As an unrepentant book hoarder, I’ve always had a few cookbooks around, but they have tended towards being diet or ingredient-specific coffee table books. It took me more than 40 years to fall in love with recipe books.
These days, my collection is growing, and becoming more useful as I delve deeper into world cuisines, the views of interesting personalities, and the foods or equipment I most love to cook with. I also find it interesting that my enjoyment of cookbooks has increased along with my exposure to online recipes and meal making, not to mention that my adherence to using recipes correctly has picked up at a similar rate.
The year 2022 has a slate of excellent books coming out, ranging from odes to culture and cuisine along with time-savers, textbooks, and memoirs on life and the art of cooking.
The nine books below are some I’ll look to add to my collection, and I’m sure there are a few that you may want to check out too.
1. The Wok: Recipes and Techniques
J. Kenji López-Alt
Available: March 8, 2022
While his first title, The Food Lab, is his most famous, my favorite release from food critic, NYT columnist, and popular Youtube chef ‘Kenji,’ is the brilliant Every Night is Pizza Night, where young Pipo sets out to prove that the pie is the world’s best food.
The Wok takes a markedly different approach, diving deeply into Kenji’s love for the humble and versatile wok, establishing the fundamentals on how to use the wok correctly, and what makes it essential to his favorite family meals. The Wok will be a must-read for lovers of Asian cooking!
2. Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession
Jess Damuck
Available: March 29
As the father and head chef to an autistic son that eats salad items almost exclusively, I’m banking that Salad Freak will be a life-changer (for both of us). I want to learn everything I can about what works and what doesn’t, how to create joy in making my own salads while expanding my youngster’s range of base foods and keeping him firmly engaged with the ingredients that make him most comfortable. This looks like a great book that we can learn and adapt to, together.
3. The Unofficial Studio Ghibli Cookbook
Jessica Yun
Available: April 12, 2022
I’ve been lucky to spend a lot of time with the works of Hayao Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli. The beloved animator is home to some of my favorite animated films, and during previous stints, I wrote reviews and curated tattoo galleries devoted to Miyazaki creations.
Having never considered the element of food within the context of Studio Ghibli, I’m excited from a fan perspective to devour the recipes put together by Jessica Yun in The Unofficial Studio Ghibli Cookbook. While none of my kids are yet ready for the films, having a few recipes up my sleeve may come in handy when the time comes!
4. The Cook You Want to Be
Andy Baraghani
Available: April 26, 2022
The first title from former Bon Appetit editor Andy Baraghani, The Cook You Want To Be looks destined for my shelves. It will appeal to world travelers and taste-chasers looking to improve their cooking techniques while innovating and experimenting with food flavor and balance.
5. Good Eats 4: The Final Years
Alton Brown
Available: 26 April, 2022
Sometimes I picture Alton Brown as a distant family member that likes to drop into my kitchen, where he helps educate me about a recipe, dish, or experience. This fourth installment of the Goods Eats series will be more of what makes Brown such a beloved figure – good food, great facts, and a down to earth enjoyment of cooking that takes the tribulation out of trial and error.
6. Mi Cocina
Rick Martinez
Available: May 3, 2022
When Rick Martinez writes or speaks about Mexican Food culture, I want to be there for it. The popular writer, editor and host of shows such as Pruebalo and Sweet Heat will teach you as much about cooking Mexican food in his book Mi Cocina, as a room full of abuelas. Martinez’ love letter to the variety found within Mexico’s seven regions will make you a better cook, and a more knowledgeable one.
7. Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy Recipes for Exceptionally Scrumptious Sweets and Treats
Jessie Sheehan
Available: 3 May, 2022
I first heard about Jessie Sheehan from my Tik Tok-loving friends. Her high octane baking is brilliant for the platform and translates well for people like me that can’t bake (seriously, I could be the world’s most inept baker).
I’m looking forward to how Sheehan’s energy and entertaining style is captured on the page. With 100 20-minute or less baking recipes – maybe Snackable Bakes can teach me how to bake at even a mediocre level!
8. Forever Beirut: Recipes & Stories From The Heart Of Lebanon
Barbara Abdeni Massaad
Available: August 2, 2022
A 2005 trip through the Middle East changed how I thought about food. Going through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt in a modified truck was as far from my comfort zone as I could get, allowing me to fall in love with a range of foods I’d never heard of, let alone eaten.
Selfishly, I hope the 100 recipes in Forever Beirut can bring back a bit of that time when all I needed was a backpack and some friends to share an unforgettable part of my life with. With its rich history (and large population in Australia), and the melting pot of food culture, learning more about Lebanese cuisine is an exciting bucket list item.
9. Dinner in One: Exceptional & Easy One-Pan Meals
Melissa Clark
Available: September 6 2022
Melissa Clark’s Dinner in One seems just the ticket for a time-poor father of three kids five and under. Having a handy reference book to leaf through when the children are kicking off works from a pantry perspective, and as a circuit breaker for those stressful times (the hours of 5-7 pm every, single, day).
Sure, there’s plenty of stuff on the internet you can access for quality one-pan meals, but sometimes a book and a list that you can hold in your hands is what you need to pull yourself together and get a good meal on the table.
Conclusion
The books above will find their audience, and there are plenty more options out there available for pre-order. A great cookbook can inspire a whole new perspective on food.
Enjoy the reading, and the quiet (if you can get it)!