- New Motorhead Live DVD » »
- « « New Canon 60D
The Best Cookery Books Of All Time
What’s your favourite?
This comes on the back of an article by a UK newspaper which has published its top fifty cookbooks of all time. I don’t agree with all of them but I was wondering what you would list amongst yours?
I would suggest a ‘definitive’ list is impossible and surely down to personal taste (literally!) What makes for a great cookbook, just recipes? easy to follow recipes? glossy photos? food stories/history?
Here’s a few of mine, some you may not have heard of unless you’re in the business…
1. White Heat-Marco Pierre White. The book which influenced me as a chef beyond all others
2. Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet-Alford & Duguid. Asian food, photography and travel-truly beautiful
3. Charlie Trotter’s Seafood-Charlie Trotter. Made me think outside the box in the late ’90’s
4. La Tante Claire-Pierre Koffman. From the chef’s chef.
5. Silk Road Gourmet Vol. One-Our own Laura Kelley for reminding us there are other countries and cuisines out there.
6. Ma Cusines de Bistros-Guy Savoy. Parisienne superstar demonstrates the beauty of brasserie food.
7. French Country Cooking-Elizabeth David. Could be anything by her quite honestly
8. El Bulli Vol Two-Ferran Adria. Not a cookbook but a moment in time of a great culinary destination.
9. Kochkunst in Bildern-Vol Three. The book which inspired me to enter professional culinary competitions.
10. Food and Travels Asia-Alastair Hendy. Simple, inspiring food and brilliant photography.
11. Cuisine a la Carte-Anton Mossiman. The ex King of hotel kitchens, one of my earliest inspirations
12. Thai Food-David Thompson. If you have to own one book on Thai food this has to be it.
13. The French Laundry-Thomas Keller. Inspirational American cuisine from a great chef.
14. English Seafood Cookery-Rick Stein. Dated maybe, charming certainly.
15. Sichuan Cookery-Fuschia Dunlop. A brilliant read of a much misunderstood cuisine.
16. Anything by Simon Hopkinson. Took up where David and Grigson left off.
17. Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery-Jane Grigson. Could have been any of hers but this is my favourite
18. Simply Asian-Neil Perry. Brilliant, inspiring and easy to use.
19. New Larousse Gastronomique-Bible of cookery, try and get an older copy for nostalgia.
20. Mangoes and Curry Leaves-Alford & Duguid. Another incredible book in the Asian trilogy.
Ok, apologies to Julia Child and the rest of them but I haven’t read them. What’s yours?
Miles,
here’s two which are not quite like those you mentioned
What about Be-Ro home recipes and Marks and Spencers Indian Cookery.
How many people did the original Be-Ro book get cooking, I used one when I first lived on my own.
The M&S book was a gift and got me cooking my own curries. Some books may not have influenced chefs but may have got ‘ordinary people’ cooking instead of microwaving
Best
Rod
August 18, 2010 @ 8:39 am
Rod,
Great comment and very valid. Ultimately it’s what the individual gets from a book that counts.
Miles
August 18, 2010 @ 10:59 pm
Miles,
I used to think I had lots of cookery books until I saw your list! I’ve had everything from Delia, twenty years ago, to strange little antique books on preserves. People sometimes buy me books which I wouldn’t normally choose but my favourite one and has been for a while now, is Cranks Bible which reads like a novel and is regularly dragged out when I need vegetable inspiration. I have one of those cooking journals where recipes can be written or cut out and kept, there’s all sorts of stuff squirreled away. Can’t take my eyes off the glossy new cook books in shops and supermarkets but usually manage to avoid purchasing….. now that you bring the subject up though I’m feeling shaky, like I desperately need a new one
One day you’ll come home and notice there’s been a cat burglar in…. since you have no cats and all your jewels are intact, take a glance along the book shelf and see what’s missing…… I can’t carry much so there’ll be designer trolley wheel tracks on the drive which you must tell Sherlock when he investigates…. cos it’s only me and technically it’s only borrowing I think
Cid
August 19, 2010 @ 10:30 am
Miles,
Here goes my second culinary thought of the day…… jam making. Now lots of people I know are put off making their own because they don’t have the huge pan and kit that goes with it. Enter the half pack of rapidly deteriorating raspberries and punnet of blueberries in my fridge recently…. all in a 7 inch or 18 cm non stick saucepan with approximately the same weight in sugar, melt then boil for a few minutes and voila one small pot of jam…. didn’t need a lemon on this occasion either. Ripe Spanish galia melon and freshly grated ginger got the same treatment which resulted in a highly fragrant jam/sauce, slightly runnier in texture so kept in the fridge once cooled. Small quantities are more likely to be consumed quickly but I admit a conventional method might yield jams which keep longer in greater numbers. Just a thought while we still have an abundance of soft, ripe summer fruits possibly going to waste in someone’s fridge.
Cid
August 19, 2010 @ 11:04 am
Hi Miles,
Great list there, many I have never heard of but will have to take a look. Particularly Pierre Koffmans.
I love the photography in Marco-Pierre Whites book, fantastic stuff.
The one I was going to add as my favourite cook book of all time is Peter Thompson’s Thai until I saw it on your list! An absolutely fantastic book and after being in Thailand for nearly a year, essential for me to recreate the truly “authentic” food. Many of the recipes verge on too authentic and are strange and alien to the western palate. That’s why I love it, full or surprises
)
Larousse Gastronomique-Bible - essential for a kitchen. Has taught me loads.
Another one I’d add (while not strictly cooking) is “Cutting up in the kitchen” by Merle Ellis. I search for ages for a book detailing the kind of butchery an enthusiastic cook may want to perform and while heavily American (different cuts etc), and somewhat dated, this book is a fantastic tool for the kitchen.
Also, “Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors” by Lizzie Collingham. If you like Indian food and culture, this book is a must. It is more of a novel than a recipe book but does have some great recipes throughout as it takes you through the evolution of Indian food and how it has been adopted and customised by nearly every other culture that has colonised or received immigrants from, India.
S.
August 19, 2010 @ 4:44 pm
Oh, forgot to add.
River cottage fish book. As a fisherman, it is a fantastic read in its own right.
For anyone who shys away from fish, it is an education.
The meat version is quite good too.
August 19, 2010 @ 4:56 pm
Cid,
Wow! you’re back!! The book list is just a selection of my favourites, many more than that at Chez Colins
Great idea re jam, it’s a lot easier than people think isn’t it?
Miles
August 19, 2010 @ 6:21 pm
Sam,
Great comment thanks, I love the HFW meat and fish books, very comprehensive. The Thai Food book is for the purist but the raw pork dishes are off my menu for sure!
I like the sound of the Indian book, will look it up.
Regards
Miles
August 19, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
Hi Miles:
Gosh . . .I am honored to be on the list! Thanks!
Agree on the Larousse - essential for those serious about cooking.
I like some things about a lot of modern books and dislike others. Generally I find a cook book’s value inversely proportional to the quantity of beautiful illustrations it has. So, I feel there are books to ogle for their four-color photo spreads and those you use to cook and adapt from until they fall apart.
These days, I’m finding historical cookbooks mighty interesting, but I don’t think that’s what you had in mind when you solicited comments.
Following Rod’s lead (OMG - I can’t believe it!) my homage is going to be paid to the books that got me cooking in the first place. A book I learned a lot from as a kid in the kitchen was the Joy of Cooking. It tells how to make basic sauces, how to cut meat, basic knife care and lots of basic recipes. It was quite out of step from modern American cooking so about 10 years ago they issued a new edition leaving the good things and largely replacing the bad ones. I would still recommend it for young, budding cooks.
Next on the list and I can’t speak more highly of it in Madhur Jaffrey’s Invitation to Indian Cooking which I bought when I was 13 years old. I still have the original copy that is dog-eared and stained like Tom Riddle’s diary after Ginny Weasley threw it in away! As my interest in Asian food has grown, I wished that Jaffrey had included more information about ethnic and regional specifics (i.e. is this a Parsi recipe? I’ll bet this other recipe is from a northern diaspora community. . .) when most things are simply labelled “Indian”, but it kept me interested in cooking and helped me cook some delcious food over the years.
Another book I like, but will caveat by saying that its now pretty dated, is the Chinese Gourmet Regional Cookbook by Calvin T Lee and Audrey Evans-Lee. the recipes are mostly delicious and authentic (and from the north often cold or room temperature) but the ingredient substitutions are largely unnecessary in this age of internet food retail shopping.
As to jams - I’m all for them - especially fruit jams served with meat. Saw a lot of this in Italy recently and of course the Persians (and all the culinary cultures they influenced) still do this as well.
Good topic. . . lots of interesting comments from Rod, Cid and Sam as well.
Laura
August 19, 2010 @ 11:46 pm
Miles,
There is such a wealth of books on food that makes it tempting to buy them for the sake of it. There is, I think a clear difference between those books more suited to the professional cook and those for the beginners and average or more interested home cook.
I go back to the old Be-Ro Flour Home Recipes that have more or less all been tried and tested to my favourite german baking book by Dr. Oetker “Backen macht Freude” (I think there is an english version of their cookery book out now which I used a great deal as a budding cook).
The Complete Book of Indian Cooking was a good introduction to ‘doable’ indian food and a good introduction to the particular flavours.
The good old Dairy Book of Home Cookery was also such a good and practical help.
I very much enjoy reading some of the books you mention that explain the backgrounds of countries and peoples all cooking in their specific ways.
There is always something to be gained and learned from any of them.
Cid’s comment on the jams is very topical. I buy small quantities of seasonal fruit on offer and with a good splash of appropriate liquers they provide very tasty additions to the stock cupboard
Anne
August 20, 2010 @ 9:52 am
Laura,,
Great comment but don’t get like my brother, I beg you
Those books sound great and I agree that different books mean different things. I have books which I would never use but hold a sense of nostalgia for me and that’s what makes them special.
That’s why I buy so many books, one for each mood!!
Miles
August 20, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
Anne,
Well put, a well used cookbook is a valuable thing indeed and I wonder how many of the expensive, glossy chef books get used in the way your Be Ro one does. Not many I suspect.
Miles
August 20, 2010 @ 5:23 pm