The Cookbook Issue

The holidays will be here sooner than you think. One of the nicest gifts you can get any dedicated home chef is recipe book. Luckily, the New York Times Food section has just put out its' cookbook issue with dozens of choices.There may even be some you'd want as a birthday or Christmas gift.

Four  writers were featured in this informative issue.One was Nik Sharma who has just come out with Season, Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. which tells of his journey from his birthplace of Indian to Oakland, California. Mayukh Sen, a James Beard winner of food writing, interviewed this creator of the food blog, A Brown Table. This is a must have for those who like the variety of different foods from all over India and celebrating his Goa and Utar Pradesh heritages. He also throws in other cuisines  as we see in his Bombay frittata, a rich creation of eggs, creme fraiche turmeric and garem masala. Tejal Rao, a Food section regular contributor, interviewed one chef , one food website editor, and one cookbook writer, about cooking for one. Chef Anita Lo, author of Solo: A Modern Cookbook for a party of One, Erik Kim, editor at Food52 which should be classified as a cookbook and Klancy Miller,creator of Cooking Solo: The Fun Of Cooking For Yourself. Usually a cookbook for singles is chock full of sad recipes. All three have dishes full of lush ingredients such as duck confit and warmed almonds. Chef Lo's also recommends using only half the veggies and save the other halves for another recipe.Also leftovers can be used over in such exciting dishes as Chef Lo's cauliflower chaat, ripe with garlic and cilantro.

The other cookbooks are just as interesting and informative.There's a semi-vegetarian one called Almonds, Anchovies and Panchetta; A Vegetarian Cookbook Kind Of  by Cal Peternell, chef of the famed Chez Panisse.It even has dad jokes and weed references along with such cool recipes as egg herb anchovy toasts and eggplant al mattone with scallions and spicy peanut sauce. The popular eatery, Los Angeles' Bestia has come out with a cookbook along with the Brooklyn hipster hangout, Emily. Middle Eastern cooking is red hot right now. For those wanting to learn about it consider buying, Najinieh Batmanglij's Cooking in Iran: Regional Recipes and Kitchen Secrets which feature cooking with such ingredients as smoked rice and lemony barberries and Isreal Soul, Easy , Essential and Delicious by the highly successful Zahav  authors, Michael Solomov and Steven Cook, There's even a five minute hummus made with canned chickpeas and a lot of tahini sauce. Craziness reigns in Joe Beef; Surviving The Apocalypse: Another Cookbook of Sorts. from Frederick Morin and David McMillan. The book is full of odd and brilliant recipes from their Montreal restaurant of the same name. Bakers will love Sister Pie: The Recipes and Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit, by baker,Lisa Ludvinski which has such unique recipes as rhubarb blondies and peanut butter- smoked paprika cookies.

There are many cookbooks coming out right in time for gift giving. Look through the  New York Times Food section  for ideas. You many even see some for yourself.