. In it, LA-based chef Evan Funke teaches us everything we need to know about sfoglia (sheet pasta rolled by hand) and how to do it ourselves. The book builds on itself: It starts with four foundational doughs, then moves into shapes, then, finally, the recipes Funke best enjoys with each. Even for the pasta newbie, just mastering one dough means you’re a quarter of the way way to becoming a sfoglino yourself.

BUY IT: American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta, $25 on Amazon, out September 24

Technique-Focused Cooking

Flour Lab by Adam Leonti and Katie Parla

This book is as much about baking as it is about the art of making and using freshly milled flour. Leonti, the founder of bakery and mill Brooklyn Bread Lab, makes his message clear in the introduction: “Before I say anything else, I should probably reveal my sole reason for writing this book: Food made with freshly milled flour is better for your health, the environment, and flavor. I want everyone to start using it.” Yes, you could bake your way through trays of potato rolls and and yeasted loaves without seriously considering flour, but you’d be missing the point. Leonti makes the comparison to buying organic produce not that long ago—something that had at once seemed like an expensive extravagance that now feels like the norm.

BUY IT: Flour Lab: An At-Home Guide to Baking with Freshly Milled Grains, $35 on Amazon, out September 10

Sous Vide by Hugh Acheson

We’re unabashed fans of the immersion circulator at Epicurious: In our own home cooking, we use them to make perfectly cooked steaks, fish filets, and chicken breasts without any fussing or prodding. We use them to batch cook poached eggs and to prepare tender, flavorful vegetables. Still, we know these machines and the entire sous vide cooking method can be intimidating to beginners. That’s where Hugh Acheson’s book comes in: 90 recipes that utilize the sous vide will get you more than acquainted with the cooking method. Our favorites in the book combine the precision of the sous vide with a quick sear on the stove for caramelization, like the Braised Shitake Mushrooms we’ll be making over and over in the fall.

BUY IT: Sous Vide: Better Home Cooking, $25 on Amazon, out October 15

And one more to look out for…

If you’re only really cooking when you’re riffing on the recipe a bit:

Buy Lateral Cooking: One Dish Leads to Another by Niki Segnit, $27 on Amazon, out November 5

Restaurant Cookbooks

Butcher & Beast by Angie Mar

The Beatrice Inn is something of a hedonist’s heaven—no, not the hedonist’s heaven it was during the days when it was a prohibition-era speakeasy in the 1920s—but what’s missing in the Inn’s nightlife and illicit substances is made up for in Angie Mar’s cooking. Meat, you see, is Mar’s specialty, and it reigns supreme. A visit to the restaurant means an evening spent watching bone-in tomahawks and duck flambé dash past you. It’s decadent, and delicious, and will do serious damage to your wallet. But why not create that at home? Mar’s first cookbook is made up of 80 mostly-meat recipes to perfect at home, plus the perfect accompaniments, from cocktails to crème brûlée.

BUY IT: Butcher and Beast: Mastering the Art of Meat: A Cookbook, $40 on Amazon, out October 1

Celebrity Cookbooks

Antoni in the Kitchen by Antoni Porowski and Mindy Fox

Antoni Porowski of Queer Eye draws on his Polish and French Canadian heritage in his first cookbook in addition to offering his own new and easy entertaining creations. Expect the Polish cure for a hangover (hint: it includes kielbasa, bacon, and a lot of tart, pickle-infused broth) followed by chocolate chunk cookies and Malyasian Chili Shrimp. While the recipes draw from a variety of cuisines, almost all are simple and approachable, and many follow paleo guidelines. One other reason to pick up this book? It was co-written by talented Epicurious contributor Mindy Fox.

BUY IT: Antoni in the Kitchen, $21 on Amazon, out September 9

And one more to look out for:

If you learned to cook on 30 Minute Meals:Buy Rachel Ray 50: Memories and Meals From A Sweet and Savory Life by Rachel Ray, $29 on Amazon, out October 15

Wine for Normal People by Elizabeth Schneider

“I’m a regular listener of author Elizabeth Schneider’s podcast by the same name. I came upon it after spending a long time searching for wine podcasts that would cater to my specific needs—that is, someone who was starting from absolute zero and needed a very clear, comprehensive walk through various grapes and wines that presumed absolutely no knowledge. The podcast is decidedly un-trendy and instead teaches you the fundamentals in a totally unpretentious way. I’m so excited for the book to serve as another easy-to-grasp, friendly resource for learning about a topic that can feel infinitely complex and unwelcome to beginners. “—Emily Johnson, Commerce Editor

BUY IT: Wine for Normal People: A Guide for Real People Who Like Wine, but Not the Snobbery That Goes with It, $25 on Amazon, out November 5

And one more to look out for…

If you’re more into cocktails than wine:Buy The Nomad Cocktail Book by Leo Robitschek, $30 on Amazon, out October 22

Originally Appeared on Epicurious