Cook Like a Grandma

Cook like a Grandma takes a new approach to recipe design — first laying out the basics required for general braising, pastas, soup, salad, and omelettes. Recipe instruction comes to life in embedded videos, where restaurateur Maria Flawia Litwin invites you into her kitchen to witness succinct how-to for each category. 

Chapters on managing old bread, learning to love cabbage, and crusts for rustic tarts expose the internal logic of a kitchen. After establishing the basics, Maria shares her finest recipes. Cook like a Grandma reaches beyond your average recipe-book with chapters on smart kitchen cleaning as well as savvy shop, stock, and ingredient rotation.

Maria Flawia Litwin is a visual artist and the co-owner of popular Toronto restaurant La Palette. The beauty in Maria’s preparation stems from spending her formative years around international cuisines — from Poland to Australia to France and finally Canada. Her years as a restauranteur become evident in her relatable and sustainable cooking advice.

“Cook like a Grandma is like a gym membership,” Maria says. “It gives you the tools to enhance your skills, but you’re not going to get a six-pack right away.”

Maria’s kitchen style is thrifty, recombining what’s already stocked in the fridge and pantry. Her menu creation tips often encourage reliance on local, in-season ingredients. With curiosity, common sense, and trial-by-error, Maria shirks most measurements and guides her readers towards ages-old kitchen know-how. You'll find food prep, pantry-stocking, and meal designs for all diets in Cook like a Grandma.