Cooking the Books, Summer 23

First Claire Ptak, owner of the beloved Violet Bakery in London, spills out her twisty-turn-y story in full glory in her deeply insightful and stunning, LOVE IS A PINK CAKE: Irresistible Bakes for Morning, Noon and Night from the Founder of Violet Bakery. From her whimsical childhood growing up in Inverness, California, to honing her skills and palate at Chez Panisse, to bootstrapping her way to London and opening a cake stand at Borough Market, to her own brick & mortar, to being tapped to bake that wedding cake, Ptak lends us her eye for details, sharing which recipe recalls what memory and how it shaped her own singular vision. The book beautifully melds images of coastal California and idyllic England effortlessly much like Ptak’s baking imprint and personal journey. A fine example of this that can always be found at Violet Bakery are the Lemon Meringue Pie Bars, a blown-out, luxe send-up of her mother’s recipe, and a nod to their mutual adoration of bright citrus.

In ANDAZA: A Memoir of Food, Flavour, and Freedom in the Pakastani Kitchen, author Sumayya Usmani lays bare her and her family’s story in brilliant, vivid detail. Organizing chapters by a watershed recipe, resonant memory, or life changing flavor, Usmani sublimely conveys the beauty in both the everyday and the extraordinary. Read Andaza cover to cover like the true memoir it is, and savor the recipes as keepsakes to relish and bring out the beauty and complexity of Pakistani cuisine. Her lyrical Bohri Bazaar Lentil Dumplings with Spicy Tamarind and Yoghurt is a riot of fragrance, heat, and texture and a tribute to her mother’s cooking (head to ediblela.com for recipe). For fans of Claudia Roden, Yasmin Khan, and Elizabeth David, you will be similarly rewarded by pickup up a copy of Andaza.

Few things spark the imagination like the proverbial and literal oyster, filled with mystery and the promise of a potential pearl inside.  For Nils Bernstein, the author has taken the plunge into the deep end of the celebrated bivalve in THE JOY OF OYSTERS: A Complete Guide to Sourcing, Shucking, Grilling, Broiling, and Frying. Truly a book for the obsessive, Bernstein lovingly gives us a colorful tour of the oyster-verse, its tools (so many kinds of knives!), buying them in the States and abroad, history and lore (aphrodisiac, or no?), and even cultivation. But, of course, it’s the recipes here that speak to us, and beg to be made. From classic near-forgotten Americana such as Oyster Stuffing, to a playful take on Filipino Oyster Kinilaw on ediblela.com, to the traditional Deviled Oysters—barely adorned with mustard, pepper and laced with Tabasco to wake up any sleepy (or bored) palate—this is a book for every oyster-loving cook and curious reader out there.

Sometimes the deftness of the chef’s kitchen lies not in their inherent skill as much as their ability to arm and stock their pantries and larders with uniquely flavorful components that tilt dishes into deliciousness. We’re talking secret ingredient/secret weapon type of stuff. Aussie author and cook Katrina Meynink knows this to be true, so she wrote a smart and creative book on it: FROM SALT TO JAM: Make Kitchen Magic with Sauces, Seasonings, and More Flavour Sensations. Everything here is in play and fair game to level up your cooking: chicken salt to jalapeno jam, lemon curd to fiery harissa and so many more aces to tuck up your sleeve. With the Angeleno summer at its peak, Meynink’s Tomato Party beckons us at any time of the day. Spicy zhug and creamy, salty feta balance the sweet chewiness of smoked sundried tomatoes as well as fresh, ripe cherry tomatoes. This is the kind of fruity, umami party that can be made nearly all year long here in Southern California.Nancy Silverton Hachisu has spent decades in Japan, working as a teacher and cook, and learning about the country’s incredible food artisans who gracefully hone their skills with tradition and repetition. In this exciting follow-up to the bestselling JAPAN: The Cookbook, Hachisu devotes an entire tome to a seemingly endless celebration of vegetables. JAPAN: The Vegetarian Cookbook is many things: a fascinating reference guide organized by cooking methodology, a study of seasons—one of the main tenets in Japanese cooking—a wide-eyed examination of a range of ingredients, and yes, a recipe book that exhorts quality over quantity, simplicity over fussiness. And yet there is also a playfulness here, such as in Hachisu’s Deep-Fried Cheese-Stuffed Koyadofu (freeze-dried, preserved tofu) on our website, ediblela.com. Calling upon the timeless joy of fried cheese in all its incarnations, Hachisu winks at us while continuing to urge us to eat our vegetables.