It is a quiet Sunday morning here in the hills – the teens are safe and slumbering in their caves – and I have been leafing through a few of my favourite cookbooks. On a whim, I thought that I would share a few of my favourites with you. Lots of my books are new/current releases, but quite a few aren’t so I will just focus on the ones readily available today. The next time I have a quiet morning I will share some of my older books in case anyone might like to hunt them down through secondhand book dealers – as I have done.
This list is by no means definitive as any list of favourites can and will be re-assessed with every new – or new to me – publication that falls into my greedy hands, but for now here goes –
MY (current) FAVOURITE TOP 5 COOKBOOKS
1. “Ottolenghi – The Cookbook” by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi. Brilliant book full of wonderful recipes featuring loads of fresh produce and fresh flavour, most with a Middle Eastern twist. It will take me a very long time to tire of this book!
2. “Ready for Dessert” by David Lebovitz. This man well and truly knows dessert! The last course is not a strong suit of mine, but this book is really all I need for now – rich with heavenly cake, ice cream and, most importantly, chocolate recipes!
3. “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. A modern bread bible for the lazy baker who is looking for knock-out results with minimal effort!
4. “Spice Notes and Recipes” by Ian Hemphill. A wonderfully comprehensive compendium on herbs and spices with accompanying recipes by Australia’s own premier spice expert. Indispensable.
5. “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” by Claudia Roden. Her original edition of this book captured my heart in my late teens and I have looked to her for inspiration and advice ever since. Love her to bits!
The links I have provided for these books are to my favourite Australian on-line bookshop (with which I have no affiliation at all, I hasten to add), but these books are all generally available.
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Amanda I don’t have any of those books and they all sound like books I need to own 🙂 I do have my Ottolenghi on order now (thanks for the tip re The Book Depository) and I bought the Spice Notes book for a friend’s birthday last year. Thanks for the recommendations.
Thanks for sharing, I would be interested in having a look at them too. I look forward to your next list of favourites.
Amanda…It’s always interesting to read what other Foodies are interested in. I was very familiar with 4 of your great choices. As soon as I have a chance I’ll have to look into the unknown and intriguing one of Spice Notes…
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
I don’t have any of them either, but certainly know 4 of them by name. Sooo many wonderful cookbooks to draw from.
I’m a big fan of Hemphill’s Spice Notes & Recipes too Amanda, really good information. In fact…, love all your choices & will check them out for sure.
I am a cook book fiend and have them as my bedside reading. Moving house did force me to cull sadly !! “Ready for Dessert” sounds like one I need to add to my collection.
I have had Claudia Roden’s book by my side for years; a classic, will never tire of consulting it or reading it for the sheer enjoyment of it. She is a “grande dame” of cookbook authors and I owe her a ton of respect.
Sarah – you are a very good friend indeed to give birthday gifts of that callibre!
Ann – I will try to get the next list together in the next few weeks, but I don’t think that it will be as easy picking out classic cookbooks.
Claudia – “Spice Notes” is a new edition of an Australian favourite.
Brydie – perhaps a trip to the library to whet your appetite?
Anna – I’m sure that I had a book on herbs by Ian Hemphill’s mother once upon a time, a long time ago.
Kate – I struggle to cull any of them, so I admire your strength!
Joumana – I’m with you – couldn’t live without Claudia!
Amanda, jinx on three of those! 🙂 (Ottolenghi, Lebovitz and Hemphill) I have to say thought that I’m not a huge fan of the Claudia Roden book – too many mouldy pickles! 😉
Amanda, looks like you’ve been blogging just three weeks longer than I have. Don’t know why I didn’t start sooner. Well, yes, I do–I’m a low-tech kinda gal who just couldn’t imagine myself figuring out how to do it! AND, so late in the game, was not at all sure the world needed yet another food blog! Oh well …
I love to read cookbooks whenever I’m not cooking. Too ill to cook? Read about it. Too tired to cook? Read about it. On holiday away from my kitchen? I have a huge collection of cookbooks I inherited from my mother. Going through it is rather like having a visit with her.
I’ve used a few recipes from some of these books but I should probably give the books at large a go too! 🙂
Hubby’s family separates handkerchiefs into ‘show-ers’ and ‘blow-ers’. I’m inclined to make a similar distinction between cook-books: ‘lookers’ and ‘cookers’. The former are those I love to pour over for ideas, however, rarely use to cook from. The latter are those to which I return again and again for directions and advice. Claudia Roden was my first introduction to the cuisine of the middle east back in 1978 and my tattered paperback Penguin is still in frequent use. In the 70s, the Hemphills gave me lots of advice about both growing and using herbs and continue to do so. I simply would not be as good a cook as I am today without the Cordon Bleu Cookery Course (published monthly), Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David helping me through those early years ! Today, I turn regularly to Stephanie Alexander, especially when Hubby brings home another market ‘bargain’ for me to deal with. I’ve also had to come to terms with cooking for coeliacs and I am forever indebted to Karina Allrich, Antoinette Savill and Sue Shepherd.
Celia – that’s a shame about the mouldy pickles, but Claudia is so much more than that and we can’t all be wrong!!
Jean – thanks for dropping by! I occasionally spend too long reading the cookbooks and then have to race out for take-away!
Lorraine – They are all good for a quiet read.
Sue – thanks for sharing some of your favorites.