One of the things I love to do is cook and bake. I don’t like to make elaborate meals, because I don’t have time for that nonsense, but I like to make good, fresh eats. In fact, I keep threatening promising some folks on twitter that because I buy so many cookbooks, I should probably start reviewing them on Clear Eyes, Full Shelves.
Here are a few of my recommendations for books to gift to your favorite home cook.
Books by Mark Bittman
I’m a big fan of Mark Bittman’s style of simple, flavorful cooking. My favorite of his books is How to Cook Everything: Vegetarian (which includes the secret to the perfect mac & cheese), but the newly-reissued Basics cookbook is extra nice with loads of great photos. The Basics books would be a particularly thoughtful gift for someone just starting out, because the recipes are largely budget-friendly.
Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
Plenty is a Chronicle book, which means even if the recipes weren’t awesome, the book is absolutely beautiful. But, I’ve cooked many recipes from this book and they’ve turned out wonderfully—my favorite is for the Malaysian stir fry, which taught me how to properly stir fry noodles.