The CulinaryWoman Newsletter, 12/19/21

A baker's dozen of the best cookbooks

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A Baker’s Dozen Of 2021’s Best Cookbooks

In the past week or so, a number of publications have rolled out their choices for the year’s best cookbooks.

As I read through the listings from The New York Times, the Washington Post, Food 52, Bon Appetit, the Food Network, and other publications, I started to see the same titles mentioned multiple times.

Here are a dozen books that made more than one list, and I’ve added my own choice to give you a baker’s dozen. (Pun intended.) You’ve already heard about many of these titles in the newsletter, and I hope you’ve purchased, read and cooked from them.

If you’re still shopping, consider ordering from a local independent bookstore. Your best option at this late date might be to call ahead, make sure they have the book, and go pick it up.

Black Writers In The Spotlight

Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ, by Rodney Scott and Lolis Eric Elie is the new bible for barbecue cooking. Even if you can’t make it to Rodney’s restaurants, you can benefit from his expertise.

Black Food: Stories, Art and Recipes From Across the African Diaspora is edited by Bryan Terry, whose previous book was Vegetable Kingdom. It has contributions from more than 100 Black cultural luminaries around the globe, and one of the most striking covers of a book this year.

A Great Year For Grains

Grist: A Practical Guide For Cooking Grains, Beans, Seeds and Legumes by Abra Berens follows up on her wonderful book, Ruffage. This fall, I took a video class with Abra via Bake! and her instructions are clear and simple to follow.

Mother Grains: Recipes For The Grain Revolution by Roxana Jullapat offers advice from a skilled baker on using barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and other ingredients.

International Flavors

The Magic of Tinned Fish: Elevate Your Cooking with Canned Anchovies, Sardines, Mackerel, Crab, and Other Amazing Seafood by Chris McDade explores ingredients that have long been prized elsewhere, and are gaining new respect in the U.S.

The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes From Omma’s Kitchen by Joanne Lee Molinaro has easily gotten the most attention of any book on the list. Molinaro has become a star of social media, earnestly promoting her recipes and philosophy.

To Asia With Love by Hetty McKinnon is a beautifully illustrated cookbook from a writer with Chinese roots, who grew up in Australia and now lives in New York City.

Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen by Zoe Adjonyoh takes the recipes of Ghana and brings them to life for home cooks. Many are vegetarian and vegan, and all are flavorful.

Columbiana: A Rediscovery of Recipes and Ritual from the Soul of Colombia by Mariana Velasquez explores 100 recipes that look at traditional and contemporary Colombian cooking.

An All-Purpose Book

Food 52 Big Little Recipes by Emma Laperruque has 60 recipes with minimal ingredients — five, four and even two. It is the kind of cookbook you’ll give as a shower present, and probably buy an extra for yourself.

Baking Ideas

Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking is a wonderful read on a lazy afternoon with a cup of tea. You might already own a book about southern desserts or pastries, but you’ll enjoy this one, too.

Life Is What You Bake It from Vallery Lomas is both a cookbook and a food memoir (if Stanley Tucci was a baker, this is the kind of book he might write). It’s an inspiration for anyone considering a career change.

And Of Course, Dorie Greenspan

Baking With Dorie is my personal addition to the list. Dorie offers delightful recipes and updates of some of her perennial favorites. Sometime in the next year, someone you know will bring her miso maple loaf cake to a book group or gathering.

In New Orleans, The Next Generation of Chases Steps Up

I was honored to meet Chef Leah Chase before she died in 2019. Many people wondered whether her venerable restaurant, Dooky Chase’s, would go on without its matriarch.

No need to worry. Her extensive artwork collection is still in place, and Chase’s children and grandchildren have picked up the torch, as John T. Edge writes in a delightful profile for Garden & Gun magazine.

“Edgar L. ‘Dook’ Chase IV, her grandson, now runs the kitchen,” John T. writes, waxing eloquently about Dooky Chase’s gumbo. “Most restaurant versions are thick with dark roux. The Chases serve a brothy gumbo instead, floated with chunks of ham, chicken, two kinds of sausage, crescents of shrimp, and blue crab.”

I’ve got a trip planned to New Orleans in February, the pandemic allowing, and I can’t wait to step back through that Treme door. This story will take you there in the meantime.

Eggnog, Non — Tom And Jerry, Oui

On my Facebook page last week, my friends got into a discussion of eggnog. I am not a fan. I can’t ever handle more than a couple of sips, and even a quart pretty much goes to waste in my fridge.

But I do enjoy another holiday drink: the Tom And Jerry. I wrote about them for The Takeout, and I think you’ll enjoy the discovery, if you don’t know this lighthearted concoction.

From what I can tell, they are popular in New Orleans, New York and at some craft cocktail bars across the U.S.

My mother loved to entertain, and one year she triumphantly returned from an estate sale with something none of us had ever seen before: a Tom and Jerry set.

It was white milk glass, and the set was made up of a medium-sized bowl emblazoned with “Tom and Jerry” in red letters, accompanied by a set of six white mugs with the name on the front.

Tom and Jerry, we learned, was a frothy holiday drink that involved a batter made from egg whites, egg yolks, powdered sugar, and spices. The bowl holds a batch of batter that gets spooned into the bottom of each mug, where something warm is then poured on top.

This is the best part of a Tom and Jerry: it does not have to be served with alcohol. We kids got Tom and Jerrys made with warm milk or hot chocolate. Grown ups, of course, can drink them mixed with brandy or rum.

You can mix up Tom and Jerry batter and keep it for a day or so in the fridge, so don’t be deterred if the recipe seems like it makes a lot.

Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman

This fall, I had the pleasure of writing about the University of Michigan’s Men’s Hockey team. I have been a hockey fan since I was a little girl. I’d go down the basement and sit with my dad while he watched Hockey Night In Canada.

U-M hockey is a fantastic experience, with a rollicking crowd and a historic home rink at Yost Ice Arena. The current team is full of standout future NHL stars, with four of the top five draft picks in last summer’s draft.

But the draftees stayed, because Michigan hopes to win a title, as I wrote for Michigan Alum magazine. At times this season, they’ve been ranked No. 1 in the NCAA, so keep an eye on their progress.

You can keep up with me on Twitter and Tik Tok @culinarywoman and on Instagram @michelinemaynard. If you’d like to reach me, try culinarywoman at gmail dot com.

We are suffering through a significant Covid outbreak here in Michigan that has overloaded our hospitals. PLEASE get your booster, wear a mask and be careful.

See you next week on Boxing Day with our last issue of 2021. Have a very Merry Christmas!