I paid little attention to World Book Day before I had children but as they started nursery and now school, it’s become a big thing in or house. They have always worn a costume from their favourite book. We’ve gone from princesses, to wizards, Gruffalos to robots. It’s all a bit of fun.
World Book Day is all about celebrating authors, illustrators and of course the pleasure of getting lost in a good book. For me that of course applies to cookbooks. I’ve learned about new cultures an countries, new ingredients, new techniques and naturally been inspired to get into the kitchen and have a go.
Here are some of my favourite cookbooks
This book inspired my travels to Morocco which in turn inspired me to share my experiences in Essaouria, Ouarzarzate and The Dades Valley of Roses with many more to come soon. The haunting book cover captures this book beautifully – the photography, the recipes, the stories are all incredible and captivated me for hours.
This is another good armchair read. Each dish has wonderful background information or a story about its provenance. The recipes are written for a more experienced cook and there is no messing around with explanations of techniques giving this book a very grown up feel.
This book tells tales of Paris. It leads you by the hand through the patisseries of Paris and the addresses to know. The recipes are easy to follow and the photography had me booking tickets to go before I’d even reached the middle. I plotted the patisserie addresses noted at the back of this book onto a map and spent a couple of days diligently visiting each one. In fact it was so good I went back and did a confisserie tour.
I do love a good biscuit and this one has one for every mood. Store cupboard ingredients to transform gloomy days or keep little fingers occupied on rainy days. The recipes are easy to adapt so I never get bored of reading this book and I go back to the tips and suggestions time and time again to ensure I get that perfect chew or perfect crunch.
I was never really interested in preserving until I met Vivien Lloyd. She made it easy and she made it click. This book is a brilliant beginners book to jams, chutneys and marmalades with fantastic instructions and a lot of background on why things don’t work. I could read this for hours because it’s as much an encyclopaedia of techniques as it is a recipe book.
So there you are. A few favourites amongst the dozens on the bookshelf!
What is your favourite recipe book? Do read them cover to cover like a novel or savour each chapter at a time?