James Beard nominee Poliafito (Baked) draws from “that part of me that lives in the in-between,” where Italian, Italian American, and American food cultures intersect, in this heartfelt collection. The roughly 100 sweet and savory recipes are sorted into breakfast bakes; cookies, bars, and biscotti; pies, tarts, and crostatas; breads and snacks; cocktails; pastries; cakes; frozen treats; granitas and puddings; and foundational recipes like pasta frolla. Among the standouts are a tri-color almond-enriched spumoni loaf and a dazzling chestnut puree–domed monte bianco. Less successful are the strained attempts to Italianize American classics, including honey-ricotta black and white cookies and tiramisu-inspired Rice Krispie treats. Still, there’s much to like in this gorgeously photographed work, including an orange zest-spiked chocolate-filled brioche, a decadent pistachio lemon cake, and enticing savory bakes such as caponata bombas. Poliafito promotes measuring by weight, but also writes his recipes in volumes for those without kitchen scales. This beautifully written paeon to the author’s hyphenated background will please home bakers who are up for a challenge. (June)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Hage (The Lebanese Kitchen) extols the vegetarian bounty of the Levant in this appealing collection. The region is known for its vegetable sharing plates, but Hage goes well beyond mezze. A brunch chapter includes muffin-style buns—made with a batter that incorporates cooked, soaked, and ground rice—served with fried eggs. The chapter on grain dishes proffers Egyptian chickpeas and rice topped with fried vermicelli and caramelized onions, while the chapter on breads features six-inch flatbreads with various toppings and rectangles of dough stuffed with tahini and garlic. Herbs and spices star in dishes such as tofu with black lime and heaps of herbs, and mushroom kebabs rubbed with cumin and cardamom. A chapter packed with appetizing snacks offers polenta crisps with herb dipping sauce, while small plates include za’atar puff pastry pinwheels. Drinks, sauces, and desserts, including grilled apricots paired with mild mascarpone, round out the selection. Hage has a steady hand in her instructions and shares a number of clever ideas, making the dishes feel approachable. Each recipe is also helpfully marked with symbols indicating, among other things, if they are gluten-free or take under 30 minutes to prepare. Home cooks will treasure this. (May)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Modernist Australia blogger Callan debuts with a striking survey of Australian modernist houses built between 1953 and 1980 that have been “beautifully reimagined through... renovation.” The modernist style, she explains, emerged in the early 20th century in opposition to “the ornate excesses of the preceding Victorian era” and privileged considerations of “comfort and utility” over strict aesthetic principles. Detailing updates to 21 houses that have preserved the structures’ mid-century character, she describes how the owners of a 1963 suburban Victoria home “effectively gutted” the edifice in 2019 to create more bedroom and kitchen space, but saved the original bricks and incorporated them into the new layout. Mid-century fashions dominate the interior design choices, as exemplified by a New South Wales house adorned with dark timber paneling, “burnt orange” walls, and a retro refrigerator. Callan presents an insightful look into how homeowners have balanced preservation with renovation, and she illuminates how historical currents influenced the construction of each home. For example, Callan discusses how one Victoria house was built in 1957 on land carved out from an imperial estate to accommodate the post-WWII population boom, and how one 1960 Queensland apartment complex was erected at a moment when “Australia looked towards a space-age future of city life in shiny towers.” The result is a welcome celebration of the modernist style’s enduring appeal. (May)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Dietitian Jackson debuts with a robust program for managing irritable bowel syndrome. Explaining the biology of the condition, she points to research showing that people with IBS have an overactive fight-or-flight response, which evolved to either speed up bowel movements (“making you ‘lighter on your feet’ ”) or slow down colon contractions, allowing “energy to be expended elsewhere.” Throughout, Jackson adds nuance to standard nutritional guidance. For instance, she contends that conventional wisdom urging people with IBS to steer clear of dietary fiber ignores the distinction between high and low fermentable sources of fiber, the latter of which (e.g., quinoa, spinach, and walnuts) can help regulate bowel movements without feeding harmful gut microbes. In addition to the usual suggestions to get enough sleep and exercise 30 minutes every day, Jackson tackles less commonly addressed aspects of living with the condition, as when she offers tips for discussing IBS with one’s partner (be open about having the condition, but “you don’t have to talk all things IBS straight away”) and dining out (cuisines “with fewer ingredients and flavourings” tend to have more IBS-friendly options). In addition to offering detailed dietary guidance, Jackson, who has IBS, demonstrates a keen understanding of how the condition can affect one’s social life. This stands out in the crowded field of IBS manuals. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

This jaunty guide from journalist Russell (How to Be Sad) explores the distinctive parenting culture of Nordic nations, whose inhabitants are humorously referred to as “Vikings” throughout. Russell recounts how she and her husband, both Britons by birth, moved to Denmark in 2013 for work and fell in love with the country, deciding to stay indefinitely and giving birth to three children there. Over the years, she discovered that “Vikings typically trust that children will figure things out, learn how to use their bodies, and manage their surroundings.” Interviews with experts illuminate the wisdom behind this approach, as when Russell investigates the “Viking” belief that moderately risky forms of play (climbing a tall tree, for instance) are good for children by interviewing Danish child development experts who believe such activities help kids better understand the world (“If I jump off this table, what will happen?”). Russell’s humor infuses the bemused cultural commentary (“I knew I’d passed the point of no return when googling ‘best axe for children,’ ” she writes about preparing her eight-year-old son for summer camp), and the recommendations to let siblings settle disputes among themselves and allow kids to make mistakes are refreshing in their respect for children’s autonomy. Readers looking for an alternative to helicopter parenting will want to check this out. Agent: Anna Power, Johnson & Alcock. (July)

Reviewed on 05/03/2024 | Details & Permalink

Hengstenberg, founder of Stokholm’s Krümel bakery, debuts with a tempting collection of 34 inventive cookie recipes. After opening with an account of how she founded her business during the pandemic, Hengstenberg runs through handy tips (toast nuts before using them to release their flavor), instructions for choosing the best ingredients (look for butter with the highest possible fat content), and an inventory of necessary equipment. The recipes are sorted into “gooey and chunky,” which are loaded with goodies and seem almost underbaked; “gooey and soft,” which have an “airier and lighter crust”; and “chewy and soft,” which are slightly denser due to using melted butter. Alongside fresh twists on old standbys, such as brown butter chocolate chip cookies, adventurous flavor combinations include prune and five spice cookies; a saffron, pistachio, and white chocolate batch that is “perfect for Christmas”; and tomato and vanilla cookies made with dried tomato powder and black onion seeds. Hengstenberg rounds things off with a handful of vegan and gluten free options, including hazelnut and Earl Grey cookies made with buckwheat flour, and suggestions for using up any leftovers (make “krüm’balls” by mixing cookie crumbs with milk and espresso, then rolling them in chocolate and nuts). This creative and encouraging handbook is sure to get home bakers fired up. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/12/2024 | Details & Permalink

“Food is an anchor and safety net when documentation, distance, and language are challenges,” writes debut author Vasquez in this earnest cookbook and foodways study of El Salvador. Conversations with 33 Salvadoran women interspersed with recipes from them and others make this valuable as sociology. Interviewees include Maricela, who sells street food from a stall in Los Angeles, and the author’s late grandmother Mamá Lucy, who was known for her cow’s hoof soup. Nourishing and satisfying dishes include flatbread-like Salvadoran tortillas and flor de izote (yuca flowers) with eggs. Variations abound: El Salvador’s “national dish,” pupusas, can be stuffed with three different fillings, and the fruity beverage ensalada is endlessly adaptable. Per the book’s title, these are soulful dishes linked to home and family; for example, the recipe for fried cheese-stuffed chayote is from the author’s mother. Main courses include rooster simmered in chicha, a fermented drink made with pineapple peels, and crabs in a pumpkin seed sauce. Desserts run along the simple lines of charred whole plantains and eggless bread pudding. The project originated online, and occasionally the writing has the inelegant feel of a social media post, but the recipes are clear—impressively so, considering they hail from a variety of sources—and the context is heartfelt and fascinating. This is a valuable work of cultural preservation. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 04/12/2024 | Details & Permalink

Brownstone Boys bloggers Bordelon and Slocum debut with a rewarding manual that walks readers through how to refurbish their homes. To prepare for renovations, Bordelon and Slocum recommend getting three to five quotes from architects and contractors and creating a “lookbook” (“Organize your inspiration for each space first by floor and then by room using something like Pinterest”). Detailing what to consider when working on each room, they suggest that “the stove, sink, and fridge should make a triangle” in the kitchen and outline the pros and cons of various kinds of stone countertops. For bedrooms, they encourage readers to buy throw pillows in a contrasting color to the walls or drapes, and for bathrooms, they describe how to save money by refashioning a credenza into a vanity. The guidance is chock-full of useful rules of thumb (“The minimum clearance that you need to maneuver around in any space is 36 inches”), and the authors place a welcome emphasis on trusting one’s gut (“Think about how you want the space to feel, not just how you want it to look”). The result is a comprehensive overview on revamping one’s home. (June)

Reviewed on 04/12/2024 | Details & Permalink

Lamenting declining homeownership rates, journalist Ormerod (Coco Rules) provides a spirited manual exploring how tenants can express their personal style in rented abodes. She highlights decorating techniques that can be easily undone at the end of a lease, describing how to cover kitchen counters in removable vinyl, apply temporary wallpaper, and decorate removable radiator covers. Other DIY projects are aimed at upscaling furniture, as when Ormerod details how to add a foam seat to a stool and glue scalloped trim to shelves. Ormerod privileges practicality over aesthetics, as when she admits that though she prefers glass in picture framing, she usually opts for transparent vinyl instead because it won’t shatter during a move. Unusual for an interior design guide, asides decrying how homeownership has become unattainable for younger generations provide a refreshing acknowledgement of political and practical constraints on decorating decisions. The projects are relatively simple (though readers will want some familiarity with a sewing machine before making their own table napkins and curtains), but it still feels like an oversight that many omit photos illustrating the steps involved. Nonetheless, renters will find this a font of inspiration. (May)

Reviewed on 04/12/2024 | Details & Permalink

In this enlightening report, Kempner (Not Tonight), a sociology professor at Rutgers University, sheds light on the individuals and organizations working to legitimize and legalize the medical use of LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, and other psychedelic drugs. Her account centers on Clusterbusters, an online community for individuals suffering from cluster headache (a disease that causes excruciating bouts of acute pain). Kempner describes how Chicago construction worker Bob Wold founded the group in 2002 after discovering that small doses of psychedelic mushrooms gave him the relief that dozens of prescription treatments had failed to provide. Clusterbusters was initially focused on sharing how to grow and use mushrooms to treat headaches, but the group’s ambitions swiftly expanded to include convincing the medical establishment to take psychedelic therapies seriously. Kempner profiles major players in Clusterbusters’ campaign, including Rick Doblin, whose psychedelics advocacy organization MAPS helped Wold interface with medical research institutions, and R. Andrew Sewell, a renegade Harvard doctor who in the mid-aughts worked with Wold and Doblin to research psychedelics’ efficacy in treating cluster headaches. Kempner’s empathetic reporting illuminates how collaborations between patients and medical professionals are reviving scientific interest in psychedelic therapies, and she provides historical background showing how moral panics around drugs in the 1970s and ’80s halted promising research on medical applications of MDMA and LSD. This will open readers’ minds to the health benefits of psychedelics. Agent: Bridget Wagner Matzie, Aevitas Creative Management. (June)

Reviewed on 04/12/2024 | Details & Permalink