Desert Island Books for Cooks

Our first 2015 meeeting, on 16 January was a very enjoyable and well-attended talk on the literary aspects of cookery books by Sarah Giles, the latest in the long list of speakers introduced by Jonty and Ann Driver. (See post below). Sarah brought with her a number of examples from her treasure trove of books. She finished her presentation with her list of "Desert Island Cookery Books" which she has kindly allowed us to post here:

"1. Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course is top of my list. All the basics are in here – it’s so useful for when you forget the ratio of sugar, flour and butter for a crumble topping, which for some reason I often do, or need reminding of the oven temperature for choux pastry

2. would be Leith's Cookery Bible for pretty much every cookery technique known to man, plus some great recipe ideas for out-of-fashion ingredients like rabbit or beef cheeks.

3. A handwritten recipe book I put together when I was at school in the 5^th form - when I had much neater writing than I do now. I’d want this one with me if only for the most delicious lemon biscuit recipe it has in it. You can tell by all the rather unhygienic food stain on its pages how often this has been used over the years.

 

4. Larousse Gastronomique – apart from being an excellent reference book, this is the go-to book if you’re in the mood for a little foodie entertainment. For example, if you look up the word ‘supper’, it will give you a basic description – ‘a light meal taken in the evening’. It then goes on to describe this history of supper as a concept, including its late-night incarnation in 18C France, where it would include such treats as wild boar kidney, oysters with cream, cakes, tarts, salad - finishing, rather bizarrely, with peas poached with eggs.  And that’s all on one evening, by the way. 

5. My second-hand copy of Mrs Beeton’s Cookery Book. I love the fact that it’s obviously been well used in the past and, even better, that when I bought it a whole host of cuttings and clippings fell out of it including a newspaper cutting referring to a recipe for what’s described only as ‘A Good Cake And Easy To Make’. The letter writer states this is  ‘much loved by the Navy’. 

6. Next on my list would be a slim little booklet which was produced by my friend and former editor of Good Food magazine, Orlando Murrin, when he was running a wonderful boutique B&B near Toulouse in France. The food there – all of which was cooked by Orlando himself – was wonderful and he was asked for recipes so often that he put together a series of these little books for guests. I love the descriptions that go with each recipe, including  one for what he describes as ‘The best-ever pommes dauphinoise’.

7. Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book: probably the most comprehensive book on vegetables ever written. There’s lots of history in here – Jane tells us, for example, that John Evelyn, whose salad and vinaigrette recipe I read out, used to order cauliflower seed and celery seed form Italy so that he could grow the best new varieties to cook. As someone who grows and cooks their own food, I like the idea that he was poring over seed catalogues in winter ready for spring, in the same way as I do. But as well as the historical facts, it’s also packed with marvellous recipes and clear instructions on the way to prepare everything from artichokes to watercress.

8. Yotam Ottolenghi’s Plenty would come next on my list. Yotam is a London chef who has become rather a celebrity over the past few years. Every recipe I’ve tried – and I’ve tried a lot of them – has worked beautifully. There are lots of Middle Eastern influences and I can heartily recommend his recipe for fried butterbeans with feta, sorrel and sumac which transforms a rather bland and tasteless bean into something truly wonderful.

9.  A Girl Called Jack by Jack Monroe. She became famous when she was interviewed by a newspaper about trying to feed herself and a small son while living in a tiny, damp flat with absolutely no money – rather than feeling sorry for herself, she decided to see it as a challenge and has come up with some wonderful recipes. You’d never know they were created with a strict budget in mind. Her Keralan Aubergine Curry is to be recommended!

10. And finally -  Levi Roots: Caribbean Food Made Easy. Levi was a successful applicant on the TV show Dragons' Den where people approach a group of millionaire business men and women to get them to invest in their business. Levi’s product was a bottled chilli sauce called Reggae Reggae and it wowed the millionaire panel, not least because he brought a selection of his own homemade Jamaican dishes to try with it. Some of these dishes are recreated here and for me, it brings back wonderful memories of a Jamaican holiday where the food was an unexpected highlight of that lovely Caribbean island."