Cork and Knife Cookbook
Our featured cookbook for the Month of December is Cork and Knife, Build Complex Flavors with Bourbon, Wine, Beer and More by Emily and Matt Clifton. They are the founders of the incredible food blog, Nerds with Knives.
Valarie and I love cookbooks. No matter where you sit in our house, a book is no more than an arm’s length away. We have multiple copies of digital cookbooks, but there is nothing like holding a bound cookbook in your hands, especially one filled with amazing stories and recipes. It is no surprise, whenever you open a cookbook of ours, you may see notes in the columns, tabbed pages, and printed out recipes or ingredient lists stuffed between the covers. These books are meant to be used and visited often both for inspiration and amazing recipes.
We love the practicality and usefulness of cookbooks, but we are drawn to the stories behind each recipe and the cookbook itself. We would love to eventually roll the book club into an in-person cooking event, but for now we will keep it a virtual social media activity of sharing recipes from our favorite cookbooks. We are looking to eventually offer an online class where we can cook together virtually through a live stream platform.
The goal of our book club is simple – “to inspire you to cook more”. We want to help you elevate your home cooking skills and add to the regularly cooked dishes. It is meant to be fun. Regardless of your current skill level, we look forward to you joining us. We are sure between the recipes we choose and the encouragement we provide, you will no doubt increase your skills in the kitchen, but more importantly have fun learning something new.
The rules are simple;
- We will give away one copy of the featured “cookbook of the month” through an Instagram Cookbook Giveaway.
- We will cook 3-4 recipes from the book and invite you to cook it as well and share photos with the #unstoppablefoodie (or #unstoppablefoodiecookbookclub).
- We will share the featured recipes we cook.
- We will share your photos of your cooked dishes on our social media accounts and the Unstoppable Foodie Blog.
- In the future months ahead, we will do a zoom call with those registered and cook some of our favorite recipes together.
Our featured cookbook for the Month of December 2020
Cork and Knife, Build Complex Flavors with Bourbon, Wine, Beer and More
We love this cookbook by Emily and Matt Clifton of Nerds with Knives. We have been fans of their recipes, food styling and food photography for years. They have always been creative with their flavor profiles and ingredient choice. They started their blog to simply have a place to catalog all their favorite recipes. Their foodie passion highlighted in their blog and recipes led to this beautiful cookbook Cork and Knife, Build Complex Flavors with Bourbon, Wine Beer and more.
Cork and Knife recipes
We love wine and spirits, but good quality beer has always been a love of ours. Our weekly consumption is low, but always enjoyed adding it to soup (beer and cheddar) or a batter (classic English fish and chips). Their Beer section in this cookbook features so many great recipes including, Pretzel Pigs in a Blanket with Cheddar-Stout Dip, Brown Ale-Battered Onion Rings with Herb Ranch Dip, and Old Bay Shrimp Fritters. There are so many great recipes in the book that are packed with flavor. Our copy of the book is worn from regular use. There are orange post-it’s coming out of the pages with all our favorite recipes.
Our well used copy of Cork and Knife.
These recipes may be similar to dishes you had before, but the incorporation of their style and well-chosen ingredients take these dishes to the next level. We love the tagline on the bag of the book, “Make Good Food Great with Just One Ingredient. They show you how alcohol can be the secret ingredient that, “makes dishes pop with flavor, added depth and complexity”.
Throughout this book, they incorporate wine, whisky & bourbon, beer, sake, vodka & gin, rum, tequila, and specialty liquors into beautiful recipes. Whether you are looking for a special appetizer, side dish, main course or memorable dessert, there is a recipe for everyone in this book!
The Cork and Knife cookbook is highly recommended and well received.
We picked this book for several reasons:
- We love the beautiful photography.
- The recipes and flavor profiles are incredible.
- Exploring the “science of booze” in cooking is just fun.
- We love following their blog Nerds with Knives. The creativity of their blog comes alive in this book
Below are a few amazing recipes we plan to cook this month from Cork and Knife:
- Brown-Ale Battered Onion Rings with Herb Ranch Dip (Page 71)
- Oyakodon (Japanese Chicken and Egg Rice Bowl (Page 95)
- Swedish Meatballs with Gin Gravy (Page 109)
We highly recommend adding this cookbook to your collection. It will show creative ways to use your favorite adult beverage in beautiful recipes.
Cork and Knife cookbook a must for every cook’s cookbook collection.
We are sure you will enjoy these recipes and this cookbook. Please share your photos with us so we can feature any dishes you cook from this book on our social media pages and on our blog. The Unstoppable Foodie Cookbook Club is meant to be a social activity and a two-way street for all of us to get better at cooking and more importantly gathering around beautiful food with friends and family. Out tagline from the start has been – “Exploring the World, One Dish at a Time.” We hope you join us on this culinary adventure!
Disclaimer: There is an affiliate link in this post that is connected to Amazon Associates. We may make a small commission if you clink the link and make a purchase. Any commission we received would help us offset the endless hours we pour into our foodie blog, Unstoppable Foodie. There are multiple places to purchase this cookbook besides Amazon. We only recommend products we absolutely love, use and giveaway as gifts. We purchased the copy of the book we are giving away in our Instagram Giveaway.