February 2023 New Cookbook Review

Don’t blink it is almost March! There are so many fantastic books being planned for publication this year. I have been doing a few previews of titles in our Weekly Roundups and I will continue to update my 2023 preview listing. I hope to have a Spring Preview post for you in March.

If you would like to order any of these titles (or preorder/order any other books or items) using our affiliate links below or BUY BOOK button on the book details page, earns Eat Your Books revenue as an Amazon Associate from qualifying purchases when using our links:

 USA * Canada * UK * Australia * Book Depository

Please also remember your local bookstores – for preorders as well.

If there is an  available for a cookbook, look for the orange icon in the blurb. Clicking on that link will take you directly to the Preview.

Lastly, if events are planned for particular books/authors, I have included a link. Be sure to check our Calendar frequently for new entries there are loads of events around the world as more in-person and virtual events are being planned.

To jump to a particular country’s listing, please click on the links below.

United States

On the Curry Trail: Chasing the Flavor That Seduced the World by Raghavan Iyer is an enlightening journey across Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas to explore the origins of curry and the signature, essential curries of each region. Order this special book from one of the kindest and most knowledgeable authors who has devoted his life to teaching us Indian cuisine. Enter our promotion and giveaway here.

Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed by Abi Balingit: During the pandemic, Abi created hundreds of “pasalubong” (souvenir) boxes filled with especially creative treats that blended the Filipino desserts and Western style baked goods she grew up with. Each time, she’d sell out within hours and donated the proceeds to support her community in need. In her debut cookbook, she shares some of the cult-favorite desserts with Mayumu (which means “sweet” in one of the 8 major languages in Philippines), an incredibly fresh baking book of 75 recipes that span from the never-before-seen, incredibly inventive flavor combinations that Abi dreamed up, to the more familiar, classic Filipino favorites.

Fake Meat: Real Food for Vegan Appetites by Isa Chandra Moskowitz: The queen of vegan home cooking is back. This time she guides you through choosing, preparing, and cooking fake meat. If you’ve ever cooked for a meat lover that whined about a lack of protein, this book is all you need to prove them wrong. From Smoked beet Cuban sandwiches to Buttermylk fried chick’n, Moskowitz will make sure you’re set up to impress anyone and everyone.

Cooking for the Culture: Recipes and Stories from the New Orleans Streets to the Table by Toya Boudy shares recipes deeply rooted in the proud Black traditions that shaped the chef’s hometown. Driving the cookbook are her personal stories: from struggling in school to having a baby at seventeen, from her growing confidence in the kitchen to her appearances on Food Network. The cookbook opens with Sweet Cream Farina, prepared at the crack of dawn for girls in freshly ironed clothes – being neat and pressed was important. Boudy recounts making cookies from her commodity box peanut butter; explains the know-how behind Smothered Chicken, Jambalaya, and Red Gravy; and shares her original television competition recipes. The result is a deeply personal and unique cookbook.

Anyone Can Cake: Your Complete Guide to Making & Decorating Perfect Layer Cakes by Whitney DePaoli features countless step-by-step photos and troubleshooting tips, plus info on tools and ingredients, so you’re set up for success the first time around. The striking designs embody classic styles adapted to modern color palettes and aesthetics, sure to wow your friends, family or guests. Whitney covers everything she wishes she knew when starting out. Learn to adjust your buttercream for the weather; master simple yet artful frosting finishes; plan components of your cake in advance to avoid stress; transfer your masterpiece to a stand sans mishaps. In addition to best-ever recipes for classics like vanilla and chocolate, you’ll find next-level flavor combos like Spiced Chai Latte Cake or Baked Alaska Cake complete with toasted meringue.

Charcuterie: Pâtés, Terrines, Savory Pies: Recipes and Techniques from the Ferrandi School of Culinary Arts by Ferrandi is a complete course on charcuterie, which comprises cooked terrines, pâtés, and savory pies, from the world-renowned culinary school Ferrandi Paris. The book includes seventy French charcuterie recipes with step-by-step instructions for preparing doughs, sausages, and a variety of meat and meatless spreads. Recipes are organized by category – pâtés, pies, and tarts; terrines and pressed meats; rillettes and pulled meats and fish; stuffed dishes; and cooked charcuterie. Written by the school’s experienced teaching team of master chefs and adapted for the home cook, this cookbook explains the fundamentals of French charcuterie recipes, including condiments to accompany them (chutney, mustard, pickled vegetables), the importance of quality ingredients (meat, fish, vegetables), and cooking and conservation techniques.

Kitchen Passport: Feed Your Wanderlust with 85 Recipes from a Traveling Foodie by Arseny Knaifel: Can you achieve the flavor and texture of doner kebab at home? What exactly does it take to make a perfect kettle chip? Is it possible to make homemade Nutella that tastes better than the original? Get the answers to these questions and more as you travel along with Andong, YouTube’s favorite culinary adventurer, in an exploration of the origins, fusions, and evolutions of popular foods from around the globe. Andong brings his signature curiosity and enthusiasm to an eclectic range of dishes and offers personal insights, stories, and nuggets of trivia to accompany the recipes.

The Five Elements Cookbook: A Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine with Recipes for Everyday Healing by Zoey Xinyi Gong is an accessible guide to cooking with Traditional Chinese Medicine “TCM”, featuring over 50 nourishing recipes to eat for healing every day by TCM chef and registered dietitian Zoey Xinyi Gong. Each of the over 50 delicious recipes ingeniously incorporates a food-as-medicine ingredient, with consideration for seasonality, digestion, and body constitution, and specific concerns, like menstrual pains, nausea, anxiety, blood circulation, respiratory health, and more. For those with dietary restrictions, each recipe also includes a key for vegan, nut free, dairy free, gluten free, plus the TCM energetics and uses. Recipes span all day and every meal, plus beverages and desserts.

The Complete Small Plates Cookbook: 200+ Tapas, Meze, Bar Snacks, Dumplings, Shareable Salads, and Much More by America’s Test Kitchen teaches us that serving small plates at home is achievable and low-stress when you balance hearty anchor dishes with creative nibbles such as gussied up vegetables, crispy bar snacks, dressed-up cheeses, and more. This collection gives you recipes aplenty with make-ahead advice and presentation tips to make it achievable. A robust introduction offers suggestions for pairings, taking ease, prep, flavor, and serving temperature into consideration. Planning is key, which we show you how to do with our Game Plan strategies with every recipe.

Smithsonian the American Table: The Foods, People, and Innovations That Feed Us is a beautiful book filled with lovely imagery and a wealth of information. Included are 50 recipes ranging from Lobster rolls to Marionberry pie. Here we learn about Native Americans growers and chefs; are introduced to a Black chef who gained national renown and culinary influence by showcasing her skills on her own television show in segregated New Orleans; and find out how fondue to Jell-O salads to pumpkin spice (even in hummus) became national obsessions.

Vegetarian Salad for Dinner: Inventive Plant-Forward Meals by Jeanne Kelley is the vegetarian sequel to Kelley’s highly successful cookbook Salad for Dinner (2012). This inspiring single-subject cookbook reimagines the traditional idea of a salad as a main course meal. People love a good salad! This hunger for salad is matched by a genuine desire for good vegetarian dinner ideas and better plant-based recipes. Jeanne Kelley shares a new collection of creative, easy-to-follow, and foolproof salad recipes for lifelong vegetarians looking for inspiration, omnivores looking to up their meatless Monday game, and general salad enthusiasts. With bold flavors influenced by the vibrant dining scene and the abundant produce of the author’s home garden, the recipes are innovative yet approachable, satisfying experienced and novice cooks alike.

Other books of interest:

Canada

A Generous Meal: Modern Recipes for Dinner by Christine Flynn shows us that you don’t need a lot of time, money, or know-how to make good food. A simple potato can transform a so-so day into something special, a soup can warm you in more ways than one, and baking a chocolate cake is just another way of shouting, “I love you!” at the top of your lungs. A Generous Meal is a modern cookbook of over 100 recipes that anyone – from a novice to an experienced chef like Christine – can use to whip up restaurant-quality meals with ease.

United Kingdom

Dark Rye & Honeycake by Regula Ysewijn is a beautifully well-done cookbook by the acclaimed food writer. Regula now turns her attention to her native Belgium for an intimate look at the culinary traditions and baked goods – including classic Carnival and Renaissance treats, pastries, pies, biscuits, cakes, breads and, of course, waffles. The photography is stunning and you can take a look inside with our .

Nathan Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen by Nathan Outlaw. This is a reissue of Nathan Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen (2016). This is an an exciting collection of over 70 recipes, every one of them photographed by David Loftus. The theme is simplicity: easy-to-prepare recipes based on sustainable species and easy-to-obtain ingredients. The book is divided into chapters by cooking technique: raw, cured, pickled and soused, smoked, steamed, poached, boiled and braised, grilled, barbecued, baked, pan-fried and deep-fried.

Around the World Vegan Cookbook by Niki Webster brings you over 75 easy-to-make dishes specially created for young adult readers, inspired by her international travels. Niki takes vegan dishes from plant-based traditions around the world and gives them her own unique, contemporary spin. She has also created the ultimate plant-based versions of classic international dishes, from Mexican no-meat chilli nachos to Japanese vegan katsu curry. This is the ideal title for young cooks who want to create exciting, delicious meals that the whole family can enjoy.

Cook, Batch, Freeze: Easy meals to feed your family on a budget by Sara Lewis is the ideal book for anyone looking to save time and money, without scrimping on flavour and nutritious value. By understanding how to make the most of your freezer, by cooking in bulk and freezing leftovers, you can cut down on the cost of your ingredients and the time you spend in your kitchen. Packed with 100 delicious recipes and with chapters on Meat, Fish, Vegetables, Bread, Fruit and Cakes, this comprehensive guide means that you will always have a meal on-hand for any occasion.

Gennaro’s Cucina: Hearty Money-Saving Meals from an Italian Kitchen by Gennaro Contaldo teaches us how to use simple ingredients but in inventive ways, eat seasonally, spend less and ultimately eat better. In this inspirational book, Gennaro takes you on a culinary journey of regional basic Italian staples and turns them into beautiful meals. With tips and ideas of what to do with leftovers, Gennaro helps home cooks squeeze maximum use from the ‘cucina povera’ – poor cooking – ethos, turning humble ingredients into nourishing feasts without taste sacrifice.

What’s For Dinner?: Fuss-free family food in 30 minutes – the first cookbook from the Taming Twins food blog by Sarah Rossi delivers 100 recipes and ten weekly meal plans plus shopping lists for absolutely everything you need. So, dig in for delicious dishes such as Halloumi bean bake, BLT pasta, Peanut pork noodles, Tortilla pizzas, Chorizo risotto, Crispy pesto cod, Steak fajitas, plus weekend breakfasts and sweet treats – all ready in 30 minutes or less!

The Little Citrus Cookbook by Catherine Phipps offers 40 recipes for everything from fresh summer salads to Mediterranean-inflected meat dishes, to the perfect lemon drizzle cake. Whether you’re looking for zingy new ways to use up lemons, limes and oranges, or to discover the sweet, sour, bitter and umami-enhancing flavours of yuzu, bergamot and pomelo, there’s something here for everyone. Straightforward and easy to follow, Catherine Phipps’ recipes work perfectly every time – these gorgeous recipes are sure to become classics in your collection.

In Love with New York: Recipes and Stories from the City that Never Sleeps by Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup is an irresistible combination of 50 delicious sweet and savoury recipes and stories of epic romance. Be inspired by the city that never sleeps and relive moments from classic films and TV series such as When Harry Met Sally and Sex and the City – fall head over heels for the Big Apple.

Bao and Dim Sum: 60 Easy Bun and Dumpling Recipes by Orathay Souksisavanh vibrantly guides us through creating a range of bao and dim sum. With easy-to-follow instructions and beautiful photography, Bao and Dim Sum is perfect for any level of cook. For more information, please see our promotion/giveaway (US/UK/NZ/AU).

Desi Kitchen by Sarah Woods is a unique culinary roadmap to the diaspora of the Indian subcontinent in Britain today, with chapters covering regions from all over the UK and the desi communities that call each one home. Packed with recipes, stories and authentic voices from each of the communities covered, Sarah Woods, finalist of BBC One’s Britain’s Best Home Cook and herself a second-generation Punjabi, has brought together this collection of dishes and provided a rare and privileged glimpse into desi kitchens from all over modern Britain.

The Shortcut Cook: All in One: Classic Recipes and Ingenious Hacks That Make Them Faster, Tastier by Rosie Reynolds is the second title in Reynold’s The Shortcut Cook series, All in One shows people how to cook the food and flavors that they love, but without being tied to the oven – or sink – for hours longer than they want to be. Majoring in classics, think recipes such as chicken Waldorf salad, creamy mushroom lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise, chorizo and prawn paella, frying pan pizza, whole banana miso and caramel bread, self-saucing chocolate pudding and more, all made in one cooking vessel for the easiest ever iterations of these familiar favourites.

Seriously Good Pancakes: 70 Recipes for the Best Ever Pancakes by Sue Quinn covers breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and dessert. This is a reissue of Posh Pancakes (2018). With over 70 recipes, and a gorgeous photo to accompany each one, plus a guide to basic pancake types, this is the ultimate cookbook for pancake addicts, students and foodies alike.

Deliciously Vintage Baking & Desserts: 60 Nostalgic Recipes that will Make you Feel Like a Kid Again by Victoria Glass is a reissue of Deliciously Vintage (2014). It’s not hard to see why some cakes and bakes become classics, with family recipes handed down through the generations. You have only to sink your fork into a moist Lemon drizzle cake or enjoy the smell of freshly-baked Cinnamon buns to understand why there are some sweet treats that we simply can’t resist returning to again and again. This book is a celebration of those recipes, drawing from a broad culinary heritage.

A Table Full of Love: Recipes to Comfort, Seduce, Celebrate & Everything Else In Between by Skye McAlpine is the latest offering from the author of A Table in Venice: Recipes from My Home and A Table for Friends: The Art of Cooking for Two or Twenty – both of which are gorgeous books. This month, the third book from Skye will be released and is filled with the same gorgeous photography and homey recipes that we have come to expect from the author. The book is organized by dishes that “comfort” “seduce” “nourish” “spoil” and “cocoon”. A section on menus is also included as well. I love Skye’s books because they are equal parts savory and sweet with recipes that are all parts approachable.

One-pot Healthy: Easy Healthy Meals in Just One Pot by Sabrina Fauda-Rôle contains a wide variety of ingenious recipes, perfect for any night of the week. If you are time-poor, stuck in a food rut, but want a meal that makes you feel good – or simply hate doing the dishes – One-Pot Healthy is the book for you.

Caught Snackin’: 100 Recipes. Simple. Fast. Flavoursome by Caught Snackin shares the recipes from those videos you can’t stop watching. They’ve covered all bases: from boujee brunches to quick and simple lunches, Friday-night fakeaways to desserts that will make you TikTok famous.”

Australia

Natural Bakes: Everyday Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking by Caroline Griffiths: With no refined sugar, and all gluten-free, Natural Bakes relies on whole fruits and other natural ingredients to create an indulgent experience that won’t make you feel (as) guilty for licking the bowl clean. Without refined sugar dominating the palate, the unique flavors of pure vanilla, nuts, spices, and chocolate shine. Whip up a tray of almond, mandarin, and orange blossom madeleines, finish a meal over a crumble, or wow the whole room with a croquembouche or a layered chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.

The Eternal City: Recipes & Stories from Rome by Maria Pasquale: Previously released in 2017 as I Heart Rome. Through authentic local stories, recipes, and beautiful photos, The Eternal City takes you on a deliciously inspiring journey through the parts of the city that tourists rarely get to see. Where the people – the modern-day Romans (and adopted Romans) – look to their future as they live in a present that is so connected to the past. Explore the food of the streets, historic trattoria, and home kitchens of this incredible city. Along the way, meet the local cheesemongers, wine experts, bakers, chefs, and more who make Rome one of the great-and original-food capitals of the world.

Vietnam: Morning to Midnight by Jerry Mai: Walking through Vietnam’s cities, you’ll pass a heady array of food. From the north to the south, the streets are lined with some of the country’s greatest cooks serving up fresh salads, crunchy banh mi and spring rolls, comforting pho, refreshing desserts, and so much more. Vietnam: From Morning to Midnight spends a day in the country eating at these compact kitchens-on-wheels, bringing the incredible flavor and spirit of Vietnam’s bustling streets to your home.

Wild Meat: The Complete Guide to Cooking Game by Ross O’Meara is an illustrated guide to game meat for the mindful hunter and cook by respected chef and game harvester O’Meara. This cookbook is ideal for hunters who care as much about what happens in the kitchen as they do in the field, and cooks who want to know more about where their food has come from. Step-by-step harvesting techniques, complete with illustrations, feature alongside more than 80-plus delicious recipes covering a broad range of species, from hare to pig to deer, pheasant and even camel and kangaroo.

Slow Cooker The Complete Collection by Australian Women’s Weekly: Collecting the best slow cooker recipes from the Australian Women’s Weekly Test Kitchen, this is the ultimate cookbook for when the weather turns icy, and you want nothing more than a bowl of something warm and comforting. With recipes for everything from spice-packed curries, melt-in-your-mouth ribs, the best-ever bolognaise to hearty vegetarian meals and a bounty of sweet treats, all cooked in the slow cooker, your perfect dinner is just around the corner.

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