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The 25 best food books of 2015

This article is more than 8 years old

Cookbooks, memoirs and tales from around the world: Observer Food Monthly’s picks of the year

Hog by Richard Turner
If you don’t fancy curing bacon at home, console yourself with the recipes for Korean pulled pork or Francesinha (sausage-enhanced, Portuguese take on a croque monsieur).
Mitchell Beazley, £25.
Click here to order from Guardian Bookshop for £20

A Wong: the Cookbook by Andrew Wong
At his Pimlico restaurant, Wong is keen to prove that Chinese food can be just as considered as other, more revered cuisines.
Mitchell Beazley, £25.
Click here to order for £20

My Pantry by Alice Waters
Written with her daughter Fanny Singer, a beguiling look at modern staples, including making ricotta, marinating anchovies and homemade tahini.
Pam Krauss Books, $25. Click here to order for

Mamushka by Olia Hercules
A celebration of the wisdom and ingenuity of the mamushkas in Hercules’s family, not to mention a brilliant way in to an under-appreciated food culture.
Mitchell Beazley, £25.
Click here to order for £18

Lucky Peach: 101 Easy Asian Recipes by Peter Meehan
Who other than the irreverent Lucky Peach magazine would rediscover the egg foo yong and sliced white St Paul sandwich, influenced by Chinese railroad workers?
Clarkson Potter, £25.
Click here to order for £20

The Kitchen Diaries III by Nigel Slater
With the diary entries and the quick, seasonal recipes, Slater makes good on his “plea for both good food and a love of cooking to be just part and parcel of our everyday lives”.
Fourth Estate, £30.
Click here to order for £18

Egg by Blanche Vaughan
Familiar recipes perfected or tweaked, meaning that poached eggs come with sweet tomato toast, and scotch eggs have added kick thanks to some careful Thai spicing.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £22.
Click here to order for £15

Simply Nigella by Nigella Lawson
Nigella rebooted. This is a celebration of the restorative power of cooking, the pleasures of taking the time to do simple dishes well.
Chatto & Windus, £26.
Click here to order for £20

The Nordic Cookbook by Magnus Nilsson
This semi-anthropological compilation of Nordic food by the head chef at Sweden’s Fäviken, has recipes from salty liquorice to Faroese mutton.
Phaidon, £29.95.
Click here to order for £23.96

White Heat 25 by Marco Pierre White & Bob Carlos Clarke
All notions of chefs as rock stars begin here, in Carlos Clarke’s access-all-areas photos of the young Marco in his pomp. Now with unseen images and tributes.
Mitchell Beazley, £25.
Click here to order for £20

Nopi by Yotam Ottolenghi & Ramael Scully
This “restaurant cookbook” is as much influenced by Malayasian-born head chef Scully and his Asian-influenced menu at Nopi as Ottolenghi himself.
Ebury, £28.
Click here to order for £14.99

Spuntino by Russell Norman
Soho’s Spuntino is Norman’s dream of down-at-heel New York in London. On the plate this means: mac ’n’ cheese, steak and eggs, peanut butter and jelly sandwich (for pud).
Bloomsbury, £25.
Click here to order for £20

Homemade Takeaways by Rob Allison
Lamb doner? Sweet and sour pork balls? Why wait for that takeaway delivery to arrive when you can pull together a superior version of your own?
Orion, £18.99.
Click here to order for £15.19

30 Ingredients by Sally Clarke
Clarke is an unsung hero of British cooking. Every ingredient is in its right place in her elegant recipes, their simplicity enhanced by Tessa Traeger’s stunning photography.
Frances Lincoln, £25.
Click here to order for £20

Bistronomy by Jane Sigal
The “bistronomy” movement saved French food from collapsing under the weight of its own history. This lovely book has recipes from key restaurants such as Septime.
Rizzoli, £25.
Click here to order for £20

Honey & Co: The Baking Book by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich
Buns for breakfast, pie for lunch and cheesecake for tea: it’s always time for something from one of OFM’s favourite restaurants.
Saltyard Books, £25.
Click here to order for £20

The Violet Bakery Cookbook by Claire Ptak
Sweet and savoury recipes from the small, quietly influential Hackney cafe, including an even more delicious update of Ptak’s insanely more-ish butterscotch blondie.
Square Peg, £20.
Click here to order for £16

The Oxford Companion to Wine by Jancis Robinson and Julia Harding
Fourth edition of Jancis Robinson’s masterwork, updated to take in a decade of new developments from additives and apps to natural wine.
Oxford University Press, £40.
Click here to order for £32

Our Korean Kitchen by Jordan Bourke and Rejina Pyo
Making this cuisine more accessible by covering all the basics – bibimbap, instant chicken ramen, “almost instant” cucumber kimchi.
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £25.
Click here to order for £20

The Oyster War by Summer Brennan
Explores a clash between farmers and environmentalists on the California coast and what we mean when we talk about wilderness. A gripping local narrative that asks global questions.
Counterpoint, $18.95. Click here to order for

The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook by Danny Bowien & Chris Ying
Bowien is the boy wonder whose innovative and affordable take on Chinese cooking has made him a star in San Francisco and NYC.
Ecco, £23. Click here to order for

A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones
The follow-up to A Modern Way to Eat is such a pleasure that carnivores will wonder why it has taken them so long to go without meat.
Fourth Estate, £25.
Click here to order for £17.50

Fern Verrow by Harry Astley & Jane Scotter
This small farm in Herefordshire supplies some of the country’s finest cooks: their first book is a beautifully shot collection of recipes.
Quadrille, £25.
Click here to order for £20

From Venice to Istanbul by Rick Stein
Stein takes a trip around the eastern Med: Greek fish stew, Turkish lamb tandir and, from Albania, Bandit’s Joy (fried potatoes with honey, lemon and nutmeg).
BBC Books, £25.
Click here to order for £20

The Food Lab by J Kenji Lopez-Alt
Lopez-Alt’s application of scientific rigour to home cooking is actually a lot of fun. Any book that devotes 13 pages to achieving the perfect chip is all right by us.
WW Norton & Co, £33.
Click here to order for £25

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