Matty Matheson: Home Style Cookery Review: A Bold, Comprehensive Kitchen Bible

Home Style Cookery is Matty Matheson's second cookbook, published by Abrams Books in September 2020. It is designed as a definitive home-cooking guide from the Toronto-based chef, restaurateur, and — as of its paperback life — executive producer and actor on Hulu's Emmy Award-winning series The Bear. Where his debut was, in his own words, his culinary story, this follow-up has a different ambition: as Matheson states directly in the book, "My first book was my culinary story. This book will help you build yours." That mission statement sets the tone for everything that follows — 135 recipes organised to serve the home cook at every level of ambition and every occasion.

The book's structure moves systematically from foundational staples to celebratory centerpieces. Coverage begins with pantry-building recipes — breads, stocks, pickles, and preserves — before expanding outward through dips and fried foods suited for parties, weeknight workhorses like stews, pastas, and salads, and finally special-occasion showstoppers: roasts, smoked meats, and desserts. Cookbookreview.blog notes that at 368 pages, Matheson "has packed a lot in and pretty much delivers a dish for every occasion, drawing on a wide range of global culinary influences in the process."

Home Style Cookery arrived as a follow-up to Matty Matheson: A Cookbook, which was itself a New York Times bestseller. The second volume earned that same designation, confirming Matheson's standing as one of the more commercially successful chef-authors of his generation. Men's Health named it one of the Top 10 cookbooks of 2020, signalling broad appeal well beyond food-media insiders. Cookbookreview.blog positions Matheson as "one of the most exciting and original voices to have emerged on the cookery scene in the last five years or so," calling the first book a must-buy and this one "even better." The site awarded it five stars.

The book's framing — an ode to classic cookbooks, concentrating on foundational recipes — places it consciously in the tradition of the comprehensive, generalist home-cooking manual rather than the niche or technique-specific volume. Its global culinary scope (dumplings, curries, and pies sit alongside Canadian comfort food) positions it as less a regional document than a reflection of how a modern chef actually cooks for family and friends.

Reviewers consistently highlight the book's dual personality: it is both large in scope and grounded in accessibility. Cookbookreview.blog describes it as "both personal and practical, aiming to inspire home cooks with authentic and approachable recipes," and notes that Matheson "pretty much delivers a dish for every occasion." One reviewer described the cookbook as "both daunting in its size and appealing in its scope," adding that it is "well worth reading, especially if you love reading about food and the processes of cooking" — a nod to the narrative dimension Matheson weaves through the recipes. The book is accompanied by photographs of both the dishes and Matheson's farm, which, according to the publisher's description, contribute to its character as a cookbook that is also a window into the chef's life.

The organisation into clear occasion-based chapters — pantry, party, weeknight, special occasion — gives the book practical navigability, a feature that sources suggest suits the home cook looking to build confidence progressively rather than dip in at random.

cookbookreview.blog offers the clearest honest caveat: "it would be wrong to say this is the only cookbook you'll ever need — it doesn't quite have the same scope" as some competing comprehensive volumes. For a buyer seeking exhaustive, encyclopedic coverage of a single cuisine or a single technique, the book's breadth works against its depth. Its 135 recipes, spread across global cuisines and multiple meal occasions, means that some areas receive lighter treatment than a specialist volume would provide.

The book is also calibrated toward "confident home cooks," per cookbookreview.blog's own readership classification. Readers entirely new to cooking may find the ambition of the recipe range — smoked meats and roasts sit alongside everyday pastas — somewhat uneven in terms of assumed skill level. The sheer physical size of the volume (over three pounds, with nearly 370 pages) means this is not a book designed for the cramped kitchen shelf or a quick-reference role.

Home Style Cookery is designed for the home cook who already has some kitchen confidence and wants to expand their range — someone who cooks for family and friends regularly and is ready to move beyond a small repertoire. The publisher frames it explicitly as a guide for cooks who want to "be more creative and ambitious." Its breadth of occasions and cuisines makes it a strong candidate as a household anchor cookbook, particularly for readers who connect with Matheson's personality and his approach to cooking as an act of generosity toward the people he loves. Readers who valued his debut will find this second volume the more practically useful of the two.