California Fall Cookbook Roundup

Books to cook from (and gift!) this holiday season

This week marks the start of the holiday cooking season (and the holiday shopping season), so it seemed like the perfect time to try something new: a roundup of some of my favorite fall cookbooks by California authors! I absolutely love giving cookbooks as holiday gifts (we do both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house, so there are tons of gifting opportunities), and this year there are lots of gorgeous options. Some books really highlight cultures and flavors that are integral to the way we cook in California while others take a more general approach or highlight the food of new immigrants. As far as I’m concerned, you can never go wrong supporting California-based cooks and authors.

Tastes Like California

Some of this year’s most exciting cookbooks have obvious California roots. Many authors highlight how the state has influenced their cooking, while others dive into issues of food and culture that are central to California’s identity. Others speak specifically to this unique place by taking inspiration from the state’s ingredients and rich culinary tapestry. Many of my favorites specifically highlight the connections between food and culture that I always look for in my own food explorations.

Here are some of the cookbooks with a distinct California flavor—including some that double as cultural guides—on the market this fall:

Tanya Holland’s California Soul—Recipes from a Culinary Journey West by Tanya Holland (Ten Speed Press)

This is the kind of cookbook I live for. Bay Area chef Tanya Holland (of the dearly missed Oakland restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen and the show Tanya’s Kitchen Table) offers lessons in history and culture while also sharing inventive, delicious recipes. Holland walks us through the waves of westward migration that brought African Americans to California (and other Western states); profiles Black farmers, winemakers, brewers, food educators, and other producers; and offers Historical Detours that dive into everything from African crops in the U.S. to African American cooks’ impact on Bay Area foods. These essays are interspersed throughout the book and offer context that makes the recipes even richer and more inviting.

The book is organized by season, and the incredible range of recipes includes gumbo z’herbes with Dungeness crab and prawns; coconut granola with dried tropical fruits; cornmeal dough pizzette with grilled beefsteak tomatoes, red onions, and whipped goat cheese; and congee with scallions, toasted peanuts, and Virginia ham. There isn’t a single thing in this book that I’m not itching to make, and I imagine many of these dishes will be family favorites in just a few weeks’ time.

Chicano Bakes—Recipes for Mexican Pan Dulce, Tamales, and My Favorite Desserts by Esteban Castillo (Harper Design)

This super fun book by SoCal author Esteban Castillo to is going to get me through the holidays. The disco-inspired photos alone (also taken by Castillo) would be enough to make this my go-to Christmas gift this year. As Castillo explains in the book’s introduction, his first book, Chicano Eats (Harper Design, 2020) was all about the foods of his past—the kinds of Mexican American dishes he ate growing up in Santa Ana—while this book is about his present. The result is a book where the foods are treated like stars and surrounded by bright colors, disco lighting, and lots and lots of sparkle.

That said, I’d be reaching for this one even if the photos weren’t so fabulous, because the recipes make me want to head straight into the kitchen to bake (and my kid wants to make everything in it, too). There are lots of classics, like buñuelos de viento, cortadillo, and conchas (which are given the mermaid treatment here with the addition of bright liquid food coloring). But the recipes I’m most excited about are the twists, like a red velvet chocoflan, horchata tiramisu, and cream cheese and dulce de leche pinwheels. There is also a section of antojitos (small bites) with savory treats like picaditas and lots of tamales and a chapter focused on drinks. I may just have to throw a massive Christmas party as an excuse to try out as many of these recipes as possible.

Diasporican—A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet (Ten Speed Press)

From the start of this striking book, Illyanna Maisonet is very clear that this is not a Puerto Rican cookbook but, rather, a book for the Puerto Ricans who now live in other parts of the U.S.—the “tribe of Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá (‘not from here, not from there’),” as she puts it in her introduction. Maisonet (who lives in the Bay Area and was a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle) shares her family’s story of moving to California and gives us pointed history and economics lessons about Puerto Rico and how the forces that created the Puerto Rican diaspora have shaped her family’s and others’ relationships to food.

The book is a trove of incredibly appealing recipes, like pinchos (skewers of grilled meat) with guava barbecue sauce, rabbit fricassee with chayote, and mallorcas (I shared this recipe in a previous newsletter). Some dishes come straight from her family while others are California-specific adaptations, like a Puerto Rican laab and a version of mojo isleño made with halibut instead of the more traditional mahi-mahi. And the photos are so enticing that you may just be inspired to cook through the entire book from start to finish.

Masa—Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple by Jorge Gaviria (Chronicle Books)

I’ve made my fair share of tamales with Maseca or pre-made masa, but this book was a revelation! Gaviria (who lives in L.A.) walks us through the various domesticated corn varieties, or “landraces;” the tools and process of nixtamalization; and different tools for pressing tortillas. He also offers us a detailed history of masa development, then offers techniques for making your own masa that he developed after many years of research. Detailed photos, charts, and sidebars show you exactly what to do to make masa (and the science behind the process). There are even a variety of different methods you can use to grind the corn, including a couple very home cook-friendly options.

Most of the recipes in this book show you how to produce the various base foods you can make with masa—different types of tortillas, huaraches, pozole kernels—without the bean, meat, or vegetable fillings you would add to these vessels. (My one frustration with this book is that I can’t actually make the delicious dishes shown in the photos. I’ll need to pull some other Mexican cookbooks off my shelf for the fillings.) That said, there are some very fun recipes at the end, in the Modern Masa Explorations chapter, that include things like masa samosas and masa tempura batter that I can’t wait to play with.

The Apricot Lane Farms Cookbook—Recipes and Stories from the Biggest Little Farm by Molly Chester with Sarah Owens (Avery)

You may know Molly Chester from the film The Biggest Little Farm, which documented her and her husband, John’s, work developing a small sustainable farm in Ventura County. Chester is a trained chef, and her approach to cooking is informed by health issues she experienced as a young adult. Her book talks about how she uses food to maintain her health, and every recipe is firmly tied to the farm. After a section of base ingredients—sourdough breads, farmers cheese, “healing” broths, and fermented mustard, to start—the second and third sections of the book are broken up by type of ingredient. Chapters like Root Vegetables and Cool-Season Storage Crops include information about the Chesters’ farming practices, beautiful photos of the land and the animals, and occasional essays and info graphics.

While I love the cooking philosophy and all the farming minutia, the thing I’ll really be turning to over and over is the food. Every recipe sounds wonderful. Potato salad with preserved lemon and mint; summer orchard shredded chicken salad with dried stone fruit, fresh lemon, and pistachios; yellow corn pancakes with carnitas and peach salsa—every page offers another recipe I can’t wait to cook. (I’ll be sharing one of these delicious recipes and an interview with Molly Chester in a future issue of the newsletter; sign up to get it in your inbox!)

(Serious) New Cook—Recipes, Tips and Techniques by Leah Su Quiroga and Cammie Kim Lin (Rizzoli)

The chefs at Chez Panisse are known for doing beautiful things with seasonal ingredients, but by now the restaurant’s former chefs should be also known for something else—putting out phenomenal cookbooks (see Cal Peternell and Samin Nosrat, for example). This book is no exception. Former head chef Leah Su Quiroga and her sister, writer and teacher Cammie Kim Lin, have created a book that is both gorgeous and informative. The book is designed for beginner cooks who want to improve their skills without getting stuck making only basic, boring recipes, and their format makes learning easy. The instructions are clear—many recipes have beautiful step-by-step photos—there are tons of helpful tips, and when you see an underlined term, you know you can flip to the Extra Credit section of the book to get extra info. (This last part is just genius.)

To my mind, the best part of this book is, of course, that the food looks amazing. While I don’t need a beginner book for myself, I’m definitely still going to cook these recipes, especially things like the crispy smashed potatoes with fried herbs, green tortilla soup, pie crust-topped salteña pot pie, and the flash-fried cutlet sandwich with pickled onions and a fried egg. (Hopefully the budding cook in my house will also start to use this book to make these things, too!)

More Cookbooks by CA-Based Authors

Not every cookbook that comes out of California has the state printed on its DNA in obvious ways. As one of the best places in the world to cook in—and the U.S.’s breadbasket—California draws all kinds of cooks and is also home all kinds of celebrities who also like to cook. Here are some of the other cookbooks published by California residents this fall:

Food52 Simply Genius—Recipes for Beginners, Busy Cooks & Curios People by Kristen Miglore (Ten Speed)

Food52 may be based in New York but founding editor and Genius Recipes curator Kristen Miglore grew up in California and now, once again, calls the Golden State home. This book differs from the previous Genius Recipes books in its approach: each page was designed to make the techniques as simple as possible so that the audience noted in the title—beginners and people looking to simplify their cooking—gets the most out of every item.

Chapters are broken down not only by type of dish by also by when you might make it, so Speedy, Sensible Workday Breakfasts are separated from Weekend Fun Breakfasts and Hands-Off Dinners for When You Want to Start Cooking, Then Do Other Things. Some recipes come with step-by-step photos while others might have sidebars like Common Pancake Woes (& How to Fix Them) or illustrated guides like Is My Chicken Done? It’s a busy home cook’s dream, and the recipes, like “cacio” e pepe made with miso and ramen noodles and cold salmon and potatoes with herby yogurt and paprika oil offer plenty of ways to get out of your usual cooking rut. (We’ll share an interview with Kristen, and a recipe from this book, in a future newsletter.)

Budmo! Recipes from a Ukranian Kitchen by Anna Voloshyna (Rizzoli)

One of the most talked about books this fall, this stunner is, obviously, not about California cooking. But the author, Voloshyna, moved to California at the age of 21, and the book’s introduction talks about how she uses Ukranian foods to introduce people in the Bay Area to her culture.

Voloshyna also talks about the region’s complex history and how Soviet rule erased specific ethnic and cultural food traditions—leaving the regions’ cuisines intertwined. The recipes in the book reflect that combining of cultures, with a mix of traditional Ukranian dishes and other foods that Voloshyna grew up with, like Uzbek plov and Georgian walnut spread. Dishes like vegetarian borscht with chanterelle mushrooms and prunes; sweet pumpkin rice kasha; panfried zucchini with light sour cream, herbs, and crispy shallots; and fried chicken livers with pomegranate molasses all look incredibly delicious. I may have to start with sweet cheese fritters with sour cream and jam—a breakfast Voloshyna mentions in her introduction that sound incredible.

Prep + Rally—an Hour of Prep, a Week of Delicious Meals by Dini Klein (Harvest)

Chef and food media personality Dini Klein’s answer to the perennial question of “how do busy moms put dinner on the table?” is full of fun, family-friendly foods. Her method promises that most of your cooking can be done in one hour—in other words, without spending all of Sunday in the kitchen. Each chapter includes four meals and starts with how to cook most of the ingredients on your “prep” day, then has a section about how to finish preparing each dish—with some added (related) prep for meals later in the week. There’s also an additional chapter about using up leftovers.

Cooking From the Spirit—Easy, Delicious, and Joyful Plant-Based Inspirations by Tabitha Brown (William Morrow)

Actress and vegan food evangelist Tabitha Brown may be from North Carolina, but she’s now an Angeleno. In her first cookbook Brown shares the story of the health issues that led her to a vegan lifestyle and offers a trove of really delicious-looking, appealing recipes that range from sweet potato avocado toast to chili carrot dogs to Mexican street corn. Some recipes use meat substitutes, like vegan sausages and jackfruit, while others are simply her version of classic vegetable-based dishes, like a kale and raspberry salad. Everything looks delicious (warm lobster mushroom salad with dark leafy greens!) and the book offers a wide range of comfort foods that would certainly help anyone adapt to a more plant-based diet.

Sundays with Sophie—Flay Family Recipes for Any Day of the Week by Bobby Flay with Emily Timberlake (Clarkson Potter)

It’s no surprise that some of the biggest food TV stars live in CA, but I hadn’t realized Bobby Flay lived in LA until I saw this book, which is inspired by the meals he makes for his daughter, Sophie, a news reporter for LA’s ABC affiliate. (The book’s co-author, Emily Timberlake, also lives in CA.) While the inspirations for the recipes come from all over the world, some dishes, like quesadillas with bacon and kale and spaghetti with zucchini and shishito pesto definitely feel like something out of a SoCal kitchen. They also look delicious.

Bigger Bolder Baking Every Day—Easy Recipes to Bake Through a Busy Week by Gemma Stafford (Harvest)

This book by LA-based Irish pastry chef Gemma Stafford is full of classic baked goods, including some with fun and unusual twists like a chocolate-pear crisp, carrot cake pancakes, and dulce de leche lava cake. They’re organized by event, including some really useful classifications like Weeknight Family Favorites, Leisurely Weekend Recipes, and Short and Sweet Any Day. I can see myself grabbing for this book whenever I’m looking for a crowd-pleasing treat, and I think the budding baker in my house will probably use it even more often than I do—especially that last chapter full of quick desserts!

Photos: Georgia Freedman