Cooking the Books

[absley]

Has any one got any new books? Or plans to use particular old books more? I thought we could share any favourites we have, as a way into the books. And enable each other to buy new books - I'm hankering after Fuschia Dunlop's Land of Fish & Rice...

Today I got My Two Souths by Asha Gomez, which is a mix of South India (Kerala) and southern USA. I'm planning to try the pork vindaloo with cardamom cornbread tonight, making a spinach dish in place of the beans (I'll use the same flavours).

These are newish books which need to be used - The first two were impulse purchases after emma_p talked about them, and remain untouched. AJ is much newer:
* Pok Pok: Food and Stories from the Streets, Homes, and Roadside Restaurants of Thailand
* Tacos: Recipes & Provocations by Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman
* The Modern Cook's Year - Anna Jones

These need to earn their continued place on my shelves:
* Cook for Syria - I've not touched this
* Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East - it made the cut when I gt rid of Perisana but I'm still not using it
* Momofuku
* Mamushka - this should be an easy one to get going with as I have a couple of friends here who like eastern european food, so I just need to invite them over. Or gift the book to one of them!
* Tom Kerridge Proper Pub Food
* Simon Hopkinson Cooks - everything just feels a bit too old-fashioned and British

How about you?

[Cosmopolitan]

I AM BANNED from any more cook books. It's out of control!

[Cosmopolitan]

Honourable mention to the Meera Sodka Made in India book though, everything in it is delicious.

[Mountain Goat]

I got a new one that I don't really like - Hook, Line and Sinker by Galton Blackiston. It's a fish book and I was hoping that it had some exciting new ideas in it and it doesn't really (at least not that I've spotted). Lots of stuff that sounds perfectly nice - it's not a bad book by any means - but I was hoping for something more inspiring and different. Also it really does a lot with crab/scallops/langoustines and I'd like some new ideas about things to do with Sensible White Fish. I've got a million things to do with a crab on the rare occasions I get one, less ideas about things to do with my stockpile of ling. It's not hard to make a langoustine taste good. Once you've got hold of one.

I was thinking last night about making myself cook to a recipe each week and to properly work through the books I have. I often dismiss recipes for sounding a bit simple/obvious and then when I actually cook them realise they're more than the sum of their parts so I should do more.

Oh, I also got Salt Acid Fat Heat for Christmas which is great. It's more about technique than recipes really - there are recipes in the second half of it but I'm still on the Heat section so I haven't looked at them yet.

The books I use most at the moment are Morito, Barrafina, Nathan Outlaw's British Seafood and Momofuku which does reflect that I mostly cook with Spanish, pan Asian (Japanese/Korean/Chinese mostly) and fish. And British. I should look more closely at books from other places for a change.

I was looking for an interesting book on game, but couldn't find anything that appealed. The season's all but over now so I won't look again for a while, but during game season I'm pretty much cooking game, fish or veggie and I don't have many books that have more than one or two game recipes.

[absley]

I was on a ban too Cos, but then I got a voucher that needed using so...

This thread is my attempt to get using them again, so I don't feel bad about having too many.

I need to try some of Meera Sodha's online recipes.

[absley]

You must help me with Momofuku, Goat. I've not looked at it for years though, so will dig it out and ask you some Qs.

I think making yourself try things is a good idea but so too is passing on books which just don't fit with what you enjoy cooking/eating.

Salt Acid Fat Heat is on my list.

[Mountain Goat]

I'm laughing at how familiar your book collection is.

20180223_114941.jpg

This isn't even everything, there are a couple of books here in my office that I'm looking at, another small shelf in the kitchen (that I tend to forget about anyway), and a couple out on loan.

[Mountain Goat]

I do have a one in, one out policy, which I don't necessarily follow that closely. I'm looking at this and unsure why I still have the Hummingbird book seeing as I don't bake/eat sweet things. I thought I had got rid of that ages ago. Other than that most of my books do fit, I just don't use them properly. There are definitely some that could go though, that in theory should be useful but in practice I never touch.

Yes, dig out Momofuku. I haven't done anything new from it for ages but I do have some things I do regularly.

[Cosmopolitan]

ha, and you've got the Bar Tartine book which I do think is totally weird, hard to find things required in the recipe and well, just WEIRD. But I like the pickles. I would like to pickle everything. I'm going to get Mr C to put up a shelf and I am going to label it Tang Town.

[emma_p]

I have booked Momofuku in Vegas for Saturday. I can’t wait! I don’t have his book though. I have made bo saam and the roasted sprouts with fish sauce from recipes online which are both amazing.

I had to count all of my cookery books recently for shipping insurance and I have 175! :shame:

My latest is Alison Roman Dining In but I haven’t made anything apart from the famous cookies.

I’ll be without my books for a while (until summer, possibly) and am panicking at the thought. I might allow myself one in my suitcase but which one?!

[emma_p]

Weirdly I wondered why I had Hummingbird bakery the other day too. I gave all my Delia books to the local free library (one of those little huts on the street) though, and that felt good.

I don’t have Bar Tartine but I do have Tartine Everyday and have made a couple of recipes from that so it’s earned its keep.

[Mountain Goat]

Bar Tartine is definitely weird, with all its dried stuff, like Chandler's dehydrating flatmate. But I have semi made some things from it. I read it in the garden one afternoon and then later that day miraculously came up with the idea of smoked potatoes with a punchy garlic dressing, and when I googled to see if there were any techniques for it, it just came up as being the hallmark dish at Bar Tartine and star of the cookbook. Not my idea after all. I also keep meaning to do their mushroom broth with cheese dumplings, but without making every single component of a component from scratch. I do at least find it interesting, rather than oh-look-a-beef-stew-with-a-tiny-tokenistic-twist.

I am so jealous of your Momofuku trip! Well, all of it really. Your holiday and my friend currently in Uzbekistan are winning my Favourite Holiday of the Year prize so far.

I haven't heard of Alison Roman, currently investigating....

ETA: I really like the sound of this. BYE Hummingbird.
ETAA: Now I've got three books in my basket. This is going well.

[emma_p]

Don’t be jealous of any of the food in the National Parks. In winter there is ONE place to eat in each. Everywhere is closed for the season. I’ve been living on cheese omelettes, pancakes, baked potatos, wine, crisps and chocolate.

The snow is absolutely magical though and yesterday I walked behind an icy waterfall - the mountain wall near it was covered in huge icicles and the trees and rocks nearby were frozen in weird shapes. Best hike ever.

[emma_p]

Which books?

[Mountain Goat]

I saw the video, it looked amazing. I remember that waterfall too but not with ice. Bryce with snow too! It all looks so beautiful and different and I imagine there aren't too many other people around

God, you will have earned that Momofuku meal ten times over.

Currently in my basket: Alison Roman, the new AJ and the new Meera Sodha.

[Hamm]

I got the new Jamie Oliver 5 ingredients one as I figured living in the country it would inspire me more without trekking but it's pretty much salads and serving suggestions and I should have known better. But that's okay, he needs the money.

[absley]

That's irritating, Hannie. It might be better when the weather warms up.

I looked at the Alison Roman one after you mentioned it, emma, and do think it looks good. Goat - let us know what you make from it!

[Mountain Goat]

It is still sitting in my basket while I sit quietly and think about the consequences of my actions. I do want it though. But I am also going to make a list of things from books I have that I want to make. There are things for sure, I just don't remember about them when I need to, so I will keep a list that I can check my pantry against. I think because I meal plan based on what food arrives in my house rather than shopping for food based on a meal plan I do tend to not end up doing those things. I need a list of Inspiring Things.

That sounds annoying Hannie. It aggravates me when it's just a load of things I might well have thrown together from what I had in the fridge anyway. I like to have things that I would have never thought of, or wouldn't otherwise know how to do, or that have some interesting new way of doing something or a detail that makes something make more sense.

[Hamm]

I need to relook but I couldn't see anything that you wouldn't have thought of with a well stocked kitchen. The point of the book was the stuff that wasn't easily thought of or only needed one or two extra bits. It's serving suggestions and is the kind of thing you need at 18. Mockney twat.

[Blondiejude]

This is totally me Goat:

"I was thinking last night about making myself cook to a recipe each week and to properly work through the books I have. I often dismiss recipes for sounding a bit simple/obvious and then when I actually cook them realise they're more than the sum of their parts so I should do more."

If I decide to cook something from a book I want it be WOW!! and often look at things and think "well I could have thought of that" because you know, I'm so good. This usually results in me often looking at a recipe, deciding to make it, then halfway through going totally off piste and adding all sorts of things I think will improve it. My aim this year is to actually follow a recipe so I can at least see if its good in its own right.

The problem I find most commonly is the cook books I enjoy actually reading, like Nigella, often have recipes which are nice but nothing particularly new or different. Quite often recipes are simply repeated with slight tweaks and don't seem to be anything different.

I would like to cook more from Deliciously Ella, when I first got given it I was sceptical it was going to be all clean eating lentils, but having tried 3 of the recipes out of it they were really tasty and totally not the type of thing I would normally cook.

I'm also quite keen to try Sabrina Gaynor after POV's photos on the real life food thread, and also cook more meat free meals, we're currently having 1-2 meat free meals a week but I tend to fall back on safe options like halloumi and roasted veg or making usual dishes like chilli using quorn or soya mince instead.