Cookery books
Flo
Cookbooks are a fantastic way to gain inspiration and spark innovation into your cooking repertoire. How many of us fall into the rut of cooking the same thing month in and out? While I’m all for instructions for computery type things (the use of that made-up word should explain it all) I’m awful at following a recipe. Cooking for me is pure feeling.
The winning cookbook for me in 2016, is one that I purchased from Crested Butte cookery shop, Elk in an Apron. The book: David Lebovitz’s My Paris Kitchen: Recipes and Stories. I’ve always liked books that “read” more than dictate ingredients. I love to rouse my passion for dashes. In My Paris Kitchen, Lebovitz documents his travels and travails from a young chef with venerable mentors in Berkley to the infamous Chez Panisse. In 1999, with devotion he landed, romantic and wide eyed in Paris his spiritual and culinary homeland and describes in palpable detail his tiny kitchen, buying fresh produce “a la Parisian”, and the cultural secrets that both mystify and enchant him all leading to the moral of the story which is (as it always should be),
What to eat
This compendium of experience and culinary escapade is highly entertaining and informative. Lebovitz runs afoul of the Parisians, is pitied by the Parisians and becomes a Parisian. The cooking is never fussy, looks beautiful and rightly so, gives text to the rich immigrant influence on the Paris kitchen.
One of my very guilty pleasures is indulging visually in foods that I may never eat or prepare (on a regular basis). I keep flipping back to steak with mustard butter and fries. Did you read that? I said MUSTARD BUTTER! Two of my favorite things combined into one? Mustard and butter!!! Heavens above. My cheeks flush and my pupils dilate at the thought.
In the cold months of winter still ahead this book is a must read. It will not only get you salivating but inspire you to other things... my thoughts? What else can I dress with that mustard butter?
Vicky
I have been a long time convert to the Kindle. As a old literature student I’ve always loved books, actual physical books, and always found something comforting in that new (or old) book smell. But currently living as an expat and often being on the road it’s not that practical to cart around my modest library with me. However, the one exception to my burgeoning Kindle collection are cook books - they have to be the real deal. Shame they tend to be so darn heavy.
A favourite tome that came into my possession last year was ‘How to Cook’ by Leiths School of Food and Wine. If you are a regular reader of the blog you’ll know that I attended the school last year and this book was our ‘text book’, never to leave our sides. If you were to rifle through the shelves of ex-graduates of the school, you would find this book crammed with notes and splattered with the remnants of the delicious recipes, tried and tested.
The book is sectioned out into core areas such as stocks and sauces, eggs, fish, poultry, meat, bread. Each section guides you through recipes that each teach different techniques in that culinary area, giving detailed instructions and step by step guidance throughout. The book gives a thorough working knowledge in all these food groupings, providing professional level tuition resulting in delicious offerings.
A favourite recipe is a simple one, French Roast Chicken, which manages to turn the ordinary roast into a buttery, savoury delight. Juicy and tender, the dish creates a beautiful butter sauce to accompany the chicken - a simple option for a Sunday roast.