One of Australia’s most acclaimed chefs, Karen Martini has spent a lifetime cooking, eating and inspiring generations of home cooks and avid eaters. Her new milestone cookbook, COOK, is an essential collection of more than 1000 clever recipes, from old favourites to brilliant new dishes, celebrating quality ingredients and vibrant flavours with a uniquely Australian perspective.

Each recipe in COOK is packed with this hard-won wisdom from Karen’s Tunisian-Italian heritage and inspiring career. It’s a deeply personal book that houses her favourite recipes, some learnt from her family, some that have been inspired by meals made for her, both professional and homely, some that have featured on her restaurant menus over the years, and plenty of classics. COOK is a modern classic compendium of the best recipes from the simple to the elaborate, roaming broadly and for all skill levels and occasions it will delight experienced home cooks and help newcomers gain confidence. It really is the only cookbook you need in the kitchen.

‘I have been a great fan of Karen Martini for years. Her recipes are so delightfully cookable – precisely what I want to serve to guests at home – and her personality radiates through the pages of her books. COOK zooms into Karen’s world, with a deep and always delicious look into ingredients, dishes and meals. Go get it!’ – YOTAM OTTOLENGHI

‘This is a jaw-dropper, door-stopper of a book, a magnificent magnum opus that’s as generous and abundant as the way Karen cooks.’ – ALICE ZASLAVSKY

‘A quintessential guide to cookery that encompasses cultural diversity, family values and knife-point professionalism – in short, all the things that make Karen who she is. Essential to anyone from the home cook to the most professional.’ – GUY GROSSI

It’s no overstatement to say that Karen Martini is one of Australia’s most beloved chefs and food communicators – someone who taught a generation about bold, simple, joyful flavours, and someone who reached a broad and loyal audience through television, books, newspapers and her own Melbourne restaurants.

Karen’s food message is drawn from her long professional cooking career, her Tunisian‑Italian heritage and from the challenges of feeding nutritious and stimulating food to her young family. Her acclaimed career includes two-hatted stints as executive chef and owner at Melbourne Wine Room and as founding executive chef at Sydney’s Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, as well as her own ventures with partner Michael Sapountsis – St Kilda pizzeria mr. wolf and the ambitious Hero, in Melbourne’s iconic ACMI building, where she is a founding partner and creative food director.