There are great cooks everywhere, but Oregon is particularly flush with them. It’s the birthplace of enduringly famous culinarian James Beard — for whom America’s most prestigious cookbook and restaurant awards are named. (Portland even plans to create a public marketplace dedicated to him.) Oregon is also home to the authors of the recently updated “Joy of Cooking,” who cooked through literally thousands of recipes to update an indispensable kitchen reference.
The abundance of great restaurants and variety of both wild and agricultural products make this an incredible place to eat. Local cookbook authors have penned DIY manuals for replicating some of Oregon’s most wonderful dishes, no matter where you live. Here are some noteworthy new cookbook releases. In Portland pick up a copy at Vivienne, Oregon’s only culinary bookstore, or any number of other excellent independent bookshops in Oregon.
Books That Capture Oregon Flavors
Kirsten and Christopher Shockey have been fermenting foods on their Southern Oregon homestead for decades, teaching the art and science of making gut-friendly pickles and more. Their latest book, “Homebrewed Vinegar,” accompanies a slew of skills-based productions on topics like miso, cider and spicy condiments. None, however, are as widely celebrated as “Fermented Vegetables,”rereleased in 2024 in a 10th-anniversary edition with 65 new recipes.
Celebrating the vibrant community of Oregon’s winemakers, “Oregon Wine + Food” by Portland-based authors Danielle Centoni and Kerry Newberry is as gorgeous as it is informative. It features stories from 40 influential winemakers in a collection of 80 recipes with recommended wine pairings, like corn soup with Dungeness crab and roasted apple relish, or chicken and chanterelles braised in pinot noir. It’s an excellent souvenir for any wine-loving visitor.
Sommelier Mary Cressler and pitmaster Sean Martin — living the Oregon dream on a 5-acre hazelnut farm in Willamette Valley wine country — are the couple behind the blog Vindulge. Their first book, “Fire + Wine: 75 Smoke-Infused Recipes from the Grill with Perfect Wine Pairings,” teaches readers how to pair Oregon wines with decadent recipes cooked over live fire. There’s pinot noir barbecue sauce, wine-braised short ribs and rosemary-buttermilk grilled chicken. They’ll soon publish a smoky second book, “Fire + Wine: Backyard Pizza,” with recipes meant for a backyard oven or grill.
Farm-to-table author Andrea Bemis writes recipes inspired by the seasons on her farm near Mt. Hood in tiny Parkdale, which she documents at her blog, Dishing Up the Dirt. She wrote a cookbook of the same name and a follow-up called “Local Dirt: Seasonal Recipes for Eating Close to Home.” Her third book, called “Let Them Eat Dirt,” is aimed specifically at teaching young children the joys of beautiful and nourishing meals. It starts with puree recipes for the littlest eaters, and follows with dishes like mini sweet-potato frittatas and sheet-pan cauliflower nachos for older kids.
Oregon Chefs and Restaurants
The two-time “Top Chef” finalist and chef-owner of Portland restaurant Kann and bar Sousòl, chef Gregory Gourdet draws inspiration from his Haitian heritage, combined with his passion for wellness. In his debut cookbook “Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health,” Gourdet presents more than 200 globally inspired recipes free from gluten, dairy, soy and refined sugar — proving that healthy, inclusive meals can still be flavorful and exciting. In 2022 the book was named “Best Cookbook” at the James Beard Media Awards.
Ava Gene’s chef Joshua McFadden’s book “Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables,” has been widely celebrated since its 2017 publishing for inspiring people to approach cooking with vegetables in creative new ways. In 2021 the James Beard Award winner followed it up with “Grains for Every Season,” exploring the versatility of whole grains in dishes both savory and sweet.
Named for the now-closed Portland restaurant of the same name, “Fermenter: DIY Fermentation for Vegan Fare” is a handbook for funky, flavorful fermentation for the vegan kitchen. Created by Astera chef Aaron Adams and author Liz Crain, it features recipes designed to help you transform raw ingredients into interesting ferments. Forage some seaweed to make North Coast kraut, and learn to make vegan cheeses, probiotic drinks and more.
Ken Forkish, founder of Ken’s Artisan Bakery and Ken’s Artisan Pizza, sold his Portland restaurants at the end of 2021, but the new owner has a second Bend location in the works. Forkish, meanwhile, is busy penning instruction manuals for hands-on bread. In 2022 he released “Evolutions in Bread: Artisan Pan Breads and Dutch-Oven Loaves at Home,” which focuses on loaves baked in pans and Dutch-oven boules. In 2024 he released a bread comic book with illustrator Sarah Becan called “Let’s Make Bread!” It captures the baking process with playfulness and color.
“Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables,” by Ava Gene’s Executive Chef Joshua McFadden, dives into what he calls “the joyful ride of eating with the seasons,” framing the year in six seasons rather than four. McFadden offers 225 recipes as a way to celebrate vegetables in all their forms — starting with early-season raw veggies to later grilling and steaming, sautes, pan roasts, braises and stews.
Books From Behind the Bar
Think of Nicole Schaefer’s book “Portland Cocktails: An Elegant Collection of Over 100 Recipes Inspired by the City of Roses” as the drink equivalent to the unrelated but still good “Portland Cooks: Recipes From the City’s Best Restaurants & Bars.” It’s a collection of signature drink recipes from beloved Portland bars alongside profiles of the bartenders who shake and stir them up.
Two Portland-based cocktail authorities collaborated on a book designed to make home bartending more accessible. In “Raising the Bar: A Bottle-by-Bottle Guide to Mixing Masterful Cocktails at Home,” Brett Adams, education manager at the famed Multnomah Whiskey Library, and Jacob Grier, author of “Cocktails on Tap,” spell out strategies to make exceptional drinks without shelling out for esoteric ingredients.
