Friday Book Round Up | Celebrating National Cookbook Month with Mrs. N's top 8 must-own cookbook

Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Book Round-Up. Did you know October is National Cookbook Month? I love collecting cookbooks. I have cookbooks dating back to the early 1950’s and I use quite a bit of those older recipes in my baking. I have cookbooks on a variety of cuisines, but my staples are those “bibles” which tell you how to make anything. So, I thought I’d share my top eight must-own cookbooks. What are yours? I’d love to hear your choices.

How to Cook Everything―Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition: Simple Recipes for Great Food by Mark Bittman

The ultimate kitchen companion, completely updated and better than ever, now for the first time featuring color photos For twenty years, Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything has been the definitive guide to simple home cooking. This new edition has been completely revised for today’s cooks while retaining Bittman’s trademark minimalist style—easy-to-follow recipes and variations, and tons of ideas and inspiration. Inside, you’ll find hundreds of brand new features, recipes, and variations, like Slow-Simmered Beef Chili, My New Favorite Fried Chicken, and Eggs Poached in Tomato Sauce; plus old favorites from the previous editions, in many cases reimagined with new methods or flavors. Recipes and features are designed to give you unparalleled freedom and flexibility: for example, infinitely variable basic techniques (Grilling Vegetables, Roasting Seafood); innovative uses for homemade condiments; easy-to-make one-pot pastas; and visual guides to improvising soups, stir-fries, and more. Bittman has also updated all the information on ingredients, including whole grains and produce, alternative baking staples, and sustainable seafood. And, new for this edition, recipes are showcased throughout with color photos. By increasing the focus on usability, modernizing the recipes to become new favorites, and adding gorgeous photography, Mark Bittman has updated this classic cookbook to be more indispensable than ever.

Emeril's TV Dinners: Kickin' It Up A Notch With Recipes From Emeril Live And Essence Of Emeril by Emeril Lagasse

Are you ready to kick it up a notch? Wait -- forget that. Are you ready to kick it up notches unknown to humankind? Finally, Emeril has written the book his fans of Emeril Live and Essence of Emeril have been waiting for -- a collection of his very favorite recipes from both shows.

It's all here -- from cooking up Fall River memories like St. John's Kale Soup, Roasted Scrod with Parsley Potatoes, and Boston Cream Pie with his mom, Hilda, to Louisiana specialties like Creole Spiced Blue Crabs with Green Onion Dipping Sauce, Fried Eggplant with Shrimp Stew-Fay, and Blueberry Beignets.

Hey, this isn't rocket science, but it's good eating, with starters like Caramelized Salmon with Cilantro Potato Salad and Stuffed Morels with Crawfish Remoulade. This isn't Kansas anymore, Toto, and these are salads like you've never had them -- Herb-Tossed White Asparagus, Fresh Crabmeat, and Grilled Radicchio Salad, Emeril's BLT Salad, and Molasses Duck Salad.

Does pork fat rule at your house (and if it doesn't, why not?)? Then take your pick of the pig --- Homemade Bacon, Andouille Stuffed Jalapeqos, and Pork Burgers in Gravy with French-Fried Sweet Potatoes. And don't limit yourself to one part of the barnyard -- try Emerilized Chicken Cordon Bleu, Funky Lamb Shanks, Pan-Roasted Filet Mignon Stuffed with English Stilton and Walnuts, or Smothered Oxtails over Spinach and Sweet Corn Mash.

Emeril's TV Dinners not only includes more than 150 recipes, it is jam-packed with candid black-and-white photography of Emeril behind the scenes, in front of the cameras, on tour, and really live in his New Orleans restaurants.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Julia Child

This is the classic cookbook, in its entirety—all 524 recipes. “Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for more than forty years, has been teaching Americans how. Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. This beautiful book, with more than 100 instructive illustrations, is revolutionary in its approach because: • it leads the cook infallibly from the buying and handling of raw ingredients, through each essential step of a recipe, to the final creation of a delicate confection; • it breaks down the classic cuisine into a logical sequence of themes and variations rather than presenting an endless and diffuse catalogue of recipes; the focus is on key recipes that form the backbone of French cookery and lend themselves to an infinite number of elaborations—bound to increase anyone’s culinary repertoire; • it adapts classical techniques, wherever possible, to modern American conveniences; • it shows Americans how to buy products, from any supermarket in the United States, that reproduce the exact taste and texture of the French ingredients, for example, equivalent meat cuts, the right beans for a cassoulet, or the appropriate fish and seafood for a bouillabaisse; • it offers suggestions for just the right accompaniment to each dish, including proper wines. Since there has never been a book as instructive and as workable as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the techniques learned here can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely more usable. In compiling the secrets of famous cordons bleus, the authors have produced a magnificent volume that is sure to find the place of honor in every kitchen in America. Bon appétit!

The Five Roses Cook Book (Classic Canadian Cookbook Series) by Elizabeth Driver (Editor)

In 1915, the Five Roses Cook Book was in daily use in nearly 650,000 Canadian kitchens - practically one copy for every second Canadian home. Here you will find a faithful reprint of this amazing book.

"Enjoy the Five Roses Cook Book as a charming glimpse into the past, and as my grandmother did, as a friend and helper." - Elizabeth Baird, food editor at Canadian Living Magazine

Taste of the Maritimes: Local, Seasonal Recipes the Whole Year Round by Elisabeth Bailey

Contemporary Maritime cuisine reflects both a rich history of seasonal home-cooking with fresh, local ingredients as well as modern flavour influences from around the world. A Taste of the Maritimes is a collection of vibrant new recipes that showcase the best on offer from our fields, orchards, and waters throughout the year. Author Elisabeth Bailey illuminates the joys of local, seasonal eating, presenting each recipe in a casual yet cordial style, with photographs that capture the essence of local flavour.

Broken into five chapters--spring, early and late summer, fall, and winter--the book's easy-to-follow recipes are interspersed with profiles of local farmers and suppliers including Fox Hill Cheese, Ironworks Distillery, and Speerville Flour Mill. With recipes such as Fiddleheads and Bacon in spring, Balsamic Honey Fruit Salad and Inside-Out Dragn Burgers in summer, Heritage Bean Chili in fall, and Slow-Roasted Turkey in Juniper Brine for the holidays, A Taste of the Maritimes celebrates the seasons in delectable style.

Real Fast Food by Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater presents over 350 creative, delicious and nourishing recipes and suggestions for those who'd rather spend more of their time eating than cooking. From simple snacks to dinner-party desserts, all the dishes in Real Fast Food can be ready to eat in 30 minutes or under.

Tina Nordström's Scandinavian Cooking: Simple Recipes for Home-Style Scandinavian Cuisine

Charming, lovable and a brilliant chef—that’s Tina! Sweden’s very own master chef, Tina Nordström, is here to stay with this lavish and delightful cookbook. It’s a book to dip into, cook from, spill on, and keep forever. Forget all the “dos” and “don’ts” that take the fun out of cooking. Perfectionism isn’t a word that exists in Tina’s kitchen and you certainly don’t need a fancy set, unlimited time, or exclusive ingredients to succeed. Tina: Simple Recipes for Home-style Scandinavian Cuisine is 384 pages of culinary delight. Here’s a small taste of her homemade recipes:

Roast beef with baked tomatoes and béarnaise sauce Salmon with Warm Grapes and Capers Tina’s Au Gratin Potatoes Grilled Watermelon and Peanut Sauce Lemon Meringue Pie

And many more delicious eats Tina opens the door into her kitchen and shares no fewer than two hundred of her favorite dishes. She also provides plenty of tips, shortcuts, and suggestions. Using Tina’s simple methods, you can transform one dish into another, turning a basic recipe for minced meat into Swedish, Italian, or Greek meatballs! Once you get started cooking with Tina Nordström, you’ll never want to leave your kitchen! Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Good Books and Arcade imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of cookbooks, including books on juicing, grilling, baking, frying, home brewing and winemaking, slow cookers, and cast iron cooking. We’ve been successful with books on gluten-free cooking, vegetarian and vegan cooking, paleo, raw foods, and more. Our list includes French cooking, Swedish cooking, Austrian and German cooking, Cajun cooking, as well as books on jerky, canning and preserving, peanut butter, meatballs, oil and vinegar, bone broth, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

The Italian Baker, Revised: The Classic Tastes of the Italian Countryside--Its Breads, Pizza, Focaccia, Cakes, Pastries, and Cookies by Carol Field (Author), Ed Anderson (Photographer)

The only comprehensive book, in English or Italian, to cover the entire range of Italian baking, from breadsticks and cornetti to focaccia, tarts, cakes, and pastries. This latest edition, updated for a new generation of home bakers, has added four-color photography throughout, plus new recipes, ingredients and equipment sections, source guides, and weights.

Carol Field introduces artisanal doughs and techniques used by generations of Italian bakers. Every city and hill town has its own unique baking traditions, and Field spent more than two years traversing Italy to capture the regional and local specialties, adapting them through rigorous testing in her own kitchen.

Field’s authentic recipes are a revelation for anyone seeking the true Italian experience. Here’s a chance to make golden Altamura bread from Puglia, chewy porous loaves from Como, rosemary bread sprinkled with coarse sea salt, dark ryes from the north, simple breads studded with toasted walnuts, succulent fig bread, and Sicilian loaves topped with sesame seeds.

One of the most revered baking books of all time, The Italian Baker is a landmark work that continues to be a must-have for every serious baker.

Winner of the International Association of Culinary Professionals Award for best baking book

Named to the James Beard Baker’s Dozen list of thirteen indispensable baking books of all time

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MRS N, Book Addict