Recipes for success: A mouthwatering selection of this season's new culinary tomes (2024)

A Work in Progress is a triple treat. Redzepi’s year-long journal chronicles his efforts to sustain creativity, the grease in his team’s wheel and push Noma to the next level following its crowning as World’s No. 1 Restaurant in 2010. The pocket-sized Snap Shots captures the very scenes he describes in his reflections ('Everything we have achieved we have done by failing') and revelations ('The paradox of success. It limits you') with the liveliest language ('…it was like being bitch-slapped by summer'). As the centrepiece, the exquisite Noma recipes and plated presentations of his countless failed attempts, photographed majestically, seem doable and certainly inspired.

Published by Phaidon, $59.95

Writer: Antoinette di Michele

North California chef David Kinch has packed years of creative cuisine into Manresa, named for the restaurant he has run in the Bay Area since 2002. His all-American farm to table cooking ethos, insistence on organic ingredients, collaboration with Love Apple Farms in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains and passion for the local landscape are all discussed here wistfully. The recipes are on the foamy side of the gastronomic divide, and presentation a little delicate and studied for your average pot stirrer. But his thoughts, methods and the striking photography serve as a great inspiration for the adventurous cook.

Published by Ten Speed Press, $50

Writer: Rachael Sanders

She's the only female French chef with three Michelin stars. And yet instead of making a splash, Anne-Sophie Pic chose white as the underlying principle for her latest cookbook. Her goal: to offer a new take on long-established traditional recipes. Looking at dishes as though they were blank canvases, she re-engineers them with a contemporary approach, reinventing through texture, form and flavour. Using foams and emulsions, sous-vide cooking and siphons, she elaborates the creative processes that lie behind the transformation of the mundane to the extraordinary.

Published by Jacqui Small, £45

Writer: Marie Le Fort

The undisputed doyen of modern gastronomy, Ferran Adrià has not only mentored top chefs all around the world but also given inspiration to creatives across multiple disciplines. Among them is the Flemish architect Hedwig Van Impe, who has taken cues from Adrià's visual vocabulary and reconstructive method to design La Dividida, a house that serves as a cultural centre, on the Catalonian coast. 'Together Apart' examines Van Impe's creative process and explores his experimental architecture in writing, by Spanish curator Remei Giralt Simeon, that can at times be a little too experimental itself. Still, the photographs by Van Impe are thoughtful and make this book a worthwhile addition to any Adrià fan's collection.

Published by Lannoo, €45.00

Writer: TF Chan

Kinfolk magazine does a great job of chronicling the world of slow, meaningful living - the sort that involves a lot of slow, meaningful cooking, beautiful throwback packaging with carefully chosen fonts and the bearded, leather-aproned types who live it. It is, after all, based in Portland. The Kinfolk Table, subtitled 'Recipes for Small Gatherings', profiles food fans - chefs, home cooks, designers, bloggers, photographers, producers - uncovered on the global wanderings of Kinfolk founder Nathan Williams and his team, alongside recipes they have contributed. It's beautifully shot (on film, naturally) to induce envy of the kitchens, homes, dinner tables and children of these beautiful people. We might not be able to buy their lives, but we can at least eat their dinners.

Published by Artisan Books, £25

Writer: Emma Moore

The Japanese culinary scene is notoriously difficult to break into, and Jewish-American Ivan Orkin was taking a big risk when he opened Ivan Ramen in Tokyo in 2007, with few credentials beyond an irrepressible love of soup and noodle. But thanks to his incredible attention to every ramen component, he quickly became the star of the scene and is now expanding his empire to his native New York. This unlikely tale is chronicled with charm and gusto in the eponymous book, which also contains a candid selection of recipes. The 38-page formula for his signature dish, Shio Ramen, may be too formidable to follow, but it certainly shows how the right hands can elevate even the humblest dish into a work of art.

Published by Ten Speed Press, $29.99

Writer: TF Chan

With images by Juergen Teller and text by chef Antonio Guida (plus an introduction by Will Self), this is food photography reinvented for the modern age - all bright colours, dark shadows and glistening sauces. Teller treats food as he treats the human body, getting up close and personal, voyeuristically emphasising the unusual and perverse. Guida's residency at the Hotel Il Pellicano in Grosseto has resulted in two Michelin stars, and a transformation of the remote retreat into a gastronomic destination.

Published by Violette Editions, £45

Writer: Jonathan Bell

When you've got one of the hottest restaurants in Melbourne, publishers come knocking. For Chin Chin owner Chris Lucas, though, capturing the personality of his eatery was just as important as getting the recipes right, and no one he met seemed to get that. What to do? Do it yourself, of course. With more than 70 recipes by chef Benjamin Cooper, sharp photography and even comic graphics, it's as close as you'll get to a night out at Chin Chin without leaving the house.

Published by Chin Chin, AU$49.95

Writer: Carrie Hutchinson

If 'Pigs, Pickles & Whiskey: Recipes From My Three Favourite Food Groups And Then Some' isn't enough of a mouthful, then chef John Currence's slathered, pickled, brining and smoking flavours of the Deep South definitely will be. The James Beard Award-winner - AKA Mississippi's original big, bad chef - likes to tell it as it is, and his 130 DIY dishes, outrageous personal anecdotes and documentary-style photography speak loud and clear. From bourbon-braised pork cheeks to Deep South ramen topped with a fried poached egg, Currence throws readers into today's southern culinary scene. Adding more fun to the table, each recipe is paired with a song selected by Currence, which can be accessed through Spotify. Bop to Bruce Springsteen while prepping Maryland-style crab cakes or pair David Bowie with dill slices.

Published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, $40

Writer: Rachael Sanders

Pastry chefs Hugues Pouget and Sylvain Blanc, founders of exclusive Parisian pâtisserie Hugo & Victor, thrive on seasonality. Drawing inspirations from their own orchards and plantations in the South of France, they create contemporary-classic treats that highlight the quintessential flavour of figs, kaffir lime and grapes during what they call Indian summer; pomegranate and chestnut in autumn; pineapple, blood orange, lychee and passion fruit during the 'exotic citrus' season; lemongrass, pistachio and cane sugar in spring; and cherry, peach and strawberry in summer. Accompanied by texts from acclaimed food critic Alexandra Michot, 5 Saisons is a gastronomic journey through the seasons.

Published by Editions Du Chêne, €35

Writer: Marie Le Fort

Michelin-starred chef Régis Marcon knows his mushrooms - so much so that he's turned his Ardeche hometown, Saint Bonnet le Froid, into something of a fungi theme park. This autumn he launches a 400-page bible on the subject, which itemises 65 varieties and rates their textures and tastes while the chef imparts tips on how to clean and prepare them. From starter to dessert, some hundred recipes explore the world of mushrooms like never before (pickled chanterelles, anyone?) Or if yours is a sweet tooth, you might like to try porcini ice cream or bananas with caramel and morels.

Published by Editions La Martinière, €45

Writer: Marie Le Fort

Suzanne Goin's experience working at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in the US, from Ma Maison to L'Orange, laid the groundwork for her own acclaimed empire in Los Angeles. Goin's sophom*ore restaurant, AOC is known for having brought shared-plate dining back into vogue. Her latest literary venture, The A.O.C. Cookbook, shares the recipes that brought AOC into the limelight. She explains each of her culinary decisions and highlights seasonal ingredients while talking the reader through recipes, season by season. The proverbial 'cherry on top' of this collection of carefully considered recipes is the wine pairing for each dish, presented by Goin's business partner, Caroline Styne.

Published by Random House, $35

Writer: Mariel Reed

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