Fresh Midwest: Modern Recipes from the Heartland

In this solid debut, King, a recipe developer and Minnesota native, updates dozens of dishes “straight out of the Midwestern comfort food canon” with a mix of influences from her Scandinavian heritage and her family’s own go-to recipes. An adaptation of cheesy potatoes (a staple, she writes, “at church potlucks across the Midwest”) riffs on her grandmother Nancy’s recipe, while renditions of Scandinavian classics—such as lefse (a mashed potato flatbread), a smorgasbord featuring smørrebrød (a Danish, open-faced sandwich), and Swedish meatballs—reflect the flavors of Minnesota’s large Norwegian and Swedish populations. King also cleverly integrates Scandinavian influences into other traditions: her kraftskiva incorporates both the traditional flavors of Swedish crawfish boils as well as Cajun-influenced spices, and she adds aquavit (a popular Scandinavian spirit) to French-style moules frites. Readers will appreciate King’s straightforward recipes just as much as her charming headnotes and essays, an entertaining blend of anecdotes and fascinating cultural context (in an introduction to her Bootlegger Jell-O Shots, King shares that “the bootlegger cocktail was created by the Minnesota country club set during Prohibition to mask the taste of harsh bathtub gin”). The result is a wonderful introduction to Midwestern cooking and its rich traditions. Agent: Leigh Eisenman, Wolf Literary. (Sept.)