Best Local Food Books of 2017

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Oh 2017, you were not my favorite year. News-wise you had too much cruelty, chaos and mayhem. But other things also happened in 2017—babies were born, bluebirds flitted, and great books were published. One was by local poet Danez Smith from local press Graywolf, and if you haven't read that, read it! It's essential. What follows are my top food books of the year, because food is what we need to keep us whole, healthy, and sane—which is more essential than ever this year. 

1) The Sioux Chef Indigenous Kitchen, by Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley

I have been waiting for this book all the last 200 years. Well, you know what I mean. The cultural genocide of native people and native foods cannot be undone with a single book, but local chef Sean Sherman sketches a foundation for much important work in thinking about and resurrecting native food ways in a manner that a contemporary food-lover can incorporate in daily life. The venison stew with hominy is a great example of a necessary dish, it's made with sage, juniper, wild mushrooms, and provides a taste of right here—a taste that had been forcibly obscured. $34.95, upress.umn.edu

2) Give a Girl A Knife, by Amy Thielen

We in the #North have a far piece to go before we rival the food-saturated literature of the South, but Amy Thielen's memoir of eating and growing in the far north before conquering the top kitchens of New York City is a noble entry in a necessary literature. I'll never forget the passage about women with their fine potato salad in Kemp's Ice Cream buckets, and neither will you. $26, penguinrandomhouse.com

3) Lake Fish: Modern Cooking With Freshwater Fish, by Keane Amdahl

Local crappies, sunnies, lake herring, and ciscoes are rare delicacies never given enough respect, partly I suspect, because we don't have any fancy recipes calling attention to these fish of our lakes and rivers. Minneapolis writer Keane Amdahl did a beautiful job giving our wonderful local fish thoughtful showcases, I love recipes like the roasted perch with sautéed radishes and radish-top pesto. $24.95, mnhs.org

4) Savory Sweet: Simple Preserves from a Northern Kitchen, by Beth Dooley and Mette Nielsen

Did you grow up in a modern TV room where no one was canning, and now you wish you could make home-made pickles and jams but are terrified of the process? Then Savory Sweet is the cookbook for you, chockablock with recipes for things we like to eat today, like oven roasted plum chutney and hot and sweet pickled corn, without need to buy a pressure canner. The best book for cooking like a restaurant chef, without needing any big skills. So good. $24.95, upress.umn.edu

5) Venison: The Slay to Gourmet Field to Kitchen Cookbook, by Jon Wipfli

I have a friend who has a deer-hunting dad and a mom who is tired to death of crockpot venison stew, and she bought local barbecue guru Jon Wipfli's book for them, and now everyone is much happier. Why? Dishes like venison and pineapple chili, tomato and brown sugar-braised venison shoulder, and dozens more. I love seeing deer hunting given a serious modern culinary treatment, and if you make the whole confit deer leg drop me a line, I'm very intrigued. $25, amazon.com

6) Project Vibrancy, by Stephanie Meyer

Not technically a cookbook, Project Vibrancy is local food guru Stephanie Meyer's weekly cookbook of healthy foods, following all those food-ways the healthy (or allergic) folk seem to be eating these days—gluten-free, paleo, AIP, Whole 30, you know the drill. She has a smart way of making big batches of food on the weekends and using those as a base all week, and I know some people here in the office who are doing it and rave about the joys therein. You can sign up for a free week to try it out, so if you've been thinking about food resolutions and want a community to help you, this might be perfect. projectvibrancymeals.com

7) Tattersall Distilling's App

You have to love a free bartending manual of elite recipes—and the easy ones too!—from the Tattersall Distilling stars. The forever antidote to being trapped at a cabin, looking blankly at the gin and wishing you knew what to do with it. 

8) Jul: Swedish American Holiday Traditions, by Patrice Johnson

If you've longed to put together a holiday julbord but lacked any clue on exactly how that might happen, Jul solves that problem for you. The Christmas cookie section is pure Scandinavian gold. $24.95, mnhs.org

9) The Lincoln Del Cookbook: Best Loved Recipes from the Legendary Bakery and Deli, by Wendi Zelkin Rosenstein and Kit Naylor 

What was the secret to the Lincoln Del's matzoh balls? The Del, of course, was the legendary, long-lost Jewish deli that was a foundational restaurant in the Twin Cities (from the days when the Foshay tower was the only skyscraper in town, to long after it wasn't), and if you want to know the restaurant's secrets there's only one way: Get the cookbook! And then learn how to liquify schmaltz. $15, amazon.com

10) Celebrations to Remember, by Soile Anderson and Eleanor Ostman 

When I first moved to Minnesota, some of the hottest restaurants in town were Finnish native Soile Anderson's Taste of Scandinavia bakeries. Celebrations To Remember holds the recipes and catering ideas from those glorious moments, including the recipe for the famous gravlax, told by one of Minnesota food writing's grand dames, Eleanor Ostman. $35, celebrationstoremember.com