To be perfectly honest, 2019 was a disappointing year for cookbooks, at least when it comes to books we’d actually like to cook out of. The Chronicle’s Food & Wine staff leafed through stacks of impressive-looking tomes dedicated to regional cuisines, techniques and ingredients. We loved seeing the rise in books full of appealing vegetarian and vegan recipes, and the gorgeous photography and contemporary design made many prime for displaying on a coffee table. There weren’t as many big-name releases, but we were happy to highlight several titles from local authors and photographers.

When it came to actually testing recipes out of these books, some failed to live up to our expectations. We encountered confusing directions, basic numerical errors and multiple recipes that simply failed. That’s why this year’s list is a bit shorter than usual, but we feel confident in recommending these books for a permanent place on your shelf.

I Can Cook Vegan

Isa Chandra Moskowitz made a name for herself with “Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook,” which she co-authored with Terry Hope Romero (a 10th anniversary edition came out in 2017). This time around, the punk priestess of the vegan pantry gears her irreverent attitude to the newbie in the kitchen: “If you’re learning to cook, then cooking vegan is the way to go because it’s more pleasant to work with chickpeas than chickens,” she writes.

Everything in the book — from its bright graphics to the large type that introduces each chapter — is a welcoming cheer that says, “You can do this!” In addition to a range of noodle dishes and other entrees, salads and sides, including an excellent and doable pad Thai, it includes recipes for many culinary basics, like cashew-based mozzarella, white bean cream cheese and vegan mayo. For any cook intimidated by the kitchen, especially a vegan kitchen, this book educates in the best way possible — recipes are both fun and delicious.

— Bernadette Fay, Food & Wine copy editor

“I Can Cook Vegan,” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (Abrams Books; 287 pages; $29.99).

Japanese Home Cooking

Sonoko Sakai is a Los Angeles food writer and cooking teacher who also spends a lot of time in the Bay Area teaching people how to make soba noodles with fresh buckwheat flour and to prepare dashi stock and other essentials in the Japanese pantry. In this book, she describes in a heartfelt, poetic way how her career veered from movie production to food and how her childhood in Mexico City, Tokyo and Los Angeles shaped her palate and worldview. (Full disclosure: I have gotten to know Sakai after writing about her over the years, and she made a reference to me in the book.)

Sakai is particularly good at describing the purity and beauty of Japanese cooking, such as “the dialogue with the flour and water” that happens when you make fresh noodles. Spend some time with her book or in one of her classes, and you may find yourself pickling vegetables in nuka or a vat of fermented rice bran, making fresh mochi or hosting an onigiri (rice ball) decorating workshop at home. But Sakai’s new tome also includes simpler dinner fare like okonomiyaki (see recipe), savory pancakes topped with quivering bonito flakes and a not-too-sweet homemade tonkatsu sauce.

— Tara Duggan, assistant food editor

“Japanese Home Cooking: Simple Meals, Authentic Flavors,” by Sonoko Sakai (Roost Books; 300 pages; $40).

Lavash

“Lavash” may be the highest-profile cookbook to date that celebrates the culinary traditions of Armenia — and celebrates above all its famous flatbread. Armenian American chef Ara Zada, who lives in Los Angeles, collaborated with two San Francisco talents: author Kate Leahy (who also co-wrote the A16 and Burma Superstar cookbooks) and photographer John Lee, who regularly contributes to The Chronicle.

Together, they bring to life the vibrant flavors of the Armenian table, frequently loaded with yogurt, eggs, cucumbers, whole grains and herbs. The cuisine’s multicultural influences reflect the many changes to this nation’s political boundaries over time as well as the Armenian diaspora. Lavash, the spongy, griddled flatbread, provides the foundation for many of the book’s recipes, from lavash-wrapped trout to the Jingalov Hat, a green herb-filled lavash pocket. But it’s worth spending the time to make the lavash all on its own — a reasonably easy, if time-consuming, process — to accompany any of the salads, soups and meat entrees detailed here.

— Esther Mobley, wine critic

“Lavash: The Bread that Launched 1,000 Meals, Plus Salads, Stews and Other Recipes from Armenia,” by Kate Leahy, John Lee and Ara Zada (Chronicle Books; 248 pages; $24.95).

Milk & Cardamom

Growing up, I don’t think I could name one Indian cookbook that was solely dedicated to sweets. Hetal Vasavada speaks to all of us Indian American kids who would long for gulab jamun or peda and wanted an easy way to make it without a trip to the Indian grocery store.

What’s great about her book is that it doesn’t cling to tradition. Instead, it combines ease and convenience with the flavors of home in full embrace of the diaspora. Bars like Coconut Burfi Chocolate Bark require little effort and are Indian mother-approved. Then, you have twists on American classics like Peanut Ladoo Buckeye Balls that taste like a better version of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups with a hint of cardamom.

Among the impressive and inspiring cakes, the Gulab Jamun Cake (see recipe) is a winner. It boasts all of the flavors of the deep-fried sweet but is far simpler to make. The 73 recipes — from creams and custards to breads and jams — are ones you can make for yourself, with your children, for parties or just because it’s a Tuesday. It’s a book I wish I had growing up. I’m grateful it’s out there now.

— Urmila Ramakrishnan, Food & Wine digital producer

“Milk & Cardamom: Spectacular Cakes, Custards and More, Inspired by the Flavors of India,” by Hetal Vasavada (Page Street Publishing Co.; 176 pages; $21.99).

My Mexico City Cookbook

This is a cookbook with a true voice, and one that has quite a bit of Bay Area sensibility wrapped into it, despite author Gabriela Cámara’s primary focus on Mexico City. Raised in a village outside that metropolis, where she later opened her award-winning, seafood-focused restaurant, Contramar, Cámara actually wrote this book while living and operating restaurants in San Francisco. Partly for that reason, the recipes don’t hold strictly to traditional ingredients, giving home cooks flexibility to swap out a local fresh cheese for queso fresco, for example.

The book has a bright color palette that makes foundational recipes like Cámara’s famous tostadas de atun stand out all the more, and is full of hard-to-resist options like mahi-mahi ceviche with ancho chile and hibiscus. Cámara still runs her restaurant Cala in Civic Center and two locations of Tacos Cala, including one at SFO, as well as the brand-new Onda in Santa Monica, but she recently moved back to Mexico City to work for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Lucky for us, these recipes will always be with us no matter where she goes.

— T.D.

“My Mexico City Cookbook: Recipes and Convictions,” by Gabriela Cámara (Lorena Jones Books; 362 pages; $35).

Nothing Fancy

There may not be a more “now” recipe author than Alison Roman, a columnist for the New York Times and Bon Appetit. Her nearly 300,000 Instagram followers studiously post photos of their efforts at Roman’s recipes, which have a habit of going viral. (Remember #TheCookies? #TheStew?) In “Nothing Fancy,” the hotly anticipated follow-up to her smash hit “Dining In,” Roman turns her attention to easy entertaining — or, as she calls it, just having people over.

Unlike a lot of recipes marketed for “entertaining” a crowd, these actually feel logical and not at all threatening. Entrees like Sticky Chili Chicken With Hot-and-Sour Pineapple are wise endeavors: They require barely any prep, cook up — hands-off in the oven — in about an hour and still manage to dazzle. There’s also a host of trendy snacks (Creamy Sesame Turmeric Dip, Trout Roe on Buttered Toast), not-boring sides (Frizzled Chickpeas With Feta, Mustardy Green Beans With Anchovyed Walnuts) and unfussy desserts (Torn Plum Browned-Butter Cake, Salted Honey Panna Cotta) that sound equally achievable for dinner parties and laid-back weeknights at home. Even aside from the recipes, Roman’s playful, irreverent writing is a joy on its own.

— J.B.

“Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over,” by Alison Roman (Clarkson Potter; 320 pages; $32.50).

The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook

Though it is full of recipes from Seattle and Portland, Ore., chefs and makes many references to that region’s fishing industry, you could almost call this a West Coast seafood cookbook because it provides fresh ideas for preparing all of the same species that are local to the Bay Area. The popular trifecta of salmon, oysters and Dungeness crab are well covered, and there is also a wide range of recipes for halibut, rockfish, Pacific cod, albacore tuna and black cod as well as locally farmed options like trout, mussels and clams.

The best part about this book by Seattle food writer Naomi Tomky is that the recipes range from classic to creative while staying straightforward, sometimes with only a handful of ingredients. A combination of tart Granny smith apples, bacon and thyme in a recipe for braised mussels (see recipe) was inspired, and I’m looking forward to making others, like the Lingcod Chawanmushi and steamed clams with romanesco and ras el hanout.

— T.D.

“The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook: Salmon, Crab, Oysters and More,” by Naomi Tomky (The Countryman Press; 256 pages; $27.95).

Sweet + Salty

Confection-making seems like something other people do: those with lots of time, scientific acumen and a high tolerance for caramel burns. But Lagusta Yearwood, proprietor of three vegan candy shops in New York, believes in you. “Sweet + Salty” invites the reader to re-create the quirky and ethically sourced recipes she uses at her shops, where beet-and-coriander truffles share shelf space with peanut butter toffee bars, pumpkin spice caramels and potato chip bonbons.

In addition to the 71 confection recipes, the book includes component recipes for candied nuts, preserved lemons, hazelnut praline and more. “It’s not that scary, really,” she writes in the chocolate tempering section, wherein she walks you through the steps necessary to get chocolate to the glossy phase perfect for enrobing truffles and caramels. If you’ve been looking for a rich, dairy-free ganache recipe, Yearwood’s, which uses coconut oil, coconut milk and a dab of water, is actually perfect. For candy-making newbies, Yearwood’s voice is a lantern in the dark: If your cough drops crystallize, “just go with it,” she says. For her, the joy of it all lies in the doing.

— Soleil Ho, restaurant critic

“Sweet + Salty,” by Lagusta Yearwood (Da Capo Lifelong Books; 244 pages; $30).

Tartine

Do we really need another Tartine book? As it turns out, yes. A lot has changed since the famed bakery’s first self-titled cookbook came out 13 years ago. Tartine Bakery expanded to Berkeley and South Korea, and Tartine Manufactory, its more ambitious complex that moved Tartine into full-fledged restaurant territory, arrived in the Mission and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, chef-owner Elisabeth Prueitt transitioned to a gluten-free diet(!), and she and co-founder Chad Robertson published several other books.

“Tartine: A Classic Revisited” is a reissue of Prueitt’s original that offers 55 updated recipes for favorites like Tartine’s lemon cream tart, quiche and chocolate souffle cake, as well as 68 brand new recipes that reflect more recent trends — hello, matcha creme brulee tart — and Prueitt’s newfound love for gluten-free flours like teff and rye. Several new recipes are notably accessible for beginning bakers, such as the black tea blondies with caramel or the cake aux olives, a savory quick bread perfumed with olive oil (see recipe). One new recipe is decidedly more challenging, but exciting all the same: Tartine’s famous morning buns, in all of their orange-scented, flaky-gooey glory. Note that including the base croissant dough, the recipe spans a whopping six pages. Some things are really worth buying.

— J.B.

“Tartine: A Classic Revisited,” by Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson (Chronicle Books; 328 pages; $40).

We Are La Cocina

With heartfelt stories and a diverse array of easy-to-follow recipes, “We Are La Cocina” begs to be picked up again and again. The first cookbook from the San Francisco nonprofit highlights more than 50 La Cocina chefs and 100 recipes spanning some dozen cuisines. Several of the featured dishes could already be considered staples of the Bay Area restaurant scene: the velvety green mole from El Buen Comer, the nutty muhammara from Reem’s California, the shatteringly crisp rosemary fried chicken from Minnie Bell’s Soul Food Movement.

There are also recipes from Oakland’s Cambodian hot spot Nyum Bai, SoMa’s momo destination Bini’s Kitchen, Dogpatch’s Gujarati-style Indian restaurant Besharam and many more — it’s rare to find a collection featuring so many favorite local restaurants. And unlike a lot of chef-driven cookbooks, the recipes are actually realistic to prepare in a home kitchen.

— J.B.

“We Are La Cocina: Recipes in Pursuit of the American Dream,” by Leticia Landa and Caleb Zigas and contributors (Chronicle Books; 228 pages; $29.95).

Cake Aux Olives

Serves 6 to 8

Similar to a quick bread, this cake aux olives, adapted from Elisabeth Prueitt’s “Tartine: A Classic Revisited” (Chronicle Books), makes a great entree paired with a salad — it’s also sturdy enough for a picnic. For a crisp crust and soft interior, you want to develop the gluten structure, so look for elasticity when you raise the paddle out of the dough after mixing.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ cup white wine

½ cup dry white vermouth

4 large eggs

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

7 ounces ham, chopped

5 ounces Gruyère cheese, grated

4 ounces olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

1½ tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment paper, leaving a few inches of overhang.

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or by hand with a wooden spoon, combine the flour, baking powder, wine, vermouth and eggs, and mix on medium speed to combine. With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream until it is thoroughly incorporated and the dough looks elastic.

In a separate bowl, combine the ham, Gruyère, olives, thyme, salt and black pepper. Fold into the batter with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until just combined.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, and then invert onto the rack, turn right-side up and let cool completely. Serve the cake at room temperature. It will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for two days or in the refrigerator for about one week.

Gulab Jamun Bundt Cake

Makes 1 (10-cup) bundt cake or 6 mini bundt cakes

Making gulab jamun, a classic Indian dessert of fried dough balls dipped in sweet syrup, takes serious skill. In “Milk & Cardamom” (Page Street Publishing), Hetal Vasavada makes it easier to enjoy gulab jamun’s essence at home with this inspired, cardamom-spiced bundt cake soaked in a saffron-spiked syrup. The syrup is so good that you might want to make extra. You can find rosewater and rose petals at local Indian or Middle Eastern markets.

Cardamom pound cake

1 cup unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon for greasing, softened

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

Gulab jamun syrup

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 3-inch cinnamon stick

8 cardamom pods

½ teaspoon saffron

2 teaspoons rosewater

2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

1½ cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon dried rose petals (optional)

Instructions: Grease a 10-cup bundt pan liberally with butter. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Add butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on high for 3 minutes, the butter will turn pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, mixing well in between each addition. Add vanilla and salt and mix for 30 seconds. Add flour and ground cardamom. Mix until the flour is just incorporated. Spoon the batter into the bundt pan and tap the pan on the counter three to five times to remove air bubbles. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bundt cake comes out clean.

Ten minutes before the cake is done baking, make the syrup. Add water, sugar, cinnamon, cardamom pods and saffron to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in rosewater and lime juice. Remove the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods. Reserve ¼ cup of the syrup and set aside. Poke holes into the bottom of the bundt cake with a fork. Take the rest of the syrup and pour it on top of the hot bundt cake while it is still in the pan. It will look like a lot of syrup, but the cake will soak it all up. Let the cake rest for 10 minutes and then turn onto a rack. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes.

Take the reserved syrup and add powdered sugar to make a glaze. Whisk well and pour over the bundt cake. Sprinkle with dried rose petals, if desired.

Okonomiyaki Pancakes with Bonito Flakes

Makes 4 pancakes

Japanese savory pancakes get their body and sweet flavor from shredded cabbage. This recipe, adapted from Sonoko Sakai’s “Japanese Home Cooking” (Roost Books), recommends finishing them with Japanese mayo, tonkatsu sauce and pickled ginger. You can find recipes for those components in the book, but you could also buy them from an Asian grocery store.

Pancakes

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 large egg, beaten

1¼ cups whole milk or milk of your choice

8 ounces cabbage, thinly sliced

2 scallions, white and light green parts chopped

½ yellow, green or red bell pepper, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

8 ounces boneless chicken, shrimp, crab or sukiyaki-style beef or pork, cut into ½-inch pieces

2 tablespoons Japanese mayonnaise

2 tablespoons or more tonkatsu sauce

½ cup bonito flakes

½ cup crumbled nori or aonori flakes

Amazu shoga (pickled ginger)

Tonkatsu sauce

½ cup dashi

2 teaspoons kokuto syrup or brown sugar

¼ cup ketchup

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon ground pepper

1 teaspoon kudzu or potato starch, dissolved in 1 teaspoon water

To make the pancakes: Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and milk. Add the flour mixture and mix until just blended. The batter should be quite thin. Add the chopped vegetables to the batter and mix well.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Pour one-quarter of the batter to make a 6-inch pancake. Cook until medium brown, about 1 minute. Place one-quarter of the meat on top of the pancake and then flip the meat-side down. Turn heat to low and cook until the bottom of the pancake is browned, the meat is thoroughly cooked and the vegetables are tender — about 10 minutes. Repeat until the batter is used up.

To serve, brush the pancake with mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce, or soy sauce. Sprinkle with the bonito flakes and crumbled nori. Eat while piping hot. Serve with amazu shoga on the side.

To make the tonkatsu sauce: Bring the dashi to a boil in a small pot over medium-high heat. Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the liquid thickens and reduces by one-third, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn, about 10 minutes. Taste and make adjustments. If you like the sauce sweeter, add more ketchup, sugar or mirin. If you want the savory flavors to come out, add more soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Keep in the fridge for up to one month.

Mussels With Apple & Bacon

Serves 2

John Sundstrom evokes fall with this mussels dish at his acclaimed Seattle restaurant Lark. Adapted from Naomi Tomky’s “The Pacific Northwest Seafood Cookbook,” the recipe packs a punch with three sources of apple flavor and crispy bits of bacon.

4 ounces smoked bacon, cut into ¼-inch lardons

1 small shallot, sliced into thin rings

½ Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into ¼-inch cubes

1 pound mussels, debearded and scrubbed

2 tablespoons dry white wine

2 tablespoons apple cider

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

¼ cup heavy cream

1 thyme sprig, leaves only

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper, as needed

4 thick slices country bread, toasted

Instructions: Cook the bacon in a heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat until it is rendered and crisp, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat. If there’s no fat left, add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the shallot and diced apple and cook until slightly caramelized, about 5 to 7 minutes.

Turn the heat to medium-high. Add the mussels and gently stir to coat them with the bacon, shallot and apple.

Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine, apple cider and apple cider vinegar and stirring up the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Let the liquid reduce slightly.

Add the cream, thyme, salt and as much freshly ground pepper as you’d like. Cover and cook for 2 minutes, or longer if needed, until all of the mussels are open and the sauce is reduced and slightly thickened.

Remove from the heat and serve immediately with toasted country bread.