Paula Forbes

Food writer and cookbook author

https://www.paulamasonforbes.com/

Biography

Paula Forbes is a food writer and cookbook author in Austin, Texas. Previously an editor at Eater and Epicurious, she has reviewed cookbooks for over a decade. Her first cookbook, The Austin Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from Deep in the Heart of Texas is out now.

The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual

Frank Castronovo

This slender volume will revolutionize how you cook vegetables, teach you everything you need to know about Italian-American cooking, give you a new default tomato sauce, and make you wish you lived in Brooklyn.

The Big Fat Duck Cookbook

Heston Blumenthal

The first cookbook I ever reviewed, but also the epitome of the gonzo chef book. This sucker is expensive, heavy, gigantic, gorgeous, egotistical, gilded, ridiculous, wonderful. I adore it.

The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: a Cookbook of Sorts

Fred Morin , David McMillan and Meredith Erickson

This cookbook blew my mind when it came out, totally upending what I assumed what a cookbook had to be. Modern restaurant cookbooks would be much stuffier without Joe Beef.

The Zuni Café Cookbook

Judy Rodgers

If you want to learn to cook well—really well, California-well, vibrant and seasonal and light and flavorful-well—it has to be Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe Cookbook.

Texas Eats

Robb Walsh

Robb Walsh's survey course of Texas cuisine is an absolute must-read for any cook looking to learn more about Lone Star cooking.

Franklin Barbecue

Aaron Franklin and Jordan MacKay

Much like the smokehouse that inspired it, Franklin Barbecue the cookbook is as good as everyone says it is. Learn to smoke meat the right way.

Gran Cocina Latina

Maricel Presilla

Need to know your Cuban sofrito from your Puerto Rican sofrito? Looking for some traditional Peruvian sauces? Or the key to a great Argentinian steak? Maricel Presilla's scholarly masterwork of the foods of Latin America has you covered.

Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook

Betty Crocker Editors

Mostly for the cakes and cookies—solid recipes that are just old fashioned enough they seem fresh. But it was also the cookbook my grandmother used, so for that it will always have a place on my shelf.

The New Midwestern Table

Amy Thielen

I grew up in Wisconsin, and I'm always dismayed when people paint Midwestern food as casserole from cans and jello salad. Minnesotan Amy Thielen gets that this food can be so much more: seasonal and—dare I say—sexy.

Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables

Joshua McFadden

Since its release in May 2016, I have cooked from the lively, vegetable-centric Six Seasons once a week. I own about 1500 cookbooks. Think about that.

Follow Paula Forbes

What's playing in Paula's kitchen?

Lately, Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy. I'm all over the place, though: old timey Texas country, soul, funk, R&B, bluegrass, reggae, pop. Anything you can bop your head to.