Gift Guide: Cookbook Roundup

Posted on December 4, 2011 – 6:48 AM | by Admin

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Best Inexpensive:

The Sriracha Cookbook
by Randy Clemens.

Sriracha is a slightly sweet, spicy, garlicky and addicting red condiment with a consistency like ketchup.  It originated in Thailand but now is beloved in the U.S.  This cookbook is for the addicts.  If you’re especially devoted, there is a recipe for a homemade version of the sauce.  There are also recipes for punched-up Sriracha burgers, wings, deviled eggs, cornbread and even sorbet.  Found locally at Time Tested Books, 1114 21st Street.  Mention this article and get 20% off the book for the month of December.

Best All-Around:

Molto Batali – Simple Family Meals
by Mario Batali

I’m just not a Food Network kind of gal and I never in a million years thought I would pick this book – but it’s that good.  I picked up the book to give it a cursory once over and was hooked.  It’s laid out from January to December, so the ingredients will be in season at the right time and the combinations of ingredients are clever. Recipes like corzetti with green ricotta and penne with savory cabbage and gorgonzola, coupled with the gorgeous photography had me rushing to the checkout.  The book is also pretty affordable at $29.99. Available at Avid Reader at Tower, 1600 Broadway.

Best for Total Food Nerds:

Lucky Peach magazine

Never have I been so excited to get my hands on an issue of a magazine. NEVER. I’m talking about Lucky Peach, the food quarterly put out by McSweeney’s and David Chang, of Momofuku fame.  The first issue alone is 175 pages (without ads) solely devoted to the art of ramen:ramen making, ramen eating, ramen masters.  There are comics of ramen masters!   Humor!  Writers include Harold McGee, Anthony Bourdain, John T. Edge, Ruth Reichl and a bunch of other people I would kill to go to a cocktail party with. I can’t recommend this highly enough.  This subscription is a bit pricier at $50, but it’s a gift that keeps on giving all year.  First issue available for purchase at Avid Reader, subscription available from Issue #2.  -SS