When the earth thaws and edible things start to sprout, it’s an inspiring time to be in the kitchen. Those who like to stock their shelves with cookbooks will appreciate the latest titles — they’ll make you a better baker, laid-back chef, stylish dinner party host, and make you eat more veggies while rubbing shoulders with feminist icons connect at the table.
Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom: The Complete Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Make You a Better Baker, by Anna Olson, Appetite, $50
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Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom by Anna Olson.
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Canada’s dessert doyenne’s highly-anticipated opus on flour, sugar, butter and eggs is now available – 450 pages of everything you need to know about baking, from navigating the heights to tempering chocolate and how to make it of high-fat butter for your croissants and puff pastry using ghee and the Pearson squared equation (yay science!). Anna Olson has always inspired confidence in the kitchen, and here she delves deeper into why and how ingredients interact, and what to do when things go wrong…which they probably won’t, given her recipes (150+ here , sweet and savory) are always firm.
Sabai: 100 Easy Thai Recipes for Every Day of the Week, by Pailin Chongchitnant, Appetite, $37.50
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Sabai by Pailin Chongchitnant.
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Sabai refers to a state in which you are comfortable – comfortable and relaxed, as you should be at the table. Chef Pailin (Pai) Chongchitnant, who was born and raised in Thailand and now lives in Vancouver (after a stint at Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco), takes us through her Thai pantry and her favorite kitchen essentials, and talks about how to make a fountain -Balanced Thai food and suggests efficiencies like make-ahead sauces and DIY meals – so we can be relaxed in the kitchen too.
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A Generous Meal: Modern Dinner Recipes, by Christine Flynn, Penguin, $40
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A lavish meal by Christine Flynn.
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This stylish collection of dinner ideas from Christine Flynn, chef, food stylist and owner of Ontario’s Good Earth Winery, aims to make life better through the meals you put on the table. Her recipes aren’t intimidating but come with unexpected twists – hot fried chicken with honey or macaroni and cheese with corn and cabbage. I love their formula for a spectacular improv salad (something creamy, veggie, crunchy, oily and sour) and that there is a chapter dedicated to cabbage and another to toast.
A Table Set for Sisterhood: 35 Recipes Inspired by 35 Female Icons, by Ashley Schutz and Ashly Jernigan, House of Anansi, $36.99
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A sorority placemat for Ashley Schutz and Ashly Jernigan.
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Food and stories are inseparable, and this beautifully illustrated book beautifully blends the arts of storytelling and cooking, inviting the reader to share a table with 35 feminist icons, including Leymah Gbowee, Malala Yousafzai, Hayley Wickenheiser, Alexandria to take Ocasio-Cortez and Rupi Kaur. The recipes that inspire them relate to their work and everything they fought for.
Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds, by Hetty Lui McKinnon, Knopf, $54
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Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon.
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The prolific food writer (The New York Times, Bon Appétit, The Guardian)’s latest cookbook continues to explore her love of vegetables in all forms – it was written in part in memory of her late father, who worked in a fruit wholesaler’s vegetable market and would shower the family with produce. Though she’s been a vegetarian for more than 25 years — she even has a newsletter called To Vegetables with Love on Substack — she says her plant-based recipes are truly egalitarian — for anyone who enjoys a flavorful, veggie-heavy meal. No labels required.
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