Kitschen Essays: An Introduction

I don't know when I started collecting cookbooks, or what the first one might have been. What I do know is that there are far too many sitting on my shelf that I've been meaning to actually use. Not just admire, not just flag recipes in, but really cook from. So I decided it was time to sit down and spend some serious time with these books. And since I can't keep them all to myself, I'm bringing you along.

Welcome to Kitschen Essays, a month-by-month project where I work through one cookbook from my personal library at a time. Each month, I'll share the origin story of the book, cook a few recipes, and reflect on what I learned about the dish, the cuisine, and honestly, myself. No affiliate links, no sponsorships. Just me, my kitchen, and books I already own.

There are so many recipes I've always wanted to try but, if I'm being totally honest, I've been afraid to. Cooking for others comes naturally, but cooking for just myself is harder, and it's easy to talk myself out of it. But this project gives me a reason to do it. And it's kind of exciting to see what could happen, and where this could go.

Over the next year, I'll be working through cookbooks that have been quietly waiting for their moment. Among them: Coinneach MacLeod's The Hebridean Baker series, Imen McDonnell's The Farmette Cookbook, The Kinfolk Table, Sean Sherman's Turtle Island, and Gregory Gourdet's Everyone's Table. Some are sweeping and celebratory, some quiet and intimate, at least one deeply personal. All of them have been waiting long enough.

Scandinavian Everyday by Nichole Accettola is the most recent addition to my shelf. That's exactly why it's first. I think you'll love the origin story.

Pull up a chair. This is going to be a good year.