Book of the year
Sweetbitter Stephanie Danler One World, £12.99
A coming-of-age novel that’s as much about falling in love with the restaurant industry. The protagonist, Tess, is a waitress in New York. Danler worked at Union Square Cafe for a while, and was clearly making excellent mental notes.
Buy it for: The turns of phrase: salt is “flakes from Brittany, liquescent on contact”.
Best of the rest
Land of Fish and Rice Fuchsia Dunlop Bloomsbury, £26
An introduction to the food of Shanghai and the Lower Yangtze region brought to you by a gifted scholar and recipe writer. Beautifully written, brilliantly curated, a perfect present for an adventurous cook keen to expand their recipe repertoire.
Buy it for: Shanghai red-braised pork with eggs.
Scandinavian Comfort Food Trine Hahnemann Quadrille, £25
Continuing our love affair with Scandinavian food and lifestyle, here is food as loving expression of hygge, the Danish art of relaxation and welcome. Comforting in the best way, with updated classics and a modern sensibility.
Buy it for: The fish soup and the rye bread.
Les Dîners de Gala Salvador Dalí Taschen, £44.99
Lavishly published Taschen re-issue of the artist’s 1973 cookbook, complete with recipes from Maxim, La Tour d’Argent and other top restaurants of the time, with (of course) erotic etchings, paintings, photos and a chapter on aphrodisiacs.
Buy it for: A look into a lost gastronomic world.
The 24-Hour Wine Expert Jancis Robinson Penguin, £4.99
Short, snappy, demystifying deconstruction of the wine world. If not quite an expert after reading, certainly better informed. You’ll likely save the £4.99 price of admission with the wine-matching and occasion-matching tips alone.
Buy it for: 10 ways to pick the right bottle.
Classic Koffmann Pierre Koffmann Jacqui Small, £30
The life’s work of OFM’s 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award winner, a celebration of an extraordinary 50 years in the kitchen. Here are signature dishes from perhaps the most influential chef in the country, with insights from his proteges.
Buy it for: The trotters (of course).
La Mére Brazier Eugénie Brazier Modern Books, £25
The first woman to have three Michelin stars, then six (her second place had no gas or electricity). Eugénie Brazier died in 1977, two years after starting this recipe collection and her memoir, which has been translated into English for the first time.
Buy it for: The woodcock recipe and scrambled eggs.
Ottolenghi: the Coookbook Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi Ebury, £27
The book that left us Ottolenghied, the first in a sumac-infused series that maybe more than any changed the way we eat. Retooled, repackaged, introductions rewritten (if not reshot: Yotam and Sami look so young).
Buy it for: The roast chickens.
Salt is Essential Shaun Hill Kyle Books, £25
From another 50-year veteran of the kitchen – Hill is head chef at the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny – this is laden with lovely recipes and leavened with pithy comments. A world of good food from Sweden’s Jansson’s Temptation to Kerala’s fish curry.
Buy it for: The bourride (fish stew).
Basque José Pizarro Hardie Grant, £25
A homage to the Basque country by a London-based exile from Extremadura. Written with love and the blessing of Juan Mari Arzak, godfather of the region’s culinary revolution. A cookbook to keep in the kitchen and perhaps splatter with squid ink.
Buy it for: The hake with green sauce.
Food for all Seasons Oliver Rowe Faber, £20
A hymn to seasonality and locality from the former Moro and River Café cook. A year in the life of the food cycle that feels like a labour of love. Good writing, recipes and well-chosen poetry.
Buy it for: The herrings and oatmeal and Milton’s Song on May Morning.
The New Vegetarian Alice Hart Square Peg, £25
With chapters titled Grazing to Gathering, and Breakfast to Afters, Alice Hart has trawled the day for hungry moments, and the world for interesting answers (it is particularly strong on Asian-inspired recipes). Stylish and modern.
Buy it for: Spiced turmeric broth with roast vegetables.
The Nordic Kitchen Claus Meyer Mitchell Beazley, £27
Accessible seasonal recipes from the co-founder of Noma and business guru of the New Nordic Manifesto. Ramsons, nettles, chanterelles all appear though Meyer is no foraging Redzepi. Strong on fish and vegetables, perhaps strongest in autumn and winter.
Buy it for: Fried flounder with braised endive.
Symmetry Breakfast Michael Zee Bantam Press, £14.99
The power of two in a mirror-image meal. Zee became an Instagram sensation by photographing the symmetrical breakfasts he made for himself and his partner. His book includes selections from around the world, from green shakshuka to a fish noodle soup.
Buy it for: The marriage proposal.
Ducksoup Cookbook Clare Lattin and Tom Hill Square Peg, £25
Five years of inspiration from Soho’s Ducksoup restaurant gathered into a book that’s almost radical in its simplicity, with influences from Scandinavia, Japan and the Mediterranean.
Buy it for: The pork belly with pickled rhubarb.
The Palomar Cookbook Mitchell Beazley, £25
OFM readers’ best restaurant of 2015 won us over with its family atmosphere and riotous sense of fun as well as Tomer Amedi’s brilliant southern Mediterranean cooking. All of which translates to their first cookbook.
Buy it for: The scallop carpaccio with “Thai-bouleh”.
Cook For Syria Clerkenwell Boy and Serena Guen Suitcase Media, £25
The book of the Unicef NextGen fundraising campaign rush-printed for Christmas. A celebration of Syrian food with family recipes and stories. Contributors include Angela Hartnett and Jamie Oliver.
Buy it: Because 100% of profits go to children affected by the conflict.
Gather Gill Meller Quadrille, £25
One of the year’s most understated cookbooks from the head chef at the River Cottage. Reverence for the countryside and its bounties is evident here, though Meller also knows how to write a great recipe.
Buy it for: Mutton tartare with pan-roasted oysters and wild garlic flowers.
Savour Peter Gordon Jacqui Small, £25
A decade ago, the Kiwi chef wrote a cookbook making the case for salads as a main course. This excellent volume updates the argument – ushering in goat’s curd, beet-cured salmon and umeboshi – without over-complicating it.
Buy it for: The simple salads section at the front.
On the Menu Nicholas Lander Unbound, £30
For Lander, menus are “the swiftest form of travel”, and “less a record of what was eaten but rather a conduit for the overall experience”. This collection of menus from some of the world’s greatest restaurants offers an insider’s view of how such places work.
Buy it for: Making a list of dream dining destinations.
