Kitchen + Dining

From a Maui native and food blogger comes a gorgeous cookbook of 85 fresh and sunny recipes reflects the major cultures that have influenced local Hawaiʻi food over time: Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Filipino, and Western.

IACP AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR AND LIBRARY JOURNAL

In Aloha Kitchen, Alana Kysar takes you into the homes, restaurants, and farms of Hawaiʻi, exploring the cultural and agricultural influences that have made dishes like plate lunch and poke crave-worthy culinary sensations with locals and mainlanders alike. Interweaving regional history, local knowledge, and the aloha spirit, Kysar introduces local Hawaiʻi staples like saimin, loco moco, shave ice, and shoyu chicken, tracing their geographic origin and history on the islands. As a Maui native, Kysar’s roots inform deep insights on Hawaiʻi’s multiethnic culture and food history. In Aloha Kitchen, she shares recipes that Hawaiʻi locals have made their own, blending cultural influences to arrive at the rich tradition of local Hawaiʻi cuisine. With transporting photography, accessible recipes, and engaging writing, Kysar paints an intimate and enlightening portrait of Hawaiʻi and its cultural heritage.

Hardcover | Ten Speed Press | 240 pages

 

Ama finds inspiration from regional Mexican cuisine and beyond with influences from the American South, Germany, Poland, and Morocco to help you bring more diverse and delicious flavors into your kitchen.

Bring big and bold Tex-Mex flavor to the table: Tex-Mex is a delicious, irreverent cuisine that combines the deep traditions of Texan and Mexican cooking. Think meaty stews, breakfast tacos, tres leches cake, crunchy salads, slow-cooked meats, and fresh cocktails—home cooks will learn how to make them all.

• Features over 100 recipes from San Antonio native and Los Angeles chef and restauranteur Josef Centeno
• Organized into chapters by type of food—including breakfast, vegetables, main courses, desserts, and a super nacho party—so it's easy to find your go-to recipe for any occasion
• Presented in a colorful package with more than 100 food and atmospheric photos that are bright, mouthwatering, and truly inspiring.

Ama offers a collection of recipes that represents down-home cooking and grilling at its most inspiring. Fans of Taqueria, Tartine, and American Sfoglino will also enjoy the cultural delights found in this Tex-Mex cookbook.

Appetizing recipes featured in Ama include Huevos Rancheros, Carne Guisada, Ama's Guacamole, Blueberry Cobbler, and so many more.

This cookbook is a hands-on winner for anyone who loves big flavors, casual parties, and firing up the grill.

Josef Centeno is the chef-owner of the Centeno Group, which includes the award-winning restaurants Bäco Mercat, Bar Amá, and more. He is the co-author of the cookbook Bäco. Betty Hallock is a journalist, food writer, and former deputy food editor of the Los Angeles Times. She is the co-author of Bäco. Ren Fuller is a Los Angeles–based food and lifestyle photographer.

 

Hardcover | Chronicle | 272 pages

 

 

Hardcover | Harvest | 352 pages

 

An Everlasting Meal

Cooking with Economy and Grace

Author: Tamar Adler

In An Everlasting Meal, Tamar Adler has written a book that “reads less like a cookbook than like a recipe for a delicious life” (New York magazine).

In this meditation on cooking and eating, Tamar Adler weaves philosophy and instruction into approachable lessons on feeding ourselves well. An Everlasting Meal demonstrates the implicit frugality in cooking. In essays on forgotten skills such as boiling, suggestions for what to do when cooking seems like a chore, and strategies for preparing, storing, and transforming ingredients for a week’s worth of satisfying, delicious meals, Tamar reminds us of the practical pleasures of eating. She explains what cooks in the world’s great kitchens know: that the best meals rely on the ends of the meals that came before them. With that in mind, she shows how we often throw away the bones, skins, and peels we need to make our food both more affordable and better. She also reminds readers that almost all kitchen mistakes can be remedied. Summoning respectable meals from the humblest ingredients, Tamar breathes life into the belief that we can start cooking from wherever we are, with whatever we have.

An empowering, indispensable work, An Everlasting Meal is an elegant testimony to the value of cooking.

Paperback | Scribner | 272 pages

The “queen of Indian cooking" (Saveur), Madhur Jaffrey helped introduce generations of American home cooks to the foods of the subcontinent. In An Invitation to Indian Cooking—widely considered one of the best cookbooks of all time and enshrined in the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Hall of Fame—Jaffrey gives readers a sweeping survey of the rich culinary traditions of her home.

Living in London and homesick, she was prompted to re-create the dishes of her Delhi childhood. Jaffrey taught herself the art of Indian cuisine and, in this groundbreaking book, she shares those lessons with us all. Featuring more than 160 recipes, the book covers everything from appetizers, soups, vegetables, and meats to fish, chutneys, breads, desserts, and more.

An instant classic upon publication, An Invitation to Indian Cooking teaches home cooks perfect renditions of dishes such as Mulligatawny Soup, Whole Wheat Samosas, and Chicken Biryani, alongside Green Beans with Mustard, Khitcherie Unda (scrambled eggs, Indian style), and Nargisi Kofta (large meatballs stuffed with hard-boiled eggs). From recipes for formal occasions to the making of everyday staples such as dals, pickles, and relishes, Jaffrey’s “invitation” has proved irresistible for generations of American home cooks.

Beautifully redesigned—and featuring a new foreword by the author and a new introduction by superfan, Yotam Ottolenghi—this anniversary edition celebrates An Invitation to Indian Cooking’s half a century as the go-to text on Indian cooking.

Hardcover | Knopf | 352 pages

 

Award-winning food writer Sumayya Usmani's stunning memoir conjures a story of what it was like growing up in Pakistan and how the women in her life inspired her to trust her instincts in the kitchen.

From a young age, food was Sumayya's portal to nurturing, love and self-expression. She spent the first eight years of her life at sea, with a father who captained merchant ships and a mother who preferred to cook for the family herself on a tiny electric stove in their cabin rather than eat in the officer's mess.

When the family moved to Karachi, Sumayya grew up torn between the social expectations of life as a young girl in Pakistan, and the inspiration she felt in the kitchen, watching her mother, and her Nani Mummy (maternal grandmother) and Dadi's (paternal grandmother) confidence, intuition and effortless ability to build complex, layered flavours in their cooking.

This evocative and moving food memoir – which includes the most meaningful recipes of Sumayya's childhood – tells the story of how Sumayya's self-belief grew throughout her young life, allowing her to trust her instincts and find her own path between the expectations of following in her father's footsteps as a lawyer and the pressures of a Pakistani woman's presumed place in the household. Gradually, through the warmth of her family life, the meaning of 'andaza' comes to her: that the flavour and meaning of a recipe is not a list of measured ingredients, but a feeling in your hands, as you let the elements of a meal come together through instinct and experience.

Recipes include:

• Nani Mummy's prawn karahi
• Potatoes with curry leaves and turmeric
• Chicken boti tikka, Bundoo Khan style
• Mummy's wedding-style chicken korma
• Bitter lemon, mustard seed and garlic pullao
• Dadi's banana and fennel seed gulgulay doughnut

 

Hardcover | Quarto | 312 pages

 

Brand: Anevay Stoves
Made In: Redruth - England
Full Height: 220mm
Top Diameter: 60mm
Top Diameter: 57mm
Weight: 336g

Brand: Anex
Made In: Constructed in Pakistan, finished in Sanjo, Japan
Materials: Stainless Steel
Length: 150mm
Weight: 21g

Brand: ANEX 兼古製作所
Made In: Constructed in Pakistan, finished in Sanjo, Japan
Material: Stainless Steel
Length: 140mm
Weight: 22g

Brand: ANEX 兼古製作所
Made In: Constructed in Pakistan, finished in Sanjo, Japan
Material: Stainless Steel
Length: 120mm
Weight: 12g

Brand: ANEX 兼古製作所
Made In: Constructed in Pakistan, finished in Sanjo, Japan
Material: Stainless Steel
Length: 165mm
Weight: 30g

Brand: ANEX 兼古製作所
Made In: Constructed in Pakistan, finished in Sanjo, Japan
Materials: Stainless Steel
Length: 178mm
Weight: 25g

Brand: ANEX 兼古製作所
Made In: Constructed in Pakistan, finished in Sanjo, Japan
Material: Stainless Steel
Length: 165mm
Weight: 30g

Hardcover | Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed  |  224 pages

 

Arabiyya

Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora

by Reem Assil.
Published by Ten Speed Press
Cover: Hardcover
Pages: 304

Hardcover | Harvest | 544 pages

 

The Art of Japanese Sword Polishing

Authors: Yoshindo Yoshihara, Yoshindo Yoshihara, Leon Kapp and Hiroko Kapp

From the publisher:

In The Art of the Japanese Sword, master swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara offers a detailed look at the entire process of Japanese sword making, including the finishing and appreciation of Japanese blades.

Japanese sword art stands out in many ways: functionality as a weapon, sophisticated metallurgy and metalsmithing, the shape of the blade itself--all contribute to the beauty of these remarkable weapons. The Art of the Japanese Sword conveys to the reader Japanese samurai sword history and Japanese sword care, as well as explaining how to view and appreciate a blade.

With 256 full-color pages, this sword book illustrates in meticulous detail how modern craftsmen use traditional methods to prepare their steel, forge the sword and create the unique hardened edge. By gaining a good understanding of how a sword is made, the reader will be able to appreciate the samurai sword more fully. Topics include:

• Appreciating the Japanese sword
• History of the Japanese sword
• Traditional Japanese steelmaking
• Making the sword
• Finishing the sword

About the authors:
Yoshindo Yoshihara is a third-generation swordsmith. His grandfather Kuniie began making swords in 1933 in Tokyo and was ranked among the top swordsmiths in Japan during his career. Yoshindo lives and works in Tokyo with his son, who represents the fourth generation of swordsmiths in the family. Yoshindo, who is always training young swordsmiths and currently has five apprentices working with him, has been named an Important Cultural Property of the city and prefecture of Tokyo and is a mukansa (top-ranked swordsmith) in Japan.

Leon Kapp, a molecular biologist, lives with his wife Hiroko in San Rafael, California. He has been seriously interested in Japanese swords for over twenty-five years and has spent a great deal of time learning about them from Yoshindo.

Hiroko Kapp is a writer for Senken Shimbun News of Tokyo and writes about fashion and the fashion industry in the US. She graduated from Musashi-no Art University in Tokyo. For twenty-five years, she was active in the apparel business and designed scarves for her own line in the US.

 

Tuttle Publishing | Hardcover | 256 pages

Oaxaca authors Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral are back with the first major cookbook about how to create asada—Mexican-style grilled meat—at home

In millions of backyards across Southern California, an asada means a gathering of family, friends, great music, cold drinks, good times, and community—all centered around the primal allure of juicy, smoky grilled meat with flavors and spices traditional to Mexico. The smell of asada is a cloud of joy that lingers in the streets of Los Angeles. With Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling, Mexican food authorities and the authors of Oaxaca, Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral, are back with more than 100 recipes that show you how to prepare the right dishes and drinks for your next carne asada gathering. Asada will both guide you in crafting mouthwatering food and inspire the right laidback atmosphere.

Everyone says they love a spicy margarita and asada tacos, but very few understand the culture that informs these flavors. Divided into the eight crucial elements of any carne asada: botanas (appetizers), carnes (meats), mariscos (seafood), side dishes and vegetables, salsas, aguas frescas, cocktails, and dessert, Asada walks you through every step. From Lopez’s secret “michelada marinade” to game-changing salsas that will elevate any grilled meat, this cookbook is the ultimate guide to making and beginning to understand the magic of asada.

Hardcover | Abrams Books | 272 pages

 

 

While bok choy is now a staple on Western grocery store shelves, other Asian vegetables remain unknown--even though they're delicious, nutritious, and easy to grow in northern climates. Caroline, Stâephanie, and Patricia Ho-Yi Wang, three sisters of Cantonese descent, have made it their mission to introduce gardeners, cooks, and vegetable lovers of all flavours to wider sources of sustenance. Organized around fifteen Asian vegetables that are presented according to the rhythm of the seasons, this lush, full-colour book offers advice on growing and harvesting organic crops intended for both weekend and commercial gardeners, along with a host of ideas to preserve and prepare them, including forty or so recipes, some of which have been developed by renowned chefs. The Wang sisters complement the book's practical advice by offering thoughts on Asian vegetables from a cultural point of view and sharing the importance of these foods within their own family, members of whom left China to immigrate to Madagascar before settling in Quâebec. Asian Vegetables is a generous and gorgeous tribute to good food, to the land, and the importance of strong roots.

 

Hardcover | Ambrosia | 352 pages

 

Asma's Indian Kitchen

Home-Cooked Food Brought to You by Darjeeling Express

Author: Asma Khan 

Award-winning restaurant Darjeeling Express began life as a dinner party with friends; Indian food lovingly cooked from family recipes that go back generations. In this book, Asma reveals the secret to her success, telling her immigrant’s story and how food brought her home. The recipes pay homage to her royal Mughlai ancestry and follow the route of the Darjeeling Express train from the busy streets of Bengal, through Calcutta, where she grew up, and along the foothills of the Himalayas to Hyderabad.

Platters of dishes boasting texture and intense flavor encourage you to gather for a traditional dawaat (feast). Starting with simple midweek Feasts for Two, Asma then reveals the way to quick and easy cooking with less spice for Family Feasts. There are Feasts for Friends, for when you want to show off a little, and Celebratory Feasts. Many of the recipes are vegetarian, there are sweet treats and drinks, too, and all feature alongside lesser-known recipes and stories unique to Asma’s family.

This is more than just a collection of delicious and accessible recipes, it is a celebration of heritage, culture, community and quality. This is Asma’s Indian Kitchen.

Hardcover | Interlink Books | 192 Pages