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 11tharrondissement 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!
