My subjective guide to culinary books, part 4

I think it is right time for me to share with you my views on my new cook book. I showed you few recipes and to be honest I was planning to publish another two this week, but unfortunately it looks like I manage to cook them this weekend at the earliest, so I thought I publish the review first. Perhaps some of you who have seen some of the recipes from this book posted on my blog already decided to buy this book. For some of you this review could be helpful.

from Amazon.co.uk

This is the most recent book by one of my favourite foodies Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Three good things on a plate – does this sound trivially? Don't take this as three ingredient cookbook, this is slightly different. Hugh simply used a formula of putting three things in one dish, things that have different flavours, consistency, texture and created over 175 easy to follow recipes. You don't need some fancy ingredients, make sure they are at their best, also no need of spending much time preparing the dishes or any special techniques. Recipes most of the time use quite humble ingredients. Hugh has experimented for years so he knows what works together and what not necessarily should not be mixed on one plate. Take advantage of his knowledge!

There is so much more in this book than some of the classic combinations that may sound very obvious, everybody knows fish, chips and mushy peas, sharp fruit, crumble and vanilla sauce, crusty bread with melted cheese and salty ham or chocolate cake with salted caramel. Sweet, salty, crunchy. Sharp, rich, crumbly. Number three seems to be mystical also in cooking.

Book is divided into several sections: salads, starters & soups, snacks & sides, vegetable trios, fish & two friends, meat & veg, pasta, rice & company, fruity threesomes, triple treats. Hugh gives you not only the exact easy to follow short recipes in which three ingredients are the key and work incredibly well together, but also he suggests swaps or extra ingredients to build up the recipe. For somebody who likes a bit of experimenting this is ideal!

Hugh also says that this is cooking and there is a room for experimenting, adding a light touch and a sense of fun. He suggest that readers if they wish so should experiment and swap i.e. one crunchy veg for other but this principles may not always work. Here is a room for reader's improvisation.

If you are unsure how to improvise there are still exact, great recipes for you and perhaps this book will be next big step for you and soon you will be challenging yourself to become more experimental?

Apart from the above this book is very pleasant to look at, as most of the Bloomsbury's books I remember. Food photos are quite simple, not over styled, rustic I would say, Simon Wheeler who worked with Hugh before (also with Heston Blumenthal) did fantastic job. Also there are stunning illustrations by Mariko Jesse, whose work you may remember from Hugh's "River Cottage Everyday". 

If you haven't seen dishes from this book I had pleasure to cook and even more pleasure to eat, please have a look:

Roast tomatoes, onion & barley soup 

Baked eggs with tomatoes & bread 

Beet, apple & pecan salad 

Cauliflower, tomatoes & capers salad 

Sourdough bread with olive oil, honey & salt 

Celery, orange & mackerel salad 

If you still need some more examples of recipes you can find in this book, perhaps you should come back here in few days and check out a recipe for dessert and the most bizarre pizza I have ever seen.

"Hugh's Three Good Things (on a plate)"

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (August 2012)

Harcover, 416 pages

My subjective guide to culinary books, part 3

I can hardly believe that I waited so long to write about the book that certainly is one of the most interesting I have ever seen and for sure - the most beautiful in my collection. Funnily enough I did not use a single recipe from this book and I would still strongly recommend it to anybody who likes beautiful cook books. This is "The Vintage Tea Party Book" by Angel Adoree (who you may recognise from TV series "Dragon's Den"), the owner of Vintage Patisserie .

Let me just say that I am huge fan of vintage style and if only I had more money and opportunities I would definitely collect authentic vintage clothes and accessories and dress like this on a regular basis. So for me this book is like a very stylish journey back in time, I can totally relax flicking trough it and find myself in a lovely vintage scenery, having a tea party in style. This book is a visual feast, never a dull moment, one of the most beautiful photographs of food I have ever seen.

But what makes this book even more amazing is that it has a whole vintage package for anybody who would like to host a vintage tea party. Not only recipes, but lots of other ideas such as how to make invitations and thank you cards, decorations, how to pick the right clothing, how to make iconic hair victory rolls, tips on flower arranging or 40's make up and applying false lashes.

This is an absolute must have for anybody who is into vintage. This book is also very British and this is why I love it even more. Angel says she is proud of being British, in this book you can find several portraits of Queen Elizabeth or history of British flag. Let me say this again - very stylish, extremely beautiful, what a woman and what a book! 

How about the recipes? Have to say I was so pleasantly surprised by some ideas and will definitely try them some time in the future. I am sure they will work, Vintage Pattiserie have been a success, so I totally trust the recipes here, but simply did not have a chance to try them yet. How do you like the sound of some:

Kipper Paté on Oatcakes with Whisky Marmalade

Tall Filo Baskets with Stilton, Pear & Walnuts

Chicken Liver Parfait in a Filo Pastry Basket

Gingerbread Pudding with Eggnog Cream

Rose Pannacotta

Wild Hibiscus Champagne

along some traditional recipes such as easy fish pie, crown of lamb, scones or strawberry jam? I absolutely love them! To be completely honest - even if I never get round to make any of these (although I doubt this will happen) this book is so delightful to read, that I can spend hours in the armchair and forget all my worries. This is little bit like going to the other side of the mirror and even some of the gorgeous illustrations remind me "Alice in Wonderland" slightly.    

I recommend this book to anybody who likes beautiful things - this is pure and endless pleasure to look at. 

"The Vintage Tea Party Book" by Angel Adoree

Publisher: Mitchell Beazley (1 Aug 2011)

Hardcover, 304 pages

My subjective guide to culinary books, part 2

I have to admit for the last few weeks I have been obsessed with Italian food. Since we know where we are going to spend this years holiday, like a pure maniac I read and watch anything that has something common with Italy. I always loved Italian food, although it is quite difficult to describe Italian cuisine as a whole, it has some many different regional specialities. Finally as an adult with mature taste I can go to Italy and enjoy their food. I was dreaming about this for years.

I mentioned about my holidays because it happens to be connected to my new cookbook and TV series that was on BBC recently. I love BBC series because they are very interesting and well produced, but when I first heard about new series about Italian cuisine, I wasn't overexcited. Until I saw first episode. 

Picture: BBC

Antonio Carluccio i Gennaro Contaldo, are well know in UK. Over 30 years ago separately left their native Italy for Britain where, in time, they met, worked together. Antonio was a teacher and mentor to younger Gennaro,  he has written thirteen books and developed successful restaurants  Carluccios. Gennaro is highly respected chef in London, one of the most likable people appearing on TV, and he is also know as the one who taught Jami eOliver all he know about Italian Food. Both Antonio and Gennaro established themselves as leading authorities on Italian cooking.

"Two Greedy Italians"   really touched me so I simply had to buy book written to accompany this primetime BBC series. It is not the first time that I followed the TV series and bought a book that accompanied it, this is quite common in UK with cooking shows, as you can see it is quite easy to swallow the bait.

First of all few words about TV series. It clearly was not a show about cooking or beauty of Italian landscape only (the views are stunning! I love Campania cost) , but it was rather sentimental and amazing journey back to their homeland to reconnect with their culinary heritage, explore past and current traditions and reveal the very soul of Italian gastronomy based upon history of this country and social observation. Exploration sometimes sad and mournful as they discover that women nowadays do not want to cook, young generation don't know how to make homemade tortellini, and not every family gather together for a meal. This is a tale about what created Italian cooking -  regional ingredients, local and fresh whatever sea of mountains offer or perhaps what at the time grew in orchards or olive groves.

Picture: Amazon

Both gentleman with this typical Italian passion talk not only about food but also about history, but first of all they share their autobiography, take a trip down memory lane, mention their mothers and grandmothers. This spark in their eyes when they see attractive woman in red dress, this sheer joy of meeting old places and people from the past, this warm welcoming anywhere they went that I almost envy. This is what made me watch the series and still coming back to it. This and also tasty and simple recipes convinced me and I bought a book.

And how about the book itself? First of all it is beautifully illustrated. It contains lots of pictures (my favourite ever genious Chris Terry!), however not every recipe is accompanied by a picture. Instead there are some lovely pictures of people and places that makes the reader feel like a journey to Italy. Also it has lots of notes on socio-cultural aspects of Italy and its food and dining culture.

There are over 100 recipes, clear and short, arranged in four sections: starters, first courses, second/main courses, vegetables, fruits and desserts and snacks. I like the idea of original names of the dishes, that are translated into English underneath. Thanks to this I managed to learn some new Italian words that can be quite handy on holiday. Please note that not every recipe that was on the TV show is in the book, however there are many that did not appear on TV. Perhaps it would help to get the whole picture if they release the TV series that accompanies the book on DVD (if they are going to release one).

I am rather experienced cook so I do not have to cook anything from this book to recommend it. I cam see it is book about genuine Italian food that Italians cook. It is a good book for somebody trying to get into Italian cuisine, home made like Italian Mamma would serve, it is nice guide to real Italian cooking. It is also great book to read not only for using the recipes in the kitchen.

If you are, just like Antonio and Genarro greedy for food (and cookbooks!), greedy for life and passionate about not only Italian cooking I am sure you will like this book.



Antonio Carluccio, Gennaro Contaldo "Two Greedy Italians"

Quadrille Publishing Ltd, 2011
Hardcover, 208 pages

My subjective guide to culinary books, part 1

I was thinking about writing a cookery or other culinary books reviews on this blog for some time. However something happened only last week that was an impetus to actually start this new book section. I have bough a book, that I became obsessed with and in my opinion this should be a bible for every food lover, keen cook or just somebody interested in different flavour combination. This book made me feel like I really want to start. It is "The Flavour Thesaurus" by Niki Segnit.




Have you ever wondered what makes a good cook? If you are good cook? Does following the recipes from a books so they turn up as nice as on the colourful pictures or trusting your intuition that some ingredients will work together (and thy do) makes a good cook? I still think I can't cook, have got so many things to learn and often wonder if in 10, 15, 20 years I will be able to say that I actually know how to cook and I do not need cookery books or magazines anymore.

Same dilemmas had the author of this book, asking herself if she really can cook and if the dozens of book were a symptom and a cause of her lack of kitchen confidence. Also some dinner did not help to pick her confidence up. Is was a dinner served by a friend that contained a dish using two ingredients it would never have occurred to her. She started to wonder how her friend knew that this is going to work and this is what forced her to look for something like a flavour thesaurus from which she could learn some flavour combinations. However she couldn't find it so she decided she might compile one herself.

Although Niki describes herself as an untidy person this book is incredibly legible, well composed and easy to use and to find information. It becomes really hand when you have some ingredient and you are unsure what it will go nicely with. After you read the introduction you can stick your finger anywhere in the book and find something interesting. This is not typical cook book however there are some recipes in it, but no pictures at all. What you find in this book are incredible almost poetic descriptions of flavours, their historical or cultural backgrounds - this book is packed with lots of information. This makes it enjoyable, relaxing read rather than a book that you would use when cooking, however the knowledge you acquire from it will certainly help you to become a better cook and understand how and why one flavour might go with another.

Segnit has taken 99 basic popular ingredients and grouped them in 16 sections such as roast (chocolate, coffee, peanut), meaty (chicken, liver, pork etc), earthy (cumin, mushrroms, beetroot), marine (caviar, white fish, oysters, shellfish), woodland (butternut squash, hazelnut, chestnut etc) and many more. She obviously omitted some such as courgettes and she apologies for it. First of all she did it because this book does not make any claims to be the last word on a subject. Secondly I think taste is such individual thing and she simply did not think that courgettes are so important.

Next she put them in 980 pairs. The total of possible combinations of 99 ingredients is nearly 5000, and if you think about adding third ingredient the number of possible combinations increases to over 150,000! Therefore adding extra ingredient would have made this book difficult to write and less enjoyable to read. Besides if you wish to make a trio of flavours you can work on those pairs already described in book and experiment with adding the third one basing on your knowledge how different the flavours work together.

What more should I add other than this book had stunning reviews in the national newspapers such as Sunday Times and Observer and my culinary guru - Heston Blumenthal describes it as an original and inspiring resource?

Since I started to read it I simply cannot get enough of it and feel like I discover new planets every time I read about new flavour combinations. Even if sometimes they are obvious for me, but even more if I disagree with the author (she finds chocolate with beetroot unattractive), but how flavour is so individual things, isn't it?




Niki Segnit "The Flavour Thesaurus"
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2010
Hardcover, 400 pages