Food for thought: The best cookbooks for elevating your dinner party game
The essential guide to filling your kitchen bookshelf
You can’t beat a good, old cookbook. While the foodie reels on Instagram and TikTok are great for helping home chefs discover new recipes, kitchen hacks and flavour combinations, there’s a lot to be said for the importance of learning directly from some of the most famous chefs in the world – and that is often delivered in the form of a 300-page, hardback cookbook. From discovering flavours in Ottolenghi’s kitchen to learning about Bombay comfort food with Dishoom, here are the best cookbooks to buy now.
Ottolenghi Comfort by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
If you love Yotam Ottolenghi’s London restaurants and shops, you’re bound to love his (many) cookbooks. His latest work, Comfort, was the brainchild of four foodies –Ottolenghi, Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley – who all combine their own memories, childhoods, and travels to explore what comfort food means to them. The result? More than 100 recipes featuring new takes on pasta and potatoes, traybakes, noodles, curries, soups, and sweet things to create stand-out dishes such as caramelised onion orecchiette with hazelnuts and crispy sage, cheesy bread soup with Savoy cabbage and cavolo nero, and garlicky aligot potato with leeks and thyme. This is comfort food on a new level.
Vegetables: The Indian Way by Camellia Panjabi
Famous for launching some of London’s most loved Indian restaurants – including Chutney Mary, Amaya, Veeraswamy, and the four Masala Zones – Camellia Panjabi is one of India’s leading culinary personalities. Having written more than 10 cookbooks, her latest work focuses on the humble vegetable, which is a cornerstone of Indian cuisine. From baby aubergines cooked in nutty masala and crispy onion bhajia served with piping hot chai, to smoky jalfrezi paneer and home-style black dal, this cookbook highlights just how important these ingredients are to delicious homemade food. Featuring more than 120 recipes all arranged by vegetable type, this is a must-have book for autumn.
Mary 90: My Very Best Recipes by Mary Berry
Having written more than 80 books, Mary Berry is celebrating her 90th birthday with the launch of a new cookbook featuring a career-spanning collection of iconic, fuss-free recipes for every occasion, accompanied by her own stories and cherished family photographs. From sumptuous dishes like chicken coconut traybake and a freezer-friendly mac and cheese to delicious desserts like chocolate Baileys mousse and raspberry soufflé, the collection features a mix of brand-new recipes and beloved classics for every home cook.
Cooking for People by Mike Davies
Chef director Mike Davies – the man behind acclaimed South London institutions The Camberwell Arms and Frank’s Cafe – has released his highly-anticipated debut cookbook. A devout publican, Davies has spent the past decade perfecting the art of hosting and cooking at his award-winning eateries, and now, conceding to popular demand, his cookbook will share his cult-classic recipes to recreate at home. Cooking for People is organised into seasonal chapters, each featuring four carefully-curated menus with a range of centrepiece dishes. Unsure if you can live up to Davies’ level? The recipes are designed to be foolproof, accompanied by comprehensive cook’s notes, shopping lists, and prep schedules, ensuring an organised and happy host as well as wowed and well-fed guests. Recipe highlights include peppers Piedmontese, ’nduja squid with parsley salad and curried mussels on toast – yes, please.
Mildreds Easy Vegan
Plant-based London restaurant group, Mildreds, published its third cookbook, Mildreds Easy Vegan, in 2023 – but it remains a cult-favourite. Brought to life by chefs Sarah Wasserman and Alessandra Malacarne, the 115 recipes offer a perfect way to introduce more plants into meals, whether you follow a completely vegan diet or not. Standout dishes from the book include a beetroot tempeh smash burger, a light Thai basil salad with vegan prik nam pla, and a caramel cookie cheesecake: a no bake version of one of Mildreds’ long-standing best-selling desserts that can be put together at home in minutes.
Dishoom: From Bombay With Love
If you can’t get enough of Dishoom’s chilli cheese toast, naan rolls and famous chicken tikka, then the good news is you can finally make these dishes at home. Designed to complement the several Dishoom restaurants across the capital, from Soho to Shoreditch, the brand’s first cookbook, which was published in 2017, features more than 100 recipes inspired by Bombay comfort food. Must-try recipes include the famous masala chai (offered in each restaurant upon arrival) and the bacon naan roll for a breakfast treat, alongside black daal, okra fries, jackfruit biryani and lamb raan. Delicious.
An A-Z of Pasta by Rachel Roddy
Columnist and award-winning food writer Rachel Roddy has compiled everything she knows about Italian cooking – and, in particular, the pasta delicacy – to create a mouth-watering collection of easy homemade pasta recipes and perfect accompanying sauces. From rigatoni to ravioli, and tagliatelle to tortellini, learn about the history and culture of each pasta shape as well as how to roll, stretch, twist, and stuff. Sauce-wise, Roddy has recipes for the classics, such as pesto and ragu, to more advanced carbonaras. This is a cookbook you’ll be reaching for again and again.
The Roasting Tin by Rukmini Iyer
For fans of one-pot wonders, Rukmini Iyer’s array of cookbooks should have a prime spot on your bookshelf. The first book, The Roasting Tin, was published in 2017 and features 75 delicious one-dish dinners ranging from chicken tray bakes to supergrains. What followed was a collection of ‘tins’, ranging from sweet dessert recipes and meals from around the world, to speedy dishes and vegan and vegetarian dinners. The supremely clean aesthetic and photography is a delight too.
Table Manners: The Cookbook by Jessie and Lennie Ware
Inspired by the eponymous podcast, musician Jessie Ware and her social worker mother Lennie have put down the microphone to create a book of equally delicious recipes and funny anecdotes they think you’ll love. The book is divided into Effortless, A Bit More Effort, Summertime, Desserts and Baking (thanks to Jessie’s brother Alex), Chrismukkah (Christmas, Hanukkah and celebrations) and, of course, Jewish-ish Food. Each chapter is filled with traditional but crowd-pleasing recipes perfect for family dinners, featuring guaranteed hits such as sausage and bean casserole, drunken crouton and kale salad, and blackberry and custard tarts.
Hawksmoor: Restaurants and Recipes by Huw Gott and Will Beckett
Now with 13 restaurants under its name, with many making their home in the capital, Hawksmoor is praised for redefining the British steakhouse. An award-winning brand, this book by Huw Gott and Will Beckett takes readers back to the beginning, highlighting the restaurant’s passion for British food, revolving around charcoal-grilled steaks and seafood. From perfected Hawksmoor favourites, like mac’n’cheese and that viral steak slice, and from lobster slaw to big carnivorous sharing feasts, Hawksmoor: Restaurants and Recipes details the steps behind each dish alongside technical insights like how to cook the intimidating tomahawk steak. A perfect addition to the kitchen for all meat lovers.
Read more: The best steak restaurants in London
