Books

Sicily, by the Silver Spoon Kitchen

March 31, 2013
Sicily, by the Silver Spoon Kitchen

Sicily is one of the most interesting parts of Italy, not least from a culinary position. The island’s position as the biggest in the Mediterranean, the ball to Italy’s boot, means that it’s endured attack and invasion from all sides, each successive wave of occupation leaving another layer on the island’s cuisine. The effect has [...]

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Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes, by Jennifer McLagan

July 23, 2012
Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan

The last book I read by Jennifer McLagan was about offal and other often overlooked cuts of meat. This book, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes,an earlier volume, is about little more than fat, the stuff that we’re not really supposed to eat too much of, but which plays a huge part [...]

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North African Cookery, Arto Der Haroutunian

June 28, 2012
North African Cookery, Arto Der Haroutunian

The first thing that struck me about this book, covering the food of North Africa, was its complete lack of pictures. Apart from the odd very instructive illustration here and there, there are no pictures at all, no photos of celebrity chefs mugging for the camera, no artfully arranged plates of food, no soft focus [...]

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Everybody, Everyday, by Alex Mackay

May 21, 2012
Everybody, Everyday by Alex Mackay

Interesting little book, this. Alex Mackay’s Everybody, Everyday is the latest in what seems like a very, very long line of cookbooks aimed at helping people feel more confident in the kitchen, and cook better food more easily asa  consequence. There’s nothing wrong with that, and many of these books have some excellent ideas that [...]

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Recipes from the Spanish Kitchen, Nicholas Butcher

May 2, 2012
Recipes from a Spanish Kitchen by Nicholas Butcher - a reprint of the 1990 classic cookbook, detailing the food of Spain.

This book feels like a rediscovered treasure found once again at the back of a dark attic, loved but forgotten.  Dusted down and spruced up, it suddenly fits again, makes sense again.  You wonder why it was cast aside in the first place, wonder why people stopped loving it. Recipes From the Spanish Kitchen was [...]

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Herbs, by Nikki Duffy – River Cottage Handbook, number ten

March 1, 2012
Herbs by Nikki Duffy River Cottage Handbook

Years ago, I used to live in a little flat on the side of a big house.  It had a long set of stone stairs leading up to the front door, and the top of the stairs caught the sun for a good few hours a day, even in winter.  One of the first things [...]

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Leon: Baking & Puddings, Claire Ptak & Henry Dimbleby

January 7, 2012
Leon 3: Baking & Puddings

Leon is a fast food chain with a difference.  Firstly, the food is quite good, and secondly, it’s prepared on the basis that it should taste good and do you good at the same time. This, Leon: Baking & Puddings, the restaurant’s third cookbook, stretches that last point to the maximum. There are recipes in [...]

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Tasting India, by Christine Manfield

December 6, 2011
Christine Manfield's Tasting India

There was a piece in The Guardian this weekend that tried to divide cookbooks into two clear categories – ‘lifestyle’ books and ‘instructional’ books. Most of the celeb chef fodder falls clearly into the ‘lifestyle’ category, along with many more serious books, such as Jennifer McLagan’s book about offal.  I wrote about that one the other [...]

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