In January 2021, I sat down and declared that I would cook from one cookbook a month. I made rules. I polled my friends on Facebook. I made a Tofu Basil dressing that coated a bowl of potatoes in something I will not describe again here. By March, the resolution had quietly gone the way of most resolutions, and Moosewood Cooks at Home had gone to Goodwill.

It’s been a few years (and a move, and a lot of meals) since I last wrote here. But the cookbook guilt never left. I counted the other day: 82 cookbooks and magazines on my shelf, and a recipe database full of things I found online instead.

So I’m trying again, with a better plan.

What went wrong last time

One cookbook a month sounds tidy, but it fought with everything else about how I cook. January is a terrible month to be stuck with a summer book. A month is a long time to spend with a book you don’t love. And I was choosing recipes in a vacuum, not around what was in season, what was in the freezer, or what a Tuesday night actually allows.

What’s different this time

• Every book, not one at a time. One or two recipes from each, spread across the year.
• The seasons decide. Braises and roasts now, citrus and spice in winter, the vegetable books in spring, the Mediterranean ones when the tomatoes come in.
• A realistic pace. About a recipe and a half a week. The rest of the week is mine: favorites, takeout, date night.
• The freezer is involved. Proteins come out oldest first, so the project also cleans out the chest freezer.
• Every book gets a verdict. By next October, I’ll know which ones stay on the shelf.

Week one

It starts with the teachers. Sunday is Samin Nosrat’s Buttermilk-Marinated Roast Chicken from Salt Fat Acid Heat. Tuesday is the Cannellini Beany Melt from Sohla El-Waylly’s Start Here, which is exactly what it sounds like: a tuna melt, but beans. Samin wrote the foreword to Sohla’s book, so it felt right to start with them together.

I won’t be reprinting recipes from the books. Buy them, borrow them, or look up the many that are online. What I’ll share is how it went, what I changed, and whether the book earns its spot.

You can see the whole plan on the Cookbook Year page. If you have a favorite recipe from any of these books, tell me in the comments. I’m taking suggestions.