The rise of
food porn (not an easy thing to google for!) over the last few years has resulted in a vast number of every conceivable type of foodie book. The cookery section in Borders or Waterstones is the size of
Wales and Amazon has 103,574 books listed under
'food and drink' . That's an awful lot of choice and, no doubt, a huge amount of repetition.
So, I've put together a list of ten of my favourites. These are the books I've used the most, read the most and just generally enjoy the most.
10) Feast - Nigella Lawson
It's got nothing to do with the fact that she cooks in her nighty and flirts with the camera. It's the tasty keema that's so simple to make and delicious with hot nan, it's the sticky toffee pancakes with vanilla ice cream, the meatballs and spaghetti, the chicken pot pies, the choco hot pots and the never yet been beaten Guinness cake. Fun to read, crammed with ideas and easy to get good results from.
Weighty and incredibly detailed. It's a coffee table book but a hugely detailed one. It gets it's hands dirty with a bit of informaton on terroir and making wine and then provides detailed maps and discussion on just about every major wine region you can think of.
8) Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible - Err....Madhur Jaffrey
No doubt there are better curry recipe books out there but this one is special for me. The first truly successful curry I ever made was the Goan Vindaloo from this book. Hot and sour, it was nicely balanced and fantastic with some nan, lime pickle and kingfisher beer.
7) Kitchen Confidential/A Cook's Tour - Anthony Bourdain
A fantastic double whammy. In Kitchen Confidential chef (or is that cook?) Anthony Bourdain tells of his experiences in the restaurant business in New York and beyond. Never order well done steak, keep an eye on the contents of Sunday brunches and treat your fruit and veg man like a member of the family. A real insight to the restaurant business.
In a Cook's Tour he travels the world to track down the perfect meal. Is it a fortune in sushi in New York, a partially formed duck foetus in Vietnam or a twenty course banquet at The French Laundry?
6) The River Cottage Meat Book - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
I love Hugh. He's got the right idea about food as far as I'm concerned and this book is the only one you'll ever need on the subject of meat. It goes into detail regarding farming practices and how meat actually reaches us and has great recipes. I love that it features the more unfashionable cuts such as shin, cheek and offal, which are often cheap and incredibly tasty. Try the roast pigeon and the lamb rubbed with anchovies.
5) Hugh Johnson Wine Guide - Hugh Johnson
Every year it's in my stocking on Christmas morning. I tend to use it when ordering stuff online or putting together a mixed case. It's also handy for telling you serving temperatures, vineyards that are producing especially good value wines and when to crack open that '82 Petrus you've been saving.....what?
4) The Man Who Ate Everything - Jeffrey Steingarten
Jeffrey Steingarten takes 'foodie' to the next level. The man is obsessed beyond measure and rationality. He writes about clandestine truffle buying sessions in the woods of Piemonte, the wonder of trying proper Wagyu for the first time and, my personal favourite, judging the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in Memphis. It's funny and always makes me hungry.
3) My Cellar Book - Me
Bit of a cheat this one. I love my cellar book though. If you drink wine and don't have one then I highly recommend it. It's a great way of keeping track of what you have and when you got it and, best of all, writing some tasting notes and a few words about when that special bottle was opened. Reading back through this evokes all sorts of memories; great meals shared with friends, the night I proposed to my wife, final exams at uni, the night we decided to move to Sydney. It's better than a photo album.
2) Made in Italy - Georgio Locatelli
I don't know where to start with this one. It's everythng I love about food. The passion for fresh ingredients and using them to create great food is evident on every single page. It's fun just to pick up and read the stories of Georgio's life and contains some truly sensational recipes (linguine with clams....drool). It's an instant foodie 'hit' and will take you from lounging about bored on a Saturday morning to planning a food extrvaganza on Saturday night. Simple recipes, quality ingredients and a love of food that really shines through.
1) Real Cooking and Appetite - Nigel Slater
I know what you're thinking. You really fancy some nice baguette slathered in roquefort. No? I've never been able to pick this book up without heading straight to the fridge and reaching for the blue cheese. That front cover is responsible for more than a few extra pounds.
This is where it all started for me. I got these a couple of days apart and they were the first books that made me go to the butcher, the greengrocer, the baker, the cheesemonger and the deli all in the same morning instead of just going to the supermarket.
I love the way Nigel Slater writes about food, like it's no big deal. As he famously says 'all you're doing is making yourself something to eat'. He makes it seem ok to try things out, substitute ingredients and stuff it up from time to time. These books made me realise that all it takes is a bit of practice and some passion.
There are almost too many recipes to recommend - the fish and noodle broth, the lamb roasted over potatoes, the chicken liver pate, the fish pie, onion and taleggio tart, chicken with tarragon and cream, a beautiful fish curry and the dill sauce for fish that I still use today.
Quality books that have stood the test of time and keep me coming back again and again.
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