I’m renegotiating how I approach what I’m doing here, but I will always love sharing great books to read and cook from and giving other cookbook authors their flowers. So this is the list of my favorite food reads of 2024. As usual this is composed from books I read this year, not books that necessarily came out this year. I hoard too many books and am always playing catch-up, and with the amount of cookbooks that are released these days a lot of titles get overlooked, so I might as well share them now.
I should also note that I am internet friends with some of the below authors, and that I have been sent some of these books free of charge by their respective publishers. Furthermore unfortunately I haven’t cooked from all of these books as I’ve had quite a year health-wise, but to be sure I will be cooking from these books at some point.
Go Dutch
Dutch cookbooks absolutely slapped this year, and you’re in luck because at least one of these is going to be released in English. While you can’t read the others I’m still going to recommend them because you know… wish fulfilment. I’m starting off with these to force you to read about them before you move on to books you will be able to get your hands on.
Briljante Bonen – Bloeme Burema
Bloeme Burema is an Amsterdam-based chef who wrote probably the freshest cookbook on beans I’ve ever seen, Briljante Bonen (Brilliant beans). While beans have a stodgy reputation, most of her recipes have a much more modern and bright vibe, largely attributed to the avoidance of beany stews and a liberal use of vinegars, lemon juice and other brighteners to give beans a much needed upgrade. Bloeme explains the difference between tinned, jarred and dried beans and is very clear in her recipes on when to bother with dried and when to just make your life a little easier, and offers a lot of shortcuts in general, a rarity I find, for professional chefs turned recipe writers. Making her book incredibly useable for the home cook.
I’ve happily cooked and eaten quite a few of them throughout the year already. I came back to the lemon cannellini bean courgette salad with feta creme and mint all summer, as well as the smokey butter beans on garlic toast (or just on their own really) and they have thoroughly distracted me from all the other beany goodness I aim to make from this book. It’s really nice to make one of Bloeme’s dishes as beany side during the weekend, so you can add it to any meal throughout the week.
I shared the recipe for Bloeme’s coriander broth with beans, greens and chili crisp earlier this year but I’d also still like to cook black bean salad with radish pickles and a spicy coriander and lime dressing, flageolet beans with fennel and sea bass, butter beans with gochujang and marinated egg yolk on toast, cheater’s cassoulet and the list just goes on and on. I received Briljante Bonen from her Dutch publisher.
Extra – Jasmijn Beerthuis
Extra is Jasmijn Beerthuis‘ cookbook debut. Everyone who works in food knows her, as she’s been active behind the scenes for a long time now. Starting with providing baked goods for various cafes in Amsterdam to working for various food publications and TV shows. Her debut Extra is offensively good, with heavy Italian and Asian influences and reads like a sort of millennial (complimentary) Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat bringing together intel on the how’s and why’s of optimising flavour and texture. It will teach you how to bring all those different elements together to really make your meals sing and I think it’s the perfect cookbook to give to younger people who are moving out or just learning how to cook, provided they like their food with a lot of punch.
Some things high on my hit list from Extra are the gula jawa ice cream (a recipe I’d been meaning to develop but now I don’t have to), pasta vegan XO, ginger-turmeric soup with crispy chili oil, sambal goreng telor shakshuka, marinated pumpkin with crispy shallots and lime, pasta with pistachio butter, kimchi potato salad and much much more. I received my copy of Extra from Jasmijn’s publisher.
Italopop – Vanja van der Leeden
If you’ve been following me for a while, Vanja should be no stranger to you. Working her way from Amsterdam kitchens to food stylist, she’s got a few books under her belt now and I’ve mentioned Indorock here many times before. I feel Vanja is the most exciting and original food writer in the Dutch culinary scene. Her highly opinionated fiery tone of voice and her style of cooking make both her writing and her food unique and vibrant. Italopop is a look into modern Italian food, not just through Vanja’s own concoctions, but also through recipes and conversations with a handful of Italian chefs working in Italy and beyond, who are all working towards a less rigid approach to Italian cooking. All shot beautifully by Vanja’s husband Remko Kraaijeveld.
Some recipes high on my hit list are the carbonara blasfema, risotto with lambrusco, figs and gorgonzola, chicken parmesan schnitzel with anchovy mayo and puntarelle salad, pizza with potato and a spicy anchovy-fennel salsa, tarte tatin with aubergine and tomato, pithivier with oxtail and parsley lime salsa and more. No one else will come to defence of and have you go out looking for a good bottle of lambrusco, but read Vanja and she’ll have you out on a lambrusco prowl in no time.
Look out for the English publication of this book, coming to a bookstore near you, under the name Italopunk: 145 recipes to shock your nonna, in 2025.
Ăn Cơm – Phi Yến Phan
Ăn Cơm: Recepten en verhalen uit een Vietnamese familiekeuken (recipes and stories from a Vietnamese family kitchen) is a deeply personal and beautiful Vietnamese cookbook debut by illustrator and graphic designer Phi Yến Phan. The illustrations are fantastic and adorable, but Phi Yến Phan’s family history and their relationship with food is what make this book. From Vietnamese classics like pho to her dad’s endearing version of the classic Dutch AVG-tje (potatoes, meat and veg).
So far I’ve only made the asparagus and crab soup, and still have some leftover in the freezer. It’s a lot of work but so worth it and one thing that makes the book is Phi Yến Phan being a first time recipe writer, which goes a long way in helping other first time Vietnamese cooks because she doesn’t take any steps for granted.
Beyond the asparagus and crab soup I am also eager to make all the skewers, the banh xeo, tinned fish with tomato sauce, lemongrass chicken and the lemon grass tofu.
Rendang – Maureen Tan
Rendang: Indonesische stoofgerechten met vlees, vis en natuurlijk ook veel vegetarisch (Indonesian stewed dishes with meat, fish and of course also lots of vegetarian) is Maureen Tan‘s third title. To me Maureen truly is the queen of Indonesian food writing in the Netherlands, and she really should be a global star. Her first book was an Indonesian food bible, taking us across the various Indonesian islands explaining the differences in cuisine between each, her second focused on Javanese cuisine, and this third book focuses on my (and not just my) beloved rendang. Rendang, like kimchi, is a verb. It’s not just one dish, but a preparation (and conservation) method. Maureen takes you through the various steps towards creating rendang, which are all also dishes in their own right. From gulai, to kalio to rendang. And then offers a breadth of recipes for each, both traditional as well as of her own making.
I am saving up to go on a rendang tour of Sumatra (the island where my grandfather was born) next year, but in the mean time I can’t wait to make are the tofu-filled squid, chicken and andaliman pepper, the duck and the oxtail and lemongrass gulais. The black bean and aubergine, potato, crab, sweet potato and quail egg kalios. And the jackfruit, vongole and wild spinach, smoked mackerel, octopus, cassave and anchovy, crispy prawn, mussel, beef and cardamom and well… all the rendangs basically. I received a copy of Maureen’s book from her publisher.
Favorite English language food reads
Rambutan – Cynthia Shanmugalingam
Rambutan by Cynthia Shanmugalingam is such a beautiful book. Again a deeply personal history, which taught me a lot about Sri Lankan history and culture, combined with delicious recipes. All beautifully shot by one of my favorite food photographers, Alex Lau. Come for the story, stay for the recipes.
I must confess I read this earlier in the year so I don’t have an awful lot more the say than don’t sleep on this. But I did add a whole bunch of recipes to my to-cook list that I need to get onto and basically got a second curry plant just so I can start cooking from this. Last night I made the roast aubergine red curry, which was both simple and delicious. Just note one of the things you’ll need to find or make is Sri Lankan curry powder, Cynthia offers a recipe for it in the book but I found a pre-made mix, and you’ll also really need fresh curry leaves. Otherwise it’s pretty hard to cook from, but I think the stories and photography are still worth it. Consider the deliciousness in your future however, with recipes like tempered crunchy fried potatoes with turmeric, roast pumpkin curry, black pork belly curry and prawn fritters isso vadai as well as black coconut pineapple curry, for example. There’s barely a recipe in this book that I don’t want to cook.
Parsi – Farokh Talati
Farokh is the head chef of my favorite restaurant in the world, St. John Bread & Wine. While St. John is known for its modern classic approach to English cooking, in Parsi Farokh shares recipes from his Parsi-heritage, which is a rich mix of Persian and Indian influences. I didn’t know anything about Parsi people before this, and the book is another beautiful example of weaving a more personal as well as a broader cultural history together through recipes.
Recipes that caught my eye are baked fish masala, fried potato cakes, prawn beignets, Parsi kedgeree, crab coconut curry, Parsi fried chicken, kheema, meat and potato stew and then some. I received a Dutch translation of Parsi from Farokh’s Dutch publisher.
Greekish – Georgina Hayden
I’m pretty sure everybody’s been raving about this one so you’ve probably heard of it. A lot of people think piles of grilled meats when they think of Greek food but personally I think of loads of mezze and dips, and just the most insanely delicious beautiful courgettes (FLORAL! they tasted FLORAL) I had on Crete. It’s been one of my favorite kitchens forever, and I’m so happy Georgina wrote a book to make weekday Greek(ish) meals more of a possibility. Just such a fun book. Georgina is always pretty solid but I think this may be her best one yet.
I previously shared the fried gigantes (with a harissa bean dip), but I’m also planning to make keftedes with chickpeas and herbs, oyster mushrooms with mustard and thyme, shrimp saganaki skewers, spicy chicken skewers with coriander, sausage, fennel and lentil stew, lima beans with onions leaks and courgette, baked spanakopita potatoes and basically all the other spanakopitafied dishes in the book. I received a translated copy of Greekish from Georgina’s Dutch publisher.
The Ethnic Paris Cookbook – Charlotte Puckette and Olivia Kiang-Snaije
This one is older and yes, the title is pretty naff, but this book is surprisingly good. There’s insights into where all the different non-European communities in Paris hail from, with a little bit on how they got there and overal really solid recipes sourced from various Parisian restaurants (sadly a lot of those appear to since have closed), with back stories about their owners as well as little tweaks here and there to make the recipes more do-able at home. There’s usually copies of this knocking about on Vinted, which is where I found mine.
I’ve been making the steamed fish with ginger and spring onion on repeat, whenever I can get my hands on some scallions (don’t ask), it’s just so good and simple. But I’m also looking forward to making salt and pepper shrimp with cognac, Laotian chicken curry, grilled scallops with sake and soy sauce, beet salad with harissa, Moroccan salad with eggplant, m’tabal and the grilled fish with chermoula.
The Book of Pinxtos – Marti Buckley
I’m going to be perfectly honest: as much as I want to, I probably won’t cook from this. This is more for practical purposes. I never have enough people to entertain and can’t eat a ton of a single pinxto on my own. And sadly for a lot of finger food it makes no sense to make single serve portions, because you’ll have to pull open a jar of something or other that is too big to just use for one or two lone pinxto.
The reason I still wanted to include The Book of Pinxtos by Marti Buckley is because it does feel like the definitive history of pinxtos (Basqua tapas, if you want to oversimplify things). And if you frequent Basque country a lot (like I do, because it’s only a 3.5 hour drive now) it’ll give you a great list of places to visit and what pinxtos to try where, as well as give you an idea of where everyone sits in the development and history of pinxtos as we know them today.
If I do end up cooking from this I’d make the tortilla, the huevo trufado, the txulpa, all the ensaladas and the recipe for the croquetta de pollo as a foundation for ham and chorizo croquettas.
Non-cookbooks
I didn’t read a whole lot of non-cookbooks, or books on food culture this year, but I really enjoyed these two. I’m currently working my way through Violent Appetites, which is a very interesting look into how different cultures interpreted hunger, specifically in the American North-East at the beginning of colonialism. It’s very academic and hence a bit dry and repetitive, but it will make you question the concept of ‘hunger’ in general. I’m also loving National Dish, which I only started a few nights ago but just can’t put down.
The Whole Fromage – Kathe Lison
Kathe Lison takes you on a trip through France to become immediately disillusioned with the faux romanticism of French cheese making, only to make you fall right back in love with French cheeses and their producers all over again. It’s not all as romantic as it’s cracked up to be but it’s still pretty damned romantic and interesting.
The Book of Salt – Monique Truong
I’d been looking for this book because I read about it somewhere, until I suddenly remembered it came with the house. When we bought this house, we asked if we could keep all the previous owners books, and while Salt by Mark Kurlansky (another favorite) was one of the books that made me realise this was the house for me, The Book of Salt is probably why I will stay.
The book of Salt tells the story of Binh, a Vietnamese chef employed by Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in 1930’s Paris. It’s the story of an outsider existing on the edge of the thriving salons of Paris but also looks back on Binh’s experiences in colonial Vietnam, on the edges of power. I truly loved this book, just for the story in and of itself. But it also gave me an inkling insight into why Vietnamese food isn’t as common ground as (interpretations of) Indonesian and Indian are in the Netherlands and UK for example. Mostly it’s just a beautifully written intriguing novel, which hints at some of the darker sides of much loved Stein and Toklas. Who in my mind are more controversial figures than anything else, Ruth Reichl wrote more on this here.
That’s it from me for 2024. Do let me know what you’ve read that you loved in the comments or any books you feel I may have left out in error and I will have a look see. I’m always hungry for more.
