Cookery book

[Janne]

I post this recommendation here as it is not bushcraft related.
You cooks and foodies among here, I am sure you have heard about Nordic or Scandinavian cooking.
Simple, healthy, using basic Euopean ingredients.

I recommend you buy ( birthday? Christmas?) a book by Magnus Nilsson called ‘The Nordic Cookbook’.

I do not think I need to write who Magnus Nilsson is.

Another excellent one is Larousse Gastronomique. ( in English)

Do you have any recommendations for cookery books?

 

[Billy-o]

Not so much specific cookbooks, more the names of some well known writers who I liked and learned a bit from ... obviously, ahead of all this, #1 is my Mum. #2 is her Mum and Dad who kept a butcher shop and showed me how to make brawn, faggots, sausages, butcher a sheep or a pig. In fact, my Dad was a butcher for a few weeks too ... only a few weeks ... he never could eat sausages after that.

Anyway, these ten for a starter:

Claudia Roden
Jane Grierson
Michel Guérard
Madhur Jaffrey
Elizabeth David
Yotam Ottolenghi
Rose Elliott
Paula Wolfert
Marcella Hazan
Mollie Katzen

I like Rose Prince's very practical approach to things, too.

 

[Robson Valley]

Just for the factual underpinings:

>Kurlansky: A World History Of Salt.
>McGee: On Food and Cooking. (the best there is.)
(Even some recipes that go back to Caesar's Roman Empire.)
>Gisslen: Professional Baking.
>Gisslen: Professional Cooking.

Watch for specialty publications from food companies like Krinos and Patak.
"Nathaniel's Nutmeg" is a very entertaining account of the spice trade.

 

[Bishop]

Perhaps something slightly different? a collection of recipes eaten on-screen during the sci-fi series Babylon-5

 

[Billy-o]

I have worked with a few food historians in the past. One of my favourite tales (not sure how true it is) was that to make a particular yellow pigment from cow pee, they were fed mangoes.

I put leafy greens in the dog's dinner. No green pee yet, but she does look well on it.

 

[Robson Valley]

U- - - Ree- - - - Ah!
U - - -Ree- - - - Ah!
And suddenly I found,
It was wet upon the ground:
Urea!

And trout & salmon farms have paprika in the feed to keep the flesh pinky-orange.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Well, where to begin?

I have McGee's "On food..." but not read more that the table of contents, yet.
Ottolenghi's and Tamimi's "jerusalem", Psilakis's "How to Roast a Lamb", Al Safi's "The Iraqi Table", Konstantinides's "Sofi's Aegean Kitchen"...

On the subject of fermented foods, Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions".

A few volumes on French regional cooking from the CNAC (Conseil national des arts culinaires), a few on traditional Armenian cooking, some English books from the 1950s and 1960s and a packet of recipes (a mix of handwritten notes and newspaper clippings) from my grandmother or bought in jumble sales.

A couple of books in Russian, one in Korean with English translation on facing pages. A few on Indian food, some more on East Asian and on South East Asian food.

I think that in all, there must be around 100 or so "recipe books" in the house.

I don't generally follow recipes: I like the kind of book that has a chapter about the culture, climate, traditionally available ingredients, followed by a few related recipes. I read through the story and the recipes, and then adapt them to what I have on hand or can find.

 

[Robson Valley]

I have read McGee. Cover to cover. Twice. The kind of book which interests me.
Huge charts of sweeteners and all kinds of other things.
I read and re-read many parts of Gisslen's Professional Baking.
Bertinet:Dough: takes 2 days to make bread. The make ups (bread stars, etc.) is worth it.

Krinos has some good Greek stuff, so does Patak for India. For free, too.
They do point out the many regional differences.
The deal with those guys is that you have to ask for it.
Takes the price of a stamp for a letter.

Make up a spread sheet in something like MS Excel. Nine columns.
Look up a food concept on the internet and load 8 of those recipes into the spread sheet.
Column #9 is your own invention. The sum and difference of all the others. Never fails.
I did that to learn to make lime marmalade = absolute delight.

I made up a personal, family cookbook over the years. Gets revised every few years.
I have not bought an actual cook book in many years
= = =
Some of these books are really expensive. Second hand shops near trade schools?
Use your local library for interlibrary loans.

 

[Janne]

Internet is a goid source.
Fir ethnic recipes I try to find sites from that ethnic area/ country, and translate.
Tricky sometimes.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Internet is a goid source.
Fir ethnic recipes I try to find sites from that ethnic area/ country, and translate.
Tricky sometimes.

Yes... especially when the writer slips in a few spelling mistakes, or uses non-standard terms...

 

[Janne]

Internet is a good source.
For ethnic recipes I try to find sites from that ethnic area/ country, and translate.
Tricky sometimes.

Better?

 

[Clayze]

This thread has just reminded me of a website that I used to enjoy a few years ago. Happily it's still around, godecookery.com.
Getting back to the good old printed page, Annette Hope's Londoners Larder although I'm not entirely sure if its a cook or history book. A pleasing combination of both I think.

 

[Janne]

what is the name of that classic British cookery book the milkman used to sell?
(I think it was the milkman?)

A very good book, 'It can't be always caviar' the title should be in English, was written by an Austrian writer and chemist,
Johannes Mario Simmel.

A spy book, with recipes. A really, really good read! You can buy it from Amazon.


Our Deutsche friends will recognize it, 'Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein'

Yo, Huns, have you read it?

 

[Keith_Beef]

This thread has just reminded me of a website that I used to enjoy a few years ago. Happily it's still around, godecookery.com.

I would haue eggys...