11 Fall Cookbooks for Every Type of Foodie

It feels like this time of year is peak cookbook season. Maybe it’s because summer is over and we are all spending a bit more time staying cozy in our kitchens, or maybe it’s because holiday gifting season is on the horizon and a giftable cookbook is always in style. Thankfully, this fall’s cookbook offering is particularly robust, with best-in-category options that are sure to entice even the most discerning foodies on your list: the fashionable carnivore (see: Butcher + Beast by Angie Mar); the culinary historian (see: Signature Dishes That Matter from Phaidon); the après-ski aficionado (see: Alpine Cooking by Meredith Erickson); and more. Each of these books delivers beautiful design, a sense of occasion, and—of course—fantastic recipes.

Alpine Cooking (Penguin Random House)
Meredith Erickson’s latest cookbook is a passionate exploration of all things Alpine that follows her through Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France as she collects the best recipes and stories from the Alp’s most iconic chalets, huts, stubes, and refugios. From the brioche fondue at Val d’Isère, to the perfect Swiss raclette, to Grossglockner’s Wiener schnitzel—this one is a must-have for every ski bum foodie.

Tartine: A Classic Revisited (Chronicle Books)
It’s been 13 years since legendary San Francisco bakery Tartine’s previous cookbook, and this much-anticipated followup includes 55 updated favorites and 68 new recipes including—drumroll, please—the long-awaited, closely-guarded, most-requested recipe in Tartine history, the Tartine Morning Bun. Times have changed since Tartine’s first cookbook, and tastes have changed too—hence why this time around the recipes engage with new flavors like matcha, buckwheat, and a positively divine cheesecake with a gluten-free crust.

Le Corbuffet (Prestel)
Artist and self-taught cook Esther Choi transcends the traditional cookbook format with these highly aesthetic, inspired recipes that interpret modern art and architecture through food. But to think that these sometimes unusual recipes are just about aesthetics would be missing the point. Ellsworth Kelly Tomato Jelly is not only “a courageous bodily encounter of bold, tomato abstraction”—but it tastes great. And the “Jackson Pollock Pot Pie” turns an otherwise straightforward piece of Wild Alaska Pollock into a highly Instagrammable, highly flavorful experience. Don’t be fooled by this book’s spare typeface and strikingly quirky imagery—anyone who appreciates food that looks as good as it tastes will want this book.

Lateral Cooking (Bloomsbury)
Niki Segnit, author of the bestselling Flavor Thesaurus, is back at it again with an ambitious followup. Lateral Cooking draws widely on culinary history and science to propose that most recipes exist on a sort of continuum—once you’ve mastered basic flatbreads, for instance, you can add a few tweaks to make biscuits, and once you’ve built confidence it’s on to yeast-risen breads, then buns, then brioches and babas. For someone who wants to learn not just how to make recipes but how to really cook, Lateral Cooking is approachable yet encyclopedic roadmap for the journey.

Butcher + Beast (Potter)
In a time when plant-based diets feel omnipresent, Angie Mar stands to prove that big, red meat is still very much in style. After purchasing the iconic Beatrice Inn from Graydon Carter in 2016, Mar has made waves for turning the storied hotspot into a lavish den of carnivorous decadence—and her debut cookbook highlights some of “the Bea’s” greatest hits along the way, including lavender-aged beef, pork liver pâté with port and juniper gelée, and Tempranillo vine-smoked hare with huckleberry conserva and vanilla. It’s an over-the-top, luxurious, French-feeling approach, for sure, but nobody does it better than Mar. On Page 116 she says, “I could live in furs, eat dry-aged beef with my hands, and curl up by the fireplace even during the muggiest August day in Manhattan.”

Signature Dishes That Matter (Phaidon)
In this essential lesson in culinary history, seven author/editors come together to curate the 240-plus recipes that have defined cuisine as we know it. Arranged chronologically, the book includes such other gustatory monoliths as Caroline and Stephanie Tatin’s accidental success story of Tarte Tatin, and Nobu’s legendary black cod with miso. Devotees of food history will want to order a copy of this one post-haste.

Nothing Fancy (Potter)
As the beloved food writer Alison Roman writes on the back of her second cookbook, this is for people “allergic to the word ‘entertaining,’” and promises “unfussy food, unfussy vibes, and the permission to be imperfect, no occasion necessary.” The recipes will provide well for friendly dinner parties, while still being straightforward enough to cook quickly on a midweek evening after work.

Mastering Spice (Potter)
The Svengali of spice Lior Lev Sercarz is at it again! His third cookbook proves why restaurants Daniel, Le Bernardin, Momofuku, Oleana and more keep returning to him as one of the country’s foremost experts on combining the right spices. The book showcases how the perfect spice blend can take straightforward recipes like chicken soup, meatballs, and brownies—yes, even brownies—from ordinary to sublime. You will never look at a peppercorn the same way again.

Pastry Love (Houghton Mifflin House)
James Beard Award-winning pastry chef Joanne Chang’s latest cookbook is a love letter to sweet tooths (sweet teeth?) everywhere, with inspired new recipes like Dulce de Leche Brioche Buns and Ginger-Peach Crumb Cake. If you’re looking to take your Thanksgiving pie or holiday cookie game to the next level, this is the book to buy.

Dishoom: From Bombay With Love (Bloomsbury)
Calling all travelers and Indian food lovers: London’s favorite Indian restaurant Dishoom has made its whimsical, though-provoking cookbook debut. Of course, there are recipes for Dishoom classics, as well as advice sections on making the perfect naan at home, but the book’s most lovable pages are the informative essays about experiencing Bombay through food, such as “A Gentle Stroll On Chowpatty At Sunset, With Plentiful Snacks,” or “Second Dinner In and Around the Crowded Mohammed Ali Road.”

A Place at the Table (Prestel)
A Place at the Table is a gorgeous, moving (not to mention delicious) celebration of foreign-born chefs and their contributions to contemporary American cuisine. Recipes from Marcus Samuelsson, Dominique Crenn, Daniele Soto-Innes and more are presented side-by-side with highly personal profiles highlighting these chefs’ compelling stories about making it in the food world. With 2020 on the horizon, it could be the most important cookbook you buy this year, or any year.

Originally Appeared on Vogue