Bitter

U.K. MasterChef contestant Anatole debuts with an elegant and enthusiastic ode to a flavor profile that is often “picked last for the team.” She organizes the collection around 10 key ingredients—including coffee, grapefruit, liquorice, and tahini—though sometimes these ingredients don’t feel like the true star of a given dish. The recipe for spiced lamb chops, for example, appears in the chapter on walnuts due to the pickled walnut compote served alongside the meal. Minor organizational quibbles aside, Anatole demonstrates an impressive command of a broad range of cuisines and uses this skill to create some exciting fusion fare, including a marriage of Italian melanzane and Iranian fesenjan; tres leches tiramisù; and a cabbage and cranberry pie that draws inspiration from Indian, Greek, and French dishes. The section on bitter greens includes a spiral phyllo borek, while a chapter on cooking with beer features a unique porridge made by soaking stale rye bread in ale. Even the simplest recipes, such as toast spread with tahini and honey, appeal. Anatole’s deep dive into bitterness is wonderfully thorough: a section on five ways to mellow the flavor, for example, suggests combining it with dairy and cross-references recipes that do just that. The result is an enticing, clever collection that should rehabilitate the reputation of bitter food. (July)