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bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 8:36 am Post subject: cook books

I have an absurd number of cook books which to be fair I mostly don't use but there are a few which I reguarly go to. These currently number all of the Nigella Lawson books (though Domestic godess is probably the one I use the most), HFW Meat and a gorgeous book called falling cloudberries. Other than that I get good food magazine every month aswell and generally end up trying at least one recipe from it.

What are your current favourite cook books because I really need more

Last night I made some lovely rhubarb muffins from Nigellas latest Feast

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 8:44 am Post subject:
Phillip Harbens Cookery Encyclopedia is and has been my favourite all my life. By far the most useful cookery book I know.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 8:48 am Post subject:

Elisabeth Luard's European Peasant Cookery - I can not recomend this enough. It's a bit like Meat and the the River Cottage Cookbook mated with Elizabeth David's European provincial cooking.

I'm currently working through a Vegetarian cook book that my OH has which has dishes from around the world, I'd never looked at it properly but have been pleasantly suprised. It's Italian week this weeek. had Wild Mushroom risotto with spinach and peas last night.

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 8:58 am Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

Elisabeth Luard's European Peasant Cookery - I can not recomend this enough.

This one is on my amazon wishlist but I haven't got round to aqquiring yet, Maybe I should consider it

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:15 am Post subject:

First published in the 1980s, there are over 500 recipes in this collection, and Elisabeth Luard has now revisited it to revise, expand and update it. The recipes come from 25 countries, ranging from Ireland in the west to Romania in the east, Iceland in the north to Turkey in the south. This compendium covers vegetable dishes, potato dishes, beans, lentils, polenta and cornmeal, rice, pasta and noodles, eggs, milk and cheeses, fish, poultry, small game, pork, shepherd's meats, beef, breads and yeast pastries, sweet dishes, herbs, mushrooms and fungi, oils, smoking, salting and curing and preserves. Written with scrupulous attention to detail and authenticity, the recipes are peppered with anecdotes and little known facts about local history and folklore.

You can get it for £19.50 in postage at:

https://www.swotbooks.com

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:24 am Post subject:

I think the one I use most at the moment is Marguerite Patten Basic Basics Baking. It might not be adventurous enough for you though, Bagpuss, because you know all the basics! But it does give a fair few variations, and is handy for reference too.

I do rather like Delia's vegetarian collection but haven't used much from it...borlotti bean soup and pommes boulangere are a couple of favourites from it though and I will be exploring further.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:29 am Post subject:
We've got Delia's Veg collection and most of the recipes are excellent but they seem to take ages to prepare. got her seasonal veg one for xmas and must admit that I've hardly looked at it.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:38 am Post subject:
I like Nick Nairns Scottish cookery, Anything by Rick Stein but his Seafood book based on the Padstow cookery course is a seminal work. Plus the Dairy book of home cooking, If you can't find it anywhere else it will be in this little gem.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42207
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:40 am Post subject:
Simon Hopkinson: Roast Chicken and Other Stories/Gammon and Spinach/Roast Chicken and Other Stories, Second Helpings. Simon Hopkinson & Lindsey Bareham: The Prawn Cocktail Years Dairy Book of Home Cookery Sophie Grigson & William Black: Fish Loads of others, but they're the ones I go back to, and they have the highest percentage of recipes which I actually use.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:43 am Post subject:

sean wrote:

Dairy Book of Home Cookery
Sophie Grigson & William Black: Fish

Loads of others, but they're the ones I go back to, and they have the highest percentage of recipes which I actually use.

Ditto

We've also got Delia's How to Cook series which we've found very useful

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 10:50 am Post subject:

Bugs wrote:

I think the one I use most at the moment is Marguerite Patten Basic Basics Baking. It might not be adventurous enough for you though, Bagpuss, because you know all the basics!

I am not sure about that my sponges are good but my pastry is awful

I have to say for a good reference I have both Leiths Techniques and Leiths Cookery Bible which are very good though when I want to know something now I generally look in two or three till I find one which agrees with what I already though

If you like cookery books and get into london with any regularity I recommend you visit books for cooks which is a wonderful place with a lovely little cafe at the back and so many cook books

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 11:00 am Post subject:
What's to learn about pastry? You mix the stuff and bake it... How hard can pastry BE?

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 11:05 am Post subject:

bagpuss wrote:

I am not sure about that my sponges are good but my pastry is awful

If that's the case (or even if you think it's the case) it's a really excellent, excellent book. It also covers bread and biscuits plus lots of different types of basic cakes. One of my best buys.

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 11:06 am Post subject:

cab wrote:

What's to learn about pastry? You mix the stuff and bake it... How hard can pastry BE?

When I make pastry it tendds to be eitehr to elastic or too crumbly rarely just the right balance between the two

In my opinion pastry is one of the few preserves of cooking where the chemistry of it and how you treat the dough is quite important where as most of the sponge recipes I consistently make are very resilent and it doesn't matter if you changes things a bit but having not made pastry with any frequency it is probably as much a matter of practice but I like my explaination and I am sticking to it

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 05 12:16 pm Post subject:

It's all in getting the crumb right in the dough. Get it nice and crumb like, add water till you've got enough water in it while kneeding it, get it nice and homogenous, and refrigerate under a teatowel or bit of clingfilm. Roll it out after resting at least half an hour, ideally longer, and roll it out fast to stop it getting too warm, and there you have it. Simple short crust pastry. I find that duck and goose fat make the best savoury pastry, whereas you can't beat butter for sweet.

Puff paste is fiddly, but you couldn't call it challenging.

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