What's your favourite book about food, drink & cooking ?
Discussion
What's your favourite book about food, drink & cooking ?
I'm not really thinking about recipe books but they could be. I'm thinking rather of books that inspire you to cook, or just make you want to eat. Also biograpies of famous foodies.
My choices:
Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential. Revelatory, educational (don't eat fish in a restuarant on a monday), hilarious. It was so good I read it in two sittings in one day - i stopped in the middle to eat.
Nigel Slater - Appetite. Unpretentious and straightforward but the descriptions of dishes are so tempting you don't know whether to keep reading or get in the kitchen
Keith Floyd - Out of the Frying Pan. Not a great businessman but a man with a real passion for serving authentic delicious food and the story of a life lived to the full.
I'm not really thinking about recipe books but they could be. I'm thinking rather of books that inspire you to cook, or just make you want to eat. Also biograpies of famous foodies.
My choices:
Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential. Revelatory, educational (don't eat fish in a restuarant on a monday), hilarious. It was so good I read it in two sittings in one day - i stopped in the middle to eat.
Nigel Slater - Appetite. Unpretentious and straightforward but the descriptions of dishes are so tempting you don't know whether to keep reading or get in the kitchen
Keith Floyd - Out of the Frying Pan. Not a great businessman but a man with a real passion for serving authentic delicious food and the story of a life lived to the full.
Radiation New world Cookery book. Circa 1965. The company used to give one of these with every cooker sold. First published in the 30's..last edition some time in the 70's (I think). This book is falling apart from use.
Other than that...Larousse Gastronomique (handy for terms and solid practise) No celebrities aside Keith Floyd.
Other than that...Larousse Gastronomique (handy for terms and solid practise) No celebrities aside Keith Floyd.
A couple:
'Kenny's Cajun Creole Cookbook' - long out of print but worth tracking down on Amazon for a repository of the classic Cajun dishes.
Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable book' - there isn't anything she doesn't have a recipe for. Of all the cookbooks I own (lots), this has encouraged me to be the most adventurous.
The 'Culinaria' series. (Lots of these.) I have 'European Specialities' (two volumes), plus Culinaria 'France', 'Spain' and 'Italy'. These are the perfect armchair travelogue to the regional specialities of the countries concerned. I'd consider myself fairly knowledgeable about food, but there are lots of things in these books I'd never heard of.
'Kenny's Cajun Creole Cookbook' - long out of print but worth tracking down on Amazon for a repository of the classic Cajun dishes.
Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable book' - there isn't anything she doesn't have a recipe for. Of all the cookbooks I own (lots), this has encouraged me to be the most adventurous.
The 'Culinaria' series. (Lots of these.) I have 'European Specialities' (two volumes), plus Culinaria 'France', 'Spain' and 'Italy'. These are the perfect armchair travelogue to the regional specialities of the countries concerned. I'd consider myself fairly knowledgeable about food, but there are lots of things in these books I'd never heard of.
Mobile Chicane said:
Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable book' - there isn't anything she doesn't have a recipe for. Of all the cookbooks I own (lots), this has encouraged me to be the most adventurous.
really? I binned this as the most soul-crushingly dull and flavourless cookbook known to man. The woman appears to have a total aversion to herbs, spices, or anything more piquant than babyfood!Wadeski said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable book' - there isn't anything she doesn't have a recipe for. Of all the cookbooks I own (lots), this has encouraged me to be the most adventurous.
really? I binned this as the most soul-crushingly dull and flavourless cookbook known to man. The woman appears to have a total aversion to herbs, spices, or anything more piquant than babyfood!However the secret lies in finding vegetables in season at optimum freshness so their flavours can speak for themselves.
This is a book I always take on holiday to France for example. It is nigh on useless in England unless you have a vegetable garden and a good hot summer.
Mobile Chicane said:
Wadeski said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable book' - there isn't anything she doesn't have a recipe for. Of all the cookbooks I own (lots), this has encouraged me to be the most adventurous.
really? I binned this as the most soul-crushingly dull and flavourless cookbook known to man. The woman appears to have a total aversion to herbs, spices, or anything more piquant than babyfood!However the secret lies in finding vegetables in season at optimum freshness so their flavours can speak for themselves.
This is a book I always take on holiday to France for example. It is nigh on useless in England unless you have a vegetable garden and a good hot summer.
Wadeski said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Wadeski said:
Mobile Chicane said:
Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable book' - there isn't anything she doesn't have a recipe for. Of all the cookbooks I own (lots), this has encouraged me to be the most adventurous.
really? I binned this as the most soul-crushingly dull and flavourless cookbook known to man. The woman appears to have a total aversion to herbs, spices, or anything more piquant than babyfood!However the secret lies in finding vegetables in season at optimum freshness so their flavours can speak for themselves.
This is a book I always take on holiday to France for example. It is nigh on useless in England unless you have a vegetable garden and a good hot summer.
I'd previously seen things like baby artichokes, cardoons, samphire, salsify etc for sale at home and abroad but never bought them because I didn't know what to do with them.
Recipes are simple and allow the inherent flavours of the vegetables to come to the fore. It isn't a vegetarian cookbook and doesn't pretend to be one.
In a similar style to Kitchen Confidential, I just finished "Doing without Delia" by Michael Booth. Travel writer quits job, burns all his celebrity cook books, enrols at the Cordon Bleu and moves family to Paris for a year.
Very good read, quite inspirational, and a good reminder why, despite the occasional day-dream, I never want to cook professionally.
Very good read, quite inspirational, and a good reminder why, despite the occasional day-dream, I never want to cook professionally.
Oh, and with regards to food writing. Peter Mayle is excellent.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bon-Appetit-Travels-Throug...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bon-Appetit-Travels-Throug...
I bought the Mrs this for Christmas:
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/675793/The-Silv...
One of the best carbonara I've ever had, none of this creamy nonsense.
http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/675793/The-Silv...
One of the best carbonara I've ever had, none of this creamy nonsense.
Mobile Chicane said:
Yes, really.
The beauty of Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable Book' (hence my reason for choosing it) is that there isn't a vegetable she doesn't have a recipe for.
I'd previously seen things like baby artichokes, cardoons, samphire, salsify etc for sale at home and abroad but never bought them because I didn't know what to do with them.
Recipes are simple and allow the inherent flavours of the vegetables to come to the fore. It isn't a vegetarian cookbook and doesn't pretend to be one.
There is no recipe on the planet which makes cardoons worth eatingThe beauty of Jane Grigson's 'Vegetable Book' (hence my reason for choosing it) is that there isn't a vegetable she doesn't have a recipe for.
I'd previously seen things like baby artichokes, cardoons, samphire, salsify etc for sale at home and abroad but never bought them because I didn't know what to do with them.
Recipes are simple and allow the inherent flavours of the vegetables to come to the fore. It isn't a vegetarian cookbook and doesn't pretend to be one.
Edited by tontoro on Monday 19th July 15:09
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