Extra Good Things does exactly what it says on the tin. It puts the ‘x’ in ‘extra’, that is, it’s a book full of those tidbits and culinary elements that make for an undiscernibly delectable dish. Each page presents a whole recipe, but highlights the ‘x factor’ that will take your cooking from good to great.… Read More Review: OTK Extra Good Things by Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi
Shelf Love is the first of an OTK series that will be released over time, each with a vibrantly coloured flexi cover, a printed ribbon bookmark, and a different focus that is aimed at helping home cooks elevate their cooking the OTK way.
Unlike previous Ottolenghi-led cookbooks—which call for long lists of elusive ingredients, extensive preparation and cook time, and have you finishing the cook crying over endless mounds of dirty dishes—Shelf Love captures the essence of Ottolenghi without the hurdles.… Read More Review: OTK Shelf Love by Noor Murad and Yotam Ottolenghi
I sat at the work lunch table on this particular ordinary day. One of my colleagues leaned over and took a deep sniff.
“Yum! What’s that you’ve got?”
Being a home-lunch-packer, I received this question often and was only too happy to oblige. “It’s a South African Indian version of a sort of shepherd’s pie.”
She peered curiously into my pink bento box. “With spaghetti as well as mashed potato?”
The glass shattered.
Yes. This cottage pie did indeed have both mashed potato and spaghetti. Was that unusual? Of course it was unusual. Why had I never realised this before?… Read More Meat and three veg
Have you ever had a cookbook where you knew you could make every single recipe in it, and have complete faith that it would need little-to-no adjusting, and would turn out delicious and just as the recipe intends? This is what Yasmin Khan manages to do—in all of her books, not just her latest.
Ripe Figs sings with the classic flavours of the Mediterranean through both creative and traditional recipes. Then there are those recipes included as a nod to refugees and migrants across the eastern Mediterranean. Because this is not just a book of recipes, it’s a cookbook that tells a story.… Read More Review: Ripe Figs by Yasmin Khan
Generally speaking my relationship with a cookbook falls into one of two categories: there are the ones that I want to take to bed, and the ones that belong in the kitchen.
One: Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones falls into that magical middle of this Venn diagram: this book is both.… Read More Review: One by Anna Jones
I wouldn’t call myself ‘obsessed’ with cookbooks; I know many people with collections bordering the thousands, and my grand total comes in at a paltry 66—I haven’t even cracked triple digits. My personal cookbook library is a very careful curation of works that together represent who I am in the kitchen, as well as who I aspire to be.
I’ve already explained that I assess individual recipes based on their ‘Dish Rating’; for whole cookbooks I meticulously calculate a Cookability Factor. The Cookability Factor specifically influences whether or not I buy a book for my home collection.… Read More The Cookability Factor: a note on my book reviews
The Foodiarist 