Archive For The “Cookbooks” Category
Oh, deep joy! It’s summer at last and I think I have found my cookbook of the year …and it’s still only July! Every page offers sunshine in delicious fashion and wafts one off to a tropical paradise. The Island Kitchen: Recipes from Mauritius and the Indian Ocean by Selina Periampillai is a winner. I…
Big Chef Mini Chef – Cooking for Kids with Kids is a book stuffed with joy and inspiration. Yes, the star of the volume is a young lad living with Cystic Fibrosis and this book is raising both funds and awareness, but it’s all about food and fun! This large-format book is inspired by and…
Well, here is a rather interesting cookbook! It has hints of familiar cuisines but Mandalay: Recipes and Tales from a Burmese Kitchen offers a delicious insight into an unfamiliar destination and culinary culture. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar was once known as Burma. It shares borders with India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos and China….
Turkish food has been popular for decades and that love has increased over the past years as more holiday-makers have been heading to those sun-kissed shores. I have heard that those vacations are more popular than ever this year due to the ‘Brexit effect’. Those visitors will likely return with a taste for many dishes…
Tu Casa Mi Casa: Mexican Recipes for the Home Cook is a gorgeous volume of Mexican recipes from the internationally celebrated chef Enrique Olvera. He was featured in the Netflix documentary series, Chef’s Table. This is his first home-cooking book and a very creditable one it is too. Enrique Olvera is a native of Mexico…
Rosa’s was the original name of an empty caff which Saiphin Moore and her husband turned into their first restaurant. Saiphin is Thai and has been cooking professionally since she was just 14 years old. Thailand was where she learnt family recipes from her mum and aunties. She moved to Hong Kong and met Alex…
Busaba presents modern Bangkok dining, with a dozen or so restaurants around Greater London. Having opened its first restaurant on London’s Wardour Street in 1999, the chain has gone from strength to strength – and now we can replicate a few of their dishes at home. Bangkok Thai: The Busaba Cookbook tempts with 100 recipes…
I have just returned from a trip to delicious Thailand. There were curries, refreshing and spiced salads, and noodles aplenty. There were also desserts, and these were, for the most part, made of vegetables. Seems like we in Europe are a bit behind the wave of that particular culinary classification. Vegetable Cakes: The most fun…
I have just returned from Thailand where the flavours and indeed textures of that country’s vibrant cuisine reminded me how much I enjoyed those dishes at home. Well, when I say at home I really mean in Thai restaurants in London, and that includes the famed chain of Rosa’s. Rosa doesn’t sound like a very…
The Mezze Cookbook is a gift-quality volume which reflects how most of us eat… or would like to. There are 135 recipes suitable for the home chef, and they cover the Middle East with its tradition of delicious sharing plates. These recipes are perfect for intimate evenings as well as for larger gatherings, for vegetarians…
Vivek Singh’s Indian Festival Feasts is a vibrant cookbook from one of my favourite Indian chefs, who heads the celebrated and polished Cinnamon Group of restaurants in London and now beyond. Here Vivek presents recipes for celebrations. It is said that in India there is a festival every day of the year. Vivek Singh brings…
Sight Smell Touch Taste Sound: A New Way to Cook, by Sybil Kapoor, is a book that truly does awaken all the senses, and perhaps encourages both the home cook and their lucky diners to appreciate food in a more all-encompassing fashion. How does that song go? ‘New York, New York, So Good They Named…
Chicken is the world’s best-loved meat. When I was a kid, many decades ago, we only had chicken on Sundays as a treat; these days the price is affordable and accessible to all. Chickens are easily bred on small plots of land or in back yards. Yes, it’s a Yardbird. Chicken and Charcoal: Yakitori, Yardbird,…
The Halloumi Cookbook offers more than 60 delicious recipes taking advantage of this rather unique cheese. It’s popular with vegetarians and prized for its high melting point. It can easily be fried or grilled, making it perfect for summer barbecuing. Its texture is loved by meat-eaters, too. Kids will enjoy this cheese for its mild…
This is a pleasure in pocket-size. A book on ices, but from an age when such things were sheer luxury, a holiday treat, and seldom found at home. The Book of Ices by Mrs. Agnes Marshall is a classic. Mrs. Marshall (1855-1905) was a Victorian lady and one of the most celebrated cooks and writers…
The Indian Vegetarian Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant is a must-have tome from one of the most respected Indian food writers. It’s bound to spend more time in the kitchen than on the bookshelf. Vegetables are the essential element of Indian cuisine, so there is a tradition of making the very best of the seasons’ crops…
Aska is a stunning book from Phaidon Press. Aska has impact, beauty, charm and a great deal of imagination. This might not be the book for the novice cook, but it could be the inspiration for some new dishes for any already-accomplished budding chef. The black leather-look binding indicates that this is a book for…
Peter Gordon was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia in 1981 and completed a four-year cookery apprenticeship. He worked in Melbourne restaurants for five years before travelling around Asia. This trip evidently had a huge influence on Peter’s gastronomic future. In 1989, after two-and-a-half years running The Sugar Club kitchen, Peter moved to…
This liquid called Aquafaba is trending just now. It’s being talked about by professional chefs as if it was a newly-discovered and exotic ingredient from the Amazon or a hitherto-undiscovered region of deepest China. In fact, this is a very humble by-product of cooking chickpeas. The other thing to note is that this isn’t expensive…
Cuba: The Cookbook is a stunning volume from Phaidon, who are celebrated for publishing unique international recipe books to tempt and inspire the home chef. This one is no exception. Cuba’s launch (the book, that is) couldn’t be more timely. News of the island is hitting the headlines at the moment, and people are taking…