This lede helped to clarify something about cookbooks I sometimes forget. Cookbooks are books, too. I have a lot of cookbooks. Friends and publishers sometimes send me more. There are the cookbooks that live in the kitchen, and then the taxi squad of basement cookbooks, plus more that are designated for assignment. Frequently, especially when pressed for time, I cook using recipes from the NYT cooking app, or I search for "Kenji + what I want to cook." Even with an optimistic life expectancy, I could cook a different dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner out of the cookbooks I already own and die without scratching the surface of some cookbooks I bought with the best of intentions.
With that knowledge fully in mind, I feel better about knowing that I will most certainly buy more cookbooks in the near future. This phrase from Jennifer Reese is a reminder that a (good) cookbook is not just a collection of recipes, but a new way of thinking about what to do in the kitchen as you face the daily challenge of cooking for yourself and the people you love. What Reese has to say about Eric Kim's new book puts it on my list, and I'm excited to spend time with the aforementioned Kenji's Wok book.
None of this is to deny that the world is full of deeply inessential cookbooks. There are some good second and third cookbooks from chefs, but there are also a fair number that seem as much about keeping the brand in front of customers. There is also the world of the deliberately inessential cookbook, but that is a story for another day.
More generally, especially during a pandemic, it can be hard to get excited about cooking. If spending a few books on a cookbook makes you feel hype to put on an apron, that's what a famous cookbook author calls "a good thing."
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