4 Cookbooks for the Pandemic

Breathe some life into cooking routines

Melissa McCart
Heated

--

Bookshelves full of cookbooks.
Photo: Melissa McCart

Raise your hand if you’re tired of cooking. I’m trying to pull inspiration from my colleagues Daniel, Kerri, and of course, Mark, but I have to say, like the rest of the cook-at-home universe, I’m fishing for how to recharge and to feel as committed about cooking at home as I was in March.

In some ways, this is timely, since I’m guessing, like you, I’d like to support our favorite restaurants as the government has left them for dead. But that’s for another post. This is a starter conversation for cookbooks we’re really into right now that get us excited about simmering soups, baking cakes, or preheating the oven for your next epic meal.

In talking to home cooks, one thing I’ve been surprised about during the pandemic is how many of us are, above all, hunt-and-peck recipe gatherers, pulling whatever from Pinterest, NYT Cooking, All Recipes, or a cooking blog — even as cookbook sales are quite brisk. My 70-something-year-old mother, for example, a budding Instagram influencer for Seniors (#himom #southernliving), just got a new iPad and has been going nuts using some app I can’t recall, cataloging her recipes from Gimme Some Oven, Simply Happy Foodie, and whomever else.

Lately, I crave a connection to the author or the region that’s inspired someone to…

--

--

Melissa McCart
Heated

Editor of Heated with Mark Bittman on Medium. Dog mom. Pho fan. Send me your pitches: melissamccart@gmail.com