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As many of you know I am passionate about cookbooks. I have been collecting them for more than forty years, and yes, lugged many of them across the pond when I moved to California. I would like to share some of these tasty tomes with you.
The Cookbook Review is now part of every newsletter which features one or two newly released books and delves into some of the favorites on my shelves. These are books reviewed in 2023.
April 2023
Mother Tongue: Flavours of a Second Generation by Gurdeep Loyal
Cook As You Are: Recipes for Real Life, Hungry Cooks and Messy Kitchens by Ruby Tandoh
March 2023
Falling Cloudberries: A world of family recipes by Tessa Kiros
Mediterranean: Treasured Recipes from a Lifetime of Travel by Claudia Roden
Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Sara Wigley
February 2023
This month's books have a nostalgic vein and are full of the comforts of home.
When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman
A La Mere de Famille by Julien Merceron
One Tin Bakes by Edd Kimber
January 2023
Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Alexsandra Crapanzano
Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by The Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors
Serendipity: A History of Accidental Culinary Discoveries by Oscar Farinetti
April 2023
Mother Tongue: Flavours of a Second Generation by Gurdeep Loyal
Published in 2023 by First Estate
Gurdeep Loyal is a terrific writer. His stories are simultaneously enchanting and seductive and I haven't even got to the recipes yet. In his introduction he writes, "The irony of writing a book called Mother Tongue in a language that my own mother won't be able to fully read is not lost on me. Yet what's missing in her understanding of these words say is countered by her fluency in the flavours, something that words can barely begin to convey."
Born to Indian parents in 1980s Britain, he conveys the challenges and the clash of expectations of both his cultures. But through his passion for food, his respect for his Punjabi roots, and his 'second-generation' cooking
Cook As You Are: Recipes for Real Life, Hungry Cooks and Messy Kitchens by Ruby Tandoh
Published in 2021 by Serpent's Tail
For those of you who are fans of The Great British Bake Off you may remember Ruby Tandoh who was a finalist in season 4. She went on to become a food writer, columnist and cook book author. As she writes on her own website, 'Cook as You Are celebrates the messy, unglamorous, delicious realities of home cooking today. Across 100 original recipes, I explore how real home cooks – no matter their age, budget, ability or background – can find joy in the ordinary rhythms of cooking, from cobbling together weeknight ‘cupboard dinners’ from store cupboard staples and leftovers to rejoicing in the glory of carbs.'
March 2023
Falling Cloudberries: A world of family recipes
by Tessa Kiros
Published in 2004 by Murdoch Books
Tessa Kiros, author of nine cookbooks, was born in London to a Finnish mother and Greek Cypriot father, and is now married to an Italian and lives in Tuscany. She grew up in South Africa and then travelled the world living, cooking and eating through different cultures. This book is a compendium of her favorite recipes from the countries she holds dear to her heart, each section delving into the dishes that for her encapsulate the cuisines of Finland, Greece, Cyprus, South Africa and Italy. Filled with beautiful photographs, personal stories, and succulent recipes, Kiros manages to capture the fragrance and essence of each country in her gorgeous and personal narrative.
Mediterranean: Treasured Recipes from a Lifetime of Travel by Claudia Roden
First published by Ebury Press in 2021, published in the US by Ten Speed Press
I'm a long time fan of Claudia Roden's work. Her books on Middle Eastern cooking reflect her encyclopedic knowledge of the region's cuisines. This book is much more personal. These are very much the recipes she cooks at homes for family and friends, and the most delightful aspect of the book is that you feel you have been invited to pull a chair up to her dinner table and tuck in to all this delicious food. Imagine drawing a rough outline of the stretched out elongated S that is the Mediterranean Sea, delving into the coves, bays, villages, towns and cities that dot it's shores, sampling dishes along the way from a Grand Aioli in Marseille, a Bullinada in Malaga, to a chicken with Freekeh from Cairo. Every dish she shares with us tells a story and with it the warmth of the Mediterranean fills the pages and is resplendent in the food she writes about. The recipes are uncomplicated and flavorful, each a delight on the plate and the palate.
Falastin by Sami Tamimi and Sara Wigley
First published by Ebury Press in 2020, published in the US by Ten Speed Press
The introduction to Falastin reads, "This is a book about Palestine-its food, its produce, its history, its future, its people and their voices. It is a book about the common themes that all these elements share, and how Palestine weaves narrative and cooking into the fabric of its identity." It is a book that delivers all of that and much, much more. Authors Tamimi and Wigley delve into all that is complicated and enticing about Palestinian food, not shying away from delicate subject matters, but rather looking at how the geo-political situation on the West Bank has shaped the food culture that exists there today, at the same time celebrating millennia of cooking traditions. This book manages the delicate balancing act of opening its pages to a culture without preaching a political agenda.
It's not often I come across a book where I want to cook almost every single recipe. This is one of them. I have so many bits of paper and notes stuffed into the pages marking which one to try next, it's sometimes hard to know where to open the book. It is not just the photos that are so appetizing, the stories behind the food are captivating as well. Meet the yogurt making ladies of Bethlehem and Noura Shaalan, a 'force of nature' who does everything from milking to marketing, or Vivian Sansour who started the Palestinian Seed Library, of fishing in Gaza, of olive oil, of cooking in refugee camps and the acts of peaceful resistance. The food is glorious, with tantalizing photos that make you want to lick the page, well, not literally of course, but close! I feel honored to make this food, carrying on a tradition of sharing with those around you. In a world that is too often torn by strife and violence, how comforting it is to create food that can give solace and put a smile on everyone's faces.
February 2023
This month's books have a nostalgic vein and are full of the comforts of home.
When French Women Cook by Madeleine Kamman
Originally Published in 1976 by Atheneum, Subsequently Published in 2002 by Ten Speed Press
When French Women Cook begins with these words, "This book, in its own way a feminist manifesto, is dedicated to the millions of women who have spent millennia in kitchens creating unrecognized masterpieces.."
The book is an homage to France, the masterpieces of it's classic regional cuisine, and to a time gone by. Each chapter in this moving memoir is titled after the women who shaped Madeleine Kamman's life and spans roughly 40 years from pre WWII Paris to Provence in the 1970s. Here are classic dishes of La France Profonde, from Poireaux Vinaigrette she made with her grandmother Marie Charlotte in Poitou to Mimi's (a friend since childhood) Trout with Hazelnuts or Quails with Juniper from Savoie, to Escalope de Veau she made with Magaly in Provence. There are pates, terrines and wild mushrooms a plenty, stories of milky cows in hay filled barns, and picking wild herbs in alpine fields. There's butter, crème fraiche and lots of vegetables, rabbit, lamb and fresh water fish too. I felt as though I was looking at a flickering black and white movie of France as it used to be, and from a very personal standpoint, I felt as though I had stepped back in to my grandmother's kitchen when I was a child. These are all her dishes too. I could taste her food while reading these recipes. The poignant stories struck a visceral chord and I realize how much I miss cooking with her.
A La Mere de Famille by Julien Merceron
Published by Chronical Books in 2014, originally published by Hachette in 2002
This book is sweet. It's akin to stepping into a Wes Andersons Grand Budapest Hotel in book form. The illustrations are charming, the photos mouth watering and the story captivating. It is filled with sweets, in all sorts of guises, from chocolate delicacies (palet d'or), to light pastries (financiers), to whimsical candies (berlingots), interspersed with the chronological narrative of this Parisian Confectioner in business since 1761, and portraits of some of their customers. There are jewel-like pate de fruits, nutty nougats, and calissons. There are so many recipes I want to try that I don't know where to begin. Like many of the customers who were interviewed for the book, when asked what A La Mere de Famille represents to them, they ALL say, their childhood. I feel the same just salivating over the pages in this book. The shop is on my MUST visit list when I get back to France, in the mean time I get to revel in all this deliciousness.
One Tin Bakes by Edd Kimber
Published by Kyle Books in 2020
For those of you who are fans of The Great British Bake Off, Edd Kimber's name might ring a bell. He was the winner of the first series and he will be the first to tell you that Bake Off changed his life. He is now the author of six baking books and columnist for many newspapers and magazines. One Tin Bakes delves into simple traybakes, cakes, cookies, pies, bars and buns with every recipe designed to fit into a 9" x 13" tin. How could I resist a book that fits everything into a dimension that resembles my 9' x 12' kitchen! His recipes are tasty, with classic flavor combinations, and the instructions clear with photos of every single dish. There's a terrific blueberry and stone fruit galette with a pecan pastry, add a sweet-nuttiness to the dough, and a flourless chocolate meringue cake that's just heavenly. Edd Kimber also has a great Instagram feed packed with videos of his bakes.
January 2023
Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes by Alexsandra Crapanzano
Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by The Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors
Serendipity: A History of Accidental Culinary Discoveries by Oscar Farinetti
Ah the delights of a little gateau. When I first set eyes on this book I was immediately reminded of my first cookbook, La cuisine est un jeu d'enfant by Oliver Michel which is also filled with whimsical illustrations and clear directions. I thought of my copy's chocolate stained pages and the curiosity it had stirred in me at the time. That same curiosity and desire to pull out cake tins bloomed like a rising sponge cake as I flipped through the pages of Gateau. I was suddenly transported to my Grandmother Genevieve's kitchen watching her make Oeufs à la neige (floating islands) and itching to pull out a whisk. Then I came upon the recipe for Aleksandra's Gateau de Miel (Honey Cake) with a headnote describing the delights of the shops on Rue Cler that is delicious enough to make you swoon and book a ticket to Paris tout de suite, to say nothing of the succulent recipe. When I first read a new cookbook I mark each of the recipes I'd like to make with a little post-it or torn bit of newspaper. This book is now festooned with so many paper scraps all poking out of the pages that the book looks like its sprouted pompoms. I'm having a hard time choosing where to begin, in part drawn by the charming watercolor illustrations, tempted by the stories she weaves through the books and by the approachability of all the recipes. Should it be the Lemon Verbena Peach Yogurt Cake, the Breton Butter Almond Cake, a Calvados Apple Cake or Le Grand Gateau a l'Orange? and these are just in the first two chapters. On the back cover Dorie Greenspan, doyenne of the baking world, wrote: If Aleksandra had set herself the task of making the world a little more chic, charming and delectable, she could not have done a better job that to give us this book. Everything about it, the recipes for cakes simple and seductive, conspires to bring joy' I agree. It is entirely delicious.
Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World
by The Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors
Published in 2022 by Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation
I had just finished reading two harrowing books of historical fiction, both based on true stories, both set in WWII, The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Three Sisters written by Heather Morris when I came upon Honey Cakes and Latkes. In a moment of poignant serendipity I turned the pages, reading the survivors stories and the memory of the recipes that had kept them alive. This is a testament to the power of food. One story in particular stood out to me. Rachel's Fantastical Chicken Soup. In the headnote, the author describes surviving the hours long roll call in freezing conditions by describing Shabbat dinner and making this soup. The image is searing. Shaking, trembling, doing anything to survive another day, it was the strength of their collective imagination, seated around the dinner table that helped to pull them through.
Many of the recipes are written by men, now in their nineties who survived the camps as small children, who remembered their mothers cooking, one a simple Cheesecake Milkshake, another a simple and delicious Jewish Butter Cake. The recipes are uncomplicated, fragrant, comforting and satisfying. These are dishes I would like to make when I need a hug. The food will provide that solace. I am struck once again how the memory of a simple dish can transform someone's life.
Did you know a forgotten ingredient is behind the invention of the beloved brownie? Or that you could thank a herd of energetic goats for your morning coffee? Farenetti's perceptive interviews with leading chefs, artisan food inventors and producers enhance the history of each discovery, reminding us that our mistakes are often the necessary ingredient in finding success.
As a PS in his introduction he wrote: "..as you're reading, I recommend sampling the product that's the subject of the chapter. Our enjoyment is doubled when we know more about what we're tasting. I've done this experiment with friends, and trust me, it works!" I can attest that after reading about and eating the Panettone simultaneously, this is absolutely true.
