When asked about gifting cookbooks, without hesitation, I always suggest [Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat]9https://amzn.to/2OBzflv0 by Samin Nosrat. It came out a few years ago with raging success despite it being more of a reference than a cookbook. To be a better cook you need to understand some basics and she breaks those down in the most humble and understandable tone. There are recipes in the back of the book but her focus is on teaching people the four pillars of cooking in order to give confidence to the home cook; whether they are following recipes or shooting from the hip. She has a four part Netflix series inspired by the book which I’m pretty sure I’ve already gushed about here. I thought it’d be fun to do a menu from her book.

While you may not have a reason for chocolate cake this week, I wanted to leave this here just in case (isn’t there always a reason for chocolate cake?). I made the batter into cupcakes for Cleo’s birthday last weekend and they were a hit. It could be halved and baked into a short loaf for afternoon coffee too.

Anyway. I highly recommend the book but hope you enjoy this small sample. I made a few adjustments to each recipe per personal preference but all recipes are from Samin Nosrat.