You'd think the internet would have killed the cookbook. Why bother with hardback when there’s an avalanche of free online recipes? But a good cookbook is more than just a list of ingredients and steps. It’s a teacher, a friend, a passport, sometimes even a therapist. The good ones wedge themselves into our shelves and the best into our regular cooking repertoires.
A cookbook is no small undertaking. Which is why it may surprise you to learn that, according to publishers, a cookbook is deemed a success if people make at least two recipes from it. Two! So when a book has you making three, four, five dishes; when you find yourself reading it in bed like a novel; when its pages are sticky with passata stains – then you know it’s something special.
People love cookbooks for wildly different reasons. Some people read them like fiction, never once turning on the hob. Others use them to fantasise, lingering over the glossy images of Belfast sinks, enamel dishes and terrazzo worktops.
I use them like manuals, a blueprint for how to feed myself. Like many British children, I grew up on a sort of cultural blank slate when it came to food. I was raised on ketchup pasta, chicken goujons, and a single frankfurter rolled into a slice of Hovis, best known to my dad as lunch. I was ripe for conversion.
Ready, Steady, Spaghetti, my first ever cookbook, taught me how to make egg fried rice and spaghetti and meatballs. I then graduated to Mary Berry’s Baking Bible where I whisked up crumbles, sponges and Battenbergs until my family couldn’t stomach a crumb more of marzipan. I cooked my way through the lonely, hormonal fug of my teenage years with the aid of the Gok Cooks Chinese and Delia’s Cakes. East by Meera Sodha taught me the vegetarian dishes of India at university. Persiana opened the door to saffron and pomegranate molasses. And Ixta Belfrage’s Mezcla taught me that fusion cooking need not be frowned upon (if you haven’t made her Brazilian prawn lasagne with habanero oil, consider this your sign.)
Without the aid of cookbooks, I’m certain I’d still be chewing on microwave lasagnes, unable to tell the difference between miso and masa harina.
Somewhat depressingly, the statistics reveal that diet cookbooks are often the ones that fly off the shelves nowadays. But there’s more to life than ketosis and courgetti, so we’ve asked a selection of brilliant chefs and bakers from across the UK to share the cookbooks that have truly shaped them – the ones that taught them to cook, eat, and think differently
The top cookbooks recommended by chefs
The Way of Kueh by Christopher Tan
Favourite of Abby Lee, Head Chef and Founder of Mambow
Abby Lee, Head Chef and Founder of Mambow
Christopher seeks to preserve kueh making traditions through this cookbook. Kueh is a heritage food for Singapore (and Malaysia and Indonesia), and it’s so important for future generations to learn the techniques and the history it holds. The time-intensive nature of it endangers the traditional stores from dying out.
This book has comprehensive recipes, covering a vast range of sweet and savoury kueh, made from all types of grains, tubers, fruits, and nuts. Kueh holds a special place in my memory of the food I grew up with. It’s also one of, if not the most detailed kueh books out there. Usually, these recipes are only passed down within families and remain relatively secret.
I also love collecting the tools required to make certain kuehs, some of which have been passed down to me from my grandmother to my aunty to me. They’re almost like artefacts that capture the rich artistry in Peranakan culture. My go-to dish from the book is the ang koo kueh, a turtle-shaped kueh made from glutinous rice flour and sweet potato, with fillings that range from peanut to coconutty mung beans. The tool used for this would be a wooden or plastic hand-held mould with turtle-like carvings inside.
This book has motivated me to keep kueh dishes on the menu, tying in tradition while modernising the cuisine. Currently, we have a chilli crab kueh pie tee and a kueh bingka with toasted rice ice cream, both inspired by the book.
The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffery Steingarten and Le Meilleur et le Plus Simple de la Pomme de Terre by Joël Robuchon
Favourites of Isaac McHale, The Clove Club
Issac McHale, The Clove Club
My first favourite isn’t technically a cookbook: The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey
Steingarten. He was the food editor of Vogue, and the book is a series of very funny articles about tasks he set himself and food adventures he embarked on.
At the beginning, he sets out to rid himself of any food dislikes or hatreds – how could he be a food editor if there were all these foods he disliked? He goes on to take his wife on a two-week trip to Alsace, not telling her they’ll be eating choucroute garni (a heavy stew of pork, potatoes and cabbage) every day.
It’s funny, adventurous, world- travelling. I bought it when it was released in 1996 and loved it. It was the time of Heston’s rise, The Fat Duck, and Harold McGee, and this book, with its anecdotes and fact-filled pages, explained and busted some cooking rules.
I constantly tell chefs in our kitchen to use fine sea salt, not the flaked kind, which is 20 times more expensive and pointless if you’re dissolving it in a sauce, purée, or soup – save it for finishing.
The second book is Le Meilleur et le Plus Simple de la Pomme de Terre by Joël Robuchon. Famous for his Paris mash made with Belle de Fontenay potatoes and lots of butter, this book offers 100 ideas for potato dishes and garnishes, from baked new potato shells and soufflés to mash and more.
La Tante Claire and Classic Koffmann by Pierre Koffmann
Favourites of Elliot Hashtroudi, Head Chef of Camille
Elliot Hashtroudi, Head Chef of Camille
La Tante Claire was a seminal restaurant in London, and I can’t help but feel the restaurant – and the book – shaped much of London’s food scene. The inspiration is clear even to the likes of Marco Pierre White.
Koffmann’s Memories of Gascony led us to name the restaurant Camille after his grandmother. And finally Classic Koffmann. His stuffed trotter inspired me to reimagine it, creating a Chamonix-inspired stuffed trotter, which I’m currently taking on tour with collaborations.
Koffmann’s passion, hardships, and dedication to cuisine shine through in every book. It’s come full circle now, as Koffmann is a regular diner at Camille and claims we make the best tripe he’s ever eaten.
Fäviken by Magnus Nilsson
Favourite of George Husband, Head Chef and Co-Founder of Gorka
George Husband, Head Chef and Co-Founder of Gorka
Written as an ode or eulogy to his since- closed restaurant, Fäviken, Magnus Nilsson’s chronological cookbook reads like a diary of recipe entries, idiosyncratic writings and musings. Recounting every dish served at the restaurant during its lifespan of 4,015 days, with 100 recipes, the scale of the book itself is impressive. The ideas are tantalising, sometimes shocking, but most of all, inspiring.
Nilsson shows the processes not just in the kitchen, but in his creative thought as a chef. There are ups and downs, successes and failures, all recorded with Nilsson’s trademark paradox of arrogant humility.
The book doesn’t just teach recipes – it teaches you the creative process behind them. Most cookbooks offer recipes to mimic, but Fäviken is more of a guide to help you create your own dishes. Magnus’s remark in the foreword has really stuck with me: “If it tastes good, it is right, and if it doesn’t taste good, try again.”
The book lists 100 recipes, but many are simply names with no further details. Sometimes, it’s what goes unsaid that allows your imagination to fill in the blanks. From a chef’s perspective, these moments are the most inspiring.
In our first supper club at Gorka, Nilsson’s one standout dish – a wild trout roe crusted with dried pig’s blood – was inspired by this book. We adapted the pig’s blood custard and made other tweaks, using the book as truly intended: as a tool to inspire creativity.
Moro by Sam and Sam Clark
Favourite of Jacob Kenedy, Chef-owner of Bocca Di Lupo, Gelupo and Plaquemine Lock
Jacob Kenedy, Chef-Owner of Bocca Di Lupo, Gelupo and Plaquemine Lock
I cut my teeth in Sam and Sam’s kitchen at Moro in Exmouth Market. I stumbled in there for a week at the start of my gap year, and that week stretched to half a year (I spent the other half under Nancy Oakes in Boulevard, San Francisco). Their first cookbook, Moro, means a lot to me.
First, it’s built around the dishes I first learned to cook – beef salad with barley, sumac, and grapes (still blows my mind), shrimp tortillitas, crab brik with harissa, tortilla, quail with pomegranate or pistachio, liver, kidneys, fattoush, paella, chicken with freekeh, pork stewed with wild mushrooms and sherry, and more. These were the base recipes that taught me how to prepare, cook, and season.
Second, a few years after working in the Moro kitchen, I had the incredible honour of testing recipes for the book. The responsibility probably went to my head, but it gave me confidence and helped solidify my identity as a chef. If I could only have one cookbook, it would be Moro. Most of the cooking I do at home is without a recipe – I throw together a pasta or stew using the techniques I learned from this book. But if ever I do follow a recipe, it’ll always be one from the two Sams.
Nothing Fancy by Alison Roman
Favourite of Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Chef-proprietor of Rambutan
Cynthia Shanmugalingam, Chef-Proprietor of Rambutan
The idea behind Nothing Fancy is that you’re a cool, laid-back person who sort of effortlessly whips up delicious, lovely things for your friends, without making a huge fuss about it. Alison Roman guides you like a snarky, fun friend who wants you to stop slaving over the stove and instead focus on living your best life, making your life easy and your entertaining glorious.
I love that the book is full of ideas for cooking for others – hosting people is just the nicest thing to do. But it also helps save your perfectionist instincts; it’s photographed beautifully, and it fills you with confidence because the recipes are reliable, full of bright salads, pasta dishes, dips, and baked goods.
I really love the sweet and salty cream cheese tart – basically Roman’s version of a baked New York cheesecake, but with a crust that’s half the thickness of the usual, so the ratio of filling to crust is perfect. The filling is the creamiest, topped with just sea salt, which makes it look elegant.
It had a huge impact on me when I was writing my cookbook, Rambutan. It’s partly why I skipped a lot of hard-to-find ingredients unless I was truly sold on something. I use coconut powder or milk rather than slaving over making it from scratch – it’s about making life easier while still keeping the key elements right. I tried to write like a friend, with clear but not-too-serious instructions.
No dishes at Rambutan were directly inspired by Alison, but I think the way she plans a balanced menu – a mix of crunchy snacks, big-batch cocktails, fresh, acidic salads, bread, dips, and a couple of set-piece dishes – had a big impact on how I leaned into my feminine side when composing menus at Rambutan, and feeling like that was something cool I could do.
The Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal
Favourite of Aji Akokomi, Founder and Culinary Director of Akoro and Akara
Aji Akokomi, Founder and Culinary Director of Akoro and Akara
Heston’s book delves into the creative process behind the dishes at The Fat Duck, blending historical culinary references, some ancient or medieval, with the science that informs his recipes. It’s my favourite book because it taught me far more than recipes; it reshaped how I think about creativity in the kitchen. I was particularly drawn to his rigorous, almost academic, approach to recipe development.
While I don’t often replicate his dishes exactly, I constantly return to his methods, especially his techniques for making stocks and broths. They’ve had a profound influence on how I cook.
Reading this book shifted my perspective: I see the act of creating distinctive cuisine as a form of scientific exploration. Thanks to Heston, pressure cookers are now indispensable in my kitchen.
One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka
Favourite of Douglas Master, Head Chef and Founder of Silo
Douglas McMaster, Head Chef and Founder of Silo
One Straw Revolution was a gift from my mentor. It’s a book about a scientist and farmer, turned philosopher/poet. It’s about our relationship to the natural world and has deep insights that motivated Silo. It changed the way I see the world. A series of revelations about how we must understand nature to find sustainability.
It’s not a recipe book, unless you can consider growing rice a recipe. It’s had such an unfathomable impact on my career and ethos. It teaches us not to design menus from our human desires, but rather to work in rhythm with a landscape. Let the menu be decided by the optimal version of a regenerative system. The entire Silo project was born from the insights of this book.
Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson
Favourite of Keren Sternberg, Head Baker at Don't Tell Dad
Keren Sternberg, Head Baker at Don't Tell Dad
My pick would have to be Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson, from the iconic Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. The book focuses on naturally leavened sourdough and really dives into the Tartine approach. For me, it’s an essential book – whether you’re just starting or have been baking for years.
Even though I’d been working as a pastry chef for a while, my proper sourdough journey actually started during lockdown, like a lot of people. Tartine Bread became my go-to. It’s super detailed, and I learned so much from it. Our bread at the bakery is a bit different now, but I still have to say the basic country bread recipe is my favourite. It’s such a solid foundation – it taught me the fundamentals and works as a great base for all kinds of loaves. And honestly, it’s amazing just on its own.
What I love most about the book is how it reminds you that simple is often best. You don’t always need to overcomplicate things. That mindset really stuck with me, and it’s something I come back to whenever I’m feeling stuck or uninspired. Just think simple – that’s very Tartine. One of the most loved items on our menu actually comes from the Tartine pastry book – our chocolate buckwheat cookie. It’s based on their recipe with our own twist, and it’s definitely become a crowd favourite.
