The modern larder

James Beard Award nominee McKenzie (Dandelion & Quince) offers an eye-opening and highly practical guide for building and utilizing a well-stocked larder with recipes "meant to free you from monotony." Larders, otherwise known as pantries, are traditionally used as kitchen storage, but for McKenzie, hers allows her to maximize efficiency with minimal effort. Asserting that "one ingredient can change the nature of a dish, elevating it from flat to transcendent," she presents readers with useful tips for amping up meals using what is already on the shelf. The first half focuses on a multitude of ingredients, including go-tos such as capers and sea salt, and some less familiar, including banyuls vinegar, Job's tears (a grain that "looks a bit like a fat, ivory teardrop"), and 'nduja (a spreadable salumi). In addition to describing the flavor, best types, and ways to utilize each, she provides accompanying recipes. The dishes are as diverse as the ingredients list and include crispy chickpea fritters, skillet-charred beans, and a hearty cauliflower and radicchio salad with fried pine nuts, barberries, and sumac. Enticing and informative, this collection will broaden palates and repertoires, as well as offer home cooks new ingredients and tasty ways to bring them to the table. Agent: Danielle Svetcov, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary. (Sept.)