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10 Cookbooks Every Stylish Woman Keeps in Her Kitchen

The Cookbook Shelf

10 Cookbooks Every Stylish
Woman Keeps in Her Kitchen

♥

The books worth buying, worth keeping out, and worth gifting.

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There are cookbooks you buy for recipes, and then there are cookbooks that quietly become part of your kitchen personality. These are the books that stay on the counter. The ones guests flip through while you finish the cocktails. The ones that somehow make dinner feel more interesting before you have even preheated the oven. This is my list.

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All 10 Books at a Glance

01The Wishbone KitchenMeredith Hayden 02Martha's EntertainingMartha Stewart 03Barefoot ContessaIna Garten 04Mastering the Art of French CookingJulia Child 05Platters and BoardsShelly Westerhausen 06Half Baked Harvest Super SimpleTieghan Gerard 07Tin to TableAnna Hezel 08SpritzTalia Baiocchi 09Party PeopleBrie Larson 10The Dinner Party ProjectCassie Winslow

Entertaining

The Wishbone Kitchen

by Meredith Hayden

If you are not following Meredith Hayden on Instagram, stop what you are doing and fix that immediately. Her "Catering Chef to the Hamptons" page is a masterclass in food that looks impressive without making you feel like you need a culinary degree. Her salads alone are worth the follow. This cookbook is the extension of everything she does so well: sophisticated, approachable, and genuinely fun to cook from. Her hors d'oeuvres are unique and interesting, like my personal favorite: Caesar Crudités, which is essentially a Caesar salad you eat with your hands. If you love to entertain and want easy but elegant recipes, buy this book. It's a bestseller for a reason.

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The Wishbone Kitchen Cookbook
Martha's Entertaining

Entertaining

Martha's Entertaining: A Year of Celebrations

by Martha Stewart

"It's a Good Thing" and so is this book. It is an encyclopedia of knowledge from the Queen of Entertaining herself. If you care about a well-set table, a beautiful centerpiece, or whether the napkins were folded correctly, you will appreciate this gorgeous book filled with an array of beautiful gatherings. The difference between a dinner and a dinner party lives in these pages. Buy it. Keep it out. Let your guests see it. It is beautiful.

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Entertaining

Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That?

by Ina Garten

I credit about 90 percent of what I know to Martha Stewart, which feels equal parts snobby and embarrassing. But if Martha taught me standards, Ina taught me to relax. This is the cookbook that makes you feel like entertaining was never supposed to be hard in the first place. The recipes are elegant without being fussy, and every single Ina recipe is failproof. Trust me, I have tried them all. Every stylish hostess owns at least one Ina book. This is the one.

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Barefoot Contessa
Mastering the Art of French Cooking

The Classic

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

by Julia Child

There is a reason this book has never gone out of print. This is the book you keep on the shelf not just to cook from but because owning it says something about you. Think of it as the Birkin bag of cookbooks: a classic that never needs explaining and makes everything around it look better. Julia has a number of sayings but my favorite, which I have fully adopted as my kitchen motto, is this: "No matter what happens in the kitchen, never apologize." Buy this one for the cover and stay for the boeuf bourguignon.

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Entertaining

Platters and Boards

by Shelly Westerhausen

Nothing makes me madder than a crappy charcuterie board. If you are going to put one out for guests and call it dinner, then for the love of good cheese, put some thought behind it. This book is exactly the help you need and did not know you were looking for. There is a difference between a board that looks thrown together and one that makes people put their phones down to photograph it before they eat anything. This book is the difference. Beautiful, casual, and endlessly adaptable. Perfect for girls nights, holidays, impromptu gatherings, and any occasion where you want to look like you have your life together.

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Platters and Boards
Half Baked Harvest Super Simple

Everyday Cooking

Half Baked Harvest Super Simple

by Tieghan Gerard

I have a rule about cookbooks: if the photography makes you want to cook before you have even read a single recipe, it earns a permanent spot in my kitchen. Half Baked Harvest Super Simple passes that test on page one. Tieghan Gerard has built an entire world around the idea that beautiful food does not have to be complicated, and this book is her best proof of that. Cozy, seasonal, and endlessly inspiring. The kind of book you reach for when you want dinner to feel like something without a four hour commitment. Highly recommend.

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The Unexpected Find

Tin to Table

by Anna Hezel

Tinned fish is having a moment and honestly it deserves one. This book makes the case that a beautiful tin of sardines or smoked oysters, served on the right cracker with the right accompaniments, is one of the most elegant things you can put on a table. And if you really want to impress your guests, serve a tinned charcuterie board and watch them gawk. It is very French, very chic, and surprisingly easy. The title alone earns it a spot on your shelf.

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Tin to Table
Spritz

Cocktails

Spritz: Italy's Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail

by Talia Baiocchi and Leslie Pariseau

Everything you need to know about the most civilized hour of the day. Aperitivo culture is the Italian ritual of a pre-dinner drink with something small and beautiful to eat, and it is the entertaining philosophy I did not know I had been living by all along. As someone who considers an Aperol Spritz a non-negotiable part of any decent evening, I feel personally seen by this book. It covers the Aperol Spritz, a personal obsession, but also so much more. If you believe that the drink you serve before dinner sets the entire tone of the evening, and I absolutely do, this belongs in your collection. Cin cin.

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Party Hosting

Party People

by Brie Larson and Courtney McBroom

Yes, that Brie Larson. And yes, it is actually good. I was not expecting to want this book but the FOMO was real and I have zero regrets. Party People is a genuinely fun, visually beautiful cookbook built around the idea that every gathering deserves a little intention and a lot of joy. The recipes are clever and completely on point: Old Pal cocktails, Cheesy Jenga Bread, Dueling Roast Chickens. The entertaining ideas are creative and the whole thing has an energy that makes you want to call your friends and plan something immediately. Do not let the celebrity factor put you off. This one earns its place.

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Party People
The Dinner Party Project

Entertaining

The Dinner Party Project

by Cassie Winslow

This is the book I wish someone had given me years ago. A no-stress guide to feeding people you love without the anxiety, without the four hour prep timeline, and without the feeling that you need a culinary degree to pull it off. The whole philosophy is that dinner parties should feel like a gift to your guests, not a performance. With 80 plus recipes, smart menu ideas, and even a flow chart for what to cook when you are feeling lazy, this book does the thinking for you. Relaxed, warm, practical, and genuinely useful. The whole thing is designed to make sure everyone enjoys the party, especially the host. Essentially Dinner Parties for Dummies, but make it chic. Buy it.

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good taste, always

Have a cookbook that should be on this list? Send me a note. I am always looking for the next great find.

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