Our Fall Cookbook Must-Haves

Cookbook lovers, clear some space on the shelf. It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year: fall cookbook season. Every autumn, publishers release stacks on stacks of cookbooks just in time for the holiday season, and, as ever, this year is a doozy. Here are some highlights, but these only scratch the surface of 2017’s new releases. Stay tuned for much, much more.

All the Cookbooks We're Looking Forward to This Summer

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The New Every Day

These are not your grandmother’s all-purpose cookbooks. Modern cookbook authors are reinventing the genre, including this fall’s Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman and Alison Roman’s Dining In. Because dinner can, in fact, taste good and be fun to make every night of the week.

Something in the Oven

Bread is a big theme for fall, with a number of intriguing titles coming out. First is the absolute mammoth, 5-volume Modernist Bread by Nathan Myhrvold, which, while certain to be thorough, is arguably not everyone’s loaf of bread at a list price of $625. There’s also no-knead master Jim Lahey’s Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook, which focuses on breads made with a sourdough starter, as well as Zingerman’s Bakehouse by Amy Emberling and Frank Carollo, who share bread recipes and sweeter treats from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Get Your Gadgets

Into Instant Pots? Slow cooker superfan? These kitchen helpers are getting a star turn with cookbooks from big names, including Dinner in an Instant by Melissa Clark of the New York Times, and The Chef and the Slow Cooker by Georgia chef Hugh Acheson.

Around the World

Some of the world’s best cuisines will get some shine this fall. Mamushka author Olia Hercules investigates the foods of her family’s heritage in Kaukasis, while Andy Ricker tips a few back in his second cookbook, The Drinking Food of Thailand. Meanwhile, in Italy, husband-and-wife team Gabriele Corcos and Debi Mazar offer Super Tuscan, and Serena Cosmo promises to teach you the ins and outs of 400 different pasta shapes in The Ultimate Pasta and Noodle Book.

Closer to Home

As far as US regional books go, the Homesick Texan herself, Lisa Fain, offers an ode to melty cheese with Queso!, while New England chef Matt Jennings looks at the foods of the Northeast in Homegrown, and The Washington Post’s Joe Yonan explores recipes from America’s best chefs in [America the Great Cookbook]. What I'm most excited for, though, is Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman’s The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, which promises to be an invaluable resource on indigenous cuisine.

The Restaurant Crowd

Every fall sees plenty of chef and restaurant cookbooks, and 2017 is no exception. Be on the lookout for titles from Night + Market, Eleven Madison Park, Kachka, The Juhu Beach Club, State Bird Provisions, and Joule. And a special shouts to celebrated Chicago chef Paul Kahan, whose Cheers to the Publican is much antcipated, as well as Wylie Dufresne’s long-awaited wd~50.

The Nightcap

And, finally, let's not forget about the booze books. Autumn’s top two titles? 3-Ingredient Cocktails by Robert Simonson (aka the cocktail book you’ve always wished you had) and Meehan’s Bartender Manual by Jim Meehan, which is aimed at professionals, but promises to be a good insight into the world of bartending.

Happy cookbook season, everyone!

What cookbooks are you looking forward to this season? Tell me in the comments!