cover image Home: Recipes to Cook with Family and Friends

Home: Recipes to Cook with Family and Friends

Bryan Voltaggio. Little, Brown, $35 (272p) ISBN 978-0-316-32388-8

Voltaggio, who owns five restaurants (Volt, Lunchbox, Family Meal, Range, and Aggio), happily shares his skills and innovative approach to comfort food in this spectacular collection of 100 flavorful riffs on American South classics such as biscuits and gravy (sweet potato biscuits with sausage, bacon, and mushroom gravy) and fried chicken (the secret is the pickle juice added to the brine). Voltaggio’s inventive approach yields page after page of “must try” dishes: squid Bolognese; a Southern-style banh mi with chicken liver mousse and a tropical coleslaw; pimento cheese hush puppies; baked applesauce with bourbon and vanilla; and chicken wings with kimchi caramel. Novice cooks will likely be intimidated by the many ingredients and steps (Voltaggio’s Thanksgiving meal calls for breaking down a turkey, making turkey stock, and brining as well as cooking the bird), but intermediate cooks with a deep larder will find great guidance in this outstanding cookbook. (Apr.)