WHISK — Cookbooks at VOLUME — Fresh Inspiration for your Plate & Palate

The end of the year and a fresh season for cooking always brings a flurry of new publications. Here are some new cookbooks on our shelves at VOLUME. From everything you need to know about rice to everything you need to know about cooking, to flavours that make you happy, and food to nourish body and soul.

Phaidon produces wonderful comprehensive volumes on specific cuisines. New from their stable is The Korean Cookbook. In typical fashion, there are masses of recipes (over 350) and expert knowledge of cooking techniques, ingredients and pantry staples, and food history. Definitive and authentic.

Sri Owen’s The Rice Book, first published 30 years ago, has been reissued with a new forward by Bee Wilson. It brings together renowned food writer Sri Owen's extensive travels and years of research with recipes for biryanis, risottos, pilafs, and paellas from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and beyond. A stunning book with updated information and a further 20 new recipes, this is an award-winning classic. Winner of the André Simon Award and One of OFM's 50 Best Cookbooks of All Time.

From San Franscico’s popular Rintaro comes a hip and stylish collection of Japanese izakaya recipes for your home kitchen. Rintaro features straightforward and delicious recipes: dashimaki tamago, gyoza, and homemade udon as well as such delights as a towering melon parfait with bright melon jellies.  This is food that tastes both like Japan and California – not fusion food but the food that you’d expect if the Bay Area were a region of Japan. Idiosyncratic and packed with comforting, tasty delights.

Start Here: With stellar reviews, this is an ideal book for anyone starting in the kitchen or for anyone who wants to improve their cooking. Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook. Sohla El-Waylly explains the hows and whys of cooking, introducing the fundamental skills that you need to become a more intuitive, inventive cook. Start Here is a standout— a one-stop resource packed with practical advice and scientific background, helpful tips, and an almost endless assortment of recipe variations.

Looking to spice up your cooking, sisters Maria and Eva Konecsny — the founders of Gewurzhaus — will introduce you to their favourite spices. In Kindred, there’s excellent information about food pairing your spices, how to use them, and how much to use. The recipes are drawn from their German heritage and reflect their love of shared food. Kindred embraces home and kin celebrating the special moments as well as everyday nourishment.

And here’s something irresistible. From the author of Persiana and Persiana Everyday, comes Flavour. Another delicious collection of recipes. Nigella Lawson says it perfectly: “Sabrina Ghayour's Middle-Eastern plus food is all flavour, no fuss - and makes me very, very happy”. For Middle Eastern and Persian food with a twist, Sabrina Ghayour is golden excellence.