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A Good Cook Book
I often get asked to recommend a cookbook and why I am recommending it.
Here are some ideas of great cookbooks from a PERSONAL perspective and why I’ve specifically chosen these. I own over 300 cookbooks and have written a few of my own. Menu’s and cookbooks are my hobby. My most expensive purchase was over 1000 dollars, and my cheapest 50 cents. They’ve all added value to my food journey. My favourites are actually books from the 1800’s and early 1900’s – I enjoy seeing the original recipes because many have been ‘Bastardised’ over time. By getting really old cookbooks or recipes, we get to see the origins. I bought an old bakery book from the 1700’s – it had a Christmas cake recipe calling for 5 litres of brandy – seriously, how bad can that be! We made the recipe 10 years ago as a dare – incredible. And that’s not the booze talking. It’s now an annual tradition. It costs more than a small house to make – but it is a tradition.
But these chosen few below have served me well for years.
In my opinion a good cookbook is a treasure. I don’t often follow it to the letter, I’m an experienced chef, so am able to improvise when cooking. But for baking, it’s best to follow it precisely as written. Baking is alchemy, a true science, it requires precision of ingredients and measurements to get the best results.
