The variety of egg-focused cookbooks released in the past year is, well, egg-centric. Credit the egg’s integral role in so many recipes. That it’s protein at a palatable price is another plus. Each of these book tackles the basics — how to boil, poach, etc. — then mixes in each author’s favorite recipes.
o “Eggs on Top: Recipes Elevated by an Egg” by Andrea Slonecker (Chronicle Books, $24.95). The St. Helena, Calif.-based cooking teacher/cookbook author embraces the egg (chicken, duck and quail), explaining its architecture, translating its labels and serving a global sampler of savory recipes, from quail egg crostini to a sorrel soup with coddled eggs to an egg-topped pizza.
o “The Farmstead Egg Guide & Cookbook” by Terry Golson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $19.99). Former chef and cookbook author Golson has been raising chickens at her home near Boston for 18 years, and she has packed that knowledge into the book’s first 40 pages. After that, she celebrates the egg’s power and versatility in the kitchen, whether it’s in matzo brei, tea eggs, apple clafoutis or popovers.
o “Put an Egg on It: 70 Delicious Dishes That Deserve a Sunny Topping” by Lara Ferroni (Sasquatch Books, $19.95). The Portland food writer-photographer tucks a few intriguing recipes among more traditional approaches: poaching them in maple syrup (to serve with waffles), adding chopped hard-cooked eggs to roasted cauliflower, raisins and pine nuts, or putting scrambled eggs and hot sauce on a hot dog.
