While we've been doing plenty of cooking throughout the summer, we feel like we put our best home-cooking feet forward in the fall and winter.
It could be the return to chillier temperatures, or the increased cravings for comfort foods...or the impending holiday season that often calls for large gatherings of families and friends. Whatever the reason, the shift from summer cooking to fall cooking requires some culinary inspiration.
What better way to do that than adding a new cookbook (or two) to your collection?
From a chocolate-centric recipe collection to seasonal cooking and approachable recipes for home cooks of any level, here are five great Canadian cookbooks you should get your hands on this fall.
Always Hungry! The Cookbook by Laurent Dagenais
With millions of social media followers and a fun, undeniably charming approach to cooking at home and in the restaurant kitchen, many around the globe are counting down the days until chef Laurent Dagenais’ debut cookbook is released on Sept. 26, 2023.
Always Hungry! promises 70+ food and drink recipes by chef Dagenais that will leave your taste buds more than impressed. If the teaser of prime rib and garlicky escargots is any indication, we are all in for a delicious treat with this book.
Always Hungry! The Cookbook is currently available for pre-order and will be released on Sept. 26. 2023.
Chocolate All Day: From Simple to Decadent, 100+ Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Ingredient by Steven Hodge
Steven Hodge has long been a favourite of the Vancouver food scene thanks to his decadent creations at Temper Chocolate & Pastry, but he’s more recently risen to national notoriety thanks to his prowess as a judge on The Great Chocolate Showdown.
In his debut cookbook Chocolate All Day, Hodge aims to help home bakers level up with all things chocolate. Expect tips on things like creating mirror glazes and perfect pastry creams, of course, but we’re most excited for recipes such as his chocolate sticky buns and milk chocolate-covered caramel apples.
Yes please!
Chocolate All Day is currently available for pre-order and will be released on Oct. 17. 2023.
Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts: Wholesome Everyday Recipes Made With Love by Jillian Harris and Tori Wesszer
Cookbooks from celebrities that aren’t fully associated with the culinary world can be held to much scrutiny, but the ever-charming Jillian Harris thwarted naysayers and grew her fanbase (even larger!) with her wonderful 2019 debut Fraiche Food, Full Hearts. Now, Harris and her co-author (and cousin) Tori Wesszer are back for cookbook round two with Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts.
The cookbook boasts a whopping 135+ recipes and sounds like it’s going to be chock full of comfort foods like crispy cauliflower sandwiches, vegan mac and cheese, sheet-pan breakfast pizza, butternut squash gyros, and much more. While the book is not fully plant-based, readers can expect to see classic dishes often given a “plant-based twist”.
Seeing that Jillian Harris’ recipe for veggie stew with dumplings is one of the most popular recipes on our site during the winter, we can’t wait to see how folks across North America respond to this upcoming book!
Fraiche Food, Fuller Hearts is currently available for pre-order and will be released on Sept. 19, 2023.
In Mary’s Kitchen: Stress-Free Recipes for Every Home Cook by Mary Berg
Who doesn’t love a Mary Berg moment? The former MasterChef Canada winner has made a huge name for herself in the Canadian food media world thanks to her charming instructional series Mary Makes it Easy on CTV Lifestyle. This fall, Berg will also make her official debut as the host of the new daytime talk show The Good Stuff.
Expect approachability and delicious results from her third cookbook, In Mary’s Kitchen. In addition to 100+ recipes that home cooks of all skill levels prepare meals with ease, Berg has also included side bars throughout the book that help further explain certain ingredients and culinary techniques.
In Mary’s Kitchen is currently available for pre-order and will be released on Sept. 19. 2023.
Prairie: Seasonal, Farm-Fresh Recipes Celebrating the Canadian Prairies by Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell
Thematically, this regional Canadian cookbook may set its sets on the Prairies (i.e. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta), but its seasonal sections make it a perfect book for anyone looking to cook with the seasons.
As Prairie the cookbook is, clearly, a love letter to the Canadian Prairies, one will find many charming anecdotes throughout the book’s 120+ recipes from co-authors Dan Clapson and Twyla Campbell.The mixture of heartfelt memories and interesting food facts help readers—whether they are from the Prairies or unfamiliar to the Prairies—fall in love with this often-overlooked region of the country.
Expect a dynamic range of tasty, easy-to-accomplish recipes including summer raspberry clafoutis, turkey dinner leftovers soup, grilled scallion, green bean and mozzarella salad, black garlic chocolate chip cookies (a must-try), and much more.
Prairie was released on Aug. 29, 2023, and is available for purchase online and via retailers across Canada. It is also available for purchase online internationally via Target, Amazon and more.
