Cookbooks Worth Reading
Looking for some inspiration in the kitchen? We've rounded up a list of some great B.C. cookbooks that will fill your minds with cooking ideas and your homes with decadent, West Coast cuisine. Call your local bookstore to see which ones they have in stock, then put on your chef's hat and get cooking!
The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine and Cheese Maker: By the Sea, by Jennifer Schell
A celebration of British Columbia’s coastal cuisine with recipes and fork-lore from the region’s farmers, artisans, fishers, foragers and chefs. The Butcher, the Baker, the Wine and Cheese Maker is a tribute to the remarkable innovators and culinary leaders who make up Canada’s west coast food culture.
Flaunting what the West Coast has to offer—from Tofino’s food truck to downtown Vancouver’s five-star restaurants, along the Sea to Sky highway to the famous après-ski pub grub of Whistler and the hearty, homegrown smorgasbord of the lush farming valley of Pemberton.
Included are delicious recipes, such as Beignet with Baked Bowen Apples, Sea Urchin Bruschetta with Avocado, Pepperoncino and Spot Prawns and Huckleberry Crème Brûlée. This collection features the stories of more than 150 of the area’s experts.
Cedar + Salt, by DL Acken, Emily Lycopolus
This thoughtfully curated, beautifully photographed cookbook brings Vancouver Island’s abundant food scene into the kitchens of home cooks everywhere.
Try recipes like Craft Beer–Braised Island Beef Brisket, Nettle and Chèvre Ravioli and Beetroot and Black Walnut Cake featuring Denman Island Chocolate. Divided into four sections—forest, field, farm and sea—Cedar and Salt puts the taste of Vancouver Island on a pedestal and then brings it to your plate.
Cedar and Salt highlights sought-after ingredients on the island and honours the producers and artisans dedicated to sustainable and ethical producing and harvesting.
Cravings: Comfort Eats and Favourite Treats, by Debbie Harding
Rediscover the joys of your favourite decadent dishes, guilt-free, with chef Debbie Harding’s delicious, easy-to-follow recipes. Cravings has recipes that excite and tantalize while giving you the tools and information you need to control everything that goes into your food. From salty and sweet to spicy and crispy and even savoury, there is nutritional information for each recipe and beverage pairings.
The Deerholme Foraging Book, by Bill Jones
The Deerholme Foraging Book is an exploration of the wild foods found in the Pacific Northwest. It features local mushrooms, edible plants, sea vegetables and shellfish. The book is the product of twenty years of research and professional cooking with foraged foods. It serves as an introduction to the world of wild food and contains identification and sourcing information, harvesting and preparation tips and more than one hundred delicious recipes featuring many types of wild foods. The recipe list includes techniques for preserving food and covers everything from basic pantry preparations to appetizers to desserts.
Linking to traditional uses for wild foods and future possibilities for our diet and wellbeing, as well as enhancing our appreciation of the environment around us, The Deerholme Foraging Book also includes an index, a bibliography, full-colour photos of wild foods and dishes and Jones’s own foraging stories.
Great Northern Cocktails, by Shawn Soole
Victoria barman and author Shawn Soole proudly presents the people and drinks that introduce readers to this widening scope of concepts and concoctions in Great Northern Cocktails. Hidden in the vast northern reaches of North America, Canadian bartenders have been shaking, stirring, building and throwing some of the finest drinks the world has ever savoured. Yes, there’s more to Canada’s mixed drink repertoire that its national beverage, the Bloody Caesar!
With 140+ drink recipes plus syrup, tincture and infusion formulae, Soole introduces veteran and new Canadian drink talents who preside in the nation’s bars from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia and their recipes, along with bartending tips, a range of easy-to-follow homemade ingredients and a glossary so even novice mixers can follow along.
Off The Hook, by DL Acken, Aurelia Louvet
Off The Hook is full of fresh, fast and delicious recipes that are quintessential to every West Coast fish and seafood lover. Our West Coast islands are home to some of the freshest and most sustainable seafood in the world. In this exquisitely photographed and curated cookbook you’ll find 60+ easy and approachable recipes using simple techniques written for home cooks of any skill level. From Peel ’n’ Eat Spot Prawns to Dungeness Crab Cakes, the bounty of the Pacific Northwest comes to life in recipes that will inspire delight.
The Olive Oil & Vinegar Lover’s Cookbook, by Emily Lycopolus
There’s nothing like fresh extra-virgin olive oil, infused and fused olive oils and flavoured white and balsamic vinegars—but how, exactly, do we use them? The Olive Oil and Vinegar Lover’s Cookbook will teach you how to elevate the flavour of your fare using products like rosemary or herb de provence infused olive oil, blood orange fused olive oil, apricot white balsamic and more. The recipes use 50 popular and widely available specialty olive oils and vinegars that enhance appetizers, salads, soups, main dishes, baked goods and desserts. Learn the basics of flavour pairing and how to experiment with baking, marinades, salad dressings, brines and even cocktails.
British Columbia From Scratch, by Denise Marchassault, Caroline West
A celebration of British Columbia through a cook’s palate and a photographer’s lens, this cookbook highlights the province’s diverse edible landscape, from the Pacific Ocean’s seafood to Okanagan fruit. The seasonal layout pairs an eclectic collection of made-from-scratch recipes paying tribute to wholesome unprocessed foods and the skilled farmers who grow them.
British Columbia From Scratch also includes extensive recipes for halibut, salmon, oysters, mussels, clams and spot prawns. British Columbia’s prized fruits are featured in summer pies, tarts, meringues and ice cream while fall and winter recipes showcase local pears, apples and cranberries. The Fraser Valley’s meats appear throughout the book, as do the region’s vegetables that make up vegetarian dishes like the award-winning Ratatouille Pie.
A Year on the Wild Side, by Briony Penn
A freshly designed, new edition of a funny weekly chronicle that offers a year-long, intimate view of the flora and fauna populating the West Coast. A Year on the Wild Side is a witty commentary on the social and natural history of Vancouver Island. Composed of short, readable essays arranged into 12 monthly chapters, this engaging book reveals the magic and humour of the natural world and reminds us of our place within it.
As the weeks and seasons unfold with the turning of the pages, you’ll be in sync with the living world that surrounds you. Discover what berries are ripe and the best time to pick them. Learn why the termites swarm, where the herring spawn and when the maple leaves fall.
