Books that really cook

If you are reading this, there is a very good chance that someone you know is going to buy you a cookbook this holiday season. There’s a good reason for that: You can have too many socks, sweaters, belts and slippers, but no one who has ever set foot in a kitchen has honestly said that he or she had too many cookbooks.

That is certainly not to say that just any cookbook will do, however – though to noncooks it may seem that way. Of the hundreds of food books that were published this fall, which are the ones you really want to have in your library?

We in The Times’ Food section have some suggestions. After sifting through the lion’s share of new releases and cooking dozens of recipes from them, we’ve come up with an assortment of 10 books in a variety of categories that we can heartily recommend. We’ve got books from chefs and books from home cooks; there’s Italian, Moroccan and even Viennese; we’ve got a book on ground meat and a book on offal; we’ve even got a “book” that isn’t really a book but could be the best food gift of all.

Do yourself a favor – make a couple copies of this article and quietly slip them to any noncook you suspect may be shopping for you. You’ll both be a lot happier for it.

“The Food of Morocco”

Paula Wolfert

Ecco Press, $45

I’ve always done my armchair traveling through cookbooks – whether it’s Elizabeth David’s Mediterranean, Fuschia Dunlop’s Sichuan or Claudia Roden’s Middle East. My copy of Paula Wolfert’s original “Couscous & Other Good Food From Morocco” is stained and worn, with notes scribbled in the margins, marks of so many dinner parties through the years.

But so much has changed since Wolfert published that book in 1973. Just think in terms of ingredients available now, such as argan oil, Moroccan cumin or real saffron. Her publisher urged her to revise the book, but Wolfert doesn’t do anything by halves. She ended up rewriting and expanding it to more than 500 pages. In the process, most recipes were tweaked, dozens more added and the book was renamed “The Food of Morocco.”

I loved every dish, every tip and trick she offered. I actually made warka, the thin pastry leaves for a proper bestila (most people substitute filo) following a new and brilliantly easy technique she learned on Arabic YouTube. Basically, you paint the batter onto a nonstick skillet and when edges begin to curl, pick up the thin, transparent pastry leaf. And do it again. And again. The bestila itself is magnificent, especially the more savory Tetouan-style, brightened with preserved lemon.

I went into a frenzy of bread baking, turning out Marrakech tagine bread, Moroccan country bread, Middle Atlas flat bread and Tangier street bread on a daily basis. I still haven’t located the super-fine semolina required for msemmen pancakes fried on a griddle and served with honey and butter, but that’s next.

There are recipes for marvelous chicken and beef and lamb tagines – with prunes, with quince, with preserved lemon and green olives or smothered in tomato jam. And now that we have more real butchers in town, you should be able to find cuts like lamb shoulder more easily. She’s got a brilliant array of those little cooked salads too. And cookies, such as her double-baked anise ones to dip in tea and her impossibly delicious, crumbly semolina almond cookies, that I’ll keep in my repertoire forever.

-S. Irene Virbila

– :Neue Cuisine; The Elegant Tastes of Vienna”

Kurt Gutenbrunner, Jane Sigal, Ronald S. Lauder and the Neue Galerie

Rizzoli, $45

Austrian cuisine gets short shrift around here. But whenever I get to New York, I eat at Kurt Gutenbrunner’s Austrian bistro Wallse, which is why I was thrilled that he’s got a cookbook out this season. As soon as I got my hands on a copy of “Neue Cuisine: The Elegant Tastes of Vienna,” I was planning menus to test the recipes.

Roasted squash soup with a touch of honey, swirled with iridescent green-red pumpkin seed oil, makes an autumnal first course. I made spatzle (squiggly noodles) a couple of different ways. The version with white corn, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and tarragon easily works as a main course for any guests who don’t eat meat. And the goulash? An Austrian friend swooned, claiming it tasted just like his grandmother’s as he sneaked in an extra helping. Grandmother or no, that goulash exhibits a deep resonant flavor. Make it with the best paprika you can find (one that hasn’t been sitting in the cupboard for years).

Boiled beef tongue with horseradish sauce and the classic boiled beef shoulder are both excellent. After the goulash, however, my favorite dish has to be the roasted pork shanks with sauerkraut cooked with bacon (I used the locally made kraut from Kruegermann). Marinated overnight in caraway and garlic and basted with wheat beer as they roast, the shanks develop a tantalizing caramelized crust. I’ve already made this one twice.

The recipes could have been better edited (the publisher does more art books than cookbooks). I found myself caught short sometimes wondering what to do next, but I eventually figured it out. And in the end, all the recipes I tried worked, the only disappointment being the kaiserschmarren, which seemed more like a regular pancake than the ethereal bites of cloud I was anticipating.

Another plus is that the book is also an introduction to Viennese culture and design, illustrated by objects from the collection of the Neue Galerie in New York. The chef operates Cafe Sabarsky, a great spot for Viennese coffee and apple strudel, inside the museum. And recipes from the cafe, as well as KG’s Blaue Gans, are included in the book. – S. Irene Virbila

“The Food52 Cookbook”

Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs and the Food52 community

William Morrow, $35

If you want to know which recipes home cooks like best, the surest way to find out is to ask them. Simple and direct as it is, that’s the theory behind the website Food52. And now, after a year of questions and answers, it has collected the results in a cookbook by the same name.

The brainchild of former New York Times food writer Amanda Hesser and recipe tester Merrill Stubbs, Food52 functions as a combination amateur cooking competition/crowd-sourcing machine/food community. Each week there is a theme (“Your Best Stew With Olives”), and members submit their recipes. The members vote, and a winner is selected. The book includes testing notes from Hesser and Stubbs, a brief bio of the authors (who in the main seem to be bloggers) and comments from members of the community.

So what do home cooks like? At least on Food52, the answer is something like “Bon Appetit before the makeover.” Rich always does well, and why shouldn’t it? So do dishes that are just a little different from what you might expect. And there is an admirably sensible focus on getting the most flavor with the least effort.

The savory bread pudding is an example of all three. The texture (after adding five eggs and a cup of cream) is voluptuous. The flavoring, with a combination of prosciutto, mushrooms, goat cheese and Gruyere, gets a nice lift from what seems like a LOT of fresh thyme (1 teaspoon chopped). And the whole thing comes together in minutes, minus the baking.

Nothing earth-shaking, but deeply and sincerely delicious, which, come to think of it, could be considered earth-shaking in its own way. – Russ Parsons

“Odd Bits; How to Cook the Rest of the Animal”

Jennifer McLagan

Ten Speed Press, $35

Jennifer McLagan has a knack for tackling topics that are, shall we say, under-appreciated To complete a trilogy of sorts, the author follows up her award-winning “Bones” and “Fat” with “Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal.” It’s full-on nose-to-tail eating, and she leaves nothing uncovered, and no scrap unused.

Wonderfully thorough, McLagan knows her subject inside and out, and she explores every last tidbit from almost every animal imaginable, from cockscombs to testicles. Ever want to know how to eat an eyeball? She’ll walk you through it. But instead of approaching the reader from a shocking or even a clinical standpoint, she is more like a reassuring schoolteacher handling a timid student.

She broaches what most might consider tough subjects, such as cooking the head of an animal, approaching various organs, or how to use blood, but helps us wade into unfamiliar territory gently and slowly to lessen any anxiety. Many of the chapters start with recipes for “newbies,” such as “Beginner’s Tripe” and “Headcheese for the Unconvinced,” and she often includes substitute ingredients if you don’t have, or are anxious about using, the star ingredient.

As she explores various ingredients, McLagan intersperses practical knowledge, such as where to find the part and what to look for, with fun tidbits and history. I never knew that the Chinese prize the feet from American chickens (because Americans prefer white meat, larger-breasted hens are bred making for bigger birds – bigger birds need better support, hence jumbo feet).

And unless you’re the most ardent vegetarian, you can’t help but be drawn in by at least some of the recipes. I haven’t yet tried the recipes for chocolate blood ice cream, or the heart tartare, but I loved the chicken liver crostini and the twice-cooked beer belly. Her salad with warm bone marrow croutons is a recipe I’ll be making again and again, with rich – almost buttery – bone marrow medallions coated with bread crumbs and pan-fried until melting, then tossed with a salad of tart greens and bright raspberry vinaigrette. And if you’ve never had bone marrow, this is a great introduction – after all, doesn’t everything taste better breaded and pan-fried?

-Noelle Carter

“Mission Street Food; Recipes and Ideas From an Improbable Restaurant”

Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz

McSweeney’s, $30

“Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas From an Improbable Restaurant” is as much a book with which to spend a few hours on the couch as it is a book that inspires your next meal. And it’d be an entertaining few hours.

The book tells the story of Mission Street Food, the San Francisco culinary project of chef Anthony Myint and his wife, Karen Leibowitz, who started selling their pork belly-filled flatbreads from a subletted Guatemalan taco truck, and what took off from there. (Mission Street Food’s successor is the restaurant Mission Chinese Food.) Some of it is told in comic book form, most of it in conversational writing, and there are lots of candid photos.

Published by McSweeney’s, it’s loose and inspirational and funny. Writes Leibowitz of her budding relationship with Myint: “Our friends were surprised to see us becoming a couple, because we seemed so different. I was gregarious while Anthony was shy; I was a big reader while he was a sports fan; I was a woman while he’d never really talked to one before.”

The book is divided into three parts (“The Taco Truck,” “The Restaurant” and “The Food”), with the recipes taking up the last third: the Mission Burger, ham hock rillettes, Peking duck, marrow-stuffed squid, “hollandaise au blendeur.” They are mainly outlined in step-by-step photos accompanied by guiding principles, rather than very specific instructionals.

The rare beef tostadas are easy and tasty, fried tortillas smeared with caper aioli and topped with diced seared steak and tomatillos and a tangle of watercress and radishes, tangy with lime juice and vinaigrette. It’s representative of the kind of riffing that resulted in the signature Chinese burrito.

-Betty Hallock

“The Mozza Cookbook”

Nancy Silverton with Matt Molina and Carolynn Carreno

Alfred Knopf, $35

Nancy Silverton’s obsessive quest for the one perfect ingredient and technique is well known. And now, thanks to “The Mozza Cookbook,” you can share it too.

Written with executive chef Matt Molina and Carolynn Carreno (her partner in the Los Angeles Times Food section’s Master Class series), this cookbook certainly includes the kind of restaurant set pieces you expect. If you really want to know how to make Mozza’s fabulous wild boar ragu with homemade maltagliati pasta, you can do it (provided you have a Saturday free … and a wild boar).

But what I really love about it are the tons of little tips on how to do the basics better – her sections on pizza and gelato are incredible, and the chapter on fresh pasta is one of the best around.

And though I may never cook an all-Mozza meal at home (that’s what the restaurant is there for, right?), I know I’ll be cooking many of the little dishes included in the book again and again. Her beet salad spiked with horseradish is just about perfect. And as a committed lover of long-cooked vegetables (and garlic), I have already made her stewed broccoli (half cup of sliced garlic) and the cauliflower gratin (10 cloves, thinly sliced), parts of my regular rotation.

-Russ Parsons

“Momofuku Milk Bar”

Christina Tosi

Clarkson Potter, $35

Chocolate-chocolate cookies, compost cookies (made with potato chips, pretzels, butterscotch chips, graham cracker crumbs, etc.), blueberries and cream cookies, banana cream pie, brownie pie, hot fudge sauce, chocolate cake. I can’t stop baking from “Momofuku Milk Bar,” written by pastry chef Christina Tosi.

The truth is, I think I take a lot more pleasure out of baking from the book than I ever did from stopping by the East Village bakery in New York. Maybe at least partly because these home-baked versions come with a dose of accomplishment, a testament to the recipes: The sweets turn out as good as the bakery’s. (This season I tested two other baking books whose recipes did not live up to expectations, and nothing’s worse than feeling defeated by a baking sheet full of cookies.)

Tosi’s desserts, for the most part, are homey recipes with an edge: cakes, cookies, pies and ice creams tweaked with ingredients such as corn flour or milk powder or char-blackened marshmallows or even kimchi. I keep returning to the chapter on “the crumb,” described as “clumpy, crunchy, yet sandy little bits of flavor” that turn up as the crust for pies and as added texture in cookies and cakes. The chocolate-chocolate cookies are made with melted chocolate, cocoa powder and chocolate crumb, for instance.

The brownie pie’s got a graham cracker crumb crust and dense, fudgy filling, a cross between molten chocolate cake and gooey brownies. A crowd pleaser, obviously. – Betty Hallock

“From the Ground Up”

James Villas

Wiley, $22.99

A book about ground meat. It might not seem that appealing at first, but as this cookbook points out, aren’t many of the world’s favorite comfort foods based on ground meats of some sort or another?

Author James Villas takes what most would consider a common ingredient and celebrates it. The first part of the book is devoted to introducing the reader to ground meats. For many who might not normally think beyond the shrink-wrapped ground beef in the meat aisle, Villas explains where these meats come from – what part of the animal and how it is ground. He also ventures far beyond beef, embracing a broad definition of “ground meat” with foodstuffs as varied as salt cod and sausage.

Villas then demystifies the whole grinding process. Although many of us might tackle a sourdough starter or can our own vegetables, the thought of grinding meat might be intimidating. Villas explores how to do it, and if you don’t have a formal meat grinder (and most of us probably don’t), Villas gives the option of using a food processor. And he walks the reader through lean meat-to-fat ratios, and why fat is so important.

The bulk of the book is devoted to recipes, covering pretty much anything and everything having to do with ground meat. Each recipe includes a detailed introduction, sharing fun tidbits and often a little history, such as how the sloppy Joe, or the Coney Island hot dog, came to be.

The recipes are varied, ranging from French terrines to retro-tuna casserole, Russian piroshki to Shanghai congee and Jamaican stuffed plantains. In particular, I loved the Creole chaurice, but it’s the flavorful Brazilian salt cod fritters I keep thinking about.

Ground meat is such a simple, inexpensive and wonderfully versatile ingredient, and this book will have you looking at its wonders in a whole new light.

-Noelle Carter

“Home Cooking With Jean-Georges”

Jean-Georges Vongerichten with Genevieve Ko

Clarkson Potter, $40

Most chef cookbooks fall into one of two categories. They’re either faithful replications of what is served at their restaurants or they’re what chefs imagine people at home might serve their families (they’re not really sure because they rarely cook at home since they’re, well, at work). Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s “Home Cooking With Jean-Georges” is a notable exception.

This is a terrific book, full of exactly the kinds of recipes I want from a master chef. There’s no special equipment, no exotic ingredients, no long, elaborate preparations. Instead, there are creative, practical dishes that are well within the technical grasp of almost any cook. Oddly, since he runs restaurants in more than a dozen countries, Vongerichten actually seems to spend considerable time cooking at home.

The book is full of little tricks and surprising turns. Some of them are so simple I found myself face-palming: “Why didn’t I ever think of that?” I love mustard greens beyond all reason, but it never occurred to me to add butter to the blanching water. The resulting dish is so simple and takes no more than five minutes to make, but the flavor is magnificent (and it’s even better with a final touch of mustard oil, as he recommends).

And boiling butternut squash? It sounds like it would be watery and pallid. But not when you cook the squash whole, as Vongerichten does. Though the squash lacks that round, caramelized sweetness you get from roasting, the flavor is clean and pure.

And topping the coarse puree with a crisp layer of spicy bread crumbs and the squash’s toasted seeds adds just the right textural and flavor complexity.

-Russ Parsons