| Delia Smith's Complete Cookery Course |
| I think this may have been one of my
first cookbooks (after Ken Hom's Cheap Chow). Brave of me to admit a liking for
Delia, but before she made the monumental mistake of producing Delia's
Cheats, I was a fan. When just getting into cooking (forced on me by
the dreadful food served at home) I used to watch her early TV shows
obsessively. Many years ago, I had a six month spell working in
Algeria and took this book along. Cooking from it made the experience
of that country bearable |
|
| Raymond Blanc - Simple French Cookery |
| Mr Blanc has not jumped on the
cookbook bandwagon with same gusto as many of his less talented peers.
This is a simple book filled with easily prepared dishes that show the
understated genius of the Great Man |
|
| The River Cottage Meat Book |
| The River Cottage Fish Book |
| I have a lot of time for Hugh
Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage operation. My son and I went
down there for a pheasant shoot and game butchery day a couple of
years ago which included them cooking an excellent meal for us. These two
books are major reference works on their subjects and make many
of my other cookbooks almost obsolete |
|
| Fergus Henderson - Nose To Tail Eating |
| One of the most influential chefs
working in the UK today, Mr Henderson's reputation exploded world wide
with the production of this relatively small work. Some nice recipes,
but the major impact of this book was to get people thinking about
using the whole animal. "Think beyond the fillet" and get over your
problems with eating offal and the parts of the animal that require
slower cooking. Next time you're in the Smithfield area, walk quickly
past John Torode's overpriced and mediocre Smiths of Smithfield, on to
St John Street for what may be the best meal of your life |
|
| Trish Hilferty and Tom Norrington-Davies - Game
|
| I am a big proponent of eating game
and had difficulty in choosing between some of the excellent books I
have on the subject. I plumped for this one not only for the recipes
but also because it gives good explanations of the different game
available and butchery techniques to for each species. Go and get your
gun |
|
| Vivek Singh - Curry |
| The Executive Chef from The Cinnamon Club goes
far beyond Chicken Tikka Masala in redefining some Indian classics for
the modern British kitchen |
|
| Gary Rhodes - New British Classics |
| I had to have one book from the spiky
haired guy on my list. He has done a great deal for British cookery
over the years and this book is a very accessible way into some
interesting twists on traditional home cooking |
|
| Elizabeth David - French Provincial Cooking |
| The best work from the woman who was
the inspiration for many of the early pacesetters of the British
Celebrity Chef explosion. Talking about the chemist shop being the
only place to buy olive oil in 50's Britain is an eye opener for the
generation who expect everything to be available all year round |
|
| Patricia Wells - Bistro Cooking |
| Simple French bistro cookery
taken from numerous family restaurants across France by this American
author |
|
| Giorgio Locatelli - Made In Italy Food & Stories |
| Makes most other Italian tomes
redundant. Not only great recipes but detailed techniques (worth the
price just for the risotto section) together with insights into the
life of London's most successful Italian import |
