Inspiration and stellar instruction in a groundbreaking resource for new(ish) cooks ready to level up. Perfect for teens and college students, twenty-somethings cooking in their own first kitchens, or folks of any age who are ready to get serious about making great food.

"Learning how to cook—simply, seasonally, and organically, for family and friends—is one of the most fulfilling things you can do in life. This book is the essential (and delicious!) roadmap you need: friendly, approachable, and perfectly ready to inspire new cooks to fall in love." —Alice Waters, chef, restaurateur, author, and American culinary icon

Filled with recipes for impressive, craveable food—with all the guidance needed to make it—(Serious) New Cook is perfect for young adults or any new(ish) cooks who have ever found themselves salivating at cooking TikToks or drooling over gorgeous cookbooks, only to believe they aren’t skilled enough to attempt the recipes themselves. Here, the clear, detailed instruction and stunning step-by-step photography will have readers wowing their friends and families from their very first dish. Along with recipes that are at once aspirational and totally doable, authors Leah Su Quiroga and Cammie Kim Lin use their experience as a chef from one of America’s top restaurants and an award-winning teacher and writer to deftly share knowledge, stories, and brilliant tips with humor and insight. 

It’s an homage to their own multicultural families and to the countless young adults they’ve taught and cooked with—their own kids, Cammie’s high school and college students, the new cooks who came up under Leah in the Chez Panisse kitchen. (Serious) New Cook hits all the right notes, packed with inspired takes on familiar favorites, as well as new flavors to build an expansive repertoire: crepes with compote, handmade arepas, “broken” Caesar salad, mushroom pot pie, Korean bulgogi meatballs, classic cupcakes, dalgona milkshakes, and more. With stunning step-by-step photography by Molly DeCoudreaux, the recipes are presented in trios organized around a core technique or concept. Learn one recipe and readers will be well on their way to mastering all three. Also included are guest recipes from acclaimed chefs and authors Alice Waters, Bryant Terry, Sean Sherman, Sohui Kim, Russell Moore, Claire Ptak, Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis, ushering a new generation of (serious) new cooks into the fold. More than just a collection of recipes, (Serious) New Cook is an indispensable resource and an inspiring guide.

About The Author

Leah Su Quiroga cooked for over a decade at Alice Waters’s renowned California restaurant, Chez Panisse, where she started out as an intern and quickly worked her way up to head chef. She currently lives in Sebastopol, California, where she’s raising a family. Cammie Kim Lin, Leah’s sister, is a serious home cook who got her start in commercial kitchens before becoming a professor and writer. She teaches at New York University and lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family, which includes the two teenaged (serious) new cooks featured throughout the book. Cal Peternell, also a former head chef at Chez Panisse, is the New York Times best-selling author of numerous cookbooks, including Twelve Recipes and Burnt Toast and Other Disasters.