• Share

PRINT

The Bibliophile

Spend time with these cookbooks and expand your culinary skills.

Joy of Cooking: The Trusted Kitchen Classic for a New Generation of Joy: Revised and Updated, by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, John Becker and Megan Scott, 1,200 pages, Scribner hardcover, 2019

The classic encyclopedia of home cooking dating back to the 1930s has been revived by a new generation. This ninth edition, the first since 2006, reflects current trends in the kitchen: avoiding food waste, streamlining cooking, preparing ahead. Irma Rombauer’s great-grandson John Becker and his wife, Megan Scott, have painstakingly retested the recipes.

Without changes to the format, this edition of Joy of Cooking contains 4,000 recipes — including 600 new ones — presented in 31 chapters. Additional segments cover techniques, ingredients, how to shop, what’s in season, nutrition, storage and food safety. Hand-drawn illustrations by John Norton are reminiscent of the original format.

Thanksgiving menu suggestions at the front reference the pages of the recipes inside — everything from butternut squash soup to classic roast turkey, stuffing with giblet gravy, Parker House rolls, pumpkin pie and mulled cider. There is also an index in the back.

This comprehensive exploration of the art of home cooking includes recipes for more than 65 vegetarian and vegan main courses. Charts list substitutions for common ingredients, the volumes of baking dishes, and other useful information.

Alas, the book doesn’t include calorie counts or nutritional information, but one section covers healthy eating and USDA recommended dietary requirements.

Big Night In: Delicious themed menus to cook & eat at home, by Katherine Bebo, 176 pages, Ryland Peters & Small hardcover, 2020

We’re spending lots more time inside, so let’s make it enjoyable. Big Night In is an easy-to-follow book of instruction with suggested menus for different occasions to celebrate at home. Each chapter provides suggested menus and recipes for 19 occasions including a night in at the movies, an indoor picnic and a Super Bowl watch party.

Learn how to prepare alcoholic drinks such as Pimm’s deluxe, beer margaritas, cheesecake martinis and peach juleps as well as non-alcoholic homemade cola and root beer.

No longer be intimidated at the thought of preparing and serving potato pakoras, scotch eggs, panzanella, Sardinian pizza and chorizo.

Expand your approach with these unique versions of go-to favorites such as chicken wings, kebabs, fries, potato salads and chicken noodle soup, among others. The desserts are unique versions of favorites: Hong Kong egg tarts, lemon drizzle cake, aquafaba pavlova meringue.

While there is a short chapter of vegan recipes, the emphasis of this book is on hearty meat fare. Serving sizes run the gamut from one to 20 and can be easily converted to your desired amount. However, neither calorie counts nor prep times are included.

The introductory chapter provides tips on entertaining, shopping, decorating your table, garnishing platters and preparing your meal. Color photographs accompany most of the more than 120 dishes created by an impressive array of more than 30 chefs.

Katherine Bebo is a British freelance writer whose career has taken her from London to Denver to Dubai. Though the recipes reflect a cosmopolitan and sophisticated approach to food, the preparation is simple and basic.

Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin: A Founding Father’s Culinary Adventures, by Rae Katherine Eighmey, 304 pages, Smithsonian Books hardcover, 2018

This biography of a Founding Father combines the story of his life with recipes of his day. Author Rae Katherine Eighmey has prodigiously researched the personal biography and official life of Benjamin Franklin. She has updated 62 authentic recipes for the modern kitchen.

Cooks will enjoy preparing these all-American appetizers, main courses, vegetables in season, salads, soups, breads, dried fruit, desserts and beverages. Food critic and New York Times contributor Florence Fabricant recommends the apple tart made with applesauce custard.

While preparation time is not included with the recipes, portion sizes are — as well as storage time for leftovers. A recipe index and an extensive bibliography, including cookbooks, are at the back.

Stirring the Pot with Benjamin Franklin describes the kitchen of yore. It may inspire older adults to conjure memories of childhood and Thanksgiving celebrations long past.