22 New Cookbooks for 2022: Something for everyone on your list
It’s that time of year again. My office is cluttered with towering stacks of this year’s cookbooks focused on all kinds of cooking from vegan and vegetarian to meat and BBQ, Southern, Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Italian, baking and cookies, and more.
So what is it that makes one cookbook stand out over another? Curiosity, for one. A need to learn more about a culture, cuisine, or technique. A desire to perfect a Mexican pozole, Korean pancake, Japanese pickle, or French-style cake.
I am also highly attracted to cookbooks that contain language — both in the narrative and in the recipes — that is clear, precise, and user-friendly. I want a recipe that doesn’t ask me to use every pot and pan in the kitchen (hate those long clean-ups!) and warns me when something has to be started a day before it’s ready to be served. I want a cookbook author to speak to me as if they are there with me, in my kitchen: “Hey, Kathy, don’t forget to add the cilantro at the end. Be sure your oven is preheated and you put the cake on the lower shelf. Don’t forget to slowly whisk the buttermilk into the batter a cup at a time.” Those kinds of directions make me feel calm, organized, and capable of doing nearly anything in my kitchen.
Here is my list of a few (22 to be precise) favorite new cookbooks:
My top 3 favorites
“First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home” by Frankie Gaw
Cookbooks don’t often make me cry. But Frankie Gaw’s new memoir/cookbook caused me to weep. Gaw is the son of immigrant parents from Taipei, Taiwan. Raised in the suburban midwest, Gaw felt “food was at the heart of my discovering both deep shame and overflowing pride.” In an essay titled “Steven,” he tells the story of a visit with his grandmother who is suffering from dementia. Steven is his father who he hasn’t seen in years and the story is spare and, Gaw writes a letter to his father: “I’m pan frying bing on the stove in my kitchen … just like how Grandma taught you. Cooking these fragrant flatbreads reminds me of our past life. A life I’m seemingly starting to forget as years trail by.” Eventually, we realize it’s a coming-out letter, from a gay son to his absent father. It’s a brave and beautiful letter, and also tells of his love of cooking traditional Taiwanese food.
