MahoganyBooks’ Holiday Spotlight: Cookbooks

Gift Giving Ideas For the Chef in Your Life

Our team scoured our database for the most sought after cookbooks based on the recommendations, special order requests, and purchases of our customers online and in-store. The list we have compiled isn’t a bestsellers list, but a curated list of the three months most sought after cookbooks by the MahoganyBooks community.

Enjoy and let us know what think.

P.S. We are always willing taste testers for all of you incredible cooks!


MahoganyBooks’ Holiday Spotlight: Cookbooks


Black Girl Baking
by Jerrelle Guy

“Black Girl Baking has a rhythm and a realness to it.” – Carla Hall, Chef and television personality

Invigorating and Creative Recipes to Ignite Your Senses

For Jerrelle Guy, food has always been what has shaped her–her body, her character, her experiences and her palate. Growing up as the sensitive, slightly awkward child of three in a race-conscious space, she decided early on that she’d rather spend her time eating cookies and honey buns than taking on the weight of worldly issues. It helped her see that good food is the most powerful way to connect, understand and heal.

Inspired by this realization, each one of her recipes tells a story. Orange Peel Pound Cake brings back memories of summer days eating Florida oranges at Big Ma’s house, Rosketti cookies reimagine the treats her mother ate growing up in Guam, and Plaited Dukkah Bread parallels the braids worked into her hair as a child.

Jerrelle leads you on a sensual baking journey using the five senses, retelling and reinventing food memories while using ingredients that make her feel more in control and more connected to the world and the person she has become. Whole flours, less refined sugar and vegan alternatives make it easier to celebrate those sweet moments that made her who she is today.

Escape everyday life and get lost in the aromas, sounds, sights, textures and tastes of Black Girl Baking.


Jubilee
by Toni Tipton-Martin

“A celebration of African American cuisine right now, in all of its abundance and variety.”–Tejal Rao, The New York Times

In Jubilee, Tipton-Martin brings these masters into our kitchens. Through recipes and stories, we cook along with these pioneering figures, from enslaved chefs to middle- and upper-class writers and entrepreneurs. With more than 100 recipes, from classics such as Sweet Potato BiscuitsSeafood GumboButtermilk Fried Chicken, and Pecan Pie with Bourbon to lesser-known but even more decadent dishes like Bourbon & Apple Hot ToddiesSpoon Bread, and Baked Ham Glazed with ChampagneJubilee presents techniques, ingredients, and dishes that show the roots of African American cooking–deeply beautiful, culturally diverse, fit for celebration.

Praise for Jubilee

Jubilee is part-essential history lesson, part-brilliantly researched culinary artifact, and wholly functional, not to mention deeply delicious.”Kitchn

“Tipton-Martin has given us the gift of a clear view of the generosity of the black hands that have flavored and shaped American cuisine for over two centuries.”Taste


I Heart Soul Food
by Rosie Mayes

From the beloved creator of I Heart Recipes and home cook Rosie Mayes comes a cookbook chock-full of soul food favorites.

Learn to cook comfort food the way Mom used to! Here Rosie shares all the secrets of southern classics like fried chicken, mashed potatoes, collard greens, and mac & cheese, plus soulful twists like Sweet Potato Biscuits and Fried Ribs. Authentic, approachable, and mouthwatering, these recipes use easy-to-find ingredients. Perfect for Sunday suppers and other celebrations as well as everyday favorites, these recipes are love on a plate!

Organized by meal, the cookbook starts with stick-to-your-ribs breakfast favorites like Blueberry Cornbread Waffles and Shrimp, and Andouille Sausage and Grits, plus plenty of main dishes and sides like Smothered Chicken, Oxtail Stew, Baked Candied Yams, Soul Food Collard Greens, and Sweet Cornbread. Don’t forget drinks and desserts like Peach Cobbler, Pralines, and Sweet Iced Tea! Includes 100+ recipes, including 30 fan favorites and 70 never-before-seen recipes, and 90 photographs.


Meals, Music and Muses
by Alexander Smalls with Veronica Chambers

Iconic chef and world-renowned opera singer Alexander Smalls marries two of his greatest passions–food and music–in Meals, Music, and Muses. More than just a cookbook, Smalls takes readers on a delicious journey through the South to examine the food that has shaped the region. Each chapter is named for a type of music to help readers understand the spirit that animates these recipes.

Filled with classic Southern recipes and twists on old favorites, this cookbook includes starters such as Hoppin’ John Cakes with Sweet Pepper Remoulade and Carolina Bourbon Barbecue Shrimp and Okra Skewers, and main dishes like Roast Quail in Bourbon Cream Sauce and Prime Rib Roast with Crawfish Onion Gravy.

Complete with anecdotes of Smalls’s childhood in the Low Country and examinations of Southern musical tradition, Meals, Music, and Muses is a heritage cookbook in the tradition of Edna Lewis’s A Taste of Country Cooking.


The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food
by Marcus Samuelsson

An Eater Best Cookbook of Fall 2020 – This groundbreaking new cookbook from chef, bestselling author, and TV star Marcus Samuelsson celebrates contemporary Black cooking in 150 extraordinarily delicious recipes.

It is long past time to recognize Black excellence in the culinary world the same way it has been celebrated in the worlds of music, sports, literature, film, and the arts. Black cooks and creators have led American culture forward with indelible contributions of artistry and ingenuity from the start, but Black authorship has been consistently erased from the story of American food.

Now, in The Rise, chef, author, and television star Marcus Samuelsson gathers together an unforgettable feast of food, culture, and history to highlight the diverse deliciousness of Black cooking today. Driven by a desire to fight against bias, reclaim Black culinary traditions, and energize a new generation of cooks, Marcus shares his own journey alongside 150 recipes in honor of dozens of top chefs, writers, and activists–with stories exploring their creativity and influence.

Black cooking has always been more than “soul food,” with flavors tracing to the African continent, to the Caribbean, all over the United States, and beyond. Featuring a mix of everyday food and celebration cooking, this book also includes an introduction to the pantry of the African diaspora, alongside recipes such as:

  • Chilled corn and tomato soup in honor of chef Mashama Bailey
  • Grilled short ribs with a piri-piri marinade and saffron tapioca pudding in homage to authors Michael Twitty and Jessica B. Harris
  • Crab curry with yams and mustard greens for Nyesha Arrington
  • Spiced catfish with pumpkin leche de tigre to celebrate Edouardo Jordan
  • Island jollof rice with a shout-out to Eric Adjepong
  • Steak frites with plantain chips and green vinaigrette in tribute to Eric Gestel
  • Tigernut custard tart with cinnamon poached pears in praise of Toni Tipton-Martin

A stunning work of breadth and beauty, The Rise is more than a cookbook. It’s the celebration of a movement.

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