cookbooks

Are we entering the era of the D.I.Y. cookbook? We first told you about Middlewest, a Chicago-based production that produces each issue of their "magazine" as a series of recipe cards. And now comes word of Short Stack — a small-format publication edited by Nick Fauchald (formerly of Food & Wine and Tasting Table). He's lauching with three "stacks" — short recipe books inspired by a single ingredient. The series is currently trying to raise $50,000 in 30 days – ending June 16 – via Kickstarter. And, gosh, you really should fund it..

It's almost time for the James Beard Awards, that magical time of year when all the people whose jobs you want get together to decide who did their awesome job most awesomely. We like the Beard Awards — we'll be live-tweeting and Instagramming from the event. And in the meantime, we're proud to have a few recipes from nominated cookbooks on Food Republic. The deconstructed carbonara is just insane. 

With the advent of spring, we unearth the salad bowls, scrub off the grills, shoo away any subsequent animals who set up shop in there for the winter (you'd be surprised) and tuck our braisers safely away for the many gloriously warm months ahead. Yes, it's spring cookbook time and we've got a veritable library of fresh tomes to cook our way through. Here are 8 we can't get enough of.