My Cookbook

My new national bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, is published by Penguin Random House/DK. It’s available today from your local bookstore and online retailers.

Order Your Copy Today!

New: Learn about The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum, a free educational companion to my new cookbook. (It’s over 250 pages!)

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Picture of the Modern Pioneer Cookbok as a Best Seller

What is The Modern Pioneer Cookbook?

The Modern Pioneer Cookbook is Mary Bryant Shrader’s national bestselling cookbook.

Cooking traditional foods from scratch is easier and less expensive than you might think. In simpler times, people cooked from scratch using seasonal ingredients and traditional techniques like canning, fermenting, and drying to preserve the harvest. Mary Bryant Shrader follows these principles to create delicious, nutrient-dense meals that are affordable, budget-friendly, and additive-free.

Now you can learn why so many people are big fans of the Mary’s Nest website and YouTube channel. In The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, Mary shows you how to master the basics of pioneer cooking to make over 85 delicious recipes that are all simple and incredibly nourishing.

Here’s what you’ll find inside:

  • Over 85 traditional, from-scratch recipes for bone broths, cultured dairy, ferments, home-baked breads, including sourdough and baking with ancient grains, as well as recipes for chicken, meats, fish, vegetables, desserts, and much more.
  • Beautiful photography, including detailed pictures that will help you learn traditional cooking techniques.
  • Detailed instructions and cooking guidance that will help readers of all abilities cook like a pioneer, using traditional techniques.
  • Tips for sourcing ingredients and stocking and equipping your own traditional foods kitchen.

Seasonal ingredients, traditional techniques, and nourishing recipes

Discover for yourself how you can use simple ingredients and traditional techniques to cook the modern pioneer way.

Lake Travis Reads The Modern Pioneer Cookbook sign

Get a Signed Copy of The Modern Pioneer Cookbook

I hope that a signed copy of my cookbook will bring a smile to your sweet family and friends for this Christmas season, birthday celebrations, or any special occasion!

If you live in Texas, you can get signed copies of my cookbook in the following cities:

  • Austin: Almost all the Barnes and Noble locations have signed copies. As of November 25, 2023, you can find signed copies at the Sunset Valley and Bee Cave locations. You can also get signed copies at the Vintage Bookstore.
  • San Antonio: Almost all the Barnes and Noble locations have signed copies. As of October 11, 2023, you can find signed copies at The Shops at La Cantera and the Northwoods Shopping Center.
  • Dallas: A few of the Barnes and Noble locations have signed copies. As of November 14, 2023, you can find signed copies at the Prestonwood and South Lake locations.

If you don’t live in Texas, you can get a signed bookplate from TalkShopLive.

Get a Signed Bookplate

If you want a copy of my book with a signed bookplate, you can order my cookbook from TalkShopLive.

I had LIVE event with TalkShopLive on Monday, July 10, 2023. You can watch the replay of my TalkShopLive event, where I demonstrated how to make a recipe from the book and took questions from viewers.

Please Leave a Book Review

Can you help me keep the momentum going and also introduce others to traditional recipes and techniques?

If you can please take a few moments to leave a review of my book on the website where you purchased my book, such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Walmart, etc., I would so appreciate it! Your five-star review will give my book a boost and encourage booksellers to recommend my book to other readers and home cooks.

You can also leave reviews on social book sites, such as Goodreads.

Your five-star review of my book will help promote traditional foods and techniques to others who may not have experience with what we already know and enjoy about bone broths, cultured dairy, ferments, sourdough, and more! 

The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum

NEW: Get The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum, an educational companion to my new cookbook. This free curriculum provides comprehensive lesson plans to teach traditional food recipes and kitchen techniques to students K-12. This curriculum is over 250 pages!

The Modern Pioneer Cookbook Curriculum is a free, comprehensive educational companion to The Modern Pioneer Cookbook. Each lesson features a different recipe from the cookbook, as well as discussion questions, engaging activities, and cross-curricular connections to math, science, history, and more.

Children and adults of all ages will enjoy digging deeper into the topics of The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, becoming experts in traditional cooking methods and their health benefits.

The best part? Tasting all the delicious foods and beverages you will make!

About the Author

Mary Bryant Shrader

Mary's Nest with Beef Bone Broth Jar

Mary Bryant Shrader is the bestselling author of The Modern Pioneer Cookbook and a self-described “former New York City girl” who discovered the simple life with her husband in the Texas hill country. She’s a modern pioneer in the kitchen who has spent the last twenty years teaching friends and fans alike how to make nourishing recipes using traditional methods and whole, seasonal ingredients. Her mission is to teach her followers how to make nutrient-rich meals using traditional “pioneer” techniques like fermenting, canning, and drying.

On her Mary’s Nest YouTube channel and website, she provides detailed instructions for teaching traditional cooking techniques, such as making bone broth, sourdough bread, cultured dairy, rendering animal fats, and soaking and sprouting grains. Fans of Mary’s have come to love her encouraging, helpful demeanor and her familiar way of greeting every viewer with her “Hello, Sweet Friends!” salutation.

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