A Cookbook Club Is The Fun Way To Get Out Of A Cooking Rut

Cookbook clubs are nothing new, but their popularity is on the rise. According to MarketPlace, approximately 20 million cookbook titles are sold in the United States each year, and if you find yourself in a bit of a cooking rut, a cookbook club could offer a lifeline for your taste buds. These meet-ups combine the joy of cooking, eating, and socializing with other foodies who want to learn how to make new and exciting recipes from cookbooks. If you've been jonesing to make slow-braised beef short ribs or a spicy Chinese eggplant and mushroom stir-fry, you might want to transform your next party into one of these soirees.

A cookbook club takes the pressure off the host to make a four-course meal, and instead, these dishes can either be made together, or you can go with a potluck style where each guest brings their assigned dish already made with just a little assembling and heating to finish it off. How much kitchen or outdoor cooking space you have will likely dictate which you prefer. Regardless, everyone is going to share in the prep, cooking, eating, chit-chat, and clean-up. 

There is also the bonus of reading through these guides together. You can unearth tips and tricks you may not have known like Ina Garten's extra step for the ultimate roast chicken or the two ingredients Bobby Flay always uses to finish off his pasta, all of which will help you climb out of that rut. So, where do you start?

Once you decide how you want to structure your cookbook club — potluck-style or cooking together — you need to select a cookbook. This can be the most difficult part because there are so many to choose from; however, you want to be thoughtful with this detail. When considering if you want to select recipes from Alton Brown's favorite cookbook "Joy of Cooking" by Irma S. Rombauer for a traditional dinner or do an evening of dessert recipes from "More Than Cake: 100 Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community" by Natasha Pickowicz, it is important to think about your skill level as well as the skill levels of the fellow cooks you plan to invite. After all, you want it to be an enjoyable learning experience in addition to a moment of fellowship and community breaking bread.

Settling on your cookbook title will allow you to move on to the next item on your checklist: Inviting guests and assigning recipes. You want to keep this gathering fairly intimate so you get a chance to connect, enjoy each other's dishes, and learn about the experience of making each element of the meal. Six to ten people is generally a good range to target. When it comes to selecting recipes, either send out a sign-up sheet and let guests choose a dish or assign them one. It isn't mandatory they all be good cooks just so long as they subscribe to a culinary curious philosophy.

When it comes to drinks, you can either assign someone to come up with and make a signature cocktail to pair with the meal or serve as the sommelier for the evening and select a couple of bottles of appropriate wine. Think of this as a great opportunity to try that spicy margarita if you are having Mexican food or Taylor Swift's favorite cocktail, a French Blonde, if you are building a charcuterie board. Having the guest responsible for cocktails, mocktails, or wine arrive a little early to mix up these adult beverages is a good idea if you've structured your cookbook club as a potluck. 

And don't forget to make certain you have plenty of containers to send everyone home with a few leftovers to enjoy the next day. These do not have to be fancy. You can simplify taking leftovers home by using disposable cupcake tins. Place a little bit of each dish in each cup and then your guests can warm the tin in the oven when they are ready to reheat it. But before everyone departs, it's smart to figure out the date for the next cookbook club meeting, so you can get it on the calendar. Until then, you can use the previous gathering's dishes as inspiration for your own cooking adventures.