Thai Street Food

By David Thompson (B2,295)
Admittedly, in the capital of Thai street food, it’s unlikely that anyone but the most principled DIY chefs will attempt the recipes in this enormous book. Especially as the dimensions and weight prove a little unwieldy for stoveside reading. Size aside, the smaller, more focused number of recipes makes it a lot more accessible than Thompson’s encyclopedic previous publication, Thai Food. Even if you are the type that no amount of food porn can tempt into the kitchen, you’ll still love having the Michelin-starred chef and Thai food historian’s new tome on your coffee table, due to its huge, beautiful photos of street scenes.

The Big Book of Noodles

By Vatcharin Bhumichitr (B850)
Owner and chef of the Thai Bistro in London, Vatcharin periodically puts out easy, accessible cookbooks on Thai food with photos, recipes and brief, charming anecdotes, like Vatch’s Thai Street Food and The Big Book of Thai Curries. The latest is a must for noodle lovers, featuring recipes and how-to guides for all kinds of Asian noodles dishes, from Thailand, Japan, the Philippines and elsewhere. The anecdotes are a paragraph long, so there’s little heavy reading aside from the recipes, though there is a preliminary section going over equipment, noodle types, and more, which is helpful for tackling the foreign recipes as well as snobby conversation. (See our Q&A HERE.)

Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals

By Jamie Oliver (B1,095)
Despite winning a TED grant to revolutionize school lunches and starring in a reality food show set in America’s fattest county, the affable British chef still manages to publish a cookbook almost every year. What’s more, each bubbles with his can-do attitude for even the the most timid would-be chefs. This time, it’s 30-minute meals—not dishes, but whole meals for your family. Recipes come in sets of three or four, with a main, a salad or side and a dessert. Instructions rotate from dish to dish, so you work on all of them at once. The recipes have Jamie’s usual Italian slant, with lots of hearty and simple pastas, if you like that sort of thing—we do!

The Principles of Thai Cookery

By Chef McDang (B1,750)
We think a bit of competition and choice is healthy for everyone. That’s why, despite our love for Thompson, we have to tell you about this equally exciting book by Chef McDang, a more introductory version than Thompson’s humungous opus. McDang’s cookbook covers similar topics: history, fundamentals, ingredients and, of course, recipes—in a quicker, more accessible way but still with lots of gorgeous photos for those allergic to reading. Even if you’ve grown up eating Thai food, chances are you’ll learn a thing or do about the principles underpinning the preparation that you didn’t know before.

The Book of Tapas

By Simone and Ines Ortega (B1,116)
A Phaidon publication is part reference, part work of art. You’ll be drooling over these yellow and red pages as much as the recipes contained therein. The Ortegas are already iconic in the world of Spanish cookbooks for their seminal classic 1080 Recipes. Here they arrange 250 tapas recipes by ingredients (veggie, fish, meat, et cetera) and temperature (cold, hot). Also useful is the initial glossary on Spanish ingredients, and impressive and refreshingly unique is the final chapter on tapas recipes by new and famous Spanish chefs.

Recipes from an Italian Summer

By Phaidon (B1,295 at Asia Books)
Another Phaidon feast for the eyes and a follow-up of sorts to their monolithic Italian cookbook Silver Spoon, Recipes from an Italian Summer is an expansive collection of 380 Italian recipes specific to summertime—which makes them great for our sultry climes. The recipes are from various regions like Tuscany, Sicily and Sardinia and involve minimal slaving over a hot stove. So expect recipes with few ingredients and simple preparations that let their original qualities shine.

All books are available through Asia Books. Try 2/F, Siam Paragon, 02-610-9609, or www.asiabooks.com