8 Cookbooks We're Looking Forward To This Fall
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Fall is full of promise and wonder — promises of "the snowmageddon to end all others," wondering why people argue about Thanksgiving food, etc. But the one thing fall reliably brings each year (besides apples) is a cornucopia of cookbooks that will gently direct you from light, vegetarian summer fare right back into the braiser where it's warm, cozy and full of meat.
While there are literally a hundred worthy titles hitting shelves over the next couple of months, these 8 really stand out to us. Nothing inspires us like the glorious new age of Jewish deli sandwiches, cleaning and properly cooking that which we hunt and finally enjoying the pleasures of Modernist Cuisine at home — no centrifuges needed. Put your orders in for these helpful volumes; they'll have the Food Republic stamp of approval as soon as our stamps get here.
The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food From Hash to Hamantaschen, Noah and Rae Bernamoff
Release date: September 4th
You've always wanted to make that smoky, tender brisket sandwich just like you get at the Jewish deli — the sad shreds of pastrami you get at the supermarket won't do the trick. Thankfully, Noah and Rae Bernamoff, co-owners of Brooklyn's tiny but powerful Mile End, compiled all the most important staples of Jewish deli cuisine into one impressive tome — appetizers, soups, the whole magillah. The only downside: you'll be hungry again in two weeks.
Meat Eater: Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter, Steven Rinella
Release date: September 4th
Chances are you're not much of a hunter, but the idea's always appealed to you. Enter Meat Eater, a memoir packed with bizarre and inspiring tales of the hunt, the clean, the skin and...yes, the Montana Testicle Festival. Hey, are you going to clean your kill like a man or not? Steven Rinella, whose Sportsman Channel TV show shares the same name as his must-have book, has been a hunter, fisherman and general getter-of-game-meat just about his whole life. So we trust him.
This Is A Cookbook: Recipes For Real Life, Max and Eli Sussman
Release date: September 10th
We're big fans of the Sussman brothers — Max is chef de cuisine at Brooklyn pizza mecca Roberta's, and Eli is a line cook at the abovementioned Mile End Delicatessen (as well as the author of our weekly column, AdSnacking). What's impressive is that this is the 20-somethings' second cookbook, a follow-up to their blog-to-book Freshmen in the Kitchen, a beginner's guide to tackling that area of the house. Fried grape salad with blue cheese? You can handle that.
Afield: A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish, Jesse Griffiths
Release date: September 18th
Doves: not just for magicians and weddings anymore. Now they're good eats, thanks to Dai Due Butcher Shop and Supper Club co-owner and chef Jesse Griffiths, a mainstay of the Austin fine dining scene. Everything you want to know about hyper-locavorism can be found in this book of stories, recipes and how-tos that will take you from couch potato to wild boar hunter in no time. Well...maybe a little time.
Saltie: A Cookbook, Caroline Fidanza, Anna Dunn, Rebecca Collerton, and Elizabeth Schula
Release date: September 26th
Avast, you lily-livered scallawags! And other things pirates might say about a cookbook by the women of Saltie, nautically themed restaurant-slash-sandwich shop in Brooklyn's ever-trendy Williamsburg. Actually we have no idea what a pirate would say about a cookbook. We say: prepare for the best sandwiches, salads and soups this end of the plank. We've been waiting for this cookbook longer than those hip kids have been waiting in line.
Baking Out Loud: Fun Desserts With Big Flavors, Hedy Goldsmith
Release date: October 2nd
Hedy Goldsmith, pastry chef and beyond at Michael's Geniune in Miami, has achieved the impossible: exciting and fun new dessert recipes we really, really, really want to make. Finally, Goldsmith's much sought-after recipes are available to the masses. We can only hope we do them justice. Homemade Snickers bars, red velvet Twinkies and giant sesame fortune cookies, here we come!
Come In, We're Closed: An Invitation To Staff Meals At The World's Best Restaurants, Christine Carroll and Jody Eddy with Ferran Adrià
Release date: October 2nd
If you've ever worked at even a remotely upscale restaurant, you know that staff meals, hastily eaten before the shift, usually consist of pasta with "leftover stuff" and all the bread you can eat. Not so in the world-famous kitchens of Ad Hoc, The Fat Duck, Uchi and others. Those servers are eating every bit as well as you are — the fennel fronds just haven't been tweezed onto their plates as intricately. Take a peek at the food that fuels these haute serveurs as they eloquently recite the 32 local vegetables that went into that salad of yours. Food Republic readers will also notice the co-author Jody Eddy's name from our annual coverage of the MAD Symposium.
Modernist Cuisine At Home, Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet
Release date: October 8th
We can only wonder how long it took after the original Modernist Cuisine series' release for the authors to realize the set isn't exactly...portable. I hauled my review copy, complete with lucite case, up five flights of stairs, and then back down to the post office when I was done. It was like losing a vital organ. This tome is a mere 456 pages and 400 recipes, very much scaled down from the 5-volume, 4,000-pound original. What's in Modernist Cuisine, Jr.? 7 wing recipes you've never tried, guerrilla sous-viding and a magical gravy that never separates. As far as the price tag, roughly a bill and a half...well, these are the kinds of deductions my accountant likes to call me out on. Nick, I DO need this book. Okay? Need.
Michael Symon's Carnivore: 120 Recipes For Meat Lovers, Michael Symon
Release date: October 16th
When Michael Symon's not proclaiming himself to be the next Whoopi Goldberg (just watch this FR exclusive video), he's cooking meat — a lot of meat. We're thrilled he's funneled the recipes too carnivorous for Live To Cook, his first book, into this collection of everything beef, lamb, poultry, woodland critters and pork. We can only hope pig ears are in there. You've always wanted to know how to fry 'em up good. Symon is the man to teach you how.
Thanksgiving: How To Cook It Well, Sam Sifton
Release date: October 23rd
Charming, old-school Cooks Illustrated-style illustrations liven up The New York Times' Sam Sifton's take on the well-cooked Thanksgiving meal. The beauty in this slim book is in its simplicity: no grenadine shellac on the poor bird, no deconstructed pumpkin flan cheesecake. Just creamed brussels sprouts, maple glazed carrots, sausage and cornbread stuffing and all the other comforting classics you actually want on your table, done right the first time. Call that cousin who just bought an expensive molecular gastronomy kit and let her know the cranberry caviar is off.