Best Cookbooks of 2025

I think 2025 a very, very good year for new cookbooks. Whittling down my list to only five titles took time. Reflecting upon these standout books, I see a number of authors that appear in my Best Of lists of years past. In alphabetical order, I share my picks for the five best cookbooks of 2025.

Chocolat: Parisian Desserts and Other Delights by Aleksandra Crapanzano (Scribner)

 

Mokonuts by Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem (Phaidon)

 

On Meat by Jeremy Fox (Phaidon)

 

Rome: A Culinary History, Cookbook, and Field Guide to the Flavors that Built a City by Katie Parla (Parla Publishing)

 

The Talisman of Happiness by Ada Boni (Voracious / Little Brown)

 

Chocolat Crapanzano follows up her Gâteau (2022) with a comprehensive collection of recipes of Parisian desserts starring chocolate. Crapanzano writes clear, concise recipes that offer helpful hints and delivers delicious results. I particularly enjoy her chapter entitled Mousse and More. I made her recipe for Mousse au Chocolat Rapide for Christmas dinner. So good and easy! Crapanzano’s recipe calls for Grand Marnier and orange zest, but she writes “[r]um, bourbon, Cognac or simply a spoonful of espresso can stand in....” I opted for coconut rum. Sorry, Mary, but the coconut and chocolate tasted delicious together. I cannot wait to see what Crapanzano writes next.

 

Mokonuts This excellent cookbook presents recipes from a small restaurant called Mokonuts in Paris’s 11^tharrondissement run by Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem. The chef/authors divide their cookbook into two parts: Part 1 features Koreitem’s savory fare. Some dishes sound fancy (e.g., Asparagus, Scallop Skirt Emulsion, and Broccoli Sprouts) while others simple (e.g., Tomato Salad and Lamb Shoulder Tagine). His careful, appealing recipes evidence his fine dining credentials. To date, I’ve spent more time cooking from the book’s Part 2 – Breakfast and Sweet. Hirayama shares recipes for very good English Muffins and Coconut Milk Blancmange, which tastes wonderful. But, like many others who own this book, it’s hard not to do a deep dive into the cookie recipes. The Mokotecao is a special, easy-to-make cookie that has absolutely no business being as delicious as it is. Hirayama ends Part 2 with a couple of family recipes I want to try in 2026: Mom’s Super Juicy Orange Cake and Dad’s Legendary Curry. If I had to buy only one cookbook this year, Mokonuts might be the one.

 

On Meat Fox’s follow-up to his On Vegetables (2017) begins with a Forward written by Paul Bertolli, author of some of the greatest modern cookbooks. Fox and Bertolli both write unique, inspiring prose: Bertolli more formal while Fox casual and, well, funny. For example, here’s Fox’s introduction to his recipe for Meatloaf & Mash which he tops with crispy shallots: “I’m just gonna throw this out there: fried shallots are insanely tasty. The amount listed here [in the recipe] is enough for this dish. But it doesn’t cover the snacking tax. Or the “I wish I had more of those” regrets. Maybe quadruple the amount. Or perhaps pentuple. That means five times. I had to look it up. You can also say quintuple, but pentuple just sounds cool. The point stands. More is more and that is better.”

 

A Fox On Meat recipe reads like the chef is there at your side offering counsel while you prep and cook. Highlights in this wonderful cookbook include: Spanish Tortilla but Like a Reuben; Pickle Chick; Chicken Paprikash with Board-Cut Spaetzle; and, last but not least, Manresa Staff Gumbo “Ya Ya” by David Kinch. This is a great cookbook!

 

Rome I own a lot of excellent cookbooks on the food of Rome. Yet...although the recipes in Parla’s latest effort ring quite familiar, there’s just something about this cookbook/travel guide that really appeals to me. I mean, it’s fun! It has a recipe for Uova Sode (Hard-Boilded Eggs). Stinky hard-boiled eggs! Where you actually aim for that eggy “sulfurous funk” as Parla writes. But even if the recipes represent variations on familiar Roman recipes, the book’s design and writing and pictures are all, well, really fun! I cannot wait until next summer to try her recipe for Zucchine Ripiene Alla Romana (Meat Filled Zucchini) cooked in tomato passata. I happily add Parla’s latest to my Italian cookbook collection.

 

The Talisman of Happiness Last, but by no means least, a true (and now complete) classic becomes available to English readers. From the Forward by Lidia Bastianich and—here she is again—Katie Parla, I glean that The Talisman of Happiness represents for Italians what The Joy of Cooking is to Americans: a trusted tome when looking for cooking guidance and a sound recipe to make a time-honored dish. I flip to any given page and I find something I want to cook. Turn to page 214 and find a recipe for Riso in Timballo con Polpettine (Rice Timbale with Meatballs). Now, I may not want to follow the recipe exactly as written—I might jettison the Cognac—but Boni gives the cook enough to work with to create the dish they want to make. Turn to Page 708 and find Boni’s recipe for Zucchine Ripiene di Carne Alla Romana. (It’s fun to compare this recipe to Parla’s.) The Talisman of Happiness is a great reference cookbook and, with 1,680 recipes, a tremendous value. If you love to cook Italian food, check it out.

 

Because I limit my Best Of lists to five cookbooks, I like to end these posts by highlighting a number of other cookbooks that I purchased and enjoy. In no particular order for 2025: Sunny Days Taco Nights by Enrique Olvera with Alonso Ruvalcaba (Phaidon); Homemade Ramen by Sho Spaeth (Norton); Recipes from the American South by Michael W. Twitty (Phaidon); and Korean Temple Cooking: The Life and Work of Jeongkwan Snim by Hoo Nam Seelmann (Hardie Grant).

 

Finally, I like to focus on the positive, but one cookbook I purchased that I thought I couldn’t do without was Phaidon’s Franco Pepe: Pizza Chef. I ordered it sight unseen from Pegasus Books, a local bookshop in Berkeley. If you’re thinking about buying this book, definitely try to preview a copy in your local bookstore or library. It failed to meet my admittedly high expectations, but maybe it will be your cup of tea.

 

Happy New Year to All!

Ricotta Cavatelli

In my previous post (here), I shared a recipe for homemade ricotta. Let’s now use fresh ricotta to make cavatelli with a BeeBo cavatelli maker.

I own two hand-cranked cavatelli machines: a vintage BeeBo and a Demetra. In my opinion, the BeeBo bests the Demetra. The Demetra features a sturdy build but, in my experience, its suction cup foot often fails to secure the machine even to a clean and flat stainless-steel work counter.

My BeeBo came with a small recipe booklet. I didn’t pay attention to it for years. However, while researching ricotta cavatelli recipes, I learned that a number of talented chefs swear by the BeeBo’s ricotta dough recipe.  Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo in their The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual (2010) write “[o]ur [ricotta] cavatelli recipe—which we learned from the pamphlet in the BeeBo box—is on page 100.”

In Pasta By Hand (2015), Jenn Louis introduces her ricotta cavatelli recipe as follows:

“This Italian dumpling is one of the first I learned how to make. One year, my husband bought me a hand-crank cavatelli machine for my birthday. We now use that machine at Lincoln, and it has been repaired and rewelded twice because it gets so much use! The recipe for ricotta cavatelli in the booklet that was included with the machine yields perfectly tender and flavorful dumplings.”

Here’s Louis’s take on the BeeBo ricotta cavatelli recipe.  I include her instructions for using a stand mixer and I offer some BeeBo-specific recommendations. 

500 g / 3½ cups + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp kosher salt

480 g / 2 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese, homemade or store-bought

55 g / ¼ cup whole milk

1 egg

Sauce of your choice (suggestions follow)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, combine the flour, salt, ricotta, milk, and egg. Knead on medium speed for 10 minutes, until fully combined and the dough is mostly smooth. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and dust with flour.

Uncover the dough and place it on a work surface lightly dusted with flour. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to approximately ¼-inch thickness. As best you can, square off the sides of the dough sheet to form a rectangle. Cut the dough into strips approximately ½-inch wide.

Attach your cavatelli machine to a sturdy work surface. Feed the dough strips into the machine by cranking the machine’s handle. Cavatelli will fall out of the machine’s round head onto your work surface. Put the cavatelli on the prepared baking sheets and shape the remaining dough. Make sure that the cavatelli don’t touch or they will stick together. After processing all of the dough, Louis writes that you should have enough ricotta cavatelli to serve 8.

To store, refrigerate on the baking sheets, covered with plastic wrap, for up to 2 days, or freeze on the baking sheets and transfer to an airtight container. Use within 1 month. Do not thaw before cooking.

To cook, bring a large pot filled with generously salted water to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add the cavatelli and simmer until they float to the surface, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove immediately with a slotted spoon and finish with your choice of sauce. Serve right away.

Louis recommends pairing ricotta cavatelli with these traditional sauces (recipes that Louis shares in Cooking By Hand): pesto; tomato sauce; guanciale, tomato, and red onion; brown butter with sage; fonduta; gorgonzola cream sauce; liver, pancetta, and porcini ragú; rabbit ragú; lamb ragú; or beef ragú. 

I frequently sauce ricotta cavatelli with leftover meat and braising liquid from a previous meal. A favorite combination includes chopped meat from chicken thighs braised in stock with sliced artichoke hearts and porcini mushrooms.

Making cavatelli with a BeeBo is so easy. Through experience I found that the key to crafting perfectly formed cavatelli with a BeeBo is rolling and cutting the strips of dough to just the right thickness and width. I find that the sweet spot is a dough strip that is approximately ¼-inch thick and ½-inch wide. But, don’t worry, even misshaped cavatelli taste great.

A couple of final notes. The BeeBo ricotta cavatelli recipe easily scales up and down. I often halve Louis’s recipe to feed 4. And I find that a stacking set of gyoza trays work really well when storing pasta. Three of these trays easily accommodates over one pound of cavatelli.

Homemade Ricotta

In the Encyclopedia of Pasta (2009), Oretta Zanini De Vita writes about cavatelli:

“[t]hese small masterpieces of pasta sculpture, which resemble little hats, immediately evoke Puglia, even if now they are typical of all the regions of the south, where they have acquired different names and are treated to different sauces. Their name derives from the curious shape obtained with skilled hands from a dough always made from durum wheat.” 

Today pasta makers use a broad range of wheat flour—from weak to strong—to craft cavatelli. Recently I mixed fine cloth-bolted pastry flour from Anson Mills with 00 flour with the aim of making a soft textured cavatelli. I have combined stoneground Sonora, a soft white winter flour, with extra fancy (aka fine) durum to create a chewier cavatelli. But the cavatelli dough that I run through my BeeBo cavatelli machine the most—at least lately—blends homemade ricotta and all-purpose flour. This post covers how I make ricotta. A follow-up post will share how I make ricotta cavatelli using a BeeBo cavatelli machine.

Homemade Ricotta

Making ricotta at home can be fast and easy. I employ a very simple method that takes around ½ hour to produce a cream-rich ricotta. I learned the technique during a pasta making course that I took back in 2011 from Thomas McNaughton, the chef/owner of flour + water in San Francisco’s Mission District. I’ve since tweaked his class recipe based upon a 2015 San Francisco Chronicle article about McNaughton’s ricotta. 

8 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon kosher salt

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place a colander inside a larger bowl, line the colander with cheesecloth, and set aside. Slowly bring the milk, cream, and salt to simmer in a heavy 6-quart pot over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

When the milk barely begins to simmer (about 180 to 200°F), add the lemon juice. Stir constantly until the mixture starts to curdle, about 4 more minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat. Do not simmer the milk after the curds begin to separate or the curds will become dense and dry. Allow the curds to rest for 10 minutes.

Pour the milk mixture into the lined colander to strain. The milk will have already formed hard curds — ricotta cheese. You can use it after 5 minutes because not much more moisture will be extracted by further draining.

An instant thermometer tells you when to combine the lemon juice and dairy. I add the lemon juice—or whatever acidic mixture I decide to use—when the dairy reaches 195°F.

I make another slight deviation from McNaughton’s recipe: instead of pouring the mixture into the colander, I lift the curds out of the pot with a stainless-steel spider strainer and place them in the cheesecloth-lined colander to drain for about 20 minutes.

I have a Breville/PolyScience Induction Range that I like to use when I make ricotta. The induction range uses its probe’s temperature reading to heat the milk and cream to exactly 195°F. I select the machine’s low intensity heat setting with probe control and insert the probe into the dairy mixture. The machine sounds when the dairy reaches 195°F and I stir in my acid. In my experience, the curds form very quickly.

My notes from McNaughton’s class read that any clear acid—lemon juice, white wine vinegar, even white wine—will work to make ricotta. Once I even tried powdered citric acid mixed with a splash of water. Typically, however, I use a mixture of almost 4 tablespoons lemon juice with a splash of champagne vinegar.

The method I use is by no means the only way to make ricotta at home. Other techniques, even though more involved, also work to produce different textures of ricotta.

In Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking (1982), Giuliano Bugialli’s recipe stirs lemon juice into milk, lets the mixture stand for 36 hours in a cool place, then adds yogurt. Bring the contents to a boil for 1 minute. Pour the product into a colander lined with heavy cheesecloth to drain for 1 hour. He writes: “[t]his is the authentically dry unsalted ricotta which is to be used as a binding ingredient. It does not have a rich flavor in itself.”

In The Splendid Table (1992), Lynne Rossetto Kasper presents another method to make a creamier ricotta. Her recipe warms milk, cream and lemon juice to 170°F over medium-low heat. This, she writes, can take 40 minutes. Then turn up the heat to medium to bring the mixture to 205° to 208°F. Turn off the heat, let rest for 10 minutes then turn the mixture into a cheesecloth-lined colander to drain for 15 minutes.