Cooking at Home by David Chang and Priya Krishna
This makes me feel so old to say this, but I hated this cookbook. First of all a cookbook with no recipes? WTH. Second there was so much weirdness going on with crazy text/fonts/text size/color/etc. that I found that extremely distracting. Literally every page was text in different sizes and colors, I felt like a Kindergartener put it together. I know David Chang and Priya Krishna are both very well-known chefs and cookbook authors, but I did not like this one at all. Looking at other reviews so far, I'm obviously in the minority as well, but I still didn't like it.
This Must Be the Place by Rachel Ray
This is going to sound weird, but I never liked Rachael Ray's TV show yet when I would see her interviewed or featured on another food show she seemed really likable and down to earth. I did read her memoir/cookbook Rachael Ray 50 with essays and reflections from turning 50. So, after reading that one I thought I would give her newest cookbook here a try. She was inspired to write it during the beginning of the COVID epidemic, so there are diary-like entries then a few recipes that she created during lockdowns and when she was trying to continue her cooking show from home. In just the first few months of COVID she and her husband relocated from NY City to their home in upstate NY - then her 15-year-old beloved dog Isaboo died, and their second/upstate home burned down - all in the middle of a pandemic! I felt so bad for her that so much was going on in her personal life on top of trying to deal with COVID too. While I did enjoy the diary-entries and how despite her being a celebrity she was still dealing with a lot of the same stresses the average person was during COVID, I didn't love the book overall. There weren't really any recipes I wanted to try and I personally couldn't relate to her huge fear of COVID. I think if you're a die-hard Rachael Ray fan you'll love this one, but it just wasn't for me.
The Complete Autumn & Winter Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen
This is a really thorough cookbook that focuses on the fall and winter seasons. In the introduction there is a nice overview of that time of year, how to prep for holidays/parties, what produce is in season, etc. They also include some sample menus and suggested tools/equipment. The recipes are organized by type - soups/stews/chili, sides, breads, etc. but I also liked that there were a few chapters on specific produce items like pumpkin and apples that are best in the fall/winter. I also loved that the last chapter was on food gifts. Overall, I was really impressed with this cookbook. The only (small) downside for me was many of the recipes had a LOT of ingredients or steps, so it's not necessarily a beginner's cookbook. But, there were lots of recipes I'd like to try from this one. And it was perfect timing when I got it from the library since we're in the winter months now.
Milk Street Vegetables by Christopher Kimball
I love vegetables, so even though I'm not vegetarian or vegan I still love to look at vegetable cookbooks. This one is organized like a typical cookbook with chapters on types of recipes - salads, soups, pasta/grain dishes, etc. I like that at the beginning of the book all the recipes are listed by vegetable, so if you wanted to find recipes for a specific vegetable you can do it that way more easily. Also throughout the book there are one page articles about a specific vegetable with some history and best uses for that vegetable. I didn't find tons of recipes I wanted to try, but I did find a few. Overall, a good vegetable cookbook.
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