Need inspiration for fall cooking? Grab these 3 cookbooks
This fall, check out these three cookbooks highlighting recipes from culinary leaders across California, past and present. Among a “Top Chef” winner, the keeper of a San Francisco restaurant legacy and a former Mercury News food editor, there’s an abundance of fun, creative recipes perfect for your next season of home cooking.
“Cook Like a King: Recipes From my Chinese California Kitchen” by Melissa King
San Francisco-based chef Melissa King, known for winning an “All-Stars” season of “Top Chef,” is the author behind “Cook Like a King: Recipes From my Chinese California Kitchen,” (Ten Speed Press, $40), in which she shares 120 mouthwatering recipes inspired by her life.
The daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong, King grew up in southern California, learning to cook in her family’s kitchen, before going on to the Culinary Institute of America after college. From there, she found her way to San Francisco, working in Michelin-starred kitchens, including as a saucier under Chef Dominique Crenn. She continued to develop her culinary style, finding new ways to, for instance, incorporate her Southern Californian love for Mexican cuisine with her passion for Italian fare following stints at renowned restaurants. Eventually, she competed on Season 12 of “Top Chef,” then went on to win as an “All-Star” on Season 17.
“The goal of this book is to empower home cooks at any level, to show that you really can make Hainan chicken that would impress a Chinese grandma and lobster wontons that will impress your friends.” King writes. “I want you to feel the pride I feel when I feed my friends and see their faces light up, and the joy of watching them fight for the last bites.”
From smoky tea eggs to her signature King’s Wings, chicken and ginseng bone broth with goji berries to salted egg yolk Basque cheesecake, these recipes blend creative, unexpected flavors from around the world.
Details: “Cook Like a King: Recipes From my Chinese California Kitchen,” by Melissa King (Ten Speed Press, $40) was released Sept. 23.
“House of Nanking: Recipes and Stories From Three Generations of Fang Family Cooking,” by Kathy and Peter Fang
Since its doors opened in 1988, House of Nanking has become a San Francisco culinary institution, drawing daily lines outside of its Kearny Street location, according to Kathy Fang, daughter of the restaurant’s founders, Peter and Lily Fang. Back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon for locals, tourists and even Hollywood actors to walk through its doors, she writes. Her parents, now in their 70s, still work at the restaurant every day except Thanksgiving, and after decades of requests, they have agreed to share their family’s recipes for the first time in this cookbook.
“This cookbook is our family’s legacy, and the legacy of a restaurant that not only became a culinary landmark in one of the world’s greatest food cities, but also redefined ingredient-driven, multiregional Chinese cooking in America,” Kathy writes. “It is a document of who we are and where we came from, the priorities in my family, and the food that connects us to each other and to the world.”
The book includes recipes from the restaurant menu, like sesame chicken with sweet potato, garlic eggplant, and shrimp in Tsingtao beer sauce; recipes from the Fang family’s home cooking, like steamed beef with ginger-scallion water; and dishes from the family’s second restaurant, Fang — plus many others.
Details: “House of Nanking: Recipes and Stories From Three Generations of Fang Family Cooking,” by Kathy and Peter Fang (Abrams Books, $40) is out Tuesday, Sept. 30.
“Eat, You’ll Get Hungry: A Family Food Saga” by Sam Gugino
Longtime food writer — and former Mercury News food editor — Sam Gugino is out with a self-published cookbook and family food memoir showcasing his (and his family’s) abiding passion for food. “Whether it was a routine weekday dinner, a holiday feast, or a post-funeral lunch, food was the glue that held everything and everybody together,” he writes.
After college, he attended culinary school in Philadelphia in the 1970s and went on to operate two restaurants as a chef and manager. Then he worked as a food and beverage manager at two hotels before beginning to write more seriously in 1983, inspired by a humor-writing class, he explains in the book’s introduction. He went on to work as restaurant critic at the Philadelphia Daily News, then as the Mercury News’ food editor from 1989 to 1994. This book centers on Gugino’s Sicilian American family and the central role food plays in it — and his memories.
The book alternates between memoir and cookbook, sharing recipes for dishes like Mom’s Lasagna, dandelion frittata and chicken cacciatore, alongside tales of growing up in Buffalo, recollections of family canning season and meditations on the ties between family and food.
Even though it was released back in January, it’s a relevant fall read ahead of what is for many a family-and-food-focused upcoming holiday season.
Details: “Eat, You’ll Get Hungry: A Family Food Saga” by Sam Gugino (self-published, $15).