I have been strongly encouraging anyone who takes a cookbook out of the library to bring us in samples for taste-testing so that we can from personal experience and with our hands on our hearts, recommend the books to other customers.
To date nobody has taken us up on this challenge. Which is probably just as well considering the popularity of this genre and my struggles to keep my waistline within acceptable levels. Which is one of my excuses for not being a baker myself. However when I saw one of our casuals hauling a large bag of cookbooks out of the library I asked for the next best thing. Could she please review and rate the cookbooks for me for the blog. I haven't received any baking, but she took me at my word and here are Karen's top 5 (plus 4) of the latest cookbooks.
Annabel Langbein/The Free Range Cook
Companion title to the recent TV series and further cementing Annabel’s status as a practical and inspiring cook. This book is gorgeous and every page will have you thinking ‘yes, I can make that!!’. I can vouch for the deliciousness of the sticky buns featured on page 13, but only because a good friend now has to make them at every gathering, such is their popularity! Annabel Langbein’s recipes are for sensational looking and tasting food made from seasonal and easily obtained ingredients. A must-have in book in your kitchen if you are reluctant to part with the library copy and thinking of buying your own!
Julie Le Clerc/Made By Hand : natural food to nourish and delight
Another fabulous New Zealand chef and author of several books, currently the food editor for Next magazine. Not only is Julie the creator of these recipes, she is the accomplished photographer of them too. That would be very annoying if they weren’t so delicious…..the Fragrant Rice Picnic Pies on page 34 have been my picnic stand-by the last few weeks and are just as delicious (and go a lot further) when you use normal size muffin tins (silicon makes it a breeze), rather than the Texas-size used in the recipe. Julie Le Clerc states in the forward that she has put together a book of ‘achievable, wholesome recipes using natural foods to nourish and delight’. Mission accomplished. Many of the recipes are gluten, wheat, dairy and egg free (and noted as such) without compromising on taste and the wow factor.
Audrey Gordon/Audrey Gordon’s Tuscan Summer : recipes and recollections from the heart of Italy
If you are suffering from cookbook overload (is there such a thing?!) and feeling woefully inadequate as you defrost yet another instant meal and sprinkle it with dried herbs rather than those plucked fresh from your bountiful kitchen garden, then this book is the perfect tonic. ‘Celebrity chef’ Audrey Gordon presents more than fifty recipes….including her signature dish of 73 Day Slow Roasted Pork. That should give you some idea of the tone of this hilarious romp through the Tuscan countryside, in diary form and including such pearls as ‘many people think that making their own pastry is incredibly difficult and simply beyond them. It probably is’.
Sally Bee/The Secret Ingredient
Deliciously healthy recipes born from the author’s miracle of surviving three heart attacks in a week…….at the young age of 36. With keeping herself alive and healthy firmly in mind, these recipes are nourishing comfort food which your body will thank you for. Lots of everyday recipes for family meals.
Julie Goodwin/Our Family Table
Winner of Australia’s first series of Master Chef, Julie Goodwin endeared herself to viewers with her rise to glory from being an assuming at-home Mum and ardent cook to winning the coveted title and thereby publishing her very own cookbook. Lots of lovely basic recipes with a bit of a twist, perfect for cooking for your family, which was the inspiration behind the title. Probably not as health-conscious as Sally Bee, but variety is the spice of life!
Master Chef Australia : The Cookbook, Volume One
Volume Two now published, as well as the same for the first New Zealand series of this fantastic show. All the best recipes from the contestants, including detailed instructions on shucking oysters, cutting up crabs and basic vinaigrette recipes etc also. Enjoyable for reading the inspiration behind the creation of some of these recipes and some of the ‘behind the scenes’ anecdotes over what went right and wrong!
Poh Ling Yeow/Poh’s Kitchen : My Cooking Adventures
On the subject of Master Chef Australia, first series contender Poh may not have scooped the prize that Julie Goodwin did, but she came out of the experience with this book and her own television series ‘Poh’s Kitchen’ (screening in New Zealand on Sky’s Food TV channel). Although they sound complicated, the recipes have been created specifically for the home cook – so you too can cook anything from Serunding Daging (Beef floss rendang with turmeric rice) and Orange Chiffon Cake….or so the theory goes. Beautifully photographed and lots of helpful notes from Poh to assist you in your culinary journey with her.
Yotam Ottolenghi/Plenty
Author for years of the ‘New Vegetarian’ column in the UK’s Guardian Weekend, now these divine recipes are brought together in one volume. It is not the most attractively presented cookbook in the world, a very plain cover and not overly imaginative photography, but oh the food…………hard to know where to start, but I am going to make ‘Itamar’s bulghar pilaf’ very soon and probably not share it with anyone. Even the most hardened carnivore would salivate over anything in this book.
Mark McDonough and Dean Brettscneider/The Cook and the Baker
Powerhouse duo Mark McDonough (owner of Auckland’s Zarbo Deli and Café – the ‘cook’) and the ‘baker’ Dean Brettschneider – known to NZ audiences as a judge on New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker, but known internationally as the Global Baker join forces to produce a book of stylish and innovative recipes. They aim to have home cooks capitalise on seasonal local ingredients and make food full of flavour for others to enjoy. Kumara and Pumpkin Salad with pear maple syrup and yoghurt anyone?
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