A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Eight

The Drunken Botanist:

The Plants That Create The World's Greatest Drinks

By Amy Stewart

Published by Algonquin Books, March 19th, 2013

Although not strictly speaking a cookbook, it does contain recipes for cocktails as well as instructions on how to prepare your own  maraschino cherries and brine your own olives, so I thought I could stretch a point and include it in this Month of Cookbooks series :-)

This is a truly beautifully produced book. The digital review copy I received is a work of art, and I cannot wait to buy a print copy to enjoy.  The cover is reminiscent of an old-fashioned botany textbook from yesteryear, and this is carried through by the typeface and use of italics, some pages being coloured and the table of contents giving section descriptions such as:

 "Part III
at last we venture into the garden,
where we encounter a seasonal array of
botanical mixers and garnishes
to be introduced to the cocktail in its
final stage of preparation
Sorted in a Similar Fashion: Herbs 320, Flowers 327, Trees 332,
Berries & Vines 340, Fruits & Vegetables 345;
Including Recipes and Sufficient Horticultural Instruction".

The table of contents alone had me totally hooked.

The book is based on the premise that every good drink ultimately is derived from a plant, and this is the book to tell you exactly which plant provides your favourite drink, from the agave cactus through to wheat as well as explaining the processes by which they are created, the storage and aging processes and the nomenclature of the finished drinks.

Part Two provides a wealth of detail about the herbs, spices, fruits, trees, nuts, seeds and flowers which are added to the base alcohol and Part Three - as quoted above - describes the garden based additions which go into garnishing and enhancing cocktails, complete with growing instructions.

The cocktail recipes themselves are  fascinating and I really want to try the Lavender Martini and Dombey's Last Word........this is one of the most quirky, entertaining and amusing food/drink books I have found.  At least one family member is going to receive a copy of this book this year.

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Seven

 The Hummingbird Bakery - Cake Days
 By Tarek Malouf
 Published by Harper Collins, 2011


This is my guilty pleasure, the book I drool over, and the book which convinced me that I am definitely a Grade -A glutton!


The second cookbook from the amazing staff at the famous Hummingbird Bakery in London, the recipes in this book are a delight. We have made several of the recipes, which are distinctive, upmarket, delicious but not necessarily cheap to make, I have to admit.




The book is divided into seasonal themes:

• Valentine's Day
• Spring Weekend Bakes
• Mother's & Father's Day
• Easter
• Summer Afternoon Tea
• Birthdays & Celebrations
• Rainy Day Treats
• Halloween & Bonfire Night
• Christmas  

and include seasonal fresh  ingredients in many.  There is a full listing of the recipes included here.

The only possible word to describe this book is "Yum!".

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Six

The Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook

By Liz Gutman & Jen King

Published by Workman Publishing Company, October 2012

I have finally run out of words to describe a cookbook :-)

If you have any interest in or love of sweets/candy/chocolate, this would be a dream gift to receive!  

Living on the wrong side of The Pond, I had never before heard of this talented duo, nor had I seen their appearances on TV shows etc; the first I knew of them was when I saw the book advertised on the NetGalley website and I knew I just had to request a digital review copy.

It did not disappoint, that's for sure. With over 70 recipes for just about everything under the sun and ones you've probably never even thought of, there is something for all tastes and all cooking abilities in this entertaining, instructive and well written book which is profusely illustrated.

I loved the table which lays out all the recipes and allows you to instantly see which contain chocolate, gluten, dairy, fruit, nuts, alcohol, and which would be suitable for vegans  as well as showing which would be ideal for bake sales.

 I also was delighted to see that all the trouble-shooting information is included specifically for each chapter's recipes, so the reader does not have to rummage through the whole book looking for how to salvage a recipe which has not done what was expected of it.  The science behind the recipes is explained clearly, and also what happens when you substitute ingredients, for good or bad. I had no idea that very specific types of salt are recommended for different recipes, and for specific reasons, for instance. 

But what about the recipes?  

• Peanut Brittle
• Chai Latte Lollipops
• Buttermints
• Nougat
• Fudge
• Pralines
• Maple Candy
• Saltwater Taffy
• Coconut Lime Bars
• Chocolate Toffee Matzo Crunch

are just some of  tempting treats inside.

 Is this title going on my Amazon wishlist for a print copy?  It most certainly is!

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Five

Allergy-Free Cookbook

By Alice Sherwood

Published by Dorling Kindersley, 2007



Although no-one in the immediate family circle  suffers from any allergies, in our extended family and amongst friends there are some who cannot eat nuts or gluten, and this book is a valuable resource in my culinary collection.

The first part of the book considers food allergies and food intolerances, discussing how to cope when shopping, eating out or travelling, as well as helping children come to terms with the practicalities of being allergic to certain items.

The recipes themselves are delicious and varied, and clearly labelled as being egg-free, dairy-free, gluten-free or nut-free, with side-bar variations ; the recipe for pain au chocolate, for instance, is listed as nut-free but can be made to be dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free as well :-)

Whether you are looking for a Spinach and Yoghurt Lamb Curry which is free of all four potential allergens, Smoothies, Chocolate Layer Cake, Vietnamese Dipping Sauce, Lasagne, Chinese Spare Ribs or just a loaf of home made bread, this book has a hundred recipes that will provide plenty of variety in what might sometimes feel like a restricted dietary lifestyle.  

Definitely a keeper!

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Four

 Christmas Cooking With Kids

By Annie Rigg

Ryland, Peters & Small, 2010

Looking for ideas for your children to make during Advent and the twelve days of Christmas? This may well be the book you are looking for.

From Swedish Saffron Buns to celebrate St  Lucia's Day, traditional German Lebkuchen and Advent Number Cookies, right through to traditional Sugar Mice, Marshmallow Snowmen, Meringue Snowflakes, Buche de Noel and even making your own Gingerbread House, there are recipes for sweet dishes, savoury dishes, drinks, snacks and even appropriate snacks for Santa and Rudolph in this delightfully illustrated book.

Sure to appeal to children of all ages, it makes me grin just flicking through the pages, and I am already planning what we can make for Christmas 2013; there are super recipes which would be ideal to make and then give as gifts, including fudge, chocolate truffles and relishes :-)

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Three

Jamie's 30 Minute Meals
A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast
By Jamie Oliver
Published by Penguin, 2010


This gets an award for being my most disappointing cookbook for several reasons.

 Don't get me wrong, the recipes are generally very tasty indeed, but the sheer cost of eating "simply" using this cookbook puts it right out of the market as far as our family is concerned.

As for the idea of being able to make a complete two course meal from scratch and plated up in 30 minutes - well, it may be possible when cooking from this book if you have triplicates of every cooking utensil (and therefore do not need to wash anything between uses), spend at least 20 minutes before you start cooking, preparing and weighing out each and every ingredient and also have a restaurant sized kitchen with a salamander grill and an industrial strength oven.

And you must not mind spinning from one thing to another like a whirling dervish.......... I cannot get most of the recipes cooked and on the table in less than 60 minutes. The chicken pie in puff pastry is a case in point; when you are chopping then cooking raw chicken breasts from scratch, and only putting the shop-bought raw puff pastry in the oven for 15 minutes, would you be confident that it would taste delicious, be thoroughly cooked and safe to eat ? I'm rather more cautious than that, and the last time we cooked puff pastry in our oven, (only last week as it happens) it took at least 35 minutes to cook the puff pastry properly, not 15 minutes.

Everything I have cooked tastes wonderful, but the timings are seriously unrealistic for an average domestic kitchen, I'm afraid.

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty Two

Welsh Fare: A Selection of Traditional Recipes
By S. Minwel Tibbott
Published by The National Museum Of Wales, 1976


This is a classic text on Welsh cookery, and crams a lot into its 84 hardbacked pages. The author was an Assistant Keeper in the Welsh Folk Museum's Department of  Oral Traditions and Dialects; she collated recipes given by people from all parts of Wales and turned them into book form so that the old traditional foods might not be lost forever during a period of immense societal and farming change.

There are some recipes I am never, ever likely to make as unless I have free access to the blood from a just -killed pig or goose, I am not going to be able to make Pwdin Gwaed - Black Pudding, or the Goose-blood Pudding. The soups, broths (Cawl), savoury dishes and cakes are quite another matter ! The passion for a solid and substantial High Tea is indicated by the volume of recipes in the Bread, Cakes and Griddle Cake chapters, including Shearing Cake, Honey & Ginger Cake and Caraway Bread to mention just a few.

The dishes in the Cereal and Milk Dishes chapter include recipes for dishes I have never seen mentioned outside Thomas Hardy novels - Flummery, Posset and Egg Whey. Small Beer, Nettle Beer, Mead and Nettle Pop recipes are also given, which would date back hundreds of years and be familiar to people in the Middle Ages.  The sense of continuity with the past is truly remarkable when browsing books like this one, and my mother loved it dearly.

Although long out of print, the book is available cheaply on Amazon.co.uk  from £2.80.

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month of Cookbooks - Day Twenty One

Fix-It and Forget-It Series 

Holiday Main Dishes and Sides

By Phyllis Pellman Good

Published by Good Books,  2012


Looking for even more main meal inspiration for your crock-pot?  This is the second of the three volume set I have reviewed, and true to form, I loved this collection of recipes gathered by the author just as much.

From a traditional Beef Burgundy to a very untraditional Raspberry Glazed Ham using apple juice, lemon juice and raspberry jam, I found plenty to peruse and bookmark for later use. There are  forty main meal dishes and almost twenty side dish recipes to provide ideal and relatively stress-free cooking for family get-togethers and holiday cooking. Ever thought of serving Orange Yams or Scalloped Pineapple with your casserole? I hadn't, but they would go well with an Autumn Harvest Pork Loin or a Sunday Roast Chicken.

Garlic with Lime Chicken caught my interest as did the Szechwan Chicken and Broccoli and the Indonesian Peanut Chicken, but there are only two vegetarian main dishes and one seafood pasta, which is a shame and the only thing I have found to criticize about  the book or indeed the series.

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twenty

Mums Know Best: The Hairy Bikers' Family Cookbook

By Si King and Dave Myers

Published by Orion, 2010

My mother discovered the TV series of these two eccentric bikers cooks and quickly adored them, so at her request, we bought her a copy of the cookbook for Christmas even though she was not able to do much cooking due to her health. When she opened it, she was thrilled, and I fell in love with the recipes and ended up buying a copy for myself too.

On their travels around Britain, the Hairy Bikers met many people and collected fabulous recipes from grannies, mums and families who had settled in Britain from *all* parts of the world, who cherished and were happy to share their particular family recipes. 

Cottage Pie, Lemon Drizzle Cake,  Sticky Date Cake,  Tandoori Chicken Samosas, Estonian Kringel Cake, Romanian Pretzels, Portuguese Green Bean Soup, Chicken Curry and real Fish & Chips are just some of the delights. This book taught me how to make shortcrust pastry in my food processor rather than by hand :-)

A firm favourite!

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Nineteen

How To Feed Your Family For £4 A Day

By Bernadine Lawrence

Published by Thorsons , 1989


This was one of the first cookbooks I bought rather than was given, and was bought at a time when we were having to live very frugally indeed.

It does presuppose that the cook using it would be on benefits (we were not, but we were broke!) and therefore have plenty of time to prepare and cook all foodstuffs from scratch, including bread and yoghurt. The recipes are wholemeal wherever possible, nutritionally balanced and use items which are easy to make.

Filled jacket potatoes, filled omelettes, salads, quiches, cornmeal breakfast cereals,  homemade popcorn,  soups, blackeye beanburgers, pasties, flans, spicy mackerel, liver and bacon, wholemeal scones and lots more are in the book.

The book has recently been re-issued as  "How to Feed Your Family for £5 a Day" by Harper Collins, with fifty additional recipes, so I may well  indulge in a new copy :-)

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Eighteen

Brilliant Burgers

Part of the "Confident Cooking" series

Published by Murdoch Books, Australia, 1995

First published by Konemann, Germany.

This little book is only 64 pages long, but it is used regularly and survives every cookbook cull I perform! I bought it from an upmarket cook-shop in Bath on a visit many years ago, and it cost me the princely sum of 99p.

Every double page spread has at least one colour photograph to illustrate the recipe, and there are some great recipes hidden in this book:

• Lamb burger with minted yoghurt sauce
• Mediterranean vegetable and goat's cheese burger
• Egg and bacon breakfast burger
• Fresh salmon burger
• Mushroom and pine nut burger
• Chick pea and vegetable burger with hummus
• Mexican burger with guacamole
• Turkey burger with spiced cranberry sauce

And our family's all-time favourite:

• Mustard Burger with garlic butter

Recipes for some relishes are included too. It's the only burger book I have seen with vegetarian and almost fasting-friendly recipes :-)

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Seventeen

Jane Asher's Eats For Treats

Over 40 Delicious Recipes To Cook With Your Child

By Jane Asher

Published by BBC Books, 1990.

I bought this large format hardback book shortly after Dear Daughter 2 was born and Mrs DoomHamster was  just starting school; the TV series which accompanied it was de rigeur for Mrs D when she came home from school and we loved replicating the recipes. When the book was released, it was a no-brainer that we simply had to have a copy, and as you can see from the state of the book, it has been very much used and loved by all four girls as they have grown. It is currently held together by sellotape :-)

Needless to say, we still use it for some classic family recipes, and it has stood the test of time. The recipes fall into four categories:

• Baking and Treats
• Picnics and Barbecues
• Food For Friends
• Special Family Celebrations

- and each recipe is clearly labelled as easy, medium easy or advanced.

Baked Fish, Tacos, Beef Teryiaki, Filo Chicken Pie, Pasta with Cream and Cheese and Pan Bagna are some of the quite exotic (for 1990!) recipes, but the glory of the book has to be Jane Asher's baking recipes....

You can imagine the delight when I found a virtually pristine copy of this book for Mrs DoomHamster for a ridiculous bargain price in a charity shop a few years ago!

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Sixteen

Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes

Recipes by Josie Fison &  Felicity Dahl

Published by Jonathan Cape,
London, 1994
(Reissued subsequently)

I have a 1994 hardback copy of this book, which is going strong and has been much loved by all four of my children. The colour  illustrations by Quentin Blake are charming and totally in keeping with his illustrations for Dahl's story books.


All of the recipes are directly inspired by the famous stories, from "Strawberry Flavoured Chocolate Coated Fudge" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, "Hansel and Gretel Spare Ribs" from Rhyme Stew, "Boggis's Chicken" from Fantastic Mr Fox to "Crispy Wasp Stings on Buttered Toast" from James and the Giant Peach.

There are 31 recipes in all, from drinks to starters, snacks to main meals and desserts to confectionery, and also a companion volume, Even More Revolting Recipes.  Entertaining, charming, very good at inspiring children to make things they have previously only imagined from reading the books and an excellent way to combat the "Mum, I'm bored!" scenario :-)

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Fifteen

The Lavender Cookbook

By Sharon Shipley

Published by Running Press (USA) 2004


Just in case you all thought my cookbooks were too run of the mill, I thought you might be interested in this one!

I first became interested in the idea of using lavender when I was given some home-made shortbread cookies at a friend's house and challenged to guess the ingredient. I had one taste, and knew that I "knew" the flavour, but I simply could not identify it accurately.

Turns out the secret ingredient was indeed a hint of lavender, and the effect was sublime. The very next time I went to The Big City, I visited the herbal medicine shop and bought some organic lavender to use for culinary purposes until my own lavender was ready to harvest.  ( I would stress that unless you can be absolutely certain that your lavender - or the lavender you purchase or are given - has been grown without the use of pesticides, that you do not eat or drink it. )

Drinks, dipping sauces, breads, desserts, soups, salads, main courses - unusual recipes for all these categories are included. I could not eat lavender flavoured food regularly, but as an occasional treat, it is wonderful !

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Fourteen

Short Cut Rhodes
Lots of fast and easy recipes
By BBC Books 1997


This is a slim volume, but well-liked in our family.

 The spiky-haired Gary Rhodes is a remarkable, self-effacing chef of immense talent who has not forgotten what it is to be keen to serve simple yet tasty food.  This book may only be 128 pages long, but the recipes are fun, quick to make and  utilising easily available store cupboard and fresh ingredients, with a few ready prepared ingredients added in some recipes.


Tuna and almond cream toasts, chicken liver pate, curried scrambled eggs, parmesan risotto, smoked haddock with a parsley crust, toffee cream pots and jaffa cake pudding are among the delights of this book, not to mention the dead-simple microwaved "steamed" pudding :-)

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Thirteen

Nanny Ogg's Cookbook: A Useful and Improving Almanack of Information including Astonishing Recipes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld

By Terry Pratchett et al

Published by Corgi Books, 2001

I have to admit that I don't use this as a cookbook, I just read it and giggle. The recipes included are perfectly good ones, but the humour is in the names that quite ordinary foods are given to tie them in with the recipes mentioned in the Discworld books and in the quite extensive anecdotes and snippets of information which accompany all the recipes.

The Librarian (being an orang-utan) has an interesting take on bananas, and there is even a recipe for a Knuckle Sandwich - involving the purchase of pigs' trotters and not a miscreant's well-earned lesson at the hands of Sam Vimes. 

Half the book is devoted to Discworld etiquette, which is fascinating and this book is an essential adjunct to any serious student of Discworld. It certainly enhanced my education, that's for sure......

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Twelve

Eating For Victory: 

Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations 

Published by Michael O'Mara Books Ltd, 2007

We've always been a fan of historical re-enactment books and TV series, and we particularly enjoyed the one dealing with life in the Second World War years. When I saw that the the official dietary and recipe information leaflets disseminated by British Government agencies during the War had been republished in a facsimile book form, I simply had to have a copy !
If you want a peak inside, search for the book on amazon.co.uk and you can look inside......

Even the new book looks old; the pages are printed on cream tinted paper with the original typefaces preserved as well as the original illustrations.  It looks dated, but the recipes are simple, nourishing, easy to prepare and designed to avoid any waste of food at at time when rations were rigidly enforced and supplies were meagre.  Many of the recipes are calorie-dense, which was necessary indeed for those who were performing many hours of hard manual labour per day, yet it would certainly be possible to tweak them to make them more appropriate for our very much more sedentary lifestyle now, and the portion sizes simply serve to illustrate that it is all too easy to overeat nowadays when there is no real need to do so. It is interesting that the British populace were in better physical health and fitness during the austerity of rationing than they are now in a time of comparative plenty.

Dried egg was a staple then, and it is still  widely available in supermarkets now, but I have never been tempted to buy any to try out the recipes, preferring to use fresh eggs instead. There is a fascinating chapter of recipes for cakes, biscuits and scones without using eggs at all  :-)   Preserving fruits and vegetables by bottling is covered in detail, and most families would have turned over their lawns to  growing foodstuffs or keeping livestock, particularly hens and rabbits.

My husband and I would be quite happy living a WWII diet, as much of it is what would nowadays be termed  hearty food, despite the rationing. The two youngest daughters have both found this book incredibly useful when studying the Second World War in school and the book has been "borrowed" by the staff teaching the topic for reference on several occasions. 

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month of Cookbooks - Day Eleven

Forgotten Skills of Cooking
By Darina Allen

 

Published by Kyle Cathie

November 2009

This is a mammoth book, both in size, scope and importance in my collection of cookery books.

 Darina Allen is the matriarch of an Irish cooking family who run a famous cookery school which is held in the middle of the family's 100 acre organic farm which provides them with their traditional and wholesome ingredients. She is the author of many books, but this is my favourite.

Growing up in rural Ireland, she has vivid memories of a way of life which is still "hanging on" in the more rural parts of the country, but which is in danger of being forgotten by so many, along with the traditional knowledge of gathering wild foods and preparing them.

So, what is in this book ? 

Household tips, simple home remedies, how to keep your own chickens, frugal cookery - especially harvesting wild foods and using them in unusual recipes, particularly shellfish and seaweeds gathered from the coast,  cooking wild game as well as the far  more traditional recipes , 

The Dairy recipes chapter in particular includes  a wealth of information about how to create your own buttermilk, skimming cream from milk, making soured cream, yoghurt, soft cheese, butter and clotted cream. Yum!

The recipes in this comprehensive book are eminently suitable for home cooking as well as entertaining guests, but the main point of the book is to allow cooks to reclaim long-ago knowledge and skills which many have never known or had the good fortune to be exposed to.  Although there are many things in this book I would probably never cook, there are still  many, many recipes that I  do and would use.

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Ten

Apologies - I have been unable to access my computer very much as Dear Husband has been working on it for two days. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, but in the meantime, one of my newest and most-loved cookbooks, as reviewed last year...........

The Amish Family Cookbook
by Jerry and Tina Eicher

Published by Harvest House Publishers
October 2012

I requested the digital edition of this book from NetGalley and received it in June.  I enjoyed it so much that as soon as it was released in the UK, I headed straight over to eden.co.uk and bought a "real" copy of my own :-)

 I have pored over this book, chuckled over this book and enjoyed every single page. It is more than just  a cookbook; humorous stories about the Amish are scattered throughout the book and on every double page spread there is an Amish proverb.  On the pages which tell us how to make Chicken Fajitas, Spanish Rice and Chicken and Ham-Stuffed Manicotti, is this gem:

"To admit I was wrong is but saying I am wiser today than I was yesterday."

Many Amish cookbooks are collections of Amish recipes which have been collated by "Englisha" writers. This book consists of Amish recipes handed down from their families to Jerry and Tina Eicher, both of whom were themselves born and raised in Amish families.

We learn which recipes are special favourites of their own family, and the particularly hearty breakfast recipes are a special delight, though I think they will need to be reserved as very occasional treats for those of us who have a more sedentary lifestyle.

Many recipes can be prepared ahead and served later in the day or the next day, and have obviously been developed over the years to fit in with the particular constraints of a traditional Amish lifestyle.  Some convenience foods are included; this is not a "You will prepare every dish the hardest way possible" type of cookbook and the shortcuts are generally highly practical and sensible, The determined cook can easily do things the hard way if so desired......... with the possible exception of marshmallow fluff, which is an essential ingredient in making Jerry Eicher's favourite peanut butter spread !

So, what is in this cookbook? The chapters include:

• Appetizers and Beverages
• Breakfast
• Cakes
• Candies
• Cookies and Bars
• Desserts
• Grilling
• Main Dishes
• Pies
• Quick Breads
• Salads and Gelatin Salads
• Soups and Sandwiches
• Vegetables and Side Dishes
• and last but certainly not least, Yeast Breads.

There are recipes for venison as well as more commonly used meat, and I can think of at least one of my friends who might well be interested in trying some of those out soon.

Several recipes mention Velveeta cheese, which I have not been able to source here in the UK, but am assured by expat American friends that British Red Leicester cheese is a good alternative. Marshmallow fluff is fairly widely available here, but I have not been able to find an alternative for Miracle Whip yet, nor  refrigerated packs of buttermilk biscuits. If anyone can suggest one, or a UK source for cartons of frozen juice concentrate, I would be truly grateful!

I really do love the fact this is a spiral bound (comb-bound) cookbook, so it will happily stay open and flat when I am busy cooking. It doesn't have glossy photographs, but it does not need them - the book speaks for itself.

If you visit the publishers, and click on the Google preview at the bottom of the cover photo,  you can browse through the book and even download a chapter !

Share with friends using the share button below. 

Share with friends using the share button below.

A Month Of Cookbooks - Day Nine

The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand and Vilna to the Present Day

By Claudia Roden

Published by Penguin, 1999

This is a hefty, almost encyclopaedic 592 page book which covers the history of Jewish food across both Sephardi and Ashkenazi traditions, though the Sephardi tradition is given much greater space in the book. 

The Ashkenazi traditional dishes are well-known in the UK and throughout Northern Europe, but the Sephardi recipes are rather ore of a mystery, not least because intermarriage between the two traditional was not encouraged and they very much tended to keep themselves to themselves; the recipes are indeed a revelation.

 Included are many of Claudia's traditional family recipes from Egypt, but there are recipes from almost everywhere the Jewish people have settled, including Iran, Algeria, Iraq, Bukhara, Syria, Turkey,Italy, Morocco, Andalusia, the Balkans, Greece, America and many more.

Claudia Roden delights in giving glorious recipes, photographs, historical snippets and insights into Jewish religion, food and culture in amongst the recipes.  I was particularly interested in the fact that Sephardi families do not have a traditional Shabbat bread (such as the Ashkenazi families do with Challah);  I am now in frantic search of anise seed so I can try making the wonderful Algerian Anise Bread................

A glorious book to browse, savour and thoroughly enjoy!

Share with friends using the share button below.