I’m easy to shop for when it comes to gifts at any time of the year. I never tire of getting cookbooks (vintage and new!) and this Christmas the books are amazing!
I love all the Kentucky Bourbon books from daughter Kristina. She went on a PR trip to Louisville and found all the Kentucky gems. The jam and jelly book has so many new ideas; the sushi book at the bottom is amazing; and the Junior League of Vicksburg, Mississippi has recipes filled with Southern goodness.
The first one I am going to try is “The Hot Brown” complete with a special hot brown pan! A “Hot Brown” is the famous open-faced and baked sandwich of Louisville. The book has the classic version and other new and exciting versions.
Daughter Kara who lives in Mississippi loves buying me Southern cookbooks, which I adore. “An Italian Palate” doesn’t sound Southern, but it is written by Southerners who traveled to Italy and decided an Italian book was in order. The two also wrote the “Southern Seasons.” Author Wyatt Waters is a famous Southern artist, whose stunning water colors fill all the cookbooks he and co-author and chef, Robert St. John write together. I have made some of their recipes and they were flawless and fabulous! “Gone with the Grits” is hilarious and makes items with grits that you would never expect!
A generous friend of Kristina’s gave me all these wonderful selections:
The “America’s Test Kitchen” cookbook at the bottom was used on Christmas Day. Their recipe for Prime Rib is perfection. We loved it, and it will be my go-to prime rib recipe forever!
My friend Madonna, who shares the love of cookbooks with me (which is how we “met” on my blog) sent these beautiful books. Madonna loves everything New Orleans. Cafe Degas is one of her favorite places, and she even had the chef sign it for me! We both love Ina Garten recipes and I’m thrilled to have this one. My goal is replace all the Ina cookbooks I lost in the flood. Don’t you love the apron Madonna sent too? It says it all!
My brother Alan and his wife Ellen, learned of my love for Bert Greene books and found this one, my favorite, to replace the one also lost in the flood. If you don’t have any Bert cookbooks yet, find them! He has the most wonderful recipes and stories in his books. I met him once and wrote about it on an old blog from 2010. Nicest man ever. The world lost a culinary champion when he passed.
Guess I had better get busy finding which recipes to make first. Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year, filled with great food and good friends.
You have your work cut out for you with all these new recipes to try ! I can’t imagine how you can narrow down your recipes to only what you are going to make that day–I would be overwhelmed trying to decide.
Barb, I start out by going through each book and making notes on what I want to make to begin. I always have note paper handy to plan out meals for the week and a shopping list. My favorite activities!
I do something similar—I print out recipes I want to make—I must have 100 at the moment. But it’s still a tough choice to narrow it down to a week’s worth.
Wow!!!! Looks like you hit the cookbook jackpot!!! Have fun!!!!
Thanks, Sue! It will be loads of fun!
Debbie every time I read one of your blog posts my own cookbook wish list grows longer! Enjoy your Christmas bonanza!!
Thanks, Linda. I’ll keep them coming to add to your list! 😉
You really hit the cookbook jackpot! You’ll have lots of fun checking out the recipes and seeing what there is to make! I admit that I have a number of cookbooks also and yet it’s hard to choose at times WHAT to make!
I agree, Dawn. Sometimes it is hard to decide what to make with so many choices in all those wonderful cookbooks. I usually go with the seasons, what my taste buds say at the moment, and sometimes just what I happen to have in the pantry and refrigerator!
Can’t wait to see what recipe you will share first! Enjoy turning every page!