The 20 best cookbooks to buy this fall, chosen by Diana Henry Wine News

Sugar, i love you

By Ravneet Gill (Pavilion, £ 20)

It’s great to see a food writer bold enough to say ‘Sugar, I love you’, but Ravneet Gill has loved her ever since as a child she pestered her mother to buy her Black Forest cake at the slice. The book is cheeky – and knowledgeable – but what will make you buy it? The recipes, stupid. Brioche cube filled with pastry cream, bran and chocolate ice cream, Japanese cheesecake… not trivial things, but why would you want that? Outside now.

Weekend: eat at home

By Matt Tebbutt (Quadrille, £ 22)

Since Covid, when we started to think of the kitchen as the place to find happiness, many cookbooks have focused on being at home. This volume will certainly prevent you from making yet another pie. Instead, have roast chicken with salt and vinegar crisps and a brown butter béarnaise. There are plenty of clever ideas, from brunch (poached eggs with curried potato croquettes) to more chic dinners. The recipes are daring and the dishes achievable. Released on November 11.

Enticing Memories

Taste: My life through food

By Stanley Tucci (Fig tree, £ 16.99)

Stanley Tucci not only starred in the cult culinary movie Big Night, he also co-wrote it, so it’s no surprise that he loves food but, my God, it’s in his soul. Growing up in the States, thinking and talking about food was normal – his parents had roots in Calabria – and he writes about family dishes in exquisite detail (right down to his packed lunches at school). Touching, funny and greedy, the book is chock full of memorable meals and traces how his love of food grew to eclipse acting. If food is everything for you, you will love it. (Bonus: You get the recipe for timpano, the massive pie that Big Night made famous.) Released now.

Appetite: a memory in family and food recipes

By Ed Balls (UK Gallery, £ 16.99)

When the visiting nurse came to see three-week-old Ed Balls, she said he was too hungry to go without solids. The Sunday roast was duly mashed and Balls loved the food ever since. It paints a touching portrait of British cuisine in a particular era, when families weren’t going to restaurants, ate minced meat, and there was no extra virgin in the cupboard. There is also politics. When he lost his seat, he cooked roast beef for his campaign team, then became the family’s chef and bottle washer. He is full of advice. While chefs proselytize about the tasting while you cook, Balls does it at the end because he likes to be surprised. Outside now.

Best Books for Food Facts