Wow the cooks on your holiday list

Like epicurean elves, cookbook publishers have toiled year-round to turn out scores of volumes covering just about every food and flavor on the planet. We put several to the test, and proffer this list of our favorite gift-giving possibilities. And for each book, we offer the perfect present to pair with it. 

“Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home”

By Jeni Britton Bauer, Artisan Books, $23.95

Ice cream lovers and cooks will swoon over this sweet little book that extends ice cream the same reverence that wine lovers bestow on Bacchus. Think hot, salty, savory and sweet treats, arranged by the four seasons. There’s even room for “tasting notes” at each recipe’s end.

Like a mad scientist, the author churns out mind-bending flavors, combining Gouda with vodka-plumped cranberries and sweet corn with black raspberries. Rhubarb, cucumbers, olive oil – nothing is off-limits. We tested Gravel Road Ice Cream – a combination of caramel and smoked almonds. It was easier than pie to make a dense, silky quart of heaven.

Perfect gift pairing: Add a few fresh-made cones from Doumar’s Cones & Barbecue in Norfolk, or tuck the book into an ice-cream maker.

“The New Southern-Latino Table”

By Sandra A. Gutierrez, University of North Carolina Press, $30

It’s not a revolution. Rather, the melding of Latin food with Southern fare is an evolution, and one that the author has lived. Sandra Gutierrez spent her youth in Guatemala and her adult years in the United States, where she tried to exactly re-create the Latin food she was raised on. Finding the ingredients was tough.

But as she made friends in the North Carolina town where she lived, she learned to appreciate – and then incorporate – Southern flavors into her repertoire. And with more Latinos moving to the South, she realized the similarities between the culinary traditions and got cooking.

The result: pulled pork barbecue flavored with cinnamon and musky achiote paste, and jalapeno deviled eggs. We made the chile-cheese biscuits with avocado butter and couldn’t help but wonder: Who wouldn’t want to join this evolution?

Perfect gift pairing: A gift basket of herbs and spices called for in many of the recipes. Consider cumin, coriander, anise, annatto, Mexican cinnamon and a variety of dried chilies – available at local tiendas.

“The Extraordinary Cookbook:
How to Make Meals Your Friends Will Never Forget”

By Stefan Gates, Kyle Books, $29.95

Stefan Gates’ motto: It’s time to play with your food. And he means it.

Take butter, for example. Why offer a stick when you can just as easily have guests make their own at the table?

We made Gates’ bread in flowerpots, which did make dinner a little more fun. We didn’t get around to making lunch in the dishwasher or putting a slab of polenta right on the table and passing around forks so that everyone could dig in.

On days when the cook wants to wow guests with elegance, there are recipes such as orange- and garlic-crusted leg of lamb or sautéed sweetbreads on brioche. Either way, dinner becomes the party.

Perfect gift pairing: A package of polenta and a dare to the cook to get going.

“The Smithfield Cookbook” ($24.95),

“Heart of the Harbor” ($27.95),

“Celebrating 50 Years – City of Franklin” ($20)

There’s something reassuring about a community cookbook, and any of this trio – from Smithfield, Portsmouth and Franklin – makes a fine gift, but they’re great for beginners in particular.

Rest assured that the recipes are old standbys, probably handwritten and dog-eared, but always straightforward and delicious. All three volumes contain recipes that run the gamut from simple dips to more elegant dishes such as filet mignon or lobster.

We tested Mimi’s Therapeutic Meatloaf, the favorite of the Bible study club at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Franklin. Chock full of peppers and onion, it elicited high praise from a finicky teen who proclaimed it the best she’d ever eaten.

As a bonus, the cookbooks are filled with stories and tips and are fundraisers for good causes.

Perfect gift pairing: Wrap one of the books in an apron, tie the strings into a bow and slide a couple of wooden spoons under the knot to set the mood.

“Mourad: New Moroccan”

By Mourad Lahlou, $40, Artisan Books

This one is for the serious, curious, committed culinista on your list.

The author is a chef and restaurateur who won Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” by the largest margin in the show’s history. He grew up in Morocco but blends the flavors of his youth with the flavors of Northern California.

This is the revolution cookbook. Lahlou coaxes cooks on board with a series of lessons – making essential spice blends, preserving lemons, cooking in a tagine. Then it’s onward to exotic fare such as short rib tangia with aged butter and preserved lemons, or basteeya, which Lahlou calls “Morocco’s rendition of chicken potpie.”

It’s nothing less than a culinary expedition.

Perfect gift pairing: Give your cook a jump start by preparing a jar of preserved lemons – it requires only cutting the lemons and jamming them into a jar with salt. But it takes one month for this key ingredient to ferment, so you’ll have to include a warning: “Do not open until mid-January.”

“The New Southern Garden Cookbook”

By Sheri Castle, University of North Carolina Press, $35

South Hampton Roads is home to a score or more farmers markets, fine spots for foraging for the freshest produce in town. Plus, the growing season here is long for home gardeners.

Sheri Castle has turned out a straightforward cookbook that serves both well. Chapters are organized alphabetically – apples, asparagus, beets, blackberries – whatever you may bring home in your basket – and the recipes are inventive.

Armed with a mountain of sweet potatoes, we tried the sweet potato salad with cranberry vinaigrette, a surprising twist on tradition. Green tomato pie sounds good, too.

Perfect gift pairing: A basket for shopping the markets; or go all in with a spring subscription to a CSA, or community-supported agriculture subscription.

“The Best One-Dish Suppers”

Published by America’s Test Kitchen, $35

America’s Test Kitchen is a prolific publisher of cookbooks, and there’s no way to go wrong with any of them.

In this volume, each recipe has an introduction detailing the exhaustive process that results in the perfect pasta primavera or the quintessential chicken cobbler. Drawings demonstrate techniques such as how to properly pound a chicken breast or tie a tenderloin. And product tests are sprinkled throughout.

These really are one-dish suppers, not just one-dish main courses. The book delivered on its promise on a test run of Easy Pork Ragu, which was rich and filling and quite complete.

Chapters are even organized by dish: sheet pan dinners, Dutch oven dinners, one-pot pastas. Great for time-starved cooks, or those with an aversion to scrubbing multiple pots and pans. Which is all of us.

Perfect gift pairing: One dish, of course! A Dutch oven, perhaps, or even a sheet pan.