Good Lookin’ Cookin’: A Year of Meals, by Dolly Parton and Rachel Parton George
If you’re looking for surprising or unique recipes, don’t turn to Dolly Parton. This book—with her sister as co-author—offers just what you might expect: oldie-but-goodie recipes that mostly feel a half-century old (at least). Readers of Southern newspaper food sections or Southern Living magazine will find old friends here—think angel biscuits, black-eyed peas, cornbread sticks, fried green tomatoes with ranch dressing, banana pudding, and fried catfish. (I made the angel biscuits, something I’ve not thought of in years but loved baking for my family as a teenager. They use both yeast and baking powder/baking soda for leavening to create an angelically light biscuit; I subbed in fresh lard for shortening and whole-wheat pastry flour for half of the all-purpose—and they were as delicious as I recall.) Organized by one menu per month, and interspersed with many photos of the authors (and one guy grilling), the book will feel like a warm hug to Dolly fans.
The Kitchen Shortcut Bible: More than 200 Recipes to Make Real Food Real Fast, by Bruce Weinsten and Mark Scarbrough
This book came out in 2018; I picked it up recently to see how helpful it would be to new cooks, knowing that the authors have a history of successful books. The answer? Definitely worth giving to the newbies in your life. As Weinstein and Scarbrough note, this is a book of recipes, not hacks, aimed not just at quicker cooking but “better without more effort.” For example, zucchini bread pancakes call for blending a chopped-up zucchini with wet and dry ingredients (including a little cinnamon but no sweetener), and pouring the batter in circles onto preheated, oiled sheet pans, to cook an entire batch at once and avoid the usual squeezing of shredded zucchini to remove excess moisture. With a little extra oil added, and whole-wheat pastry flour subbed for all-purpose to boost the nutrition, I used the batter for waffles that turned out well (though they did soften quite quickly). Organized mostly by meal type (such as breakfast, pasta, make-ahead, sides, desserts), the recipes aren’t generally fancy or full of exotic spices, but for everyday cooking, they seem to deliver what they promise: “time saved, convenience added, and flavor enhanced.” (Except for saving you time looking for a recipe in the index. Zucchini bread pancakes will be under zucchini, or pancakes, or ideally both, right? No such luck. The table of contents does seem to list all recipes, at least.)
*Mushroom Gastronomy: The Art of Cooking with Mushrooms, by Krista Towns
With 23 chapters each covering a specific type of mushroom, this book provides a great start for cooks looking to eat more, and more varied, mushrooms. Chapters begin with a one-page overview of the type—such as beech, chanterelle, hedgehog, lion’s mane, oyster, pioppino, and reishi, brief descriptions of how to choose and store the mushroom, suitable cooking methods, culinary uses, and an extensive list of ingredient and flavor pairings, including herbs and spices, noodles, vegetables, meat, and more. But the recipes that follow don’t include—likely to readers’ frustration—suggestions for substituting other types of mushrooms. Most are vegetarian or have a vegetarian option, and usually stick to a page or less, but annoyingly do not include weights for most ingredients, which should be expected in a more sophisticated book as this one aims to be. Several recipes call for smoking the mushrooms briefly on the stove; I’m looking forward to testing the applewood-smoked portobello croque monsieur” cordyceps kakiage, wild mushroom conserva with whipped goat cheese, and portobello mushroom vinaigrette—a simple blend of roasted portobello, balsamic, Dijon mustard, and olive oil, inspired by Charlie Trotter and suggested for a spinach salad with blue or goat cheese. Most intriguing of all—though likely not something most of us will get to try—are the sweet recipes for candy cap mushrooms.
*Food Gifts: 150+ Irresistible Recipes for Crafting Personalized Presents, by Elle Simone Scott
When a book claims it provides 150 “irresistible” recipes on its cover, and does that grating thing of incessantly using “gift” as a verb** (what the cuss-word is wrong with “give”?!), my inclinations against it start early. This book, from America’s Test Kitchen, offers luscious photos and ideas for creating and packaging gifts, and some of the recipes are interesting, though hardly irresistible. But more than you might expect are for items that have to be consumed within a day or two, so they’re unsuitable for big gift-giving (sorry, “gifting”) occasions like Christmas or for mailing, and most are very common recipes. Do you really need to be told to give pasta salad, chili, enchiladas, or lasagna for a meal train delivery? (And if you do, your recipients may inwardly groan when you show up with their fifth lasagna in a week.) Do you really need another chocolate chip cookie recipe for a cookie basket? This is a book I might check out of the library, noting that the first two chapters provide some useful ideas for making a cute gift basket that doesn’t spoil instantly—such as a star anise-orange cold brew concentrate, or some homemade tea or spice blends, chili crisp, or vermouth or coffee liqueur. But I wouldn’t spend money on it.
**Merriam-Webster may defend this, but it makes my ears hurt, mainly from the incessantness of its usage today.
Coming soon: A full review of What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, by Caroline Chambers. Will this solve your not-in-the-kitchen-mood problems? Possibly not.
*I haven’t tested any recipes in this book.