Over at The Guardian's excellent food blog, Word Of Mouth, they're stirring the pot by asking readers to nominate what they believe to be the 50 best cookbooks "of all time". It's a nasty job, but I guess someone has to do it etc.
The full list will be published in this Sunday's Observer Food Monthly, but they've left a trail of crumbs in the form of numbers 50-11 here. I'm picking Elizabeth David will be in the top 10, along with Nigel Slater (who, conveniently, edits OFM).
The full list will be published in this Sunday's Observer Food Monthly, but they've left a trail of crumbs in the form of numbers 50-11 here. I'm picking Elizabeth David will be in the top 10, along with Nigel Slater (who, conveniently, edits OFM).
I thought I had a pretty comprehensive collection of cookbooks but I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of a lot of these. Then again, some of them would be in my own top 10, such as Nigella's How To Eat and Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion. In fact, just those two would probably be enough to sustain even the keenest cook for a good number of meals. But I suppose it's not a matter of having 'enough'. Why have 'enough' when you can have a feast?
These are the books on high rotation chez nous (in no particular order):
1. How To Eat, Nigella Lawson: Her first, best book. Few pictures, no suggestive photos, just brilliant writing and wonderful food. A book to read in bed as well as keep in the kitchen.
2. The Cook's Companion, Stephanie Alexander: THE Bible. Incredibly useful, with perhaps the best index of any book in any genre, ever.
3. River Cottage Everyday, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Lovely, shambolic Hugh shows that everyday food doesn't have to be dull. The sort of book that makes you want to move to a country village and raise pigs.
4. Feast, Nigella Lawson: Food for weddings, parties, anything. And there's a section devoted solely to chocolate cakes!
5. Favourite Food, Jill Dupleix: This Aussie sheila should be better known. She's sharp, funny and unafraid of food fads (plus, she once replied within minutes to an email I sent her when she was writing food columns for The Times).
The Observer will reveal their top 10 on Sunday (August 22). What are your favourites?
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