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The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy

by Andrew on March 3, 2012 in Books For Cooks with No comments

Fruit Herbs and Vegetables of italyA new edition of a classic early 17th century work – The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy, written by the Italian refugee Giacomo Castelvetro.

When he came ot England he was horrified by our preference for large helpings of meat, masses of sugar and very little greenstuff. The Italians were both good gardeners, and had a famililiarity with many varieties of vegetable and fruit that were as yet little known in England.

Castelvetro takes us through the gardener’s year, listing the fruit and vegetables as they come into season, with simple and elegant ways of preparing them. Practical instructions are interspersed with tender vignettes of his life in his native Modena. He writes of children learning to swim in the canals of the Brenta, strapped to huge dried pumpkins to keep them afloat; Venetian ladies ogling passers-by from behind screens of verdant beanstalks; sultry German wenches jealously hoarding their grape harvest; and his intimate chats with Scandinavian royalty about the best way to graft pear cuttings and discomfort the Pope.

An entry for Spring:

And so I start the year with hops, the first shoots to appear at this time of year. These we never eat raw, but serve as a cooked salad. We wash them in several waters and then cook the desired amount in water with a little salt, when done we take them out and drain very well and serve in a nice clean dish seasoned with salt, plenty of oil, and a little vinegar or lemon juice and some crushed, not powered, pepper. Alternatively, once the hops are cooked, some of us flour them and fry them in oil and serve sprinkled with salt, pepper and bitter orange juice, and very tasty they are”

The Fruit, Herbs and Vegetables of Italy. is availble from Amazon.co.uk for £9.12.


London Oyster Guide

by Andrew on October 11, 2011 in Books For Cooks with No comments

london_oyster_guideTo chew or not to chew? Is it a rock or a native? How do I open them?

Where can I get decent oysters for under £10 in London? Is it wrong to cook oysters?

Oysters are no longer the preserve of over-priced Champagne bars and cigar-smoking gentlemen. A new generation of oyster eaters can be found grabbing a glass of wine and a plate of oysters on the hoof between business meetings in the City or shopping trips in the West End. Celebrity chefs including Mark Hix and Richard Corrigan are including oysters in their menus, and more and more people are prepared to give them a go.

However, ordering oysters can be a daunting experience for first-timers, and it is difficult to know which to choose, let alone how to open and eat them.

The London Oyster Guide is a book written for (both wannabe and well-versed) oyster lovers by an oyster lover.

Colin Presdee certainly knows his oysters. He has magnanimously taken on the enviable task of reviewing more than 150 restaurants, bars, merchants, retailers and producers serving oysters (including a selection outside of London for a foodie daytrip). He’s delved into the history of oysters, sampled drinks with oysters and handpicked some exquisite oyster recipes, making this the definitive guide to oysters.

The London Oyster Guide is “invaluable for anyone taking their first steps towards realising how very good oysters can be. I would urge anyone to stop when they scan a menu featuring bivalves and choose some oysters that they have never tried before,” writes Charles Campion in the foreword.

“I believe that an oyster should be chewed exactly as any meat or fish. The succulent flavour as the teeth sink into the firm and creamy flesh is an explosion of mineral nuances with the flavour of the seashore on the lowest spring tide. Merely to swallow an oyster misses this essential part of the oyster experience, but everyone to one’s own.”

Presdee, originally from the village of Oystermouth in Mumbles in south Wales, opened the Oyster Perches restaurant, followed by the Drangway, both in Swansea. These specialised in food and oysters from fisheries including Colchester and Cornwall. Now a food writer and consultant living in London, he retains close links with Wales. He has written several books including ‘Food Wales – a second helping’ and ‘Food Wales – eating out guide’.

The book contains:
A guide to the different types of oysters and how to identify them (“The Rock is more elongated with a crinkly shell, with a flat top shell and deep cupped bottom shell; the native is fairly round with a flat top shell and a cupped bottom shell”).
Advice about when is best to eat oysters (the traditional season for native oysters was September to April (or the winter months with an ‘r’) and a list of oyster festivals and merchants.
How to open and present oysters, and a guide to which drinks and accompaniments are best served with them.
Original recipes including oysters with chilli and celery crumbs and oysters crisp-fried in breadcrumbs.
A directory of more than 150 places where oysters can be enjoyed in London segmented by region including Sheekey, Randall & Aubin and Livebait.

London Oyster Guide is available from Amazon.co.uk for £10.80.

Every Wine Tells A Story

by Andrew on March 28, 2011 in Books For Cooks with No comments

A dip into the lives, the wine loves with an associated anecdote from a host of internet wine names. That I think just about sums up Every Wine Tells A Story, a copy of which the author, Tara Devon O’Leary, posted over to me last week. Subtitled “A collection of the most memorable bottles of 2010 as told by 29 international wine experts” it is less about the most expensive bottle opened, the most famous “bound to impress” show-off label and more, as Simon Woods in his section mentions, more “right-place-right-time” wine.

In addition to Simon, (with a €3 wine) you will discover old Sleuthy, (with a wine picked before her recent Bordeaux epiphany), alongside Phil Spillman, the winemaker at Deakin Estate in Australia, Tim Pearson, owner of the South African Seven Springs Vineyard (who has picked a glorious South African wine) and Richard Siddle, Editor of Harpers Wine and Spirit magazine. Twenty-nine individuals in total; certainly an eclectic and engaging group. Plus you will find me in there too; just to make up the numbers.

But there is more to Every Wine Tells A Story than simple words for Tara has created a Facebook page when you are encouraged to record your own ‘best wine of 2010′ story. You can also appear in the next edition by submitting your details!

Thanks for your interest in Every Wine Tells A Story: a Collection of the Most Memorable Bottles of 2010 to Warm the Wine Lover’s Soul, as told by 29 International Wine Experts.

I’d like to share with you my motivation for this book. To me, expanding one’s experience of wine by tasting, drinking and appreciating different bottles is the best, easiest and most fun way to learn about wine.

So I hope that the stories of the wines in these pages will inspire and encourage you to choose wines that you haven’t had before and are interesting, unusual, and even perhaps a bit risky!

The second reason is because I believe wine is an experience. Wine amplifies an evening with friends, accentuates a great meal and wine evokes emotion, exuberance and passion. These stories do the same - they tell a personal tale of a time when the wine in the glass made that day with those people in that place even more special.

So please join me and my 28 fellow wine experts and enthusiasts as we share with you our personal experiences of one wine from 2010 that captured our imagination!”
- Tara Devon O’Leary

Every Wine Tells a Story a Collection of the Most Memorable Bottles of 2010 to Warm the Wine Lover’s Soul, as Told by 29 International Wine Experts is available from Amazon.co.uk

River Cottage Hedgerow

by Andrew on August 9, 2010 in Books For Cooks with No comments

Author and River Cottage foraging guru John Wright explores the culinary delights of the British hedgerows, moors, meadows and woods in the latest River Cottage Handbook, Hedgerow.

In John’s hugely informative Hedgerow - his third after Mushrooms and Edible Seashore - he reveals how to spot the free and delicious ingredients to be found in the British countryside, and then how to prepare and cook them.

The hedgerow is perhaps the most accessible and least daunting type of wild food environment. Few of us are very far from some kind of woodland, field edge, heath land, allotment, or, indeed, garden, and these habitats are all included in John’s Hedgerow bracket.

John’s book will tell you all you need to know to turn any little walk or ramble into a foraging expedition, and it will inspire and entertain you at the same time.

Amazon.co.uk is listing Hedgerow (River Cottage Handbook) at £8.99.

Fusion: A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon

by Andrew on March 10, 2010 in Books For Cooks with 2 Comments

Growing up in a small town in New Zealand, Peter Gordon didn’t discover avocados or sushi until he moved to Australia in his late teens. From there he travelled to Asia where a whole new culinary world opened before his eyes.

Often dubbed the ‘Father of Fusion cuisine’ – a culinary style that integrates various regional flavours and cooking techniques in order to create innovative new tastes – Peter reveals in this, his signature book, how he developed his unique culinary philosophy. Exploring different cuisines, foods, tastes and cooking ideas, Peter creates dishes influenced by his extensive travels around the world.

Fusion: A Culinary Journey explores the history of food and why the Fusion style of cooking is frequently viewed as a threat to traditional culinary values. It is often forgotten that food is constantly on the move and always has been, with many of today’s national cuisines having developed as a direct result of historical fusion.

In his landmark book, Peter demonstrates how much dishes can benefit from cross-cultural play and how ingredients from different countries can be served in harmony to produce not only lip-smackingly delicious meals but a style of cooking that both enriches and stimulates us.

Illustrated with stunning photography from renowned photographer Jean Cazals, and supplemented by personal photos taken by Peter on his own travels, Peter takes us on a journey through Asia, Europe and the Pacific and presents 80 delicious recipes plus the key ingredients that epitomise Fusion cuisine.

‘Fusion is, therefore, simply one of many cuisines, happily sitting amongst them like a benevolent magpie, borrowing highlights from them all, and in the process creating new highlights of its own. This is surely something worth doing.’ – Peter Gordon

Fusion: A Culinary Journey is currently listed by Amazon.co.uk for £13.93.

Peter Gordon is UK based, and co-owns The Providores and Tapa Room in London with Michael McGrath. Peter consults to Istanbul’s Changa and Müzedechanga restaurants, and has a signature restaurant, dine by Peter Gordon, and Bellota tapas bar in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand born Peter writes his own cookbooks and this is his sixth to date.

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