Cookbook Club

The Books You'll Want to Pick Up for Our Cookbook Club This Fall

August 18, 2017

If you've been keeping up with our Cookbook Club, you already know that the books we cook through are self-selected by the group. And in an effort to plan ahead—especially for library reserving and book purchasing and shipping purposes—we held a vote last week to find out what books you all wanted to bake through in our Cookbook Club for the months ahead in. Today, the results are revealed!

Read on for the winning books, plus details on how to participate in the club:

Photo by Mark Weinberg

the books

Consider this our version of back-to-school fall shopping:


how to participate

If you're new to the Cookbook Club, here's a quick primer on how to join in the fun:

1) Get the Book(s)

Buy a book or two—they're available in our shop or from your favorite local bookstore. Or, if you’re not ready to commit quite yet, check them out from your local library or borrow a copy from a friend.

2) Read & Cook

Rather self-explanatory, as this is one of the most important parts of participating in a cookbook club, right? If you’re not sure where to begin, take a page out of our Cookbook Editor Ali Slagle's playbook. When she reviews a cookbook, she reads through the entire introduction as well as 15 headnotes and recipes, and then cooks at least three recipes.

3) Share Your Opinions

We chat in our Facebook group all month long! Join the Cookbook Club here and post pictures of what you bake from the books and share reviews, too. Fill everyone in on what you thought of the dish (remember to share the recipe name and even the page number, if possible). You can share photos on Instagram as well. Just remember to tag them with #f52cookbookclub.

We've been cooking our way through Melissa Clark's Dinner: Changing the Game this month, and will continue to do so until the end of August. Look for a recap with some of our community's game-changing dinners next week!

See what other Food52 readers are saying.

  • Upsidedownstrawberries
    Upsidedownstrawberries
  • jrzimmer
    jrzimmer
  • Threemoons
    Threemoons
  • Ashley Latimer
    Ashley Latimer
  • Kate
    Kate
I like esoteric facts about vegetables. Author of the IACP Award-nominated cookbook, Cooking with Scraps.

15 Comments

Upsidedownstrawberries September 24, 2017
A wonderful choice of books for the fall! It would be so great if we could also have an extra “bakers dozen” book for the year for the cookbook club, like the baking club does, it was a really great idea!
Someone like Ottolenghi, who we all seemed to adore and just couldn’t not get through all of his amazing recipes in one short month.
 
Lindsay-Jean H. September 24, 2017
We will have a bonus book for the Cookbook Club next year!
 
Upsidedownstrawberries September 25, 2017
That’s fantastic news!
This cookbook club has been the most wonderful idea ever. I’m an expat living in the Middle East and to be able to cook along and share our cooking experiences with people from all over the world is just amazing. I’ve discovered new authors and recipes that I may never have found. I really am so thankful 😊
I may have put on a few kilos over the past few months but my goodness it’s definitely worth it!
 
Lindsay-Jean H. September 25, 2017
I'm so happy to hear that, thank you for sharing! (Other than the kilos, but at least it's worth it :) )
 
jrzimmer August 21, 2017
Exciting! I am currently obsessing over Deepa's Secrets by Deepa Thomas (GORGEOUS, and a "slow carb" spin on Indian, for anyone watching insulin or refined carbs in general), so I'm interested to see how Made in India compares. Glad to see Indian cuisine won for "International" month, though! (I'm half Japanese half German...just super into these flavors and the antioxidants in the spices!)
 
Threemoons August 19, 2017
Pleased to say that I already own all of these! Can't wait to keep cooking along now that my stove finally got fixed!
 
Lindsay-Jean H. August 20, 2017
Hooray for a functional stove!
 
Threemoons August 21, 2017
Yep, worth the $500 for parts and labor for GE...sigh...at least it's guaranteed for 5 years (faulty relay on the breadboard for the digital control unit)....still, it's a rocking oven and I can't wait to do more delicate pastry in the lower heating/cookie drawer...
 
Ashley L. August 18, 2017
I can't wait! Just joined and am reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat to get prepared for September. :)
 
Kate August 18, 2017
Terrific choices!!
 
BocaCindi August 18, 2017
Wonderful!! It's hard not to make specific comments, but I'm not giving away anything. 😉
 
Lindsay-Jean H. August 18, 2017
Oh you can make specific comments here BocaCindi! We're just trying not to spoil the fun of the surprise on Facebook.
 
healthierkitchen August 18, 2017
Great choices!!
 
Veronica P. August 18, 2017
For once I already 3 out of the 4 cookbooks! I am so excited! I've been reading Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat as of late, so I'm curious how that will work as a cookbook club book considering you really need to read the first half before diving into the recipes. Hopefully it's great!
 
Bridget August 18, 2017
Fabulous line up, exciting months ahead for the cookbook club.