Books

My 5 Best Recipes in ISLAS: A Celebration of Tropical Cooking

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ISLAS is my first major collaboration with author Von Diaz, who wrote Coconuts & Collards. We met through Nicole Taylor the night we were quietly celebrating the release of The Last OG Cookbook at her home. This time, my role was more involved than just testing the recipes. I developed and consulted on half of them, focusing on Southeast Asia and the Pacific. I also had the opportunity to contribute a multi-page guide to rice, it is a staple very close to my heart because I grew up eating it every day.

Von organized her recipes by cooking method, not by meal or country. She discovered many parallels in her research and travels across islands that are hundreds of miles apart. Despite limited access to ingredients and tools, islanders possess a unique resilience when it comes to cooking with these methods:

  • Marinating

  • Pickling + Fermentation

  • Braising + Stewing

  • Frying

  • Grilling, Roasting, + Smoking

  • Streaming + In-Ground Cooking

Our book team was bigger than most (and I hope others follow suit). I worked in tandem with Bridgid Washington, another recipe developer. After we developed the recipes, tested them, and reviewed the headnotes before they went off to the presses. A few years later, we’re proud to see ISLAS on bookstore shelves and named one of Food & Wine Magazines Best Cookbooks of 2024. If you do not have a copy of ISLAS, you can purchase one here.

What are my best 5 recipes in ISLAS?

Of the Recipes I worked on…

  • Chicken Jook - Hawaiian rice porridge may look and sound like Filipino arroz caldo (page 155), but its construction and flavor profile are different. Instead of using leftover rice as with arroz caldo, the raw grains are cooked with chicken broth and finished with scallions.

  • Lemon Lasary - Malagasy lemon zest and chile pickle require some patience! It is best cured for 4 weeks and can last up to a year. I loved it so much that I put it on the hot dog menu at Wonderville and called it the Lemon of Zelda with brie cream and poppy seeds.

  • Gato Pima - These fritters with chile are a lot like falafel except they are made with lentils and not chickpeas. I especially loved that it was easy to make and flash freeze for easy meals.

  • Beef Tapa - A classic Filipino breakfast protein. In most recipes it is tenderloin, but I opted for sirloin or skirt steak for its availability. The beef is sliced thinly, marinated with calamansi, and oven-dried a little. It is then fried and served over rice.

  • Sinigang Sa Mangga - I grew up eating Filipino sinigang na isda, a sour tamarind soup with fish and tomato. This version adapted from Yasmin Newman’s 7000 Islands leans on green mangoes as a souring agent.

As a Meat Eater…

  • Griot - Haitian fried braised boneless pork shoulder. This celebratory dish is often eaten with Pikliz (page 99).

  • Churrasco - Puerto Rican grilled steak marinated with garlic, oregano, and vinegar. It’s then finished with a tart wasakaka, a Dominican herb sauce with lots of lime.

  • Poulet Boucané- Martinique sugarcane smoked chicken! It is also known as “buccaneer chicken.” The chicken is marinated in lots of allium, lime, rum, allspice, and thyme before it is grilled with sugarcane pieces.

  • Lechon Kawali - A Flipino classic! Crispy deep-fried pork belly. Best enjoyed with bottled mang tomas and/or Sinamak (page 48).

  • Soup Joumou - Haitian “freedom soup” to commemorate Haiti’s independence from France in 1804. Its base is pureed pumpkin and cooked with beef or goat with vegetables and scotch bonnet peppers.

As a Pescatarian…

  • Vindaye Poisson

  • Kinilaw Na Isda

  • Mas Riha

  • Cari de Poisson Et Potiron

  • Bouyon Bred

As a Vegetarian…

  • Asar

  • Keshi Yena - Replace the beef with plant-based ground “meat”

  • Mofongo Con Guiso - Pork rinds are optional!

  • Ensaladanf Talong - Omit the shrimp paste.

  • Curried Green Jackfruit

For Building a Cool Pantry…

  • Asinan

  • Ginger Beer

  • Jerk Pork Tenderloin

  • Seychellois Massalé

  • Tamarind Chili Salt Salad

If I were Throwing a Massive Party…

  • Kālua Pua’a

  • Chamorro BBQ Chicken

  • Red Rice

  • Shoyu Ahi Poke

  • Pickled Green Papaya

I would love to hear if you cooked any recipes and posted them on social media. Make sure to tag me or send them along via email to randwiches at gmail dot com.

My 5 Best Recipes in Watermelon & Red Birds: A Cookbook Juneteenth & Black Celebrations

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Watermelon and Red Birds is my second cookbook collaboration with author Nicole Taylor. This recipe collection is unique in its scope and the way it is organized. It is the first Juneteenth-focused cookbook in existence! Instead of the typical table of contents divided by breakfast, lunch, or dinner; it is organized by the components that make up a great celebration, be it Juneteenth, anniversary, or birthday:

  • Spice Blends

  • Red Drinks

  • Festivals & Fairs

  • Cookout & BBQ

  • Potato, Green, & Fruit Salads

  • Snow Cones, Ice pops, & Ice Cream

  • Cake! Cake! Cake! (And a Couple of Pies)

  • Everyday Juneteenth

In the foreword, Stephen Satterfield writes, “These recipes are illustrative of [Nicole’s] gifts, moving us seamlessly from the historic to the contemporary, with ingredients and rhetoric together reinforcing a clear thesis—’I put on for my people.’”

For my part, I helped Nicole develop, refine, and test recipes she already had percolating in her notebooks. Sometimes an author has a glut of ideas and needs help focusing them down or exploring their variations. This project was also a test of strength for us during the COVID-19 pandemic with unstable grocery prices, shortages, and adjusting to a new way of working. Our proof of life and joy are here in this book. These stories are here to stay. If you don’t have a copy, buy one here.

So, what are my 5 best recipes in Watermelon & Red Birds?

Of the recipes I developed…

It’s always difficult for me to choose favorites among a pile of treasure, but I chose these recipes based on their ease and riffs on classics.

  • Savory Elephant Ears - I had never heard of elephant ears before meeting Nicole, so I had a fun time researching them. They are large discs of deep-fried dough that are finished with cinnamon sugar. Our version makes it savory with a cheddar and black pepper sprinkle.

  • Wavy Fries with Blue Cheese Dip & Lemon Pepper - We originally wanted to include waffle fries, but it’s not easy for a home cook to get the tools to make them. We opted for a wavy cutter to bring about that festival feel with the flavors of the famous lemon pepper wings of the South.

  • Apricot Lamb Chops with Green Garlic Chimichurri - A luxurious treat, worthy of celebration. It’ll be easiest to get lamb and green garlic in the Springtime, a little bit ahead of June. For those that have my first cookbook, Showdown, you know that I love being around the grill. Lamb chops cook very quickly and go great with grilled apricots that get even better when their sugars caramelize.

  • Chile Marshmallow Pies - I had so much fun recreating Moon Pies! They were one of my favorite gas station treats on family road trips. Our version whips up homemade marshmallows spiked with jalapeno and lime. Rounds of chile marshmallow get sandwiched between buckwheat graham crackers and the whole thing is dipped in chocolate.

  • Devil’s Food Ice Box Cake - We developed our own recipe for chocolate wafers and that’s the hardest part. The rest is easy! Layer the homemade wafers with chocolate cream cheese filling and freeze it. When it’s set, press pecans into the sides before you slice it up.

As a vegetable-forward person…

For a plant-based menu, there are plenty of options! These are my favorite vegetarian items, but many of the recipes can be adjusted easily. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, there are two chapters dedicated to frozen desserts and cake.

  • Meatless Baked Beans

  • Zucchini Corn Dogs

  • Summer Peas, Green Beans, & Corn Salad

  • Garlicky Okra and Rice (minus the fish sauce, of course!)

  • Corn Ice Cream Sandwiches

As a person who loves meat…

You do not need a grill to enjoy these cookout recipes. I included oven method alternatives that do not skimp on flavor.

  • Beef Ribs with Harissa

  • Rodeo Turkey Legs

  • Chorizo Corn Chip Nachos

  • Late Night Steak Tostada

  • Blueberry & Beef Puff Pies

The recipes I revisited …

In the years after publishing the Watermelon & Red Birds, I found myself looping back toward these recipes.

  • Strawberry Lemonade

  • Pork Chops with Dukkah

  • Quick Pickles (especially the red onions)

  • Broiler Salmon with Romesco

  • Roasted Nectarine Sundae with Honey Vanilla Ice Cream, Pistachio Brittle, and Caramel Sauce

I would love to hear if you cooked any of the recipes and posted them to social media. Make sure to tag me or send them along via email to randwiches at email dot com.

My 5 Best Recipes in Showdown: Comfort Food, Chili & BBQ

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I’m asking myself the question that makes me audibly gasp when others ask it. What are my 5 favorite recipes in my own cookbook? In college, I remember learning about positioning—in the sense of regarding a particular kind of person when you consider their background and preferences. The answer to every subjective question in the world can change when you think about someone’s positioning. At the time of publishing Showdown, my favorite recipes were different from the ones I’m choosing now. It’s like I’m on a boat in a sea of my own creations and I’ll pull up different dishes on different days.

Today, I’m writing to you as a 39-year-old who has published, developed, or tested 13 cookbooks. My palate has expanded to include many new cuisines that I had not yet tried when I was 32 years old. I can also tell you the recipes that I revisited in my everyday life and what were successes to people who bought the book. If you don’t have a copy, those in the U.S. can get a signed one here. For worldwide shipping, click here (these copies are not signed).

So, what are my 5 best recipes in Showdown?

As a meat-forward person…

I look to these recipes for fun weekend projects or if folks are coming over. They have sub recipes and may take a day or two of prep, but they’re worth it. Some protein components like chili, meatballs, bacon, chicken, and burgers can be flash-frozen for later.

  • Cocoa Coriander Chili

  • 20K Meatballs Under the Sea (Sub Sandwich)

  • Make Your Own Damn Bacon

  • Chicken Mole Torta

  • Baa-Daas Burger

As a vegetable-forward person…

When you feel like you’ve had enough meat for the week or want to accommodate those with plant-based diets, these are my hearty, savory meals I like to make.

  • Black Bean and Pepita Balls

  • Smoked Vegetables and Fruits

  • Roasted Stuffed Poblano Flatbread

  • Potato Salad with Wasabi Sesame Seeds

  • Mushroom Hoagie

As a person who does not have a grill…

Listen, I live in New York, I know how hard it is to find space to grill. It’s not always easy to camp out for a public grill at the park, too. These recipes are perfectly fine with an oven or toaster oven. In all honesty, it’s much cleaner than breaking out the grill.

  • Dirty South Biscuits and Gravy

  • Cherry Chocolate Meatballs

  • Shumai, Oh My

  • Pulled Chicken Mole

  • Crunchy Elote

  • As a person who has a grill…

My friend, thank you for your trust. These are some of my favorite projects. Finding out that my charcoal grill could also function as a smoker blew my mind. When you’re done grilling, consider smoking some extra veggies and fruits for later.

  • Homemade Tasso (so you can make The Smokemonster chili)

  • Grilled Flakey Flatbread

  • “I Like It Shallot” Burger

  • Adobo Wangs

  • Grilled Stone Fruit

The recipes I made the most…

I haven’t counted the times that I’ve made these dishes, but I have a pretty good idea of what is in rotation. The thing is, the recipes in this book were already some of my greatest hits. It’s nice to develop muscle memory about these five entries and to know their shopping lists without looking them up.

  • Fuzzy Five-Spice Meatballs

  • Carne Asada

  • Bacon Chili Oil

  • Herb Slaw

  • Chocolate Bark

I would love to hear if you cooked any of my recipes and posted them to social media. Make sure to tag me or send them along via email to randwiches at email dot com.

The Up South Cookbook

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AUTHOR: Nicole Taylor

ABOUT: Georgia native Nicole Taylor spent her early twenties trying to distance herself from her southern cooking roots--a move "up" to Brooklyn gave her a fresh appreciation for the bread and biscuits, Classic Fried Chicken, Lemon Coconut Stack Cake, and other flavors of her childhood.

The Up South Cookbook is a bridge to the past and a door to the future. The recipes in this deeply personal cookbook offer classic Southern favorites informed and updated by newly-discovered ingredients and different cultures. 

PUBLISHER: Countryman Press

RECIPE TESTING ASSISTANCE: Jenn de la Vega

The Last OG Cookbook

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Sheet Pan Chicken Cookbook

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AUTHOR: Cathy Erway

PUBLISHER: 10 Speed Press

ABOUT: A cookbook of 50 recipes that combines everyone’s favorite protein with the ease of cooking all on one pan, from a James Beard Award–winning food writer and TASTE contributor Cathy Erway.

RECIPE CONTRIBUTOR: Jenn de la Vega, “spatchcock chicken with ginger, garlic, and green papaya,” page 51.

Sheetpan_Chicken-Tinolang-Manok.jpeg

Showdown: Comfort Food, Chili & BBQ Cookbook

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AUTHOR: Jenn de la Vega

PUBLISHER: Page Street Publishing, distributed by MacMillan. Member of  1% for the Planet.  1% of sales go to environmental charities each year.

DESCRIPTION: If ever there was a cookbook on a particular food from a certain region, most people would associate competition-worthy barbecue from a Southern chef. Chef and caterer Jenn de la Vega is out to change your mind about that. Known on the competition circuit and for her blog, Randwiches, Jenn creates uniquely flavorful and approachable barbecue.

Make eccentric, yet mouth-watering barbecue with or without a smoker, including the specialty side dishes, sauces and pickles that go along with them. This competition cook goes one step further to provide recipes for what to do with the leftovers, too. This book has 100 recipes and 60 photos.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Jenn de la Vega is editor-at-large of Put A Egg On It: Tasty Zine! and runs Randwiches, an award-winning experimental food blog and catering service. Jenn loves talking about food situations, digital art and technology. She has appeared on Guy’s Grocery Games on Food Network and ChefShock with Justin Warner on Twitch.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Colin Clark

Fancy Words about Showdown

“Jenn is the kind of author who makes you feel like you are winning just because you have the privilege of reading her text. Compound that with the fact that you can cook her food... and you feel like a leprechaun mounted on a gilded unicorn somehow snowboarding down a rainbow with an edible pot of gold, or chili, awaiting you at the final destination.” — Justin Warner, Food Network Judge & author of "The Laws of Cooking: And How to Break Them."

"These cravetastique, flavorful recipes are making me salivate! Jenn is a consummate expert in the field of crave-able dishes and this book is chock full of them. I can randomly open it to any page, make that dish, and then feel satisfied from head-to-toe.”— Lisa Q. Fetterman, CEO and Founder of Nomiku, Bestselling Author of "Sous Vide at Home"

"I'm a big fan of Jenn de la Vega's food and have enjoyed cheering her on for years. Her genuine enthusiasm for making and sharing food is undeniable – if it's all about how you play the game, Jenn is constantly winning.” —Adam J. Kurtz, bestselling artist & author of “Pick Me Up”

"Jenn's approach to cooking is a source of inspiration; she has the ability to spin comfort food classics and elevate them into something totally new. Additionally, her recipes are easy to follow, and include classic techniques that are simplified for the home cook. Whether you are just learning to cook, or have been at it for years, this book has something for everyone!”— Molly Adams, Senior Food Editor of The FeedFeed

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