Print The books that America cooked from during 2020 will stand as cultural artifacts of the year when a virus forced an entire nation into the kitchen. The pandemic has been good to cookbooks. Overall sales jumped 17% from 2019, according to figures from NPD BookScan, which tracks about 85% of U.S. book sales. Some of the smash hits were predictable. The world domination of Joanna Gaines, the queen of shiplap, continued. The second volume of her hugely popular “Magnolia Table” cookbook franchise sailed to the top of the New York Times list of the bestselling cookbooks in 2020. Ina Garten, the cooking doyenne from the Hamptons, landed the second spot with “Modern Comfort Food,” followed by “The Happy in a Hurry Cookbook,” by “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy and his wife, Kathy.
By Evan Kleiman Listen 9 min MORE According to Bookscan, 200,000 more bread cookbooks sold in the U.S. in 2020 than in 2019. Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
We’ve been basically close to home for almost a year. When we first went into lockdown, the shock of needing to feed ourselves at home by ourselves took awhile to understand. Some of us bought enough beans for the next millennium. Others went to Costco and bought suitcase-size boxes of cereal. In the end we retreated to our kitchens and dug in. A year later, we can trace what we made a few ways, one of which is to look at what cookbooks we bought as a nation.
Kim Severson, The New York Times
Published: 03 Mar 2021 11:35 AM BdST
Updated: 03 Mar 2021 11:35 AM BdST FILE The Tipsy Texan sandwich from Franklin Barbecue in Austin, Texas, March 7, 2017. The cookbook from the owners of Franklin Barbecue rose from the publisher’s backlist to become a surprise pandemic darling among cooks. (Drew Anthony Smith/The New York Times).
The books that America cooked from during 2020 will stand as cultural artifacts of the year when a virus forced an entire nation into the kitchen. );
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The pandemic has been good to cookbooks. Overall sales jumped 17% from 2019, according to figures from NPD BookScan, which tracks about 85% of US book sales.
Bored After Months Of At-Home Cooking? Invest In Big Flavor, Says Milk Street s Christopher Kimball
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Christopher Kimball ME 12-17-2020.mp3
Milk Street, a TV and radio program, and author of the new cookbook
Cookish: Throw It Together joined host Joe Mathieu on GBHâs
Morning Edition to share ideas for keeping it fresh in the kitchen.
âDo you know what itâs like to get sick of your own cooking?â Mathieu asked.
âUh, yeah â when you open that fridge at five oâclock every day and go âoh no!â And itâs the same stuff that was there the last five days. Absolutely,â said Kimball.
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Everyday ingredients are treated to what Boston cooking teacher Christopher Kimball calls âbold, easy cookingâ in his new book Milk Street Cookish: Throw It Together (Little, Brown/Hachette, $44).
Todayâs curry, a fast and spicy one-pot meal, is an example of his view that while our traditional cooking was founded in northern Europe and is based on slow cooking of staple foods, most cuisines use fast cooking enlivened with peppy additions. Miso, garlic, harissa, red curry paste, pickled ginger and ground turmeric are among Kimballâs favourites. He maintains that this dish takes only 25 minutes from start to finish, its flavour enhanced by the Indian spice mixture garam masala and fresh ginger.