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my favourite cookbooks of 2010

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If you’re anything like me, over time you accumulate cookbooks and through a process of natural selection some float to the top and get read often. Some gather dust at the back, never fulfilling their promise. A select few make it to the hallowed ground of the recipe book stand, where they deliver gold each and every time.

I feel like 2010 was a great year for cookbooks; almost all the big hitters pumped out a new book, some of them two! Self-publishing was all the rage that brought home cooks to the fore, and restaurants also gave us a peek on how to recreate their favourites.

With so much to choose from, selecting my favourites was pretty tricky. But here’s my top 3 cookbooks of 2010:

3. Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals – Jamie Oliver

It seems churlish to give any more publicity to this book; after becoming the fastest-selling nonfiction book of all time and the quickest to reach a million Jamie’s trumpet requires no further blowing. But this is a revolutionary cookbook. As usual, Jamie is flying by the seat of his pants and doing things his way. Forget all the negative press you’ve read bleating on about “but it actually takes an HOUR, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? IT’S IMPOSSIBLE”. Even if they aren’t all possible for you to complete in an hour, appreciate that these are interesting menus that can be made in 30 minutes. Forget the precise time on the clock and just aim a little higher, that’s what this book is trying to say. Do a meal, and a salad, maybe a drink, and a dessert, all with multitasking. I don’t always do every part of every meal; I cherry pick. I’ll have this dish with this salad and feel really satisfied with what I’ve made.

On top of that, it’s amazing value for money. For the above reason, each recipe gives you 3 or 4 different dishes. That’s loads of different components you can bring together.

Jamie has done it again, and I can’t recommend this brilliant book highly enough.

Standout recipe: jools’s pregnant pasta with frangipane tart

2. Plenty – Yotam Ottolenghi

I’d heard a little about Ottolenghi’s first book from fellow bloggers but didn’t know what the fuss was about. Thanks a their Twitter feed I managed to get a copy of this book. I was bowled over by the style; I’ve never read such exciting ways with vegetarian food. Yes you read that right, this is a vegetarian cookbook. But it’s so inventive, spicy, cheeky and full of affection for it’s ingredients I can’t help but want to make the recipes over and over again. The middle Eastern influence is felt throughout, with rich, spicy and smoky flavours permeating every dish so everyday greens are served up in a very unexpected (to this Essex boy anyway) ways.

Not even mentioning the food, I have to mention the design of this book. The pristine white is gorgeous, peppered with neon line-traced veg. A padded cover and gold embossing just sets this one out on your shelf.

It’s a real gem, even for a hardened carnivore like me. Much like Jamie’s book, it’s encouraged me to think in different ways.

Standout recipe: leek  fritters

1. Leon 2, Naturally Fast Food – Henry Dimbleby & John Vincent

I’d never heard of Leon, the mega-popular but London-centric ‘chain’ pumping out fast food with heart and soul. Boy, was I in for a treat.

This book dropped on to my desk in the Autumn and pulled me away from my work for quite some time. I was bowled over at first by the design. No heading-recipe-full-page-photo for this tome. It was more a scrapbook, a collage of random holiday snaps, upside-down bits, fold-out bits, crazy layout… it was a typesetter’s nightmare and a fortune to publish I’m sure but the result is completely distinctive. As far from bland as you can possibly get, it bellows character from every page. It’s utterly charming and clearly a deeply personal book.

And I haven’t even mentioned the recipes. They’re so closely aligned with the way I like to cook it makes me punch the air with joy. Every time I open it humour and joy drip from the pages, bringing familiar flavours with original tweaks. There really is a little of everything in here, from great snacks, to delicious desserts and cracking party food. There’s lovely twists on bland veg dishes, pot-roasts galore and just plain-feel good food with every turn. Just last week I made a Winter vegetable pot-roast which was little more than root veg casseroled in white wine. Hardly revolutionary stuff, but just the kind of spark that makes you come back again and again.

It’s split into two parts: the first deals with genuine fast food, solving midweek dinner woes. The second is fast food, but with long cooking times. In other words, a small amount of prep then leave to bake / casserole / stew / whatever. So it’s all covered.

You can feel the love and effort that has gone into the book, and with the hugely enjoyable recipes to match I can’t get enough of this brilliant thing.

Standout recipe: crispy roast cauliflower (honestly, I’ve made it about 15 times in 4 months)

(EDIT: I cleared up some confusion from the comments by editing a bit of the text above)

So there’s mine; what were your favourite cookbooks of 2010? I’d love to know about any gems I haven’t caught up with yet.

If these recipes don’t do it for you, would you like to make your own cookbook? Try Mixbooks today.

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cooks kitchen gadgets prize

competition – win a heston blumenthal thermometer [closed]

This competition is now closed. Many thanks for all your entries. The winners have been notified by email.

this image copyright HestonBySalter.com

Anyone that has read more than one post in this little recipe binder will realise I have more than a passing interest in the life and works of Heston Blumenthal. It’s fine to stare and snicker at his wackier side – “snail risotto, how quirky“, “bacon and egg ice-cream, who eats that?” – but that is to miss the point. It’s more about process – thinking about why flavour combinations work the way they do, and challenging preconceptions in the kitchen. By putting these things under scrutiny it opens up other pathways and leads to exciting new methods and tastes.

But I’m waffling. You came here for the swag, right? The fine people at Salter have devised a range of Heston Blumenthal kitchen tools. But this isn’t some Anthony Worral-Thompson slap-the-beard-on-it shovelware. This was researched over months with the great man himself hands-on. The result is a functional and stylish clutch of gadgets.

I’ve been using the digital meat thermometer for a little while now (such as for this recipe) and it’s a great piece of kit. It updates fast, has a clear screen and the ‘pen’ casing is very handy, so you can stash it in a top pocket while you’re cooking. It’s a great product that any Heston fan would chew their own arm off to have.

But guess what! No limb-munching required to get one of these superb digital meat thermometers. And they’re not even in the shops yet, so you can be among the first to have one. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below answering the question:

What is your one essential piece of kitchen gadgetry?

  • Competition closes 10pm 31st October. Comments posted after then won’t be counted.
  • I’ll pick the winners at random using some fancy random number generator.
  • Entrants must be 18 years or older.
  • If the winner hasn’t replied within two weeks, someone else will get it.
  • Only people from the UK please. Additionally, I’ll only post to a UK address.

PS. Want to win more stuff? Head over to Growing Direct where they are giving away a gorgeous notebook!

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cooks food

keith floyd

This morning the news was full of the death of Patrick Swayze. And fair enough; he’s starred in many cult films of the 80s that are backdrops to people’s lives. None of them struck a chord with me though, the news that made me sad was another 80s icon of a very different type passing away. TV chef, bon vivant and wine-guzzler Keith Floyd had died.

2023 edit: I posted a video about Keith Floyd

I don’t know how well known he was in the US but in the UK everybody knew his name from his distinct cookery shows from the 80s. In fact, many may only know him through mimic Rory Bremner’s bang-on impersonation, showing him staggering from side-to-side as his wine glass was filled over and over. It was an impression I used to copy, and like a second-gen photocopy it wasn’t very good.

As I grew up I began to appreciate the TV shows themselves (often “Floyd On…”). As a contrast to Delia’s staid home-kitchen based show Keith Floyd bounded between peasant kitchens, posh restaurants, country homes, sculleries and beaches. Often he would cook with what was nearby and to hand, with recipes often involving everything being chucked in a pan and left to stew for a bit while he explained something about the area he was in. On repeat today it would go down a storm, as it’s all about local food prepared for the region you’re in, presented very simply and equally important, made accessible. Everything looked dead simple when Keith did it; chuck some of this in here, leave that for a bit, add some more… all simple stuff, celebrating it’s components. His seafood in particular was of note, plenty of clam stews and mussel hot pots. His shows are also infamous for first glimpses of the next wave of TV chefs; Gary Rhodes and Rick Stein got early breaks on these programmes.

My favourite Floyd moment was in a French kitchen; he prepared a dish that the cook of the house tasted. Immediately her face went sour and she tore into the dish piece by piece, and with an avuncular chuckle Keith translated “…not enough salt…not cooked enough…not enough pepper…not enough onion…” and with resignation he admitted she was right but it was a clear demonstration that despite his classic French training he still wasn’t good enough for the proud French housemaiden. The fact that he left this segment in spoke of his self-effacing attitude.

He was a grumpy old man who loved food, and crucially that love came through the screen. Cheers Keith.

“On me now please Clive…”

Image courtesy of keithfloyd.net

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