The Atlantic

The 5 Best Cookbooks of 2019

Food guides you’ll want to read and, more importantly, cook from
Source: Naomi Elliott

Okay, it’s impossible to name the best cookbooks. This year, after all, featured a top-to-bottom run-through of The Joy of Cooking, at least one edition of which every household must own. Picture books? History? Chef extravaganzas? You’ll find all of these below, as well as one very welcome dessert-book reissue. I try to read dozens of new guides a year; I want to cook from a much smaller subset. Here are five that check both boxes.


All About Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice, Molly Stevens

Certain earnest cooks lament that though they have good palates and, yes, refined taste, they just don’t have the instincts that would lead to casually saying, “One of my favorite ways to serve an herb salad is piled on top of rounds of broiled is a simple, homey book whose forgiving recipes are undergirded by years of thought and learning by doing.

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