Kosher Style: Over 100 Jewish Recipes for the Modern Cook by Amy Rosen (Appetite)
For those seeking more culinary chutzpah, James Beard Award-nominated, award-winning journalist Amy Rosen channels the matriarchs of Jewish kitchens to bring you the ultimate collection of knishes, latkes and matzo ball soup. Whether or not you have your own bubbe or nana to cook for you, Kosher Style delivers more than 100 kosher recipes for everyone who loves to cook — and eat.
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Kitchen Party: Effortless Recipes for Every Occasion by Mary Berg (Appetite)
After winning season three of MasterChef Canada and launching Mary’s Kitchen Crush on CTV earlier this year, Mary Berg has rolled out her very first cookbook — a collection of inspiring, yet totally doable recipes for those of us who love to feed people. Like Mary herself, Kitchen Party aims to make both cook and guests comfortable in the kitchen, no matter how many people you’ll have around the table.
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Living High off the Hog by Michael Olson (Appetite)
Walking culinary encyclopedia, meat whisperer and collector of vintage deli slicers, chef Michael Olson has poured more than 30 years of knowledge into a book dedicated entirely to the noble pig. It’s a wealth of wit and great ideas that goes far beyond sausage and ribs; Olson goes whole-hog with Crispy Pork Hocks, Bacon Okonomiyaki, and even a Whole Roast Beast.
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Gather: A Dirty Apron Cookbook by David Robertson (Figure 1)
For the past decade, chef David Robertson has taught thousands of locals and visitors how to cook at The Dirty Apron Cooking School in Vancouver. In Gather, 80 of his greatest hits focus on the best of the West — think Spanish-style Grilled Octopus with Lemon Aioli, and Grilled King Oyster Mushrooms and Asparagus with Sauce Gribiche — with world flavours and simple, but detailed instructions that will help you cook like a chef.
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Tawaw: Progressive Indigenous Cuisine by Shane Chartrand and Jennifer Cockrall-King (Ambrosia)
In Cree, tawaw [ta-wow] means, “Welcome, there is room”. Chef Shane Chartrand’s first cookbook is a compilation of personal stories and recipes that utilize Indigenous ingredients with a focus on central Alberta, on Treaty 6 territory, where he was raised hunting, fishing and foraging with his family. While the recipes, which feature such ingredients as pheasant, bison, wild rice, stinging nettles and Kusshi Oysters, have a modern-fine dining style, they offer insight into the culinary traditions of other First Nations across Canada, which Chartrand seeks out as he travels across the country to learn first-hand in their kitchens.
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Rocky Mountain Cooking: Recipes to Bring Canada’s Backcountry Home by Katie Mitzel (Appetite)
Chef Katie Mitzel has spent the past two decades cooking in remote backcountry lodges in the Canadian Rockies; she draws inspiration from grassy peaks and glacial lakes to create dishes to fuel appetites worked up by the great outdoors. Ingredients are grocery store familiar (and basic enough to transport to her kitchen by horseback, snowmobile or chopper) and yes, there are Grainy Trail Cookies, but also Baked Halibut with Scallops and Asparagus, and Lavender Buttermilk Cake.
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Fraiche Food, Full Hearts: A Collection of Recipes for Every Day and Casual Celebrations by Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer (Penguin Random House)
Because most of us love parties, but don’t love being overwhelmed by the pressure to pull off the perfect one, lifestyle personality and HGTV star Jillian Harris partnered with her cousin, registered dietitian Tori Wesszer, to compile a gorgeous collection of all-occasion, plant-focused recipes (there’s fish and seafood, but no chicken, beef or pork) for people who have families to feed every day, but also enjoy hosting something grander once in awhile. There’s a West Coast Eggs Benny for fancier brunches, Tempeh Burritos, a Fancy Mushroom Wellington, and Tori’s Thin Crust Pizza for pizza night.
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Burdock & Co: Poetic Recipes Inspired by Ocean, Land & Air, by Andrea Carlson (Appetite)
Chef-owner Andrea Carlson of the award-winning Burdock & Co in Vancouver is a pioneer of Pacific Northwest cuisine; her first book is as ingredient-driven as her restaurant, conveying a strong sense of place. It’s a gorgeous serenade to all that is fished, foraged, raised and grown on the West Coast, with even a nod to the uniqueness of the forest air, with a chapter dedicated to the ferments intrinsic to Burdock. It’s a book well suited to the culinarily adventurous, and those in a position to source ingredients such as Pacific scallops (Carlson prefers the ones from Desolation Sound), lichen and morels.
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Cedar and Salt: Vancouver Island Recipes from Forest, Farm, Field, and Sea by Emily Lycopolus and D.L. Acken (Touchwood)
It’s easy to be inspired by the terroir on and around Vancouver Island, but Salt Spring Island and Victoria food writers D.L. Acken and Emily Lycopolus do a spectacular job of gathering it all up and putting it on a pedestal. Divided into four sections — forest, field, farm and sea — it’s beautifully designed and photographed, calm and uncluttered, exactly the kind of book I want to cook from. And while it’s unpretentious and completely approachable (Bannock and Easy Blackberry Freezer Jam! Valley Farmer Pot Pies!), it also offers watercolour illustrations of the island’s edible mushrooms, a recipe for indigo-coloured Green Tea and Blue Algae Ice Cream, and instructions on how to make your own salt out of seawater.
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Duchess at Home: Sweet & Savoury Recipes from My Home to Yours by Giselle Courteau (Appetite)
There are lineups out the door every day at Duchess Bakeshop in Edmonton. But co-founder (and much celebrated pastry chef) Giselle Courteau also has a family to feed at home, and since they can’t (or shouldn’t) live on croissants alone, she compiled a book of real meals inspired by her French-Canadian heritage. There’s the famous grainy breakfast bowl from their sister restaurant, Café Linnea, and a stunning tourtière from the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec. And though the baked goods are slightly less intimidating than some of the impressive pastries in the bakery and her first book, the Maple Syrup Pie and Pouding Chômeur, Chocolate Liège Waffles and Galettes are every bit as delicious as everything else that keeps people coming back for more.
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