J. Kenji López-Alt Books In Order

Publication Order of Cookbooks

Publication Order of Children's Books

Publication Order of Collections

J Kenji Lopez-Alt is one of the most popular cookbook authors, culinary consultant and one of the most powerful culinary influencers in the United States. Kenji at one time worked for “Serious Eats” as a culinary director and is still a consultant on their recipes.

He is also a columnist for the New York Times, a bestselling author of “The Food Lab Cookbook” and a children’s picture book. Lopez-Alt started working with Chefs Ken Oringer and Barbara Lynch in Boston in addition to several other restaurants where he honed his skills.

He would also work at “Cook’s Illustrated” magazine before he found work at “Serious Eats” in 2009 and was tasked with developing their recipe program.
Feeling constricted, he opened the family friendly Wursthall eatery in San Mateo California. His fame only grew from there and since 2019 he has been a regular columnist for the “New York Times” and has made guest appearances on cooking programs online and onTV.
In 2020, he started the YouTube Channel “Kenji’s Cooking Show,” which has grown to be a very popular cooking channel.

Unlike many chefs and food connoisseurs, J Kenji Lopez-Alt was not a food lover and in fact accidentally became a chef. He had spent several summers in college and high school working in biology labs given that he was working on his biology degree at the time.

He was so bored with academic work that he decided to take a few months off during the summer after he was done with his coursework at MIT. He started looking for a waiting job and since it was summer, he could not find any as there were too many people looking.

By chance one restaurant was looking for a starting cook and he was right into the fire on day one and found that he loved it. From there, he learned everything he now knows working as prep cook for several restaurants as he worked his way up to better gigs, working 14 hour shifts six days a week. Kenji would also spend a lot of time volunteering at restaurants to get experience.

Given how many hours he worked, he for the most part made minimum wage which was alright as he did not really have the time to spend any of the money he earned.

J Kenji Lopez-Alt has always been asked questions about his peculiar name. The son of Japanese parents, he was named James Kenji Alt at birth but combined his name with that of Adriana Lopez, his wife when they got married.

In 2015, Kenji published “New York Times” bestselling cookbook “The Food Lab” which the Institute of American Culinary Professionals named Book of the Year. It would also win the best book on American cookery James Beard Award.

In 2020, he collaborated with Giuanna Ruggiero an illustrator to write “Every Night is Pizza Night” a children’s book that would also go on to become a best selling title on the “New York Times” bestseller list.

“The Food Lab” by J Kenji Lopez-Alt shows you how to pan fry a steak with a perfect medium rare interior from edge to edge and a charred crust if that is what you have always wanted to do.

Want to roast a moist and succulent turkey without brining, you got it; What about a homemade mac n’ cheese that is as velvety smooth and satisfyingly gooey as the take out stuff, Kenji will show you how.

As the nerd in residence for “Serious Eats” Kenji Lopez-Alt has worked out the answers to all your ponderings and more. In this work, he focuses on showing the science behind your favorite dishes as he explores the interaction between molecules, energy and heat that results in great food.

Kenji shows that most of the time traditional cooking methods are ineffective and to ensure that you always get the best results it is better to use new but simple scientific techniques. He pens hundreds of simple easy to do recipes that come with more than a 100 images of the ingredients and the finished product.
With this as a guide, you can make your perfect Hollandaise every time and transform the lowly tomato sauce into more than six dishes. He shows you how to make the creamiest and crispiest potato casserole in simple ways that will have your taste buds always asking for more.

J Kenji Lopez- Alt’s “Every Night is Pizza Night” is a children’s picture book about a young scientist named Pipo. Since she loves pizza so much, she has done tons of experiments to show that there is no better meal than pizza. She has been known to make it every night and has ignored her parents’ pleas to try something different.

Mr. Gonzalez, the local neighborhood grocer now knows what she needs by heart. In the meantime, Pipo has been traversing the diverse neighborhood as a scientist collecting data on pizza. But then she tastes an old family recipe of bibimbap made by Eugene, her neighbor and has an interesting reaction.
She decides to try out several other dishes including dumplings, tagine, rice and red beans. Mr. Gonzalez is known for having tried everything in the neighborhood and he tells her that there are other great foods she needs to try. But as a scientist, she has to put everything to a scientific test to accept such a theory.

Coming with lively and colorful illustrations, the work brings out the spunky personality of the lead. It also includes some funky pizza recipes that will be a great addition to any that one might have. It is a book that can be used to teach about cultural foods, the scientific method, neighborhoods and communities.

“The Best American Food Writing” by J Kenji Lopez-Alt compiles the best American culinary writing of the year. Lopez-Alt combines an engaging set of writing most of which focus on cultural appropriation and the intersection of authenticity, race and food.
Some of the best among the bunch were the grocery design piece by Joe Fassler, the profile of “Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack,” which is known to be responsible for inventing hot chicken by Paige Williams, the profile of chef Tunde Wey by Brett Martin and the examination of the New Coke failure by Tim Murphy.
What would perhaps have made it better is the inclusion of more long form pieces.