Category: book review

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book review food

my favourite cookbooks of 2023

Gifting time is here! Check out my choices for the cookbooks of the year.

Diet and sustainability has never been higher in the agenda. While these are important topics for anyone nerdy about their food, despite money worries people are asking these questions about their dinner. And the cookbooks of today reflect that.

Here’s a selection of some books I’ve enjoyed most this year. It’s not been an easy shortlist, so let me know what I missed.

Quick note: if you love to cook but hate sifting through recipes, try out Eat Your Books. With over 2.5 million recipes indexed Eat Your Books will help you figure out exactly what to eat for dinner tonight, based on the books you already own. Build shopping lists, add your own recipes and more. Jane has always been a big supporter of BigSpud and I highly recommend her site – try it out now and use code EYB2330 to unlock a free one month Premium membership.

The Extra Mile


Few things crush my soul more than knowing we have to stop at a motorway services on a road trip. If you’re in the mood for Burger King, Starbucks or KFC then you’re fine, but even then you’ll be rinsed on price compared to the high street. Thankfully then I discovered this book, refreshed every year, aiming to compile brilliant farm shops, cafes and delis just off the motorways. I’ve discovered a couple of gems from it this year, not least of which the incredible Waitrose farm cafe. This book now sits in my glove compartment permanently, and would make a perfect gift for UK drivers.

Buy The Extra Mile from Amazon

The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook

 

Poppy O’Toole is a national treasure in the making. I can’t wait for her to be completely mainstream and present The One Show or something. Her book from a couple of years ago was one of my favourites that year, and I immediately preordered her air fryer book when it was available. And it doesn’t disappoint. There’s no new ideas or ground-breaking flavours here, but inspiration to use the now-ubiquitous appliance in different ways.

Buy The Actually Delicious Airfryer Cookbook from Amazon

Made in Bangladesh

 

In the UK Bangladeshi food means one thing: British Indian Restaurant food. What most of us think of us ‘having an Indian’ or ‘having a curry’ means curries derived from the Bangladeshi cuisine. And even then it has evolved over ~40 years to satisfy the most people possible. What a treat then is Made In Bangladesh, a love letter to the perfume, the aroma, the joy of Bangladeshi cuisine. There are so many different layers and ideas across the Indian continent and we don’t do enough in the UK to educate ourselves in these varieties. This would be a good first step for those looking to expand their ‘curry’ repertoire.

Made in Bangladesh from Amazon

Honourable mention: White Heat 25

OK; this edition is from 2015, a reprint of a 1990 book. But I just had to include this book as no other book has influenced me more in the kitchen this year. I was always aware of Marco Pierre White (who isn’t?) but I’d never really know what he was about nor knew that much about him. Doing a little research for a YouTube video this year I got hold of this from the library, read it cover to cover in an hour, then immediately bought my own copy. Yes the photography is somewhat dated and hilariously cliched now but it still burns with passion and charisma. The writing and the recipes are electric and inspire completely – what more do you want from a book about food?

Buy White Heat 25 from Amazon

That was my year in cookbooks – what were your favourite books this year?

Previous years’ lists:

The 2022 cookbook list

The 2021 cookbook list

The 2019 cookbook list

The 2018 cookbook list

The 2017 cookbook list

The 2016 cookbook list

The 2015 cookbook list

The 2014 cookbook list

The 2013 cookbook list

The 2012 cookbook list

The 2011 cookbook list

The 2010 cookbook list

Categories
book review cream egg food lemon

marco pierre white’s lemon tart

I recently got hold of a copy of Marco Pierre White’s White Heat book from the library. It is a cookbook but really it’s a capture of a time and a place: when Marco was on top of the culinary world and the absolute hottest thing in chefs and cookery. I hadn’t read it before; I devoured it an hour and immediately ordered a copy for myself.

The photography, all black and white, is still crisp, clear and full of motion and emotion. The words from Marco are full of his cool directness. The recipes are surprisingly good; unpretentious and focused on celebrating a core ingredient. One stood out to me: Marco Pierre White’s lemon tart.

As I read it, I suddenly remember it seems familiar: there’s a very similar one in Heston at Home that I’ve made before.

It should come as no surprise there is a similarity. The backgrounds of Marco and Heston overlap. Heston’s first job at a restaurant was a week spent at Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. They struck up a friendship that stuck. While Heston ploughed his unique furrow Marco did the traditional route of moving up from kitchen to kitchen learning from Pierre Koffman, Albert and Michel Roux Sr and Raymond Blanc as mentioned. The classic French method was drummed into him, and while Heston studied at home it was the French classics he drilled. Heston even spent time at White’s Canteen to learn how to run a team of chefs before opening The Fat Duck.

Marco’s tart

I made the lemon tart immediately. It is thick and custardy, very satisfying. Though he does recommend grilling the top to brulee the sugar topping, I found it hard to protect the pastry from burning – I would cover the pastry in foil if trying again. As a recipe itself it also lacks crucial detail. We’re told to mix the filling ingredients – but until when? Just combined? Beaten smooth? And there’s no indication what size pie dish you should be using. The depth of the filling means you can’t tell when it will cook convincingly. I’m all for improvising in the kitchen – an advocate in fact – but with pastry dishes precision is everything.

Heston’s tart on the left, Marco’s on the right

I couldn’t help but compare Marco and Heston’s tarts. Heston has an unnecessarily fussy pastry recipe, but has the smart idea to part-set the custard over a bain marie before transferring to the oven. And in classic Heston style check the set temperature with a probe to get consistent results. And to avoid burning use a blowtorch to finish.

Overall I found Heston’s far more enjoyable, more what I expect of a lemon tart. The lemon had more zing, and the filling itself is unctuous and creamy.

If I was to make it again, I’d use whatever pastry recipe you are happy with, or even buy a dcent pre-made case, then go Heston’s method for the filling. It’s dead easy, just warm things in a bowl over the hob, then pour into the case. You will need a probe thermometer.

Both great recipes, but fascinating to explore what makes the differences.

Want another view? Jay Rayner tries Marco’s tart

Print

marco pierre white's lemon tart

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword brulee
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 8 slices

Ingredients

For the tart case:

  • 500 g plain flour
  • 175 g icing sugar
  • 250 g butter diced
  • grated zest of 1 lemon
  • grains from 1 vanilla pod
  • 1½ eggs
  • 50 g sieved icing sugar

For the lemon filling:

  • 9 eggs
  • 400 g caster sugar
  • 5 lemons zest of 2 and juice of all 5
  • 250 ml double cream

Instructions

For the pastry:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Sieve the flour and icing sugar and rub in the butter.
  • Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla seeds.
  • Beat the eggs and add to the mix. Knead the mixture with fingers, then wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
  • Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a size just large enough to fill the flan tin or ring to be used.
  • Using either a greased flan ring on a greased baking sheet, or a greased flan tin with a removable base, fold the dough into it. Gently ease the dough into the corners of the tin, ensuring a good 1cm/2in overhang. Do not cut this off.
  • Line the flan with greaseproof paper and fill with enough dry baking beans or lentils to ensure that the sides as well as the base are weighted. This helps give a good finished flan shape.
  • Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the beans and greaseproof paper and trim the overhang from the flan. Return the flan to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

For the lemon filling:

  • Whisk the eggs with the sugar and the lemon zest.
  • Stir in the lemon juice and then fold in the cream. Remove any froth from the top of the mixture.
  • Reduce the oven temperature to 120C.
  • Pour the cold filling into the hot pastry (this ensures that the pastry case will be sealed and hold the filling) and bake for 30 minutes in the oven.
  • Pre-heat a very hot grill.
  • Sieve the icing sugar over the tart as soon as it comes out of the oven and then flash it briefly under the grill to caramelize the sugar.

Video

Categories
book review food

ranking the books of heston blumenthal

Which is Heston Blumenthal’s best book? Blumenthalophile that I am I own them all, so I thought I’d compile them all in one list. I’ve ranked them from least favourite to most favourite. He’s authored 7 distinct books spanning 20+ years (with a couple of compendiums, deluxe editions and best-ofs) with different themes and ideas.

Video version of this review here:

As a big fan of Heston Blumenthal I made a list of how I rank his books.

7. 📚 Heston’s Fantastical Feasts: the menus and themes are fun, but all of it is so out there you’re never likely to do it. It’s all very specific. My full review here.

Buy on Amazon

6. 📚 Family Food: written in 2002 and it is definitely a reined-in Heston. There’s lots of recipes and discussion but very little of it has the wizardry we associate with him, besides a few standouts like Herve This’s chocolate mousse.

Buy on Amazon

5. 📚 Is This a Cookbook?: it’s an adorable book (and nice to have one ‘normal’ size!) with beautiful David McKean illustrations, and lots of ruminations from Heston on how a recipe works. There’s also a whole chapter on cooking with cricket powder which is… different.

Buy on Amazon

4. 📚 The Fat Duck Cookbook: a proper labour of love, much like the restaurant. The first section is a history of the venue, the second detailed breakdowns of significant recipes, and the third a science of food. A very heavy read with small font and it weighs a ton! Read this to get inside his mind, but otherwise it’s a curio. My full review here.

Buy on Amazon

3. 📚 Historic Heston ever-fascinated with the history of recipes in the UK, this is a timeline of dishes that he has found with his methods to modernise them. You’re very unlikely to cook anything from it, but you understand a lot about how he cooks and how to adapt recipes. My full review is here.

Buy on Amazon

2. 📚 In Search of Perfection: from the TV series of the same name, this remains very enjoyable and readable where he recreates a classic dish from the ground up. The core concept was to keep the recipes achievable for the home cook so there’s lots to attempt if you’re up for a challenge. I also get the sensation he’s really enjoying himself.

Buy on Amazon

1. 📚 Heston Blumenthal at Home: strikes the balance right between recipes and food theory. Excellent photography, a real deep understanding of how a recipe works, and the feeling that these genuinely are things he enjoys cooking.

Buy on Amazon

Do you own one of these cookbooks? Which is Heston Blumenthal’s best book? Let me know in the comments!

Categories
book review food

my favourite cookbooks of 2022

Gifting time is here! Check out my choices for the cookbooks of the year.

It feels like we are travelling through our cookbooks, more and more. Vicariously going long-haul as we find ourselves constrained in the pocket. Scrolling through lists of the best selling food books of the year finds us leaping from country to country. Amazon’s bestsellers reads more like a travel brochure.

Here’s a selection of the four books I’ve enjoyed most this year. It’s not been an easy shortlist, so let me know what I missed.

Quick note: if you love to cook but hate sifting through recipes, try out Eat Your Books. With over 2.3 million recipes indexed Eat Your Books will help you figure out exactly what to eat for dinner tonight, based on the books you already own. Build shopping lists, add your own recipes and more. Jane has always been a big supporter of BigSpud and I highly recommend her site – try it out now and use code EYB2230 to unlock a free one month Premium membership.

Journey to Flavour by Dev Mukherji

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Dev for many years. He’s always, always been passionate about vegan food that you simply can’t recognise as anything but delicious. He takes inspiration from his travels and never compromises on flavour. His pan-global, zero-waste style keeps you guessing. From rapid curries to slow casseroles, Dev’s book will take you on a journey through his life and with combinations you’ve never had before. Read my review here.

Buy Journey To Flavour from Amazon

It’s All About Dinner by Nicky Corbishley (Kitchen Sanctuary)

It’s been so exciting watching Nicky absolutely smash her way to this amazing career: from a fledgling YouTube channel that now boasts over 300,000 subscribers, to one of the most delicious Instagrams you’ll ever see Kitchen Sanctuary is a wealth of family-friendly, everyday recipes. They are all winners and ones your whole family will love, and every recipe has a QR code that will take you to the video version. A treasure trove of favourites you’ll reach for again and again. I recommend her chicken a la king, a real old-fashioned dish that’s desperate for a comeback.

Buy It’s All About Dinner from Amazon

Is This a Cookbook? by Heston Blumenthal

Well is it a cookbook? Yes. There could be no doubt that this book would be on the list, Blumenthal fanboy that I am. Yes there are recipes, but nothing bonkers or outlandish – well apart from the chapter dedicated to eating crickets but let’s come back to that – but the good stuff is literally in the margins. Any reader of Terry Pratchett will tell you some of his absolute best writing is in the footnotes. As it is here, where Heston ruminates further on why an ingredient works, or how to push a recipe further, or how to stimulate the other senses while eating. There is a whole page dedicated to the mindful eating of an egg sandwich! Along with esoteric sketches from David McKean this is one to make you think about what you cook, and what you eat.

Oh the crickets? A whole section decrying how we do need to reduce meat intake (no arguments) and then how you can replace that protein with insects. Mostly it’s in the form of tasteless cricket powder. Mostly.

Buy Is This a Cookbook? from Amazon

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci

I really didn’t expect to put a book by an actor in this list! But Stanley has a way of entwining his life with food that is utterly irresistible. More than Heston’s above this isn’t quite a cookbook – more an autobiography interspersed with the recipes from key moments of his life. I have a soft spot (more of a doughy middle) for Italian food, and for the charmingly robust way Italian American food amps everything up. And hearing Stanley talk about growing up with a pot of Sunday gravy on the go, and how he spends Christmas, is all utterly charming. In some ways the book is infuriating – it’s hard to get further than three chapters without wanting to skulk into the fridge for a snack. But it’s a delight.

Buy Taste from Amazon

That was my year in cookbooks – what were your favourite books this year?

Previous years’ lists:

The 2021 cookbook list

The 2019 cookbook list

The 2018 cookbook list

The 2017 cookbook list

The 2016 cookbook list

The 2015 cookbook list

The 2014 cookbook list

The 2013 cookbook list

The 2012 cookbook list

The 2011 cookbook list

The 2010 cookbook list

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