Hot Off The Griddle: 10 Notable Spring Cookbook Releases

Greek or Korean, breakfast or midnight snacks, outdoor cooking or indoor entertaining – we selected these 10 wildly different cookbooks (all released or to be released in the first half of 2018), because each offers something totally unique and intensely satisfying.

Korean BBQ by Bill Kim (with Chandra Ram)

Bill Kim wants you to Kung Fu your barbecue. Come again? In Korean BBQ, he explains himself: “Cooking Kung Fu style is about not taking yourself too seriously or turning cooking into something that isn’t fun. You don’t have to know how to cook traditional Korean food to cook from this book.” Instead, the American-Korean chef of Chicago’s BellyQ Restaurants casually teaches readers the fundamentals of Korean barbecue, starting with seven sauces and three spice mixes that form the flavour base for many dishes. Of course there’s a Korean BBQ Sauce, but also a Korican (Korean-Puerto Rican) sauce and Korean pesto as well. In addition to grilled dishes, Kim gives Banchan suggestions – little snacks and sides to go along with the barbecued delicacies. And finally, he encourages cooks to do a little Kung Fu with the leftovers as well, with suggestions for irresistible bowls and sandwiches.

Get Kim’s recipe for Honey Soy Flank Steak here.

Korean BBQ: Master Your Grill in Seven Sauces; Bill Kim & Chandra Ram, Ten Speed Press. Available 17 April 2018.

Gather and Graze by Stephanie Izard

In the past six years, chef Stephanie Izard has opened restaurants Girl & the Goat, Little Goat Diner, and Duck Duck Goat in Chicago, while also becoming an Iron Chef, meeting the love of her life and giving birth to a son. With free time being precious, the young family started maximising at-home entertaining. Brunches, summer barbecues, picnics or even a blowout ice cream sundae and cookie extravaganza: in Gather and Graze Izard shares brilliant recipes for informal gatherings. You know, when you’re creating memories hanging out with friends and munching on delicious foods. Izard recommends keeping it simple and casual, family-style, with dishes like ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls, a pork belly frittata, hoisin-grilled skirt steaks, or a goat-o salad.  

Gather & Graze: 120 Favorite Recipes for Tasty Good Times; Stephanie Izard (with Rachel Holtzman); Clarkson Potter. Available 3 April 2018.

Gunpowder by Harneet Baweja, Devina Seth and Nirmal Save

The team behind hot ticket restaurant Gunpowder created a book with the same name, and let us tell you: we’re excited. Be prepared for an explosion of flavour. It’s the same vibrant take on classic Indian home cooking that Londoners are queueing up for at the restaurant, dishes like Eggplant Bharta and Maa’s Kashmiri Lamb Chops, or modern twists such as Chutney Cheese Sandwiches and Masala Chai Crème Brûlée. The recipes are easy to follow, with plenty of tips for saving time or substituting ingredients, while David Cassidy’s gorgeous photography will make your mouth water before even stepping foot into the kitchen.

Get the recipe for Masala Fish Cakes here.

GUNPOWDER: Explosive Flavours from Modern India; Harneet Baweja, Devina Seth and Nirmal Save; Kyle Books. Available June 2018.

The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook by Laura McLively

What does one do with opal basil? What on earth is malanga? How to use banana flowers? For years, dietitian Laura McLively had been shopping at the iconic family-run grocery store Berkeley Bowl, astonished by the huge variety of exotic produce. In 2014, she decided to put an end to her ignorance and challenged herself to create a dish with every single fruit and vegetable available. The recipes were first published on a blog, and are now bundled in The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook. The diversity is stunning and inspiring, with recipes using flowers, seeds and pods, savoury fruits, leaves, spores and succulents, roots and tubers, stems and sweet fruits, plus tips on where to get these if you don’t live in the shop’s vicinity.

Get the recipe for Stuffed Cherry Bomb Peppers here.

The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook, Recipes Inspired by the Extraordinary Produce of California’s Most Iconic Market; Laura McLively; Parallax Press. Available 17 April 2018.

Between Harlem and Heaven by Alexander Smalls,‎ JJ Johnson (with Veronica Chambers)

Answering the tired question of whether collard greens are the new kale, chefs Alexander Smalls and JJ Johnson write: “No. Collards have worked harder than kale ever will. Collards are out there digging ditches and roofing houses while kale goes to spin class and leaves early for brunch.” Besides addictive writing, Between Harlem and Heaven boasts fantastic recipes. The book is dedicated to “the brilliant culinary legacy of the African people throughout the diaspora”, a modern take on a global cuisine which started more than 400 years ago. One such example of heritage food is feijoada, known as the “gumbo of Brazil”, which in fact you can find from Macau to Mozambique, and from Angola to Cape Verde and Goa. The wonderful essays transport the reader to Ghana, South Carolina and of course, Harlem, the one-of-a-kind New York City neighbourhood.

Get the recipe for Bebop Chicken Chili here.

Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights, and Every Day; Alexander Smalls,‎ JJ Johnson,‎ Veronica Chambers; Flatiron Books. Available now.

For the Love of the South by Amber Wilson

If you’re not sure what Southern hospitality entails, just leaf through Amber Wilson’s For the Love of the South. The creator of the eponymous food blog wanted readers to feel like she’s in the kitchen with you, rolling out dough and stirring roux, and indeed, the familial warmth splashes off the page. You’ll be able to whip up pain perdu, popovers and jambalayas like a true Southerner in no time. Most recipes are classics with a personal twist, like pimento hushpuppies, a shrimp boil or a bacon-latticed apple pie.

Get the recipe for Pimento Hushpuppies with Whipped Butter here.

For the Love of the South, Recipes and Stories from My Southern Kitchen; Amber Wilson, Harper Design. Available now.

Larder by Robin Gill

“Use ingredients at their peak and preserve their excess.” This adage was instilled in chef Robin Gill when he was cooking on Italy’s Amalfi Coast, and he’s been applying it to British food ever since. His London restaurants have urban gardens on top, and cellars full of vinegars, kombucha, miso, charcuterie, preserves, jams and chutneys. In Larder, Gill demonstrates the techniques of preserving (fermenting, pickling, curing, smoking) to create a well-stocked larder (pantry) at home. This will make it easier to create interesting dishes without breaking a sweat, such as the chef’s ‘Loch Duart salmon with oyster emulsion, fennel and fried wakame’, or ‘Roast wood pigeon with chicory and rhubarb’.

Get the recipe for Smoked Beetroot Tartare here.

Larder, Recipes To Stock Your Pantry And Delight Your Table; Robin Gill; Bloomsbury Publishing. Available 17 May 2018.

Great Tastes by Danielle and Laura Kosann

Kerry Diamond, the editorial director of Cherry Bombe described Great Tastes as: “If Ina Garten and Anna Wintour had a baby…” And that pretty much sums the book up. Sisters Danielle and Laura Kosann call themselves anti-foodie foodies, because for them, it’s never just about the food. It’s about the ambiance, the outfit you wear, the people you’re with, the conversations you’re having. With this motto, they created online magazine The New Potato, presenting the world through the lens of food, and now they’ve extended the site into a cookbook filled with funny anecdotes and favourite recipes. It doesn’t stick to one particular cuisine, just comfort food that they enjoy – and that you probably will, too. The occasional hipster dish is included (smoothie bowl alert!), and there’s a whole lot of avocado-adding going on, but other than that: what’s not to love about things like Orecchiette with Sausage, Broccoli Rabe and Ricotta, or Rosemary Sea Salt Shortbread?

Get the recipe for Lemony Farro Radicchio Salad with Almonds here.

Great Tastes: Cooking (and Eating) from Morning to Midnight; Danielle & Laura Kosann; Clarkson Potter. Available 10 April 2018.

Mazi by Adrien Carré and Christina Mouratoglou

From the owners of what many say is the best Greek restaurant in the UK, now comes a cookbook under the same name: Mazi. It’s “New Greek cuisine”, which polishes up traditional Greek food, adding innovative flavours or novel ways of presentation. While dishes are authentic, they always have a twist: in the souvlaki, pita bread is replaced with a rice paper wrapper, the stuffed vine leaves are accompanied by a wasabi yogurt dip, and small mezedes (starters) are served in jars, such as the Santorinian fava dip with caramelised pearl onions on top. With “mazi” being the Greek word for ‘together’, the collection of dishes feels festive: it’s easy to picture joyful gatherings around them.

Get the recipe for Halibut with Brussels Sprouts and Avgolemono Sauce here.

Mazi: Modern Greek Food; Adrien Carré and Christina Mouratoglou; Mitchell Beazley. Available 8 March 2018 (3 April in the US).

Feast By Firelight by Emma Frisch

If we know that food tastes miraculously good in the great outdoors, why do we tend to fuel our bodies with instant noodles or plain oatmeal? In Feast By Firelight, Emma Frisch proposes a more fun and inspiring approach to camp cooking. Frisch is an outdoor enthusiast and co-founder of Firelight Camps, a glamping destination in New York. Her dishes are never too far-fetched, just honest, real food – from Firelight quinoa granola clusters to Campfire popcorn with sea smoke. Most we would happily eat with a roof over our heads as well (a chocolate, bacon and burrata breakfast sandwich? Yes please!). Frisch gives lots of practical tips for shopping, prepping and storing your food, and even demonstrates how to build a good campfire. The photos evoke memories of good times around the fire, and make you wish you were packing for your next outdoor adventure.

Get the recipe for Skillet Biscuits with Everything Spice here.

Feast by Firelight: Simple Recipes for Camping, Cabins, and the Great Outdoors; Emma Frisch; Ten Speed Press. Available 10 April 2018.

Article by Irene de Vette