Cookbook roundup: Pages that'll send you to the kitchen. Or to the armchair to drool

This is the time of year when publishers have put out their new and notable cookbooks, kind of like how studios are now releasing their serious films in time for awards season.

And while the cookbook awards season comes in the spring, the holidays are maybe a more practical version of it, when we check out our favorites or consider what local or noteworthy chefs have written, and finally go pick up some copies -- or cook from them.

We have more time to cook over the holidays, and reason to, or we give the books as gifts -- to our friends, family or to ourselves. Because there's nothing like a new book to inspire dinner, especially when Jacques Pepin or Yotam Ottolenghi is providing the recipe.

Here are several cookbooks to inspire your December cooking or gifting.

"V Is for Vegetables"

Michael Anthony (Little, Brown, $40)

Anthony is the chef at Gramercy Tavern, one of the great fine-dining restaurants in Manhattan. But don't go to his new cookbook expecting fanciful constructions and advanced techniques.

Instead, "V Is for Vegetables" is intended as a solid introduction for home cooks who are just beginning or those who are feeling the need to branch out beyond their usual staples. This is not to say there's nothing here for more experienced cooks. Roasted whole leeks with tangerine vinaigrette is an intriguing idea that would dress up any menu this winter, as would braised radishes with honey and black pepper.

"Mark Bittman's Kitchen Matrix"

Mark Bittman (Pam Krauss Books, $35)

Bittman is a prolific author, from his "How to Cook Everything" cookbooks to his columns in the New York Times, the newspaper he recently left to join the start-up the Purple Carrot.

His latest cookbook is a synthesis of his "Eat" column, in which he approaches dishes, or ingredients, rather like kids used to pick out their Garanimals outfits: mix and match, that is to say, with helpful visual aids. Thus Bittman provides a basic recipe for chicken wings and helpfully coordinates the various marinades (curry yogurt, jerk, teriyaki). This approach is not for everyone, and it can get both repetitive and reductive, but it is a fun way to visualize your dinner.

"Olympia Provisions"

Elias Cairo and Meredith Erickson (Ten Speed Press, $40)

It might be tempting to regard "Olympia Provisions" as a cookbook spinoff of "Portlandia" if only the food didn't look so inviting. This is the first cookbook from the celebrated Portland, Oregon, butcher shop/charcuterie/restaurant.

The first half of the book progresses through the various stages of curing meat -- slow-cooked rillettes and fresh sausages giving way to more advanced smoked and dry-cured meats and fermented dry sausages. The second half is all about turning those ingredients into dishes, with recipes for hearty food such as braised beef short ribs and octopus terrine with dill.

"The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime"

Ree Drummond (William Morrow Cookbooks, $16)

Fans of Food Network chef Drummond, also known as the Pioneer Woman, were waiting patiently for her newest cookbook, promising to help deliver us from dinnertime with easy recipes that make kids and cowboys equally happy.

The book is brimming with quick-to-the table comfort classics. You won't find too many newfangled recipes, but rather basics that many self-proclaimed foodies probably never learned how to cook because they were too busy trying to work their sous-vide machine. Here, you'll find Salisbury steak, stuffed shells, chicken cacciatore and chicken soup.

"The Southerner's Cookbook"

From the editors of Garden & Gun (Harper Wave, $38)

In the South, food is more than mere sustenance. From pillowy Texas kolaches stuffed with sausage to the vinegar-based barbecue sauces of the Carolinas, to the tangy olive relish spread that is necessary to make a proper New Orleans muffuletta sandwich, food is celebrated and revered.

The editors at Garden & Gun magazine have come out with "The Southerner's Cookbook," a collection of stories and more than 125 recipes celebrating Southern food culture. From well-loved classics to regional specialties and innovations shaping today's Southern cuisine, the book is organized into chapters covering party bites and appetizers, recipes for meats ranging from chicken to wild game, sauces and condiments, and even cocktails.

"Vegetarian India: A Journey Through the Best of Indian Home Cooking"

Madhur Jaffrey (Knopf, $35)

Don't make the mistake of thinking this latest Madhur Jaffrey book is only for vegetarians. The author of seven James Beard Award-winning cookbooks, Jaffrey scoured the Indian subcontinent, keeping "my eyes wide open for vegetarian dishes that are both delicious and easy to make."

Over the past several years, Jaffrey drove town to town and from home to home, stopping at roadside stands, chili auctions and local markets collecting recipes. Her recipe for mixed dal Delhi-style is an absolute treasure, along with a beautiful lemon rice with chiles, lemon rind and fresh curry leaves. You'll find a slew of recipes you'll want to make.

"In a French Kitchen"

Susan Herrmann Loomis (Gotham Books, $26.95)

Francophiles and home cooks, and the many of us who are both, will love this new cookbook from Herrmann Loomis, an American expat who has lived and cooked and written cookbooks in France for two decades. She runs a cooking school, On Rue Tatin, and her book is both instruction and narrative.

It's also a story about her food and her friends and the culinary traditions of her adopted country. The recipes are classic, more comfort than fussy (pot-au-feu, Normandy mussels with cider, lentils with sausages, pain perdu), and Herrmann Loomis has useful sides (the organization of French cheese, essential French kitchen tools) that explore the rest of the kitchen.

"Fried Chicken"

Rebecca Lang (Ten Speed Press, $16.99)

If you're a fried chicken fan, "Fried Chicken" is about the most satisfying fried chicken food porn you'll find in book form. "Fried Chicken" starts with a basic guide to frying chicken, including how to butcher a bird, the benefits of brining, which fat to fry in and the different types of flour.

Then comes the real fun. Looking for a recipe for West African fried chicken with sauteed onions and peppers? Maybe Chinese lollipop wings are more your speed.

And if you're a purist, there's a solid recipe for double-battered fried chicken, and chicken wings with ranch dipping sauce.

"Pasta by Hand"

Jenn Louis (Chronicle Books, $20)

If you were neither raised nor trained within an hour or so of Parma, you are probably intimidated by hand-rolled pasta -- the ideal of perfectly rolled tagliatelle is practically Olympian.

But Louis, from the well-loved Portland restaurant Lincoln, concentrates on the other stuff, the trofie, pinci, canederli and spatzli we can just about convince ourselves that we will be able to master -- the rustic, dumplingy country cousins of Italy's happy homemade pasta universe.

You may never be able to make tortellini in brodo as suave as Modena's best, but after a run at Louis' Parmesan-rich priest-stranglers, wild-nettle gnocchi and royale Bolognese, you may not much care.

"Lucky Peach Presents 101 Easy Asian Recipes"

Peter Meehan and the editors of Lucky Peach (Clarkson Potter, $35)

This is not a book that claims to be easy, then asks you to deep fry a fish you filet yourself, then make a sauce from three subrecipes.

Author Meehan, who wrote the "Momofuku" cookbook with David Chang and who founded Lucky Peach magazine, wanted to create a book called "101 Easy Asian Recipes" that was actually full of easy Asian recipes. So: No frying, no subrecipes, and the book separates readers' pantries into "basic," "intermediate" and "champion" based on what sauces, seasonings and spices you'll need to find at the market.

"Everyday Superfood"

Jamie Oliver (Harper Collins, $34.99)

Oliver is one of the better-known chefs in TV chef land. He's that guy from "The Naked Chef" and a slew of other cooking shows, as well as a cookbook author.

In his latest book, Oliver talks super food and, more specifically, how his personal lifestyle and diet changes translated to the healthful recipes on the book's pages.

An Instagram-worthy shot of a "post-gym" super salad of chicken, quinoa and "loadsa veg" is followed by a recipe for "healthy cheese and corn pancakes" with smoky bacon and caramelized banana. Because as much as these recipes are intended to be healthful, Oliver would like you to have some fun, too.

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Cookbook roundup: Pages that'll send you to the kitchen. Or to the armchair to drool ."