I love cookbooks. Even if I don’t plan to use them often, they seem like such pieces of art. I remember going through my grandmother’s collection on a weekly basis, just looking at the photos and daydreaming about making such fancy things. After I earned my Master’s degree in publishing, my dream jobs were to either work in publicity for a romance imprint or for a cookbook imprint. Kissing and food are my favorite things in life.
I also happen to follow Chrissy Teigen on Twitter. I think she’s so smart and funny. Also…try not to drool over her food blog. So when I heard that she was coming out with a cookbook, Cravings, I knew I had to have it, which is a big deal because I haven’t experienced a “had to have it” book in a while.
The book came out toward the end of February and I remember texting the Cute Boy™ (we’d been dating about a month and a half at that point) if he wanted to get this cookbook with me, and then we’d cook something from it for dinner that night. Anything that involves food, he’s on board.
So I grabbed the book and we flipped through it before settling on one of the most intimidating recipes: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Sage, listed in an aptly named chapter: “Things That Intimidate People But Shouldn’t.”
Though the process seemed arduous, it was fun. And while my little pillows looked like they’d been heavily slept on, they were so delicious.
Since that recipe, making things from Cravings became a regular occurrence. We’ve made dinners and snacks and side dishes. Her cheesy guacamole recipe is one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten. I’ve made it for parties, for dinner to put on her Capon’s Chrissy Burger, or just to devour on my own. To put it plainly, I’ve given this cookbook a very thorough test drive.
If you’re curious about the meat and potatoes (heh) of the book, the chapters are as follows:
Breakfast All Day
Soupmaster
Salads (For When You Need Them)
Noodles and Carbs
Thai Mom
Party Time
Sh*t On Toast
Vegetable Things
Things That Intimidate People But Shouldn’t
Supper
Plus there are the pre-recipe stuff like general cooking information and post-recipe stuff like the acknowledgments and index. (Sidenote: I love a nicely structured index.)
While so far, everything I’ve (or we, if the Cute Boy™ is involved) has been pretty tasty. We’ve fudged a couple things, but made notes how to alter the recipes for our own tastes – less pepper here or small burger patties because my stove is temperamental. But the main thing I love about this cookbook is its personality. It’s something I felt that is lacking in a lot of the cookbooks I’ve acquired.
While I adore my behemoth Good Housekeeping Illustrated cookbook, it’s pretty dry.
The introduction is funny and touching, as well as all of the photos inside with Chrissy and her family. Each recipe has a quick, entertaining paragraph. Take this one for Cauliflower Mash with Roasted Garlic and Ricotta:
Whenever anyone asks me what my diet secret is, I say one word: trickery. So much of my life is tricking myself into thinking I am getting that so-desired dish that I can’t actually have at the moment.
Potatoes are my heart and soul. I get a physical and emotional rush when potatoes are making their way down my gullet. Sometimes I can’t have potatoes and so I mash cauliflower instead. But dare I say I almost prefer these fake-ass mashed potatoes? Actually, you know what, they are different and I need them both. They are my sister wives. My creamy, garlic sister wives.
And I can vouch that this cauliflower mash is pretty similar to mashed potatoes, though Cute Boy™ almost ended our relationship because I am a chunky mash over creamy mash sort of girl. And well…he has no clue what he’s missing by daring to choose creamy mash.
This book isn’t perfect though, at least not for me. I don’t eat seafood and I have a huge sweet tooth. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of seafood dishes on account of Chrissy’s mother being Thai. And I was really disappointed by the lack of a desserts chapter, but if Chrissy were to ever put out a baking cookbook, I’d be all over it.
If you’re interested in a copy of Cravings for your very own (and I hope you are because it’s officially my favorite book in my cookbook collection), I have an extra one that I’d love to give away! And we will send you a very special Smart Bitchin’ in Your Kitchen apron, too!
Standard disclaimers apply: Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. A sharp knife is a safe knife. Anything involving gnocchi is automatically 200% more awesome. Keep all your bits and bobs covered in case of any grease splatter. Comments will close at noon on Friday 17 June 2016 and winners will be announced shortly afterward.
Also, I will be traveling until the 24th, so the book and apron won’t be mailed until the week of the 27th!
Good luck and happy cooking!
ETA: 17 JUNE – We have a winner! Congratulations to Christina, keeper of the Eet Smakelijk cookbook, who has won our giveaway! Thank you to everyone who entered!
This book is available from:
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
I really enjoy Deb Perelman’s “The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.” Also, if you like a healthy dose of memoir or personal essays with your recipes, Molly Wizenberg’s “A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table” and Melissa Clark’s “In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories about the Food You Love” are both wonderful.
Finally, I love Amy Sedaris’s “I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence.”
Love a contest that includes a whole mess of cookbook recommendations.
Isa Does It, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz has a permanent place on my counter. My husband is a lactose-intolerant vegetarian (I will stuff my face with whatever you put in front of me) so vegan cookbooks are a thing in our house. I love this one because the recipes are mostly weeknight friendly and she doesn’t put tofu in every freaking thing. It also has great pictures and a little bit of sass.
Also her pancake recipe is hands down the best one I’ve ever tried, vegan or otherwise.
For the science class nerd of my soul New Best Recipe cook book by Cooks Illustrated can’t be beat. They apply the scientific method to recipes, testing and refining until they make the very best meatloaf, or tomato vinagrette pasta salad, or burger. Better, they tell you about their process and preferences, so that if yours differ (I like a soupier risotto) you can adjust accordingly. They also are keen to lessen the hassle (“this was delicious, but it took three pots and four hours. We could improve.”) Great reading, great teaching too.
Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is practically my go-to for any baked good I’m going to make or feel like drooling over. For pure enjoyment, I love Cooking Comically.
I reviewed Too Blessed to Stress by Deborah M. Coty last winter and for the most part I enjoyed it, although I somehow screwed up the Banana Pudding. There is definitely a lot of personality to her writing and she used a lot of personal anecdotes throughout the book. The one thing that did bug me is that it is a Christian cookbook and it does sometime come off as judgmental. You can read about that here: http://www.mylittlebookcorner.com/2015/12/romance-and-recipes-review-of-blessed.html
The Joy the Baker blog is my favorite for cooking with a little sass. Another favorite is Pioneer Woman, although the conversational tone within the cookbook isn’t the same. Thanks for the review, I’d been eyeballing this and now it looks like I’ll have to get it!
Budget Bytes! Simple in some ways, but so helpful.
I enjoy The Hungry Girl cookbooks. She has a lot of single serving recipes which are nice for a single gal. She also has “trickery” in her recipes to help cut calories and increase portion sizes.
I love collecting the older cookbooks – from Junior Leagues long past to ones that mention your victory garden, and even kitschy ones like the old Jello cookbooks. One I found recently that’s probably easier for y’all to find is America’s Best Lost Recipes – it’s by the editors of Cook’s Country magazine, and it has a lot of old recipes I’ve come across in my old cookbook-hunting, but with a few improvements (sometimes).
My red-and-white-checkered Better Homes & Gardens cookbook gets a ton of use for the tried-and-true basics…
I love all of Alton Brown’s books, but I get the most use out of the Good Eats companion books – they’re as useful & fun as the show!
If you’re still beginner-ish at baking or just like doctoring up mixes, I haven’t gone wrong with a Cake Mix Doctor book yet. She did a Meals Doctor book that was pretty good too, now that I think about it…
The Southern Living yearly collections are go-tos for me as well, especially if I need more casserole inspirations…
If anybody has any taking-a-tour-of-the-Hispanic-grocery-store-type books to recommend, I’m all ears! Googling unfamiliar products/labels doesn’t always bring up the most helpful stuff, and I’m eager to explore and create new things…..
Thug Kitchen!! It’s meatless but if you’re feelin’ like eating cleaner check it out!
My favorite cookbook is Pie by Ken Haedrich (https://smile.amazon.com/Pie-Tried-True-Delicious-Homemade/dp/155832254X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0). I don’t know if it has a sassy personality, but Haedrich has tried all kinds of methods for making the pies and has sections that detail the ways he finds work best. But he also gives you outs for when you don’t really have 8 hours to make a pie. As a pie enthusiast (my daughter and I have done several “summer of pies” where we make a different pie pretty much every week during her summer vacation), I really love the variety in this book. And it’s not too intimidating: most of the recipes are beginner to moderate in degree of difficulty.
I like Are You Hungry Tonight? It’s a book of Elvis’s favorite recipes.
Loved Doris Greenspan’s French food book, but to be honest, I only read it and didn’t cook from it. But it was beautiful! My go-tos for cooking are my Southern Living and Cooking Light annual collections. I also love every America’s Test Kitchen book I’ve tried.
I have a copy of In The Kitchen with Rosie: Oprah’s Favorite Recipes by Rosie Daley. Can’t speak for the entire (very) small book, but it does have one of the best-tasting baked fried chicken recipes I’ve ever eaten.
I’m currently reading The Indian Slow Cooker by Anupy Singla, Baking with Mary Berry and Skinny Taste by Gina Homolka- I love her blog. So far my biggest objection to the book is that it doesn’t contain many of my favorite recipes.
My mother has a cookbook she bought section by section as a newlywed in 1955 from the local grocery store. I think it may be by Betty Crocker but don’t hold me to it as the cover came off years ago. However, it is the repository of some of my favorite recipes for Swiss Steak and Sweet & Sour Pork. She also has the Cooky Book someone else mentioned upthread. This amuses me as it’s the only time in my life (I’m 47) that I can recall anyone else even knowing it existed. I, too, looked through that book dreamily every holiday season.
Lord but I wish I hadn’t read the comments because my library doesn’t have all the books I now want. Boo hiss. Like my book budget doesn’t get abused on a weekly basis already because of this site, now I’m adding cookbooks. Ye gods.
You have to get your hands on a copy of Thug Kitchen – officially my favourite cookbook because it is not only SUPER allergy friendly and my family has ALL the allergies, but it is hilarious to read as well. The tagline is ‘eat like you give a fuck’ and trust me, all the fucks will be given. http://www.thugkitchen.com/
I just want to say I lived across the hall from John Legend before he was super-famous. He was lovely and a good neighbor, and Chrissie (who he was dating) was funny and ravishing.
As for a recommendation, I enjoy the very first Jewish cookbook published in America, which is still in print! “Jewish Cookery Book on Principles of Economy Adapted for Jewish Housekeepers with Medicinal Recipes and Other Valuable Information Relative to Housekeeping and Domestic Management” (Philadelphia: 1871)! It’s not, uh, all that useful as a cookbook, but it’s a fascinating read.
frog commissary! Hands down, most amazing carrot cake recipe. I use recipes out of this book so often.
They have a espresso chocolate walnut muffin that I have dreams about.
The answer to the question you ALWAYS ask yourself is within the pages of this wonderful book!
What the F*@# Should I Make for Dinner?: The Answers to Life’s Everyday Question (in 50 F*@#ing Recipes) By: Zach Golden
The Foodstamp Gourmet by William Brown came out in 1971. It helped me learn to cook with limited income and the cartoon illustrations are a hoot. The cost per servings are dated but good food on a limited budget is still a worthy goal
I love My Barcelona Kitchen – the recipes and photos take me right back to Barcelona. I also love anything by Ina… She is a goddess, not just a Barefoot Contessa.
I love the Smitten Kitchen cookbook! I follow her blog and go there for a lot of inspiration, but it’s nice to have a book with lovely photos (that cover desserts!). I really enjoy desserts and I feel that she shines in that area.
I also like the the Flour cookbook. Flour is a local cafe in Boston so I enjoy the idea of making some of their classics at home.
One that I love that I doubt is findable is The Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Yorktown, Sk, Cookbook. So many good recipes from both sides of my heritage (Ukrainian and Icelandic) plus eight pages of recipes for homemade wine.
As far as commercial cookbooks, I love my Moosewood Cookbook which I have had for decades and still use all the time.
I love all the Junior League, Friends of the Library, Women’s Bridge Club, Golf Club, and Book Club Cookbooks. They always have family and regional recipes, frequently with a story to go with them.
My Mother bought me the Time, Life Cookbook Series when I was a teenager. I don’t think I ever cooked out of them but I loved the pictures.
I like the Thug Kitchen cookbook. Bought it for my vegetarian boyfriend – some great vegetarian recipes that aren’t boring.
I LOVE to cook, and one of my go to cookbooks, with some personality is The Can’t Cookbook 100+ recipes for the absolutely terrified! by Jessica Seinfeld. I think it’s a great cookbook for beginners as well as people who cook all of the time.
Not to be taken too serious as far as the actual recipes go, but Ruby Ann’s Down Home Trailer Park Cookbook by Ruby Ann Boxcar is a fun read through. Stock up on Velveeta, yo!
I love The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. He has a great column by the same name on Serious Eats, but I always know hat he has tested everything rigorously, checking each variable, to best optimize the recipe! Really appeals to me as a scientist.
I love love love the New Midwestern Kitchen by Amy Theilen. Fun and interesting to read with creative recipes
The only thing that takes up more shelf space than my romance collection, is my cookbook collection. And of those you will pry from my cold dead hands: Julia Child’s How to Cook, because Julia. Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible for perfect instructions and science, and all of Alton Brown’s Good Eats compilations which cannot be beat for personality. All the recipes, plus show notes and science.
Ruth Reichel’s books are good for tasty recipes and stories
I love so many!! Aromas of Aleppo
One of my favourites is called FINGER FOOD. Hot, cold, sweet, savoury.
Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller. Oh, ye of extremely fancy restaurants, teaching you his homestyle basics, including a roast chicken, and how to butterfly a chicken. I love it.
I’m no cook, but I still enjoy a good cook book. I like the children’s book Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by Mollie Katzen. (It’s about my speed!)
Personally, I love any of Alton Brown’s cookbooks. He manages to make cooking both science-y and funny, which is amazing. Plus, he leads you down the path of basic cooking techniques until you find yourself making dishes you never thought possible. I love his mandate that any kitchen tool worth its keep should have more than one use. To this day, I use a melon baller to scoop out the core of a halved apple, just as Alton demonstrated.
My dad has a well-worn copy of Dom DeLuise’s Eat This…It will make you feel better that he uses when he wants make something special. He gave me a copy when I got married. I enjoy reading the stories of Dom and his friends (Mel Brooks, Rob Reiner, Burt Reynolds) and his Mama (the inspiration for most of the recipes and the book title).
I love the Best of Chef at Home… Michael Smith is a Canadian chef but his recipes are super easy, mostly quick and tasty.
Go, look http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7013584-the-best-of-chef-at-home you know you’re going to want to buy it!
Annabel langbein is a kiwi chef and her books are awesome! She has insane stories of when she was a possum trapper in her youth and when she lived up a river and farmed all her own food. Great tasty dishes!
Jamie Oliver – just about any of them.
I love that he’s not ashamed to open a packet or tin of something. I like that he’ll use mugs as measures for flour and water etc in recipes and I like that he’s about creating healthy food that doesn’t cost the earth and will also give you recipes for how to use up the leftovers.
I’m an aspiring baker, so I really like the Pastry book by Michel Roux. It has a lot of very involved things that I don’t really see myself making, but the techniques are great. 🙂 Also, yay for my first ever comment on here! 😀
I love Thug Kitchen to get ideas for adding more veggies. Real Life Paleo has great recipes and is organized so well. If you’re looking for a one pot dish or a quick meal you can find exactly what you want and it’s all relatively healthy!