Flavor Zone: The Best Cookbooks That Dropped in July

Welcome to Flavor Zone, a monthly column in which your kitchen-savvy VICE editors recommend the tastiest, juiciest, most appetizing new cookbooks on the shelves. This July, we (finally) learned how to make a good biscuit, conspired to throw our next paella party, and came to understand the science behind why Sun Chips are so goddamn tasty.

[The Bachelorette recap voice] A lot has happened. Since last month’s installment of Flavor Zone, you’ve seen Barbie and/or Oppenheimer. Our country’s UFO drama has unfolded much further, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. won the Home Run Derby, and we’ve entered the era of “global boiling.” What a fun summer so far! If you’re anything like me, you’ve been compartmentalizing your feelings by cooking and eating your way through it all. Global boiling? More like let’s get a crab boil going! The only mushroom cloud I’m interested in is the roasted mushroom and vermouth risotto I make like every other week; and as far as flying objects go, I’m always down to see how many Bud Lights can fly into my mouth. I love July!

When it comes to cookbooks, a bunch of summer-y volumes have dropped in recent weeks. From a world class biscuit manual that’ll probably help you kick your fast food biscuit habit to a loving tribute to paella, a grip of true bangers has hit the shelves recently. Elsewhere, author Simon Bajada dug deep on the history and food of Malta, while advanced cicerone Mandy Naglich penned a gripping non-cookbook about how taste and flavor work (though nothing will ever change my mind that Sun Chips simply “taste really good” and that Malört is “horrible”). Oh, and a viral baking man wrote an unsurprisingly awesome cookbook about the bygone baking recipes of 1900-1980. Drop the needle on the undisputed anthem of this month while perusing our list of July’s best cookbook drops.

An encyclopedia of wonderful biscuit recipes

Man, what’s better than a really good biscuit? I’m not talking about a dry-as-hell fast food biscuit, or even one from a decent Southern-inspired restaurant—I mean a perfectly airy, flaky, crumbly, aromatic biscuit made in the kitchen of someone who truly knows what they’re doing (and loves doing it). And while making literally one great biscuit is hard enough (let’s be real, most of us probably haven’t done it), Erika Council, the self-described “biscuit jedi” of Atlanta’s Bomb Biscuit Co., wants to show us how to make, um, over 70 different kinds. You now officially have no excuse to make bad biscuits.

A tour of twentieth-century baking

Ever wonder what F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fave baked goods were? Or J. Robert Oppenheimer? What about J.R.R. Tolkien, or any other dude of yore whose first name was literally just a letter? Well, B. Dylan Hollis has gained over 10 million followers on TikTok trying to pre-empt these important questions. His historical baking opus Baking Yesteryear takes readers from 1900 through the 1980s, examining the weird and wild baked goods of a… fraught historical time period. Yeah, let’s go with that. If you need a cookbook to use with your grandma (or to give her as a gift), this is definitely a contender.

I dare you to point out Malta on a map

What is Malta? Where is Malta? More importantly, what’s the food of Malta like? Well, according to Malta by Simon Bajada, the Maltese islands are located between North Africa and Southern Italy, and its culinary history is sort of a melting pot. “With peasant and agricultural beginnings, the food was based on products such as wheat and vegetables, then each phase in history added another layer,” Bajada writes. “For example, the Phoenicians brought fishing skills, the Arabs introduced citrus, the Knights of Malta brought an appreciation for fine foods such as saffron and ice cream, and during the years of the English, some of Malta’s pastry recipes developed.” Listen, we already love the Mediterranean islands, so this was an easy sell; but with dishes like tomato- and tuna-smothered sourdough, anchovy fritters, and rabbit stew, we’re in. Plus, the photography is incredible.

You never forget your first, or your best (paella)

“Over the years, I’ve come to realize that anyone who has eaten a paella (as opposed to a pizza, burger, or any other dish) at least once in their life remembers it. It’s quite remarkable,” writes Paella author Omar Allibhoy. “It certainly hasn’t become Spain’s national dish for no reason.” This is actually very true, in my experience. I go to a lot of parties and dining events, and one of the most memorable so far this year (with regard to food, at least) is a rooftop party where a friend served a mountain of seafood paella (aka Spain’s beloved rice- and saffron-based dish that cooked in a shallow pan and usually features featuring seafood, chicken, and/or veggies). This book goes through the dish’s background, technique, and recipes, and if you like, love, or just want to try paella, it’s a must.

An ode to lox, pastrami, and matzo ball soup

Is The Jewish Deli a traditional cookbook? Not really, but I’m legally obligated (not really) to cover any even remotely Jewish cookbooks, so here we are. This illustrated—yes, you read that right—volume from Ben Nadler is an informative and historical look at some of the deli’s greatest hits, which includes not only dishes, but highlights of some of North America’s best delis. RIYL: bagels, Garfield, and Woody Allen.

What’s that tongue do?

I’ve been interested in how taste works for a long time. At this point, most of us have basically annihilated our taste buds through years of abuse (read: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, sour Skittles, Takis, and Fireball Cinnamon Whisky), but that doesn’t mean we can’t re-learn how to enjoy the finer things in life. For that, Mandy Naglich’s How to Taste (which isn’t really a cookbook and technically came out a couple days before July, but here we are) is an important volume, giving casual readers access to the tasting techniques and methodology that master tasters (like advanced cicerones) gain through years of training and experience. Naglich goes beyond the science of taste and smell and gives us a road map to understanding what exactly we are experiencing when we eat, so this one feels important for anybody who loves food. Anyway, I’m excited to post up on vacation sometime this summer with this book, a case of wine, a metric ton of weird flavored potato chips, and an insane amount of fresh fruit. You know, for science.

Aliens exist. Eat biscuits.

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.