Nik Sharma

What I appreciate about this book and Julie Sahni’s work in general is the effort she puts into explaining the technicalities of Indian ingredients and techniques, an important aspect to know when trying to learn any new cuisine or style of cooking.

This is a book that is dear to my heart. I was born and raised in Bombay and every word from the headnotes to the recipes, brings back the most wonderful memories of my former home. The book is a wonderful homage to Parsi cuisine.

When I wanted to learn more about Middle Eastern cooking, an author recommended I read this book. It remains my number one resource. Not only does it contain a comprehensive collection of recipes from this vast region but it also shares the context behind the recipes.

It gives you an appreciation of the enormous task of what it takes to write a book on regional cooking of a country. Interspersed within the recipes are helpful snippets of information on how to cook with ingredients while revealing what the method actually does.

I struggled with picking which book of Diana’s I would include here since I use them all quite frequently. This book is the perfect example of how stories can weave into recipes, and it reads like poetry.

This is a wonderful and useful book for every cook to read, regardless of their skill set. Nigella gives you the tools to cook at home but she does this in her own masterful way where you walk away confident armed with tips and tricks.

A cookbook written as a food diary but truly gives you a sense of what it is to cook by the season. It’s easy to get transported away with this book, and I often find myself watching the weather change through a window from my kitchen.

This is a book on classic American desserts. There is an exciting energy throughout the book that makes the complex technical approach of dessert-making fun.

This is a unique book that takes you on a journey exploring different flours and celebrates them for their individual flavors. It also deals with the challenges that arise when using non-gluten based flours and you can take the knowledge from here and apply it elsewhere in your cooking.

When I toyed with the idea of attending pastry school, this book came highly recommended. It gave me a sense of how to appreciate locally grown ingredients for their flavor, a central theme behind the famed Chez Panisse restaurant in California.