4 Books to a Creative Cooking Habit
Artwork by Betsy Freeman. All rights reserved.
Applying creativity to cooking transforms a chore into a delicious healthy habit. Engaging, sensual, and satisfying— Yes to that, every flipping day.
Maintaining a steady diet of outside inspiration while messing around with new skills is key to consistency. A few books can help here.
I piled through an absurd number of cookbooks as I developed The One & Done Cookbook. I found shelves of repeats masked in their corresponding decade trends (ie the dark ages of low-fat dieting or the endless blobby illustrations of late). Per the request of my mini SF apartment, I’m only allowed a few keepers.
These are the books I continue to reference and the ones I gift to new and seasoned home cooks alike.
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
Samin Nosrat translated the inner workings of a food savant into practical principles that make for successful cooking experimentation. In the words of tech-bros everywhere, “10X your cooking bro!”
The One & Done Cookbook
Nearly-shameless plug, I do use my own cookbook a few times a week. Honestly, I wrote these recipes for myself. Each recipe has variation ideas that make creative cooking fun and fail-safe. If I’m too tired to riff, I know the baseline version will be easy and delicious.
I feel regularly creative in the kitchen when I’m confident and relaxed. This will be good, this will be healthy. I can do this.
The Vegetarian Flavor Bible
Eternal gratitude to Karen Page for delivering the universe flavor combinations to mere mortals. Take any ingredient and open up to the accompanying page of hundreds (not joking) of success-guaranteed combinations. This book is not a starting place. Consider it a great way to mix up familiar food.
Cook Without A Book
A seasoned chef and recipe developer, Pam Anderson shared her expertise to master a few foundational dishes. Disclaimer, this book is comprehensive to the point of decision fatigue, so perhaps consider it a weekend read. However, if you want to hop off the crutch of measuring every last ingredient, give this book a whirl.