Two cookbooks explore the art of cooking, with humor and poetry

Cooking Comically takes a comic book approach to presenting “recipes so easy you’ll actually make them.” A Commonplace Book of Pies redefines everything we thought we knew about pie through prose poems, humor and, yes, recipes.

We know we all need to cook more. Stuff we cook for ourselves is generally healthier and can save us money. There are many serious efforts out there to get us doing that. Here’s a refreshingly silly one that’s seriously effective. Tyler Capps, a freelance graphic artist and self-taught cook, started Cooking Comically as a website after an online comic strip recipe he created, “2 A.M. Chili,” went viral, racking up millions of views. And now it’s a cookbook.

Cooking Comically: Recipes So Easy You’ll Actually Make Them uses comic illustration, photography, handwritten text and easy-to-follow, if occasionally snarky, instructions that make cooking seem as approachable and easy as the title promises. There are plenty of F-bombs too, so this may not be your young nephew’s ideal first cookbook.

But it’s perfect for people starting out on their own, ready to move on from a steady diet of instant ramen and delivery pizza. It makes cooking seem doable, fun and maybe even kind of cool. Above is a typical spread. While there are some processed products sprinkled throughout—Capps loves garlic powder and onion powder—real food takes the lead. Celery, carrots, onions, peppers, tomatoes and more appear page after page.

Recipes range from the expected burgers, mac & cheese and bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers to pulled pork, Bolognese sauce, jambalaya and even pumpkin butterscotch cookies. Cooking Comically: Recipes So Easy You’ll Actually Make Them may not be the be-all, end-all kitchen tome, but it’s a fine gateway drug to a lifelong cooking habit.

The poetry of pie

A Commonplace Book of Pie is not so much a cookbook as it is an entertaining, literate (and practical, when necessary) guide to the mystical world of pie. It is written by Kate Lebo, an award-winning poet and baker who, as her website states, “makes poems and pies in Seattle.” Her writing has appeared in Best New Poets, Gastronomica, and Poetry Northwest. Besides writing poetry, Kate hosts Pie Stand, her semi-secret pie social, around the United States and teaches creative writing and pie-making.

Even when imparting practical information, Lebo’s writing comes forward, expecting to be noticed. In a list of 10 “rules of thumb” about pie and pie making, she says:

6. When making crust, the butter must be cold. This bears repeating.
7. The butter must be cold.

When discussing the use of Crisco, she is both pragmatic and sanguine:

Don’t think about it. I mean, use it (angelic cakes, long shelf life, cheap) but don’t think about what you’re doing to your trans fats levels. When it stubbornly resists detaching from a spoon, even under hot water, don’t think about the dark of your arteries. When it leaves a translucent greasy residue not unlike vaseline, don’t think about what veins truck to your heart. On the bright side, it’s vegetarian and according to Industrial Revolution era ads pure as light.

And she describes fans of various pies in the form of a witty fantasy zodiac:

Contrary to popular opinion, pumpkin pie lovers are adventurous, quizzical, good in bed and voluminously communicative. No need to ask a pumpkin pie lover if he’ll call ahead for reservations. He’ll arrive at the restaurant early, order a drink and have the waitstaff in his fan club before you get off work. By the time you arrive he might even have the hostess’s number.

More than two dozen illustrations by artist Jessica Lynn Bonin add a warm, homey counterpoint Lebo’s modern writing style.

Bonin is an illustrator and mixed-media artist whose work adds a fresh twist to familiar images of American culture. Her murals are displayed in New York, Oregon and Washington state. She lives and works in a former hardware store and lumberyard in Edison, Washington.

Yes, you will find recipes and practical pie-making tips in A Commonplace Book of Pie. But perhaps more important, you’ll get a sense of the spirit of pie—and of the people who make and love it.