It’s cookbook season!
Fall, and thoughts turn to cider, pumpkins, turning leaves, and best of all: cookbooks! Autumn is cookbook season, when publishers release some of the most anticipated tomes of the entire year. This season’s crop promises to be an exciting one — even more important than ever, with everyone home and cooking more than ever before. Here are 7 of the most-anticipated cookbooks for fall 2020.
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The 7 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2020
1. Modern Comfort Food, by Ina Garten
Ina pushed up her comfort food cookbook’s publication date because, in her words, “We all need it ASAP.” True. Ina’s latest book (available October 6) covers everything you will want to eat this fall and winter, from cheesy chicken enchiladas to roasted sausage and peppers and lots more.
2. Cook With Me: 150 Recipes for the Home Cook, by Alex Guarnaschelli
Food Network celebrity aside, Alex Guarnaschelli is a legit amazing chef. This cookbook promises to be just the right mix of old-fashioned favorites — baked ziti and blueberry buckle — and more modern but accessible recipes like carrot soup and poached eggs and greens on cheddar biscuits. (Available October 13)
3. Pie Camp, by Kate McDermott
Fall means pie baking, and what better way to bake than with Kate McDermott’s new cookbook? Kate McDermott is a self-taught baker who developed a true talent for all things pie, keeping things down-to-earth but also inspirational. This cookbook takes a page from her popular pie-making classes, and digs into the techniques of pie making. There are also essential master recipes, charming riffs, and lots of pro tips. (Available October 6)
4. The Good Book of Southern Baking, by Kelly Fields with Kate Heddings
If the title alone isn’t enough, allow me to elaborate. Award-winning chef Kelly Fields, owner of the incredible Willa Jean restaurant in New Orleans, serves up a thick recipe book of all the best baked goods: seven types of biscuits (from angel to sweet potato to dog), muffins, quick breads, cobblers, pies, layer cakes, puddings, cookies, bars, turnovers, and frostings. I’m very excited about this one. (Available September 8)
5. Flavor, by Yotam Ottolenghi
Buying an Ottolenghi cookbook is generally a no-brainer. This one promises to be equally essential. Flavor‘s plant-based recipes (half are vegan) offer more of his signature take on flavorful, nourishing, international fare with a touch of sophistication.
6. Cookish: Throw It Together, by Christopher Kimball and Milk Street
On the heels of one of my all-time essential cookbooks, Tuesday Nights, comes this timely cookbook. Another title for this cookbook could be: “What to Cook When You’re All Cooked Out and Running Low on Groceries.” The Milk Street wizards have compiled a collection of 200 recipes that look fresh, varied and nourishing, most with six ingredients or fewer.
7. Best American Food Writing 2020, edited by J. Kenji López-Alt
This one is not a cookbook, but I always pick up a copy of The Best American Food Writing each year. The 2020 edition, like all the others, is filled with outstanding longform essays, journalism, and other great writing about the year’s most juicy and interesting topics in food. This year’s edition features an article by New York Times reporter Amelia Nierenberg, whom Unpeeled profiled back in February! Congrats, Amelia! (Available November 3, 2020)
