cookbooks

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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My Kitchen: Real Food From Near and Far, Stevie Parle

March 19, 2011
Stevie Parle's My Kitchen: Real Food From Near and Far

“The truly delicious things are not always those that cost a fortune, but those that have been passed from generation to generation; you can taste their integrity.” Stevie Parle’s book My Kitchen: Real Food from Near and Far isn’t constrained by geography.  This isn’t a collection of recipes with a defined focus on a particular [...]

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Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food

January 5, 2011
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I was leafing through a few cookbooks this morning when I stumbled across my copy of Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food. What struck me about it were the number of scraps of paper sticking out of the top, each bookmarking something I wanted to cook. Little scraps of paper jammed between pages is [...]

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Momofuku, by David Chang and Peter Meehan

December 8, 2010
A review of David Chang's brilliant cookbook, Momofuku

There are things we say in the kitchen, a codified lexicon, that explain some of the kitchen mentality at Ko. “Make it soigne” means make it right and make it perfect. It’s something you hear a lot in traditional French kitchens.  No mistakes, no misunderstandings. Make it the best. Do not fuck it up. It’s [...]

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Thai Street Food, by David Thompson

November 11, 2010
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When you think about the types of food that have strong associations with a particular place or country, what do you think of?  British fish and chips, maybe, or American hotdogs? What about French crepes or Belgian waffles, Spanish churros or an Italian espresso? There’s a subtle theme here…these are all fast foods, street foods, [...]

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Leon Book 2 – Naturally Fast Food by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent

October 14, 2010
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Leon is a small chain of London restaurants with an unusual approach to a sensible goal. They believe that  “food should taste good and do you good. And that everyone should be able to enjoy it”, which is a noble belief that underpins many a restaurant venture.  How have they done it?  In their own [...]

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Bill’s Basics – Bill Granger

October 2, 2010
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Bill Granger has a particularly attractive way with food. His new book is a collection of unfussy, stripped down classics, aimed at providing a comprehensive guide to cooking some of Granger’s best dishes at home. Granger’s food is hard to describe properly.  It’s homely and comfortable, but the influence of the Sydney restaurant scene screams [...]

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Hix Oyster & Chop House, Mark Hix

August 25, 2010
A review of Mark Hix's HIX Oyster and Chop House cookbook

Mark Hix runs a clutch of restaurants in London and another one in the coastal town of Lyme Regis in Dorset. With his food, Hix wanted to rekindle the old London chop houses – restaurants that flourished during the 1800s that were ‘civilised places to eat big chunks of meat.’ A constant theme on Hix’s [...]

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