Archive For November 2008
If you haven’t spent much time in the USA you might not instantly recognise the name Alice Waters. She is held in the same regard as the late and magnificent Julia Child and is a woman that even the iconic Martha Stewart bows to on all things culinary. Alice is as popular as our Delia…
This is a collection of the food writing of the late and great Michael Bateman who has been recognised as the first of the modern investigative food journalists. Michael started writing in the 1960s when food wasn’t the trendy subject it is today. There was little interest in the media apart from the occasional fright…
The history of pepper, and there’s 3000 years of it, is as romantic and bloody as any work of fiction. Pepper has been used in medicine, in embalming when the medicine didn’t work, as currency, and as a status symbol. It’s one of the few spices that has continually graced the British cruet since cruets…
Sounds like a recipe book from an old Arizona ranch. The Branded Cookbook is, in fact, a colourful, slightly retro, periodically Andy Warholish cookbook which concentrates on famous and iconic foods. It’s utterly unique, quirky, well designed and full of delicious and surprising ideas. The authors Nick Sandler and Johnny Acton have an amazing breadth…
Janet Mendel is an American-born journalist and food writer who has penned several other books about the food of Spain. My Kitchen in Spain was winner of the Andre Simon Award and was short-listed for the Glenfiddich Food Book of the Year award. I have already reviewed Traditional Spanish Cooking, Janet’s other book. Cooking from…
Ester Davies had penned a Student Cookbook that will honestly help those recently-fledged young people. Why? Because they will read this book. It’s no good handing out copies of your favourite glossy, cheffy recipe book, or Xeroxed sheets of instructions for how to make your grannie’s foie gras-stuffed quail. Students (and this book works well…
I spend much of my life reading and reviewing cookbooks and indeed anything relating to food. I truly appreciate the hard work and passion that results in a published volume, but Spice Market is exceptional. It’s big, sumptuous, colourful and rich, and a book that I find myself dipping into for no particular reason other…
This is the second book by Gino D’Acampo. His first, Fantastico, won the Gourmand Cookbook Award for the Best Italian Cookbook in the World. It’s safe to say that the lad described as the Italian Stallion by UKTV Food’s irreplaceable Jeni Barnett has a good idea about what makes a popular cookbook. Buonissimo is the…
This is another amazing book from John Wiley publishers. They might not be the most celebrated of cookbook publishers but the food-related books that they present are some of the best around, and Sauces is included in that list. You know that any book, cookery or otherwise, that reaches its third edition has got to…
“ … People who know Deh-ta say that he is one terrific chef, a chap who makes spectacular banquets, and one outstanding culinary host… If you do not already know this prolific author’s publications, you must! You need to try his recipes and learn from him. You will not be disappointed…” (The Institute for the…
And now, dear reader, for something completely different! This is all about cooking method, or I could more reasonably say it’s about making the most delicious food using a particular cooking method. The clue is in the title: Miss Vickie’s Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes. The Pressure Cooker element is self-explanatory, but who is…
Even the title of this book fills you with a warm feeling of comfort. Good Old-Fashioned Jams, Preserves and Chutneys is an old-fashioned and charming cookbook with text in sepia tones and photography by Tara Fisher. Clearly-written recipes and a bit of history with many of them is a nice touch in a National Trust…
You know, dear reader, that I’ll write about anything to do with food and kitchens. Well, this book, Moveable Feasts – What to Eat and How to Cook it in the Great Outdoors, supplies lots of information on food but not much on kitchens. It’s about campsite cooking and would be an ideal companion for…
Who wouldn’t love little dishes of delectable morsels? That’s the charm of tapas, lots of different tastes and textures. Tapas, the book that is, has pictures by one of my favourite food photographers. Any book that Gus Filgate is associated with is bound to be stunning. Tapas is the flagship book of the celebrated restaurant…
You might not recognise the name Paula McIntyre but she is, in fact, one of Northern Ireland’s top chefs. Paula trained at the Johnson and Wales Culinary Arts School in the USA before opening the award-winning Undrie restaurant in Manchester. She now gives private and corporate cooking lessons at Ghan House, Carlingford in Northern Ireland….
Sam Stern is a young but already experienced cookbook author. When I say “young” I mean YOUNG! He is still a teenager but has the handsome fresh face of a ten-year-old. However, read his book and you realise that the lad should be considered an author first, and one with a remarkable future. Perhaps student…
Julie Rugg and Lynda Murphy are the compilers of this enthralling collection of food-related literary extracts. A Food Lover’s Treasury is a book about the food that’s in books. Well, if we are lucky, we eat three times each day and food is a subject guaranteed to elicit some kind of comment or emotion from…
This book is stuffed with the best looking people around. The author, Bulbul Mankani, introduces us to the glamorous world of the Indian film industry and it has a dreamlike quality. These actors and actresses are almost too good to be true and if you believe that they eat these wonderful dishes every day then…
Granted, this isn’t a cuisine that the majority of the British public will be familiar with but this should, on analysis, be one of the next big Asian food trends. It offers all the elements we need to feel that we have had a thoroughly exotic but not outlandish dining experience. It has the hint…
This is a classy large-format volume by Jane Price. It’s one of the Kitchen Classics series from Murdoch Books and if this isn’t a classic yet it soon will be. The photography by Jared Fowler is first-rate and helps to give the book a sumptuous feel. We all want or need to throw a party…