Start Here
By Sohla El-Waylly
Our library has pulled a great selection of Fall cookbooks to put on display, and this book Start Here starts with teaching the basics through extraordinary recipes and flavors. The chef Sohla El-Waylly displays how to perfectly make any style of egg, how to carmelize, brown-butter anything, working with dough, and much more. Although she can run through the basics, her recipes have much more depth to them then the simple 1-2-3. For a wonderful Fall recipe, I picked her Walnut Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that are just filled with warmth and brown-buttery goodness. Did you know leaving the cookie dough in the fridge overnight or even 24-hours before baking helps to hone in on that strong chocolate and butter flavor? Her voice, in the book and on her YouTube cooking videos, is so professional, yet she has done so much cooking that she is used to failing, and wants the readers to learn from it and also expect that not everything comes out perfect the first time. She goes on to say that this book was made just for that; all the hours put into school just to still mess up -it happens, but this is why she put a book together with all the basics covered, so we don’t have to fail as much. You’ve probably seen her on New York Times Cooking YouTube channel where she does cooking 101, and a mystery menu with her partner Ham El-Waylly. She even has a segment with The History Channel YouTube where she makes ancient recipes; for more historic recipe suggestions check out our review of Tasting History.
Home Style Cookery
by Matty Matheson
When talking about Fall recipes, we have to include some soups and broths -it’s the best time to consume them! In one of his many cookbooks, Home Style Cookery another YouTuber Matty Matheson goes over how to make just about every broth for the base of any perfect soup. This book covers almost everything from breads to any style of vegetable imaginable, dips and desserts, and grilled and fried yumminess. As a vegetarian I’m always looking for a delicious veggie stock, and his mushroom stock is just what I was looking for. He uses the word “beefy” to describe the umami flavor taken from the use of cremini mushrooms. A secret he uses for this recipe is to roast the onion before adding it to the stock, which really brought a silky richness to the stock. I ended up using it for my start-of-Fall veggie soup, and it was gone in an instant! These recipes are super easy to follow and require low-effort to get it all done. He’s another one of my favorite YouTube chefs, and always makes me laugh with his videos. I also enjoy his personality, because his family is where my family originated -Newfoundland, Canada -so I love his Canadian references. You can also read a previous review of Matty Matheson: A Cookbook, his first recipe book/memoir.
October is National Cookbook month; you can also read lots of other cookbook and foodie focused book reviews written by our staff.
Written by:
Samantha Meyers
Information and Digital Services Assistant
Hoboken Library Staff Picks 