My Favorite Cookbooks

Favorite Cookbooks

I've never clearly understood where my love of and connection to food came from. Credit often goes to my Grandmother, who in-service from age 14, rose through the ranks to become head-cook. A happy childhood with a focus around food I am sure also played a large part.

However, a strong influence was the famous Mrs. Isabella Beeton. My mother had a first edition of Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management given to her by a neighbor who had bought it at a flea market for the handsome sum of two-bob. Little did they or my family know then that in years to come it would become a much sought after collectors item.

Mrs. Beeton was my storybook. As a little girl I read the chapters on poultry and game; Widgeon, Capercalzie and Ptarmigan to me were mythical birds. I would scare myself witless looking at pictures of calves heads served on silver platters or reading gruesome recipes for pigs face.

The directness and simplicity of her writing defies time and fashion. I feel sure I read recipes, not unlike hers, in current food magazines?

No list of cookbooks would be complete without one of our other greatest food writers, Elizabeth David.Her influence on food and cooking in the twentieth century was extensive. Her writing introduced to an austere, postwar Britain a wealth of ingredients and style of cooking that we now consider mainstream.

He may be out of fashion now but Keith Floyd will forever remain as one of the best TV cooks for me. He was informative, inspiring and above all, incredibly funny. I wholeheartedly agree with his drinking wine while cooking. His groundbreaking TV series resulting books is still one of the books I regularly take from the shelf.

Harold McGee, The Curious Cook isn't a cookbook. It is a book about cooking or rather, the science of cooking. A great read if only to find out how to keep the green color in a salad, or making Jerusalem artichokes more edible and many other kitchen facts and fallacies. A book to dip in and out of.

Of the many, many new books I have read recently, the one that stands out most is Sue Lawrence’s Book of Baking. The sticky, batter splattered cover and well-thumbed pages bear testament to its popularity in this house especially page 107. Warm date cake with fudge topping is one of the easiest cakes ever to make and scores a hit every time. Delicious, as are all the recipes in the book.