My Favourite Cookbooks
These are the cookbooks I can't live without, that I read obsessively, like well-loved novels; for inspiration and knowledge and comfort.
They do tend to be the 'classics' as opposed to the fast&easy, TV-cook or faddish variety - you certainly won't find anything remotely resembling Jamie Lawson-Harriott's New Low-Fat Low-Carb Diet Detox Life Revolutions in here ... what you will find are truly great, truly authentic books that give a marvellous feel for the food, culture, and food as culture, of the various "cuisines" - and incidentally contain simply fabulous recipes for yummy yummy food (most of which happens to be pretty straight-forward, as I hate messed-about food).
Okay, I gotta go cook something NOW. Ciao!
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Stephanie Alexander (1988) The Cook's Companion, Vintage, Australia.
Australia's answer to Elizabeth David, Stephanie Alexander has compiled here an incredibly comprehensive book (and very large and heavy), arranged alphabetically by ingredient with facts, how-to's, stories and of course hundreds of recipes. The sidebar notes are my favourite - Stephanie lists what other ingredients and foods go with <ingredient>; she gives additional ideas and hints and other recipe ideas. An invaluable resource and one used by other "name" chefs such as Nigella and Jamie.
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Elizabeth David (1960; 1977 edition) Cooking of Provincial France, Penguin, London.
Not only covers the recipes and techniques of the cooking of Provincial France, but also includes gorgeous, mouth-watering essays and snippets about the area and ED's own experiences there. ED's Mediterranean Food and Italian Food are simply brilliant too, waaaaay before their time and still beautiful and inspiring today. The posthumous tribute collection, South Wind Through the Kitchen: The Best of Elizabeth David is another big favourite of mine.
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Gary Rhodes (2000) Gary Rhodes At The Table,
A brand new favourite. I was browsing through the cooking section at one of Perth's tiny but brilliant bookshops, when I spotted this. As you all know I am somewhat anti-TV celeb chef, and had never seen any of Gary Rhodes' shows. Poor, misguided, deprived me.
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Claudia Roden (1968; 1986 edition) A New Book of Middle Eastern Food, Penguin, London.
A similar format to Elizabeth David's books, in that it covers the recipes and techniques of the Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Iran, Iraq, etc) interspersed with CR's own reminiscences, folk-lore, and medieval quotations and recipes. My mum owned the first edition - along with early editions of Elizabeth David's books - and I clearly remember reading them at an early age and salivating, even though I had never tasted any or many of the foods and dishes therein. Now that's a foodie in training, for ye.
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Although Charmaine Solomon's Complete Asian Cookbook (1976; 1992 edition) is considered the definitive guide to the cuisines of the Asia, its main focus is on India and Pakistan, and China. Sections on Southeast Asian food - that of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos - and The Philippines and Japan are included but are exceedingly limited. As my favourite Southeast Asian cuisine is that of Thailand, followed closely by Singapore, and both are really quite disappointingly represented in the Complete Asian Cookbook, I prefer and would recommend without hesitation Charmaine Solomon's Thai Cookbook (1989) Viking, Australia, which is set out in a simple yet beautiful format, has loads of recipes which are easy to follow, yet will impress guests, and are all absolutely delicious (I've tried out and played around with just about all of them). You may also be better off going for Solomon's "mini-books" for the other cuisines as well although the Complete Asian Cookbook is still great for an overview and for Indian cookery in particular.
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