4 new cookbooks that bring creativity to the kitchen

“Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen” by Gonzalo Guzman with Stacy Adimando (Ten Speed Press, $30)

Gonzalo Guzman is the chef and soul of San Francisco’s Nopalito restaurants. For people who may never dine at either of the Veracruz native’s hot spots, his first cookbook is a primer on fromscratch Mexican classics.

A good number of the seminal books on south-of-the-border cuisine have been authored by non-natives like Rick Bayless and Diana Kennedy.

Happily, “Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen,” despite being put together by a West Coast chef and a Brooklyn co-author, feels as wholly authentic as the masa and salsas that are so lovingly annotated within.

This is not a collection of gonein-a-minute, flash-in-the-pan recipes that will be outdated before the first corn of spring. It’s more a kitchen workhorse that I will turn to again and again, should I want to concoct chilaquiles or birria or tamales.

Many is the cook who reaches for a can of chipotles in adobo; Guzman makes his own, not to mention his own corn flour, queso fresco, chorizo and other staples.

I always thought the way to cook carnitas was to boil the butt, slice it into chunks and fry. That’s not Guzman’s method. He boils a 5-pound shoulder in 4 pounds of lard, then adds a little milk, a little beer, a little brown sugar — for a braise that renders the pork golden brown, crunchy, gently sweet.

Having just written a story on tortillas and crafted my first salsa macha, I’m intrigued by the authoritative chapters on the intricacies of the iconic, unleavened flatbread of Mexico and the multitude of chiles and salsas for adding complexity and flavor.

I’m also smitten by Guzman’s Oaxacan Horchata, which calls for drizzling the almond-andrice elixir with fresh strawberry syrup. Ay caramba! That’s quite a pretty drink, perfect for spring.

“Fruit” by Nancie McDermott and “Corn” by Tema Flanagan (below) (UNC Press, $20)

North Carolina food writer Nancie McDermott gets a gold star for including mayhaws in “Fruit.” Her delightful little volume is one of two new titles in the University of North Carolina Press’ ongoing Savor the South series. (The other is “Corn,” which we’ll shuck in a minute.) But mayhaws? Who knew that McDermott knew of the tiny, apple-like berries that grow in the wetlands of the Deep South? I remember my mama wading into snaky waters or gliding out on a boat to scoop up the coveted cranberry-size berries with a fishnet. We made them into jelly, which McDermott cleverly concocts into a glaze for meatballs and melts into barbecue sauce.

The author of two of my most treasured go-to dessert books, “Southern Pies” and “Southern Cakes,” she surprises us here with fruits most of us don’t know how to handle: persimmons, pawpaws, quince. Good idea, McDermott. We’ve plenty of recipes for peaches and strawberries already.

I’m intrigued by cantaloupe pickles and preserves, offered in recipes like Bill Neal’s Persimmon Pound Cake and his Elegant Persimmon Pudding; Pawpaw Ice Cream and Pawpaw Caramel Sauce; and Moroccan-Inspired Lamb Stew with Quince.

Moving on to Tema Flanagan’s ode to corn. Lend me your ear.

After a concise history of maize, the Alabama writer and farmer gives us chapters titled “On and off the Cob,” “Dried and Ground” (you know, grits and meal), “Nixtamalized and Popped” (hominy and the movie staple) and “Mashed and Fermented” (bourbon). As it happens, the chapters get shorter as she goes along.

I’m horrified that anyone would add sugar to creamed corn, or garlic to grits. But Flanagan redeems herself with the likes of Blistered Corn and Green Onion Hushpuppies, Chicken and Peppered Cornmeal Dumplings, Rustic Cornmeal Tart with Peaches and Blackberries, Hominy Hummus and Popcorn Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce.

Back to naked corn: For my money, the best way to cook corn on the cob is to steam it in its own husk in the microwave. (Boiling takes out the flavor.) You won’t find that method here, so allow me: Trim off each end, tear off the coarse outer shucks to leave a thin layer of light green, and zap it for about three minutes. (Or as one friend says: “Until you smell it.”)

Then the shucks and silks come off like a dream. You’ll want to stand at the kitchen counter, snarfing ear after ear. My brother grows the best sweet corn there is, and that’s how we do it. Trust me on this kernel of truth.

“Scraps, Wilt & Weeds: Turning Wasted Food Into Plenty” by Mads Refslund and Tama Matsuoka Wong (Grand Central Publishing, $35)

Mads Refslund grew up in Denmark, where prolonged, bleak winters inspire clever habits of preserving, saving and recycling food.

“It is normal to eat all parts and scraps, wasting little,” the Danish chef writes in his new book. “So maybe it’s more about a way of life that makes people feel rich, turning garbage into gold.”

Such a background makes Refslund, a co-founder of the wildly influential Copenhagen restaurant Noma, an ideal spokesman for food-waste awareness and the so-called Trash Cooking Movement.

This book tells you how to turn every lettuce leaf, apple peel and fish bone into the stuff of culinary discovery.

Perhaps you throw coffee grounds away every day. Did you know they can be repurposed as biscotti, ice cream, panna cotta and other edibles?

Oddments of fruits, vegetables, grains, seafood and so forth that we normally discard: All are ripe for transforming into salsas, vinaigrettes, dried snacks, chips, salads, veggie burgers, pasta, pesto, dumplings, rice dishes, infused oils, vinegars, garnishes, powders, teas, sweets and cocktails.

“Scraps, Wilt + Weeds” is smartly organized into sections based on ingredients and comes with candid comments from its recipe testers. So if you’re wondering what to do with leftover beet, carrot and citrus pulp, cheese rinds, spent herbs and fish heads, the answers are here.

Do some of the recipes sound weird? Absolutely. But much more common are beautiful, vibrant solutions on how to honor that eternal adage: Waste not, want not. And eat like a Nordic superstar chef while you’re at it.