Hey, it's Francis.

You know, working in publishing, it's honestly hard to keep up with all the great cookbooks that come out every year, especially in the fall.

And in a few weeks, we're going to have a show about the cookbooks we're excited about this season.

But for now, here's a little reminders on the books we loved last year at this time.

Have a listen.

I'm Frances Lamb, and this is The Splendid Table from APM.

It's apples, it's pumpkins, it's coffees that smell like pie, but I really know it's fall when a new crop of cookbooks comes out. Now, you might know that I'm actually also a

cookbook editor for what I think is a pretty good publishing house.

But that doesn't mean I get mad when I see everyone else's great work.

I love cookbook season, seeing all the new ideas and the great designs coming out every week.

So this episode, we want to get a little bit into some of the even more specialty books we're especially excited about this fall.

We're going to start with what I'm pretty sure is a first of its kind book in English. It's a cookbook on the classics you'll

find in a Chinese bakery. Now, the Chinese bakery is like one of my favorite places on earth,

and by that I mean like any bakery. Pick a Chinese bakery, and it's one of my favorite places on earth.

They are in every Chinatown in the land.

And, you know, they're amazing because they're both a taste of nostalgia for immigrants from southern China,

especially from Hong Kong where my parents are from.

But they're also where a lot of times you will start to see first, like what's trendy over there showing up over here.

And baking, I mean, literally, you know, making breads and cakes in an oven,

didn't really develop in China until European colonialism landed in Hong Kong and Macau.

Then, bakers start to make the classics egg custard tarts, sweet breads, with textures that Chinese people especially love.

They love their breads soft and fluffy and chewy.

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