16.1.11

My favourite cookbooks bought last year


I guess by now we´re all tired out by best of 2010 lists, but never mind.

Here are the favourite cookbooks I bought last year. I´ve gone a little crazy with the whole Amazon free super saver shipping and ordered more stuff than makes sense, but these are good books (by the way most links are not to Amazon but to reviews or interviews):


Kitchenella- chock full of good recipes, thoughtful texts and sound advice. A touch stern, maybe even a bit chippy, but never mind. It´s a great book to start cooking from, though I suspect that being long on text and short on (stunning) photos, it will appeal to the converted.


Momofuku- a cheffy book, yes, but fun to read, and full of dishes you might try.


River cottage everyday- very British, but helpful now that I live in Scotland. Otherwise I wouldn´t know what to do with all these parsnips and turnips and barley and such.


Mad Hungry- feeding men and boys. With a son born in Febuary, I couldn´t resist, but it´s a great book for everyone. Sensible, delicious food, and no namby pamby portions, or unrealistic stuff like quails.


Cooking under pressure- A great starting point for a pressure cooker neophite. Later you come to adjust things to your taste, but it´s way more reliable than the strangely transtlated booklet that came with my WMF Perfect.


I don´t really include Nigella Lawson´s latest because I don´t think it her best, but of course I´ve read it from cover to cover.


Now for books that I have read but not cooked from, yet:


In the kitchen with a good appetite- My first Kindle cookbook, and likely the last. The format is no good for a cookery book, even one without photos. I like something I can splash sauce onto. Still, the text is good and there´s a lot I want to try.


Food from plenty- lovely photos, format, friendly headnotes, the works. It´s full of little post it stickers, and I don´t know why I haven´t taken it into the kitchen yet. But I will, surely.


I found a second hand copy of The French menu cookbook, touted as the best of all time by the Observer. It´s pure fantasy, of course, but lovely to read about exquisite menus I will never, ever, for a nanosecond, consider cooking.


The last is not a cookbook proper, but is the most fun of the whole list. The flavour Thesaurus is the perfect book to keep on the nightstand. Chock full of information, delivered in a way that makes you think you´d always known that. Brilliant one-liners, too, perfect for trotting out on the unsuspecting.

7 comentarios:

This Blue Lobster dijo...

I'll have to check these out! My favorite 2010 cookbooks are Molto Gusto Mario Batali, Tyler Florence Family Meal, and Radically Simple by Rozanne Gold - incredible photography and simple recipes in each. :)

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) dijo...

Mad Hungry is one of my favorite acquisitions of the year, too. The short ribs were an instant hit in our house.

caroline dijo...

I am over lists, but a list about cookbook, never!! I enjoyed Momofuku too, but when reading it, I never felt the urge to try one of their recipes. :P I'm going to have to check out River Cottage Ever.

Cristine dijo...

Thanks for this, it's a great help and I ALWAYS need new recipes, especially good, easy ones!

lobstersquad dijo...

blue obster: thanks, I´ll definitely check those out.
Lydia: the ribs are on the list as of right away.
Caroline: momofuku is weird, there´s more to it than I first thought.
cristine: me too, what is it with new recipes? there´s so much old stuff I like, too.

Removalists in Sydney dijo...

my favourite cookbook is faran's cookbook.

Deena dijo...

I believe that I am a good cook with the aid of easy to follow cookbooks which I got from bookstore and friends... Well I believe that is the secret of every housewife. But of course cook book is not enough we have to put our hearts too when cooking, right?

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