The Gift of Cookbooks – The Manchester Cricket

By Hannah Harlow, co-owner of Beverly Farms Bookstore

Since we have two boys at home who will be heading off to college in a few years, we've been working on getting some meals ready for them so they can cook for themselves when the time comes. With that in mind, the whole family will receive cookbooks this Christmas.

My youngest son, who loves noodles, will have “Let's Make Ramen: A Comic Book Cookbook” by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan under the tree. It is part cookbook/part graphic novel and contains more than 40 recipes
weekday bowls and weekend supplies, as well as a history of ramen and Japanese culinary traditions.

For my oldest son, I had a hard time choosing between “Chili Crisp: 50+ Recipes to Satisfy Your Spicy, Crispy, Garlicy Cravings” by James Park, due to his recent addiction to the seasoning, and “Meat Pies: An Emerging American Craft” by Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman, because we love meat pies as an easy to take to school snack and exercise for a teenage boy with an insatiable appetite. So obviously I have both. (What are the benefits of owning a bookstore if not?)

For my husband, who cooks with so much heart, I couldn't pass up “The Farm Table” by Julius Roberts. It's a beautiful book full of beautiful food photography, as well as images of the English countryside and farm-to-table recipes that encourage local sourcing and seasonal cooking. Roberts also includes short essays on his cooking philosophy. He is worth following on Instagram.

It was a good year for cookbooks overall, so I had a lot to choose from. Here are some of the better books I passed up. Food blogger favorite Tieghan Gerard has a new bestseller in 'Half Baked Harvest Quick and Cosy'. The idea here was food to make when you're short on time but still want big flavor. I have received comments from a number of customers in the Bookstore that it is a good title: everyone wants fun and this cookbook contains 120 recipes for comfort food.

British culinary star Yotam Ottolenghi also brings comfort food in his new cookbook 'Ottolenghi Comfort'. Ottolenghi – and co-authors Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley – share 100 recipes, along with childhood memories and travel adventures, with food, friends and family, the common connections.

Quick weeknight cooking is the focus of a number of popular cookbooks this season. “Easy Weeknight Dinners: 100 Quick, Flavorful Meals for Busy People Who Still Want to Eat Treats” by Emily Weinstein presents recipes from the New York Times cooking section and promises that many of them can be made in just 10 minutes. minutes. (I promise it will take longer, but okay.) 'What Goes With What: 100 Recipes, 20 Charts, Endless Possibilities' by Julia Turshen introduces a new approach to everyday cooking by teaching the alchemy of a meal – or , in In other words, how to turn the boring ingredients in your pantry and refrigerator into exciting dishes. 'The Weekday Vegetarians' by Jenny Rosenstrach has been one of our best-selling vegetarian cookbooks, and now she's back with 'The Weekday Vegetarians Get Simple', with recipes that are even easier and faster than her previous cookbook.

When it comes to baking, I trust no one more than the King Arthur Baking Company. The new cookbook “The King Arthur Company Big Book of Bread” contains 125 recipes for all types of bread, yeasted and naturally leavened, and for all types of bakers, from beginner to advanced. The book also contains QR codes for instructional videos. I enjoyed baking from Christopher Kimball's “Milk Street Bakes: A Baking Book of 200 Sweet and Savory Recipes,” which takes a more global view. At the height of the apple season I went looking for ideas and found recipes for Greek, German and French apple pies. (I defaulted to my favorite old apple pie recipe, but you know what I mean.) I'm intrigued by “The Elements of Baking: Making Any Recipe Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, or Vegan,” which explains the science behind baking so bakers can tailor any recipe to suit their dietary needs or lifestyle.

I know many of us find our recipes online these days, but I still think there's nothing better than a stained page in a cookbook to show how much we like a particular recipe, or pencil-written notes to remind ourselves. remembering that we just like things that way. I hope that between the pages of our new books we will find many new favorite dishes to share with family and friends. And is it a selfish gift to give to an immediate family member?

You bet it is, and I don't feel an ounce of guilt about it.

Hannah Harlow owns The Book Shop, an independent bookstore in Beverly Farms. Harlow writes semi-regular recommendations for our readers. See more of what she recommends reading at thecricket.com.