Two Books That Will Transform How You Cook (without a single recipe)
Each of us eats roughly 1,100 meals a year. Make them count.
Cooking is an act of faith. If you follow a recipe, you’re trusting a stranger with one of life’s simple joys.
Otherwise, you place your faith in your own experience and intuition.
Either way, we only get so many meals in a lifetime. Most of us eat between 730 and 1,095 meals a year.
That might sound like a lot, but subtract the rushed lunches, cold leftovers, and dash-and-go dinners squeezed into jam-packed schedules, and the number of truly enjoyable meals shrinks fast.
So, yeah, it matters who you trust in the kitchen.
There’s something to be said for searching up whatever dish we think we have most of the ingredients for. But who’s vouching for these recipes? When I’m in dinner-now mode I’m likely to go with whatever recipe is at the top of the search results.
It’ll probably be fine.
I think it’s better to find a few reliable guides to help you stock your kitchen and create your own philosophy of cooking.
Think of it like Dante in The Inferno. He didn’t just grab any random ghost to guide him through hell. He went with Virgil, the greatest poet of Rome. You need a Virgil in the kitchen.
Now, a kitchen isn’t hell (though sizzling oil and smoking pans can feel close). But when you’re hungry and staring at an empty fridge, it can feel like purgatory.
What you need in those moments isn’t a precise recipe with strict measurements. You need some inspiration. You need someone to help you see the potential in those half-empty cabinets, wilting vegetables, and dusty spice jars.
Most cookbooks don’t do that. They’re like fitness plans for people who hate working out. They’re full of numbers and rules, but no soul. No why.
What you need is a book that teaches you how to feel about cooking, not just how to follow instructions.
That’s where two of my favorite books about cooking come in.
I don’t want to call them cookbooks, because even though there are some recipes in them, the focus isn’t on what to cook. It’s on how to approach cooking.
Both of these books will make you a better home chef and maybe even help you enjoy life more.
1. An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler
By Page 2, you’ll feel like you’ve found your culinary Virgil. Adler writes with such clarity and warmth that you’ll trust her immediately. (She’s a former chef with a bunch of awards.)
Here’s the gist of her philosophy: Cooking is about transformation. It’s about taking raw ingredients and turning them into something meaningful. Even something as simple as salting a tomato can make you feel more alive.
But here’s the game-changer: Adler teaches you to see leftovers not as sad remnants of yesterday’s meal, but as a head start for tomorrow’s.
That roasted chicken from Monday’s dinner? Turn the carcass into stock on Wednesday.
The leftover rice? Fry it up with some eggs and veggies for lunch the next day.
Cooking, in her world, is a continuous cycle, not a series of isolated events.
Don’t worry if you’re a beginner. The first chapter is literally called “How to Boil Water.”
Adler teaches you to see ingredients not as parts of a recipe but as little joys in themselves. Spend time with her and you’ll start cooking (and thinking) differently.
2. Life is Meals by James and Kay Salter
James Salter was an author who lived life fully and wrote about it beautifully.
He was a fighter pilot, novelist, screenwriter, skier, and even a mountain climber (which he took up in his 40s to better write about it).
He knew how to savor the physical pleasures of life, whether it was a glass of wine, a lazy Sunday afternoon, or carving down a ski slope in Aspen.
Salter also understood the magic of connection, the kind that happens when people gather around a table. That’s what Life is Meals is all about.
Co-written with his wife, Kay, the book is a celebration of meals with friends and family as the heartbeat of life.
It’s structured as a daily read, with one entry for each day of the year. Some entries are recipes. Others are slices of literary life, kitchen hacks, bits of culinary history, or reflections on the art of hosting.
Salter knew that meals aren’t just about food. They’re about the stories told and the temporary community built around a table. A meal, in his view, is a snapshot of life at its best — a reminder to slow down, savor, and connect.
“Among all peoples and in all times, every significant event in life — be it wedding, triumph, or birth — is marked by a meal or the sharing of food or drink. The meal is the emblem of civilization. What would one know of life as it should be lived or nights as they should be spent apart from meals?”
It’s the kind of book you keep on your counter and flip through when you need a little inspiration.
It’s also a book that that solves problems with quick tips on how to throw together a dinner for a crowd in a matter of minutes. The key is to always have a few essentials on hand. Thanks to this book, I can throw together a killer alfredo, pesto or carbonara at moment’s notice.
I have a lot of cookbooks. I can recall a few recipes, but I still need to look up the specifics.
But I’ve never forgotten core principals of An Everlasting Meal or Life Is Meals.
Enjoy the process, embrace the Earth’s natural gifts, build a community, and make one extra effort (fresh parsley!) every meal.
Do that and you’ll transform something many people see as a chore into a daily ritual that enriches your life.