Cookbook Comeback

This blog post contributed by writer and BookGive volunteer, Tori Henson.

During the many months of Covid restrictions, I tried exactly four new recipes. When my friends were posting photos of exquisitely prepared lock-down meals, I was rotating through tried-and-true staples that required as little mental energy as possible.

Maybe this was you, too?

At the height of the Covid-19 outbreak last year—a time when our country and the world were shutting down and turning inward—food became a comforting source of connection. A wave of new food shows released, including The Great British Baking Show and Taste of the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, exploring food culture and baking catharsis when people needed that connection the most.

While restaurants were creatively struggling to remain open and uncertain supply chains left shelves empty in grocery stores, many people turned to TV, cookbooks, online recipes and YouTube to find solace and inspiration. For some, like me, cooking was not a source of relief at all. Given the stress of a pandemic, I was surprised to see friends and family taking this opportunity to explore new and familiar flavors in their own kitchens.

My mother is one who dove head-first into lock-down food exploration, downloading cookbooks from the library and testing countless new recipes. She even carved out time to cook and deliver a monthly meal to me—an act of love and a desire to see me nourished in a world that felt uncertain and bleak. The meals that she brought to me were a mixture of comfort foods from growing up, food that sustained me for decades before I ever had to puzzle through the contents in my own refrigerator, and new gems she discovered on her own 2020 cooking journey.

Now that our community is starting to venture out again, I’m finding the mental space and energy I lacked last year. Standing in my kitchen, I wondered what recipes people discovered in the pandemic that have turned into house favorites. I reached out to my family and friends for inspiration and they were eager to share.

Below you’ll find a list of cookbooks that sustained, nourished, and inspired my friends and family over the last year. If you, like me, are crawling out of the cooking funk, here is a list to get your culinary juices flowing:

• Cooking for Jeffrey by Ina Garten: This cookbook is a collection of favorite dishes that Ina Garten’s husband Jeffrey and their friends request most often. Recommended Recipes: Skillet-Roasted Lemon Chicken and Bourbon Honey Cake
• Mostly Plants by Tracy, Dana, Lori, and Corky Pollan. Written by Michael Pollan’s sisters and mom, this cookbook highlights recipes that are healthy and flavorful. Recipes with meat and fish are included in this cookbook, but the spotlight is on the vegetables. Recommended Recipe: Buddha Bowl with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Spiced Chickpeas, and Chard

• Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck. Featuring 524 recipes and over 100 instructive illustrations to guide readers every step of the way, Mastering the Art of French Cooking offers an in-depth exploration of French cooking. Recommended Recipe: French Onion Soup
• Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat. Master the four elements of food—Salt, Fat, Acid, and Heat—and anything you cook will be delicious. Recommended Recipe: Crispiest Spatchcocked Chicken
• Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz. Dessert Person offers a mixture of sweet and savory recipes. Claire Saffitz outlines the problems and solutions for each recipe as well as practical do’s and don’ts, skill level, prep and bake time, step-by-step photography, and foundational know-how. Recommended Recipe: Malted Forever Brownies
• Simply Julia: 110 Easy Recipes for Healthy Comfort Food by Julia Turshen. Beloved New York Times bestselling cookbook author Julia Turshen returns with her first collection of recipes featuring a healthier take on the simple, satisfying comfort food for which she’s known. Recommended Recipe: Kale + Mushroom Pot Pie

This last listing, Simply Julia, is the highlighted book for this month’s BookBar Cookbook Book Club. Recently, BookBar staff member, Becky tried a few recipes and had this to say about the recipe we suggest, Kale + Mushroom Pot Pie: The components were easy to put together and the dish was really rich and filling! I’d absolutely make this one again.

If you’d like to participate in the BookBar Cookbook BookClub, it’s easy! Each month, a new cookbook is highlighted, inviting our community to cook and connect – virtually!  To jump in this month, try recipes from Simply Julia by Julia Turshen, then share pictures and comments about what you made on any social media platform. Be sure to tag us @bookbardenver, and use the hashtag #BookBarCookClub. 

You can always check here to see what cookbook the community is talking about.

Sneak reveal! Next month’s book is Cook This Book by Molly Baz.

Whether you cooked your way through the pandemic or are just venturing back into the kitchen, I hope these cookbooks and recommended recipes inspire and nourish you on your cooking journey.