In-depth cookery book reviews.
Herb: A Cook’s Companion by Mark Diacono is not a standard cookbook. Best described as a marvellous marriage of two genres – gardening advice and how to enjoy herbs in your cooking – Herb is divided between salient advice on growing your own herbs (and handling store bought), and a selection of recipes that show ... Read more »
Alan Rosenthal is a chef, food writer and cookery teacher who has been cooking stews and one-pot meals at farmers’ markets across London since 2008. Foolproof One-Pot is Rosenthal’s third book following the success of “Stewed!” and “Ultimate One-Pot Dishes”. The book contains ‘60 simple and satisfying recipes’ that can all be cooked in a ... Read more »
The Levant is a region long known for the largesse of its hospitality. In The Lebanese Cookbook, Ghillie Başan explores the foods and traditions of a swathe of the Fertile Crescent that takes in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Başan spent many years living and working in the Middle East (as well as Europe, North ... Read more »
We’re brought up in the Western world with very definitive views on what comprises “comfort” and “easy” in food terms. A slice of bread slathered in butter, a biscuit with a cuppa, a slice of cake, a takeaway pizza loaded with anchovies and pineapple (yeah, sorry not sorry), a hot, crisp sugared doughnut from the ... Read more »
“With this book, I hope to build a bridge between Syrian culture and the rest of the world with food as common denominator. But even more, I hope that Sumac will present a positive image of my country, in spite of all of the unfortunate events now taking place in Syria.” So says author Anas ... Read more »
I have long had an interest in Sri Lankan cuisine. As a child, some family friends who had emigrated to the UK from Ceylon (as it was then) cooked Sri Lankan food for us when we visited them, as my mum cooked the food of her region of North India, when friends visited us. I’ve ... Read more »
Kwoklyn Wan grew up working in his Dad’s Cantonese restaurant with his brother Gok and has been in the food industry ever since. He has an impressive career history that includes running a Martial Arts School, and a clear passion for Chinese cookery. Following the success of his previous books The Chinese Takeaway Cookbook and ... Read more »
Mely Martínez describes this book as traditional home-style recipes that capture the flavours and memories of Mexico, and the delicately punchy red and gold frontispiece and cover do give that feel. The author starts with a warm and engaging introduction to herself, her life and her love of food, explaining how The Mexican Home Kitchen ... Read more »
I recently posted a review of The Whole Chicken, a book focused on chicken recipes, written by the founder of successful chicken wing restaurants. Today, I’m sharing Wings and Things by Ben Ford and David Turofsky, also published in 2020 and also from the founders of successful chicken wing restaurants, Wingmans. In a nutshell, this ... Read more »
Subtitled ‘Show The Dough Who’s Boss’, Crumb by Richard Bertinet is the distillation of over 30 years spent as a baker, pastry chef and expert consultant for restaurants and food businesses. Hailing from Breton in France, Bertinet now lives in Bath where he runs his cookery school, The Bertinet Kitchen. There he teaches hundreds of ... Read more »
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]