#CRUSHING: 2016 Cookbooks We’re Super Psyched For

We love cookbooks: Whether from celebs inviting us into their enviable kitchens or veteran chefs new books full of beautiful, stylized dishes, we’re always looking to expand our culinary libraries. And there’s a brand new batch just out and about to be released. So get your Amazon prime accounts ready (or actually, head to a bookstore!) to get psyched for spring entertaining and summer party season. Here are the cookbooks we’re most excited about:

Koreatown

Koreatown: A Cookbook
Deuki Hong, Matt Rodbard
Clarkson Potter, February 2016

America’s 2016 food crush is officially Korean cuisine: Korean BBQ, Korean tacos, or more gussied up dishes you’ll find in restaurants like Hanjan or Danji, we’re fully embracing bean pastes, punchy kimchi, and all the fluffy buns we can get our hands on. Koreatown: A Cookbook is the perfect way to dive deeper into this food trend and expand our at-home-culinary horizons. Written by Deuki Hong (who owns NYC Korean BBQ restaurant Kang Ho Dong Baekjeong), and a major Korean food-fan Matt Rodbard, this book may turn you into that friend who knows too much about the ingredients on the menu at the local Korean spot. #Goals.

Chrissy Teigan Cravings

Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat
Chrissy Teigan
Clarkson Potter, February 2016

A total babe with a famous soulful husband who makes inappropriate jokes and eats fried chicken? There may be only one of these, and it’s Chrissy Teigan. When we heard one of our favorite insta-crushes was releasing a cookbook, we knew we’d be fans of her hilarious approach to cooking. This book is everything you expect – great recipes for fatty, craveable foods surrounded by photos of Chrissy, John, and, of course, their beloved bulldogs. We love how the book is organized into chapters like “Sh*t on Toast” and “Party Time,” and how there are plenty of easy to follow recipes that amateur cooks will be able to whip up.

Around the Fire- Recipes for Inspired Grilling and Seasonal Feasting from Ox Restaurant

Around the Fire: Recipes for Inspired Grilling and Seasonal Feasting from Ox Restaurant
Greg Denton & Gabrielle Quiñonez Denton with Stacy Adimando
Ten Speed, March 2016

Now that vitamin D is pumping through your veins, let’s get into the grilling spirit by adding a couple of pro tips and tricks to our outdoor entertaining arsenal. While we’re happy to throw a marinated skirt steak onto the barbie, there’s something tempting about impressing guests with a grilled lamb leg or other cuts of meat we never even thought could go on a grill (Or didn’t even know existed). The Dentons own and operate OX Restaurant, the famous Argentine grilling powerhouse in Portland. They’ve famously introduced Americans to a whole world beyond burgers and buns, and we’re thankful they’ve applied their brilliance to recipes that we can actually make at home (because, well, we don’t live in Portland). You’ll learn a lot about how meats, poultry, and fish react to all kinds of type of fire, not just your normal backyard grill. You’ll infuse flavors into vegetables in ways you never imagined. And you’ll make sure everyone wants to come to your summertime shindigs. Because, let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be the most popular kid on the cul-de-sac?

Tasting Rome- Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City

Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City
Katie Parla and Kristina Gill
Clarkson Potter, March 2016

You’re thinking: “Not another Italian cookbook! And not even from an Italian!  Forget it.” But hear us out – this is actually an Italian history lesson in food and culture plus a cookbook. Eat your heart out, fellow food nerds, because you’ll not only perfect your cacio e pepe but also be armed with fun facts about Roman history and Italian foods that you can share with dinner guests. Parla and Gill transport you to Rome with beautiful photography and authentic recipes of the failsafe classics you’ve had, plus some modern innovations you thought you’d only have in, well, Rome. Get this book if you like to read about food and culture, but not in a boring way. In a really appetizing, make your mouth water kind of way.

Egg Blanche Vaughan

Egg
Blanche Vaughan
Harper Collins, March 2016

There are few ingredients we love more than the classic egg. Simply fried with sea-salt, on top of a burger, with your leftover pasta for breakfast, and like on anything that ends up in our mouths. The egg is as versatile as those catchy 90s commercials would lead you to believe. But the truth is that you don’t really know how many ways you can use your fave everyday friend until you come across a book like this. From perfecting a French scramble to creating the fluffiest pancakes, mouse, and ice cream, this book will help you get creative with the incredible, edible egg. If that’s not a book worth having, we don’t know what is.

Got a cookbook you’re psyched to pick up? Let us know in the comments!

 

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