Year of fun in cooking world
Ella Walker looks back at the tastiest cookbooks of 2021
New cookbooks were one of the things that brought us joy in 2021. The best were packed full of delicious ideas and, if you missed out, grabbing hold of one now and riffling through its pages might be the most inspiring way to begin 2022.
Cookbooks got really fun in the past 12 months. On first look, Max’s Picnic Book by sandwichmaker extraordinaire Max Halley (co-authored with Ben Benton), doesn’t make much sense – it’s filled with goofy imaginary picnic menus for the likes of Mary Berry, Hunter S. Thompson, Ringo Starr and Debbie McGee. But delve further and it’s packed with inventive picnic ideas that will blow your mind.
Rapper and presenter Big Zuu’s cookbook, Big Eats, has heart, punchy recipes and a lot of roux (he is the king of a good roux), while TikTok chef Poppy O’Toole released her debut cookbook, Poppy Cooks – a delicious, practical and uplifting manual to cooking great, reliable staples that will see you through life.
Recipe collections have also increasingly come with a conscience. Ripe Figs by Yasmin Khan is as much reportage on the refugee crisis affecting the Eastern Mediterranean as it is a cookbook. One: Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones focused on cutting kitchen waste and stretching veg to its full potential, while One Pot: Three Ways by Rachel Ama elevated vegan food and helped busy people maximise leftovers. Some huge names took it upon themselves to make home cooking comforting and easy too. Rome-based Rachel Roddy solved many a weeknight supper dilemma with An A-Z Of Pasta; Rick Stein opened up about what he eats day-to-day in Rick Stein At Home; Gordon Ramsay translated his live lockdown cook-alongs into full-on family cookbook, Ramsay In 10; while the legend that is Claudia Roden returned with the triumphant Med: A Cookbook.
Here are three more cookbooks you might have missed… 1. Sugar, I Love You by Ravneet Gill (Pavilion, £20)
Sugar, I Love you is a technicolour follow-up to Ravneet Gill’s debut cookbook The Pastry
Chef ’s Guide, and it’s excellent.
2. Your Home Izakaya by Tim Anderson (Hardie Grant, £25)
Your Home Izakaya was put together by the MasterChef winner during lockdown, and it’s a guide to turning your home into a social and welcoming Japanese-style ‘drinking-and-dining den’.
3. At Home by Monica Galetti (Aster, £20)
It’s a simple premise: chef Monica Galetti’s favourite recipes for friends and family – and it is just so well executed, a sense of calm and ease seems to permeate every page. The MasterChef judge and restaurateur has split the book into relatable sections, like ‘weekends’, ‘chilled out breakfasts’ and ‘the perfect Sunday’, and adds inspired twists to classics.