The Cookbooks We Loved Most from 2020 (2024)

The Barbuto Cookbook by Jonathan Waxman

Sixteen years after James Beard Award-winning chef Jonathan Waxman first opened Barbuto, the critically-acclaimed Californian-Italian restaurant finally has its own cookbook. As a pioneer in the “market-driven” food movement emphasizing local and sustainable ingredients, Waxman offers at-home chefs a chance to learn from his culinary ethos through the dishes that have defined his career. Inside, find adapted home recipes for the signature JW roast chicken, kale salad with anchovy vinaigrette and pecorino, and pasta carbonara. The book also chronicles Waxman’s upbringing in California and formative travels to Italy and France, along with the extraordinary cast of characters—including Sarah Jessica Parker, Katie Couric, and Bella Hadid—that have made Barbuto a New York City institution.

In Bibi’s Kitchen by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen

The powerhouse duo of Somali chef Hawa Hassan and writer-recipe developer Julia Turshen have created a cookbook truly unlike any other. Framed through Hassan’s personal and culinary narrative, the book shares recipes from eight bibis, or grandmothers, from eight different spice-rich East African countries that touch the Indian ocean: South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, and Eritrea. In Bibi’s Kitchen is a tribute to generational wisdom, a reflection on war and immigration, and a celebration of exceptional women—like Ma Shara, who offers a taste of “the real Zanzibar” through her ajemi bread with carrots and green pepper, and Ma Gehennet, who shares recipes for Eritrean flatbread and chickpea stew. The book’s photography was shot on location, and generous personal anecdotes and historical context make it as effective a travel book as it is a cookbook.

Good Book of Southern Baking by Kelly Fields and Kate Heddings

If you are among those who turned to baking during this era of self-isolation, this seminal volume of Southern breads, biscuits, cakes, pies, and cobblers is for you. Compiling more than 100 of her best recipes, James Beard Award winner Kelly Fields of New Orleans’ Willa Jean invites budding bakers to dive into personal memories of her Low Country upbringing before donning an apron to tackle recipes passed down through multiple generations of her family. (Think the titular Willa Jean cornbread, classic buttermilk panna cotta, and a stunningly good peach pie.) Note that this is not a book for the faint of heart, but rest assured you’ll walk away with at least some of the technical mastery that has solidified Field’s reputation as one of America’s foremost pastry chefs.

Lemongrass & Lime by Leah Cohen with Stephanie Banyas

In her debut cookbook, Leah Cohen, the Top Chef alum and chef-owner of New York City’s acclaimed Pig & Khao, offers readers a look at the most essential dishes of Southeast Asia. Cohen, who is half-Filipino, taps into her numerous vacations and research trips across the region to share some 125 dishes and drinks that stood out to her, from Vietnamese pho noodle soup to Burmese eggplant salad and Filipino spring rolls. Lemongrass & Lime chronicles Cohen’s own journey starting from her early days in culinary school to her time as a successful restaurateur—sharing plenty of kitchen lessons along the way. By the time you’re done, you’ll surely know your way around the most iconic Southeast Asian ingredients, including fish sauce, shrimp paste, and coconut milk.

Beyond the North Wind by Darra Goldstein

Frequent misconceptions about Russian culture (and its cuisine) inspire Goldstein, a scholar who’s been traveling to Russia for 50 years, to pen this homage to the country “in recipes and lore.” The book is a treasure trove of underrepresented yet time-honored Russian homestyle recipes hailing largely from the northwestern part of the country and favoring whole grains and fermentation techniques. Recipes range from savory hand pies and homemade cheese to blini buckwheat pancakes and even infused vodkas. But Beyond the North Wind is also an educational work, with Goldstein contextualizing Russian foods through historical events—rejecting mainstream notions of Russian food as the Soviet-era foods of convenience or the French dishes imported during the reign of Peter the Great. Goldstein’s greatest feat here might be challenging readers to consider Russia in ways they’d never expected to, harnessing that great nostalgic power of food to foster understanding between cultures.

Chaat by Maneet Chauhan

James Beard Award-winning celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan has become a household name and one of America’s foremost authorities on Indian cooking. The Chopped judge and owner of Nashville’s is also a recognized cookbook author. Her third and latest cookbook is inspired by an epic 600-dish, cross-country journey that Chauhan took through India as well as her childhood and early adulthood memories. The name of the book, which refers to a broad category of South Asian street snacks, speaks to its focus on India’s most essential and elemental food traditions. Chauhan invites readers to traverse the vast Indian subcontinent with regional recipes ranging from Goan fried shrimp turnovers to northern Indian chicken momo dumplings and a comprehensive selection of classic street-style potato fritter dishes. Sharply photographed and narrated by Chauhan’s authoritative voice, Chaat will be appreciated by lovers of food and travel alike.

East by Meera Sodha

Building off the success of her “New Vegan” Guardian column, London-based writer Meera Sodha offers this refreshingly global take on plant-based and plant-forward dining. Divorcing veganism from its association with the wellness movement, Sodha explores meat-free curries, salads, and noodles from across Asia, with recipes from India, Indonesia, Japan, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Practicality is at the heart of this cookbook, with fast-and-easy weeknight dinners like roasted paneer aloo gobi and Sodha’s family recipe for a brunch-friendly masala omelette. Forget everything you know about vegan food with this aspirational yet accessible guide for the home cook.

Xi’an Famous Foods by Jason Wang

Since opening as a humble northwestern Chinese food stand in Flushing, Queens 15 years ago, Xi’an has been a revolutionary force in expanding American understanding of China’s regional culinary diversity. Spotlighting the fiery flavors from its namesake region, Xi’an, Xi’an Famous Foods is as much a Chinese cookbook as it is a New York City cookbook, showcasing recipes for the restaurant’s bona fide classics like hand-pulled biang biang noodles and flat bread stuffed with caramelized pork. Superfans of the brand will appreciate founder Jason Wang’s voice and the honest retelling of his family’s unexpected yet meteoric success in the restaurant industry: They now own 10 locations across three boroughs.

Falastin by Samin Tamimi and Tara Wigley

In one of the year’s most exciting new cookbooks, the Ottolenghi restaurants’ executive chef Samin Tamimi and longtime collaborator Tara Wigley take readers on a sumptuous exploration of Palestinian culture and history. The name of the book comes from the local pronunciation of Palestine. Many of the book’s 120 recipes are personal, like the chicken musakhan—an open-faced flatbread of chicken quartered and lacquered in olive oil and spices—which Tamimi’s mother made once a week during his childhood. Vegetarian-friendly options are plentiful, as are convivial dishes meant for sharing, including a standout chickpea hummus and a colorful, customizable shawarma spread. For dessert, consider the fragrant, flaky feta-kataifi pastry dessert drizzled generously in orange blossom water. User-friendly and stunningly rendered, Falastin is an instant modern classic for the dialed-in home cook.

The Oregon Farm Table Cookbook by Karista Bennett

Journey to the Pacific Northwest through this cookbook inspired by the rich natural bounty of Oregon, from its grass-fed beef and fresh-caught salmon to its homegrown apples and local wine. With a culinary ethos shaped heavily by local terroir, the Beaver State has become known for its family-owned farms, ranches, and vineyards as well as small food artisans. Paying tribute to local producers Bob’s Red Mill and restaurants like Newport’s Local Ocean Seafood, the book is filled with rich personal memories made over meals and colorful profiles of key players. Among its 101 recipes, find Oregon-centric dishes both savory (Dungeness crab salad sandwiches, beer-braised pork roast) and sweet (hazelnut-butterscotch chip cookies). Now all you have to do is figure out which big, bold Willamette Valley red to pair with your dinner.

Dishoom by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, and Naved Nasir

London’s Dishoom, which has grown from a single outpost to several across the U.K., is easily one of our favorite Indian restaurants in the city. Their Bombay-style comfort food (think: fluffy naan, jackfruit biryani, and spiced masala chai) is worth the flight alone. And now, thanks to their first-ever cookbook, you can make it all at home. The bright blue tome is also packed with stories from Dishoom's chefs, all set in south Bombay, so even if your daal doesn’t turn out just like theirs, you’ll be transported nonetheless.

The Turkish Cookbook by Musa Daĝdeviren

As one of Istanbul’s most acclaimed chefs, Daĝdeviren is the person you want to learn about Turkish cuisine from. Not only is he the man behind the iconic Çiya restaurant in the capital, but he and his wife also run a foundation that works to recover Turkish culinary heritage. It’s no surprise that this cookbook, filled with 550 recipes from every corner of Turkey, is somewhat of an encyclopedia of the country’s cuisine. From grilled meats to sweet pastries, everything, despite the complexity in flavor, is still very accessible for the average home chef. Consider it like The Joy of Cooking, but Turkish.

The Phoenicia Diner Cookbook by Mike Cioffi, Chris Bradley, and Sara B. Franklin

New Yorkers love to escape upstate to the Catskill mountains—and the fresh air is only half the reason to do so. The Phoenicia Diner, known for its modernized American classics, is the other motivator for renting a car and making the schlep. In the diner’s cookbook, you’ll find a handful of their best recipes, spanning breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus heartfelt essays that look at the Catskills over the years. And trust us: No matter how far you are from The Phoenicia Diner itself, dishes like their cider-braised duck and grits or classic buttermilk pancakes will have you ready to make the drive.

Jubilee by Toni Tipton-Martin

Chef Toni Tipton-Martin has spent her career illuminating the richness of African American cuisine, and this latest cookbook brings it all to light in one beautiful hardcover. “I have tried to end dependency on the labels of 'Southern' and 'soul,'” Tipton-Martin writes in the James Beard–award-winning book’s introduction, “and on the assumptions that limit my ancestors’ contributions to mindlessly working the fields where food was grown, stirring the pot where the food was cooked, and passively serving food in the homes of the master class.” The book features more than 100 recipes, from seafood gumbo to baked ham glazed with Champagne, borne out of African American kitchens throughout the U.S. over the past two centuries. Throughout, shared right beside the recipes, are crucial history lessons, making the final product a holistic, delicious celebration of African American cooking.

Sababa by Adeena Sussman

For an American understanding of Israeli cooking, Adenna Sussman is the person to turn to. Before moving to Tel Aviv in 2015, the American food writer spent much of her life to that point traveling to Israel. Now, she’s sharing everything she learned—from how to navigate Tel Aviv’s bustling Carmel Market, to which street food snacks to nosh on—back to the rest of us stateside. Inside Sababa are 125 recipes, from bright salads, to ambitious mezze spreads, to delicate desserts like tahini caramel tarts. Sussman’s colorful recipes, paired with peeks into her life abroad, are a journey in themselves.

The Food of Sichuan by Fuschia Dunlop

Fushcia Dunlop’s hefty new release can hardly be called just a cookbook—the 480-page manual is decades in the making. Nearly 20 years after her Land of Plenty cookbook, which many considered the end-all-be-all guidebook to Sichuan cooking, Dunlop has added 70 new recipes to her original batch in this new tome. The book dives into dishes like mapo tofu and handmade dumplings, and manages to make them approachable for the rest of us. Most notably, the detailed recipes and drool-inducing photos are surrounded by notes on the culture and history behind them, including a deep understanding of regional complexities.

American Sfoglino by Evan Funke with Katie Parla

Many of us are guilty of it: visiting Italy, eating life-altering pasta, and coming home determined to turn the kitchen into a cucina dedicated to fresh noodles and an endless supply of table wine. That is, until you realize you have no idea how to hand-make pasta. Or dough. Are you supposed to buy a pasta machine? This book, my friends, is for you. Chef Evan Funke, with help from food writer (and Traveler contributor) Katie Parla, spells out everything you need to know to make delicate pasta just like you had in Italy. And no, you don’t need a pasta machine, and it won’t be that hard. The entire book is written with a deep appreciation for the art of pasta making, and for the Bolognese chefs Funke originally learned from.

Made in Mexico by Danny Mena, with Nils Bernstein

A trip to Mexico City is worth it for the food alone, thanks to the city’s ubiquitous street food and destination restaurants like Pujol and Contramar. There were many exciting Mexican cookbooks this year that brought those flavors stateside—including ones from the chefs behind both of those buzzy restaurants, Enrique Olvera and Gabriela Camara—but we love Danny Mena's Made in Mexico because it draws inspiration from the many wonderful restaurants, street stalls, and markets that make Mexico’s foodscape what it is. In it, you’ll find recipes for every kind of taco, salsa, breakfast, street snack, dessert, and even hearty mains. The book itself is also half city guide, given that chef Mena literally walks you through his favorite haunts in the city before getting their recipes, making it killer intel for a future trip.

Tartine: A Classic Revisited by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson

If you’re more of a sweet than savory person, then you’re probably familiar with Tartine, the San Francisco bakery known for their pilgrimage-inspiring pastries (their sweet morning buns have a cult following). More than a decade ago, the chefs behind Tartine released their first cookbook, which was jam-packed with their most-requested recipes. Now that classic volume has received a beautiful update, complete with stunning photographs from Gentl + Hyers. Inside you’ll find everything from matcha-glazed croissants to bacon and egg brioche buns—and of course, the secret to those morning buns. It’ll help you bring the taste of Tartine home; or, as Stephanie Wu, Traveler’s articles director says, it’ll just make you realize you want to fly to San Francisco ASAP.

Black Sea by Caroline Eden

Trust a travel writer to deliver a cookbook that infuses a sense of place into every page. In Caroline Eden’s Black Sea: Dispatches and Recipes, Through Darkness and Light, she takes readers through Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey as she explores the ties and distinctions between each of those cuisines and culinary cultures. As a longtime specialist in the region, Eden is able to deliver a depth of context that few other outsiders could. Eden takes the time to dive into how certain dishes came to be, and highlights encounters with those who eat or prepare them everyday. You’ll find, for example, a recipe for borscht, with the story behind the borscht rebellion. You’ll also find comparisons between similar dishes like the Romanian covrigi and the Turkish simit. If the moody, fascinating Black Sea region has ever tugged at you, this book will absolutely do you in.

Vietnamese Food Any Day by Andrea Nguyen

Nguyen’s past cookbooks like Into the Vietnamese Kitchen The Banh Mi Handbook, have received recognition from the James Beard Foundation. So, it’s no surprise that her latest has been flying off the shelves—and onto countless best cookbook roundups since it came out earlier this year. In her latest, Nguyen shows cooks how to pull together Vietnamese dishes without having to source hard-to-find ingredients, pulling from recipes that her family fled Saigon with, and using improvised techniques her mom devised once they reached the States. The result is 240 colorful pages of the dishes that have made Vietnam a modern-day foodie hub, from Vietnamese coffee to crispy bánh xèo crepes. Once you decide you do have to go to the source, the hardest part will be deciding which region of Vietnam’s diverse culinary landscape to start with.