In-depth cookery book reviews.

Stew! Lamb Shanks with Red Wine and Balsamic Vinegar

New cook books are great. New cookbooks I won by following the author on twitter are even better! I was delighted to win a copy of Stew! by Genevieve Taylor. I’m a huge fan of a good stew; hearty and comforting, full of warmth and good flavours and often made from inexpensive ingredients. Genevieve Taylor feels ... Read more »

Valentine Warner’s Carne Con Chile

Although I like Valentine Warner’s approach to food and cooking, I have mixed feelings about his telly programmes, mostly stemming from his incessant winking and innuendos (which might be charming in person but don’t translate to TV). I actually had to switch off when he referred to mini lavender meringues as “fairy tits”, though friends would ... Read more »

Banana & Cardamom Ice Cream from Scandilicious

It would be easy to dismiss my friend Sig’s new book as jumping on the Scandi band wagon, but it’d be completely wrong to do so. Since June 2008 Sig has been sharing the joy’s of Scandinavian cooking via her blog, Scandilicious. Describing her heritage as Scandinavian-English-American-Irish-German-Jewish-Lithuanian (and born to a Norwegian father and English-American ... Read more »

Jolly Olly’s Chicken Veronique

Olly Smith is well known as a wine writer and presenter, respected for helping the nation to find and appreciate good wine. But he’s also a keen food lover and has written his own cookery book Eat and Drink full of his favourite recipes, with an emphasis on food that’s great to drink with. The ... Read more »

Twelve I have, Eighteen I want: Confessions of a Food Book Addict

Long lists of ingredients – some familiar, some exotic; instructions on how to transform them into delicious treats; vivid and tantalising photographs and even an insight into other cultures and cuisines… I love cookery books! I kinda, sorta agreed, about a year or two back, to a moratorium on the purchase of new cookery books. ... Read more »

Micah’s Chocolate Meringue Pie

Chocolate Meringue Pie

Since it was published in 2002, Unwrapped: Green & Black’s Chocolate Recipes has sold more than half a million copies. Its recipes for chocolate coffee and walnut cake, chocolate truffles, chocolate pecan pie, chocolate salted caramel tart, white chocolate cardamom mousse, chocolate flapjacks, chocolate ginger cake, chocolate brownies (is the word “chocolate becoming redundant yet?) ... Read more »

Angela Nilsen’s Ultimate Quiche Lorraine

The Ultimate Quiche Lorraine

In February 2007 I chanced upon a marvellous cookbook: The Ultimate Recipe Book by Angela Nilsen. It had just been published, so I’m not sure how (or where) I came across it so soon, in the days before my compulsive food blogging. But I was instantly taken with Nilsen’s approach of selecting 50 classic dishes ... Read more »