Recent Cookbooks on My Shelf - May/June 2025

Cookbooks Are Always The Answer - Extra Food Chat with Kath

Welcome to another edition of Extra Food Chat with Kath!

It’s time for more cookbooks! The good books don't stop coming, and my ability to restrain myself around books remains almost non existent. Lucky for you, this means more cookbook reviews. I hope you find some below that are new to you, or help you decide whether they should be added to your collection.

If you ever want assistance on a cookbook choice, please reply to one of these emails or message me here on Substack or on Instagram. If I have the book you are interested in I’ll give you my thoughts (no responsibility can be taken for enabling cookbook obsessions or purchases!).

Now on to this lot of reviews. There’s quite some variety here but a common theme of joy and generosity through food and culture.

Use it All by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards (Murdoch Books) - I am a bit late to this book, it having been released in 2020. Use It All is jammed packed with tips and recipes that will help you reduce food waste and eat well. The book is divided into 8 chapters, or shopping baskets filled with a variety of produce. Each chapter then focuses on the produce from that ‘basket’, giving tips on shopping for those things, storing them to maximise freshness and shelf life, recipes to use them and recipes and tips designed to avoid waste. Each ingredient also has other information attached such as health benefits and what it goes well with.

Each chapter/basket is filled with information, with a handful of recipes per page in many cases. This book is really jammed packed full of helpful information and recipes, and each chapter/basket begins with an overview of the recipes found in each chapter which makes it really easy to navigate. The information shared in Use It All feels so generous as there is just so much in there. It also feels necessary in so many ways, as while saving money and not wasting things for that reason is important, the environmental impacts of overconsumption then the wastage associated with that are of critical concern.

I imagine this is a book you could refer to when trying to find a recipe or way of using something up you have leftover or have an abundance of, though I can see myself deliberately buying ingredients to make some of the recipes too. I am looking forward to trying Coral’s Parmesan Biscuits (p.35), the Fish Cakes (p.53), Toum (Lebanese Garlic Dip) (p.69), The Simplest Potato Gnocchi (p.133) and Tired Grape and Date Paste (p.171).

Pakistan by Maryam Jillani (HardieGrant) - This is a really exciting recent release. There are very few cookbooks specifically on Pakistani food or Pakistan. Author

Maryam

had been cooking and collecting Pakistani recipes for years since she had moved from Pakistan, trying to recreate favourite dishes and record recipes she struggled to find elsewhere online. After noticing a serious gap in the cookbook market, Maryam decided she needed to write a cookbook about the food of Pakistan.

This book is a real feat. So much time and work has clearly gone into this cookbook. It transverses though the history and regional influences of Pakistan and its food culture, while recording recipes throughout the various regions of Pakistan, taking the reader through the home kitchens of many as well as Maryam herself. In a similar way to Hisham Assaad has done in Bayrūt (review below), Maryam in Pakistan, speaks honestly and openly about the hardships faced by many living in Pakistan. Yet there is a bigger focus on the warmth, hospitality and generosity of the Pakistani people, especially those who welcomed her into their kitchens to show her special recipes, even when resources were tight and ingredients hard to come by.

This cookbook is separated into styles of cooking/dishes in terms of chapters, but within that are essays on the various regions of Pakistan adding a depth of understanding to this book that transcends food. This is a cookbook you can sit down and read, regardless of the fact that it is absolutely full of recipes, there is much food writing to delve into. The photography in this book is also absolutely stunning, notably the location photography, and along with the exceptional design, creates a really vivid immersive experience for the reader. Recipes on my to try list include Hunza-Style Chicken Dumplings (p.54), Prawn Pulao (p.203) and Nankhatai (Semolina Shortbread) (p.253). Another excellent book to add to your shelves.

Baking Beyond the Paywall: My reviews of Beyrūt and Green Mountains are below for paid subscribers.

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