1. Why I Cook
BY TOM COLICCHIO
Known to legions of viewers of Bravo’s “Top Chef” as the intimidating head judge with the impeccable palate, Colicchio has an impressive cooking pedigree (he co-founded New York’s seminal Gramercy Tavern in 1994). Why I Cook groups recipes by season, but this isn’t a cookbook, per se. It is a memoir, in which Colicchio reveals his struggles with ADHD, his early experiences with drugs and his refuge in the one place he could actually focus and express himself – the kitchen. First on my list to make is his Sunday Gravy With Meatballs and Braciole, a riff on the meat-tomato ragu his mom made.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
2. What Goes With What
BY JULIA TURSHEN
Food writer Turshen offers the cookbook for people who have enough recipe books and just need ideas of what to do with what they have on hand. Her Instagram followers (@turshen) are familiar with her charts – helpful guides that give you a week’s worth of ideas for making beans, or three nights with three consecutive dinners from one rotisserie chicken. The book features 20 charts, 100 recipes and plenty of encouragement to add your own personal creative touch. The easy pork tenderloin piccata from her 2022 cookbook Simply Julia is one of my favorite quick, super-satisfying meals.
3. A Thousand Feasts
BY NIGEL SLATER
The self-described “cook who writes,” Slater came to fame with his 2003 food memoirs Toast: The Story of a Boy’s Hunger, which later became a movie and play. Feasts is not about ways to cook but a collection of food-travel experiences that read like poetry. Slater’s relationship with food is almost carnal. One story recounts his waiting out a monsoon from inside a shaking car by devouring juicy mangoes, ripping off the skin with his teeth.
