It’s a new year, so that means more cookbooks worth waiting for!
These are the upcoming releases in the first half of 2023 that I am most looking forward to. They are all by authors I have already got books from on my shelves and that previous experience has made me all the more excited that these cookbook authors are bringing out new titles.
When I originally started writing this list in early January, I could only come up with four titles that I was most looking forward to. Then thankfully prior to when I was planning on posting this, I was reminded of a couple of others and now the list is a rather hefty six! Hopefully amongst the list you will find at least one book to add to your wish list too.
I’ll be back with a recap of this list once all the books have been released and I’ve had time to have a good look through. Plus another cookbooks worth waiting for list will be on it’s way for the second half of 2023. And just a disclaimer, opinions expressed in my cookbooks worth waiting for series are my own and all books have been purchased by me (links below are just for your reference/further research - links to books on Booktopia removed 15/07/2024).
Let me know in the comments if any of these cookbooks are on your wish list for 2023, and if not which ones are?
1. Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival Baking from the Heart of the Low Countries by Regula Ysewijn (February 2023) - I bought one of Regula’s previous books, ‘Oats in the North Wheat in The South’, about a year ago and I found it so interesting in terms of food history, that I have since also bought ‘Pride and Pudding’ and have preordered ‘Dark Rye and Honey Cake’. Books like these that focus so heavily on the history of food in a particular area, sit at a neat intersection between two of my favourite topics, food and history. They are probably not completely unique in terms of bringing a historical focus to a cookbook, but the fact that it is done so well, with amazing photography (also by the author) and well written too makes Regula’s first two cookbooks really stand out, and gives me no hesitation in feeling like her next will be just as good. Whereas Ruglua’s first two cookbooks are about British food and food history, ‘Dark Rye and Honey Cake’ is about the food of the Low Countries - which consists of Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg . I am particularly interested in this as I can’t think of any cookbook that focuses on the food of this area, and it’s definitely not an area I know very much about (I had to Google what countries the ‘Low Countries’ consists of so that probably says it all regarding my lack of knowledge about this region!).
2. A Table Full of Love by Skye McAlpine (February 2023) - Similar to Regula’s previous books, I really like Skye’s first two cookbooks. We use ‘A Table for Friends’ regularly (see here for a Off The Shelf post about it), so I am imagining this next book will bring more family favourite recipes to our table. The combination of Skye’s recipes and food styling and photography is always such a joy, I am really looking forward to this new book.
3. Sweet Enough by Alison Roman (April 2023) - Ok, I have to be honest here. While I am in some way looking forward to this book, I am not looking forward to it as much as I would like. When Alison first announced she had a new book in the works, my mind went straight to all the amazing dinners we’ve had from her recipes (see here for my Off the Shelf post on Nothing Fancy) and the cool savoury recipes she has shared in her newsletter that I have made again and again (A little eggplant Parm I’m looking at you!). I don’t associate Alison’s cooking with much baking or sweet stuff, so I was a little disappointed her next book would solely focus on that. I’m sure based on the quality of her recipes generally, and knack for great flavour combinations, that this book will be good. I just think I need more time (I guess I have until April…) to get over the fact this isn’t the book I thought it would be, and open my mind to the (most likely great) possibility that I will enjoy this book just as much as the two previous ones from Alison.
4. Love is A Pink Cake by Claire Ptak (April 2023) - Claire’s book ‘The Violet Bakery Cookbook’ has been a firm favourite of mine for years, and is one I always recommend when anyone is looking for a book about baking that’s a bit more interesting (check out my Off The Shelf post about it here). I recall seeing on Instagram what feels like ages ago (maybe during 2020?), that Claire was working on a new book, and apparently this one has taken a while to work on, 5 years according to Claire, so it’s really exciting to see a release date for it. I love the title, which is taken from an illustration by Andy Warhol of the same name, and cover image, which is a close up of a pink flower with a yellow centre. It’s a little different from many cookbook covers, which makes me even more intrigued to discover what is inside the book. I am obviously keen to see what recipes this book contains, not only due to the cover, but as I have really enjoyed cooking from Claire’s recipes over the years, and everything she posts on her Instagram for her London bakery Violet looks dreamy. Finally visiting Violet Bakery is quite high on my ‘one day if I ever go to London again’ to do list, so a new book from Claire should do the trick for now.
5. The Flavour Thesaurus More Flavours by Niki Segnit (May 2023) - I discovered Niki’s first book ‘The Flavour Thesaurus’ at a workshop years ago, and I bought it straight away. The premise is that you can look up a flavour and see what other flavours complement it, using Niki’s categorisation of flavours via her flavour wheel. It has remained a great cookbook shelf investment since, especially for someone like me who works as a recipe developer too. A new version of the flavour thesaurus concept isn’t something I thought I needed, but based on how useful Niki’s books are (her book ‘Lateral Cooking’ is also great if you love developing or fiddling around with recipes), I don’t doubt it will be beyond useful in my kitchen.
6. Heartbake by Charlotte Ree (May 2023) - also a special mention to this part memoir part cookbook by Charlotte Ree, which feels like it will be a deeply personal voyage of life’s tough bits through food. I’ve followed along with Charlotte’s journey of creating this book via Instagram, and I have so appreciated her honesty in sharing how these things come about and how emotional the whole process can be (especially so with a memoir). I am imagining this book to be somewhat in a similar vein to those cookbook/memoirs by Ella Risbridger, but also something quite different from those as well. Sharing a look at a final copy of the book on Instagram, Charlotte showed how the first section of the book is the memoir and the second is the recipes, and with the bright yellow cover I think seeing a copy will make anyone want to pick it up and see what it’s about. Reviews of the early copies of the memoir section distributed by Charlotte have been immensely positive and make me even more keen to see more.
