Book Review

October 27, 2014 Baking

Primrose Bakery Christmas… by Martha Swift

It’s not an entirely Christmas book, but is that necessarily a bad thing? There’s a broad range of recipes, with lots of combinations I think would be popular throughout the year. However, I think with baking books particularly, it’s useful to see exactly what’s in the book, to avoid duplication elsewhere. It breaks down as follows:

Cupcakes: tea and digestives cupcakes; Crunchie cupcakes; Malteser cupcakes; Toblerone cupcakes; pink lemonade cupcakes; Liquorice Allsorts cupcakes; rum and raisin cupcakes; apple crumble and custard cupcakes; blueberry cupcakes (shown in the photograph); cinnamon cupcakes; Irish coffee cupcakes; eggnog cupcakes; s’mores cupcakes; Maraschino cherry cupcakes; red bean cupcakes; bread and butter cupcakes

Large Cakes: rainbow cake; salted caramel cheesecake; apple and butterscotch yule log; chocolate and coconut layer cake; Christmas Pavlova wreath; pineapple and coconut cake; pain d’epices bundt cake; Christmas pudding cake with mulled wine icing; Jaffa Cake cake; clementine cake with Greek yoghurt icing; chocolate and white chocolate roulade; marjolaine cake; walnut streusel cake

Cookies: chocolate caramel cookies; triple chocolate cookies; mince pie cookies; Oreo chocolate chip cookies; Smarties cookies; spice Christmas or Linzer cookies; Fresh mint shortbread biscuits; brandy snaps; Earl Grey almond and white chocolate biscotti; ginger sparkle cookies; raspberry and pistachio thumbprint cookies; Speculoos biscuit tree decoration; Speculoos cookie butter; gingerbread sausage dogs

Loaves and Slices: sticky toffee loaf; natural red velvet load; spiced fruit loaf; rocky road slice; salted caramel brownies; cheesecake brownie; Florentine blondie; orange marmalade slice; cherry ripe slice; pumpkin slice; pistachio and raspberry loaf

Pies and Tarts: Christmas trifle with caramelised peaches; banoffee pie; chocolate peanut butter pie; chocolate marshmallow pie; mint and white chocolate pie; dark chocolate and fresh mint truffle tart; Boston cream pie

Free From: GF vanilla cupcakes; GF quinoa cupcakes; chocolate vegan layer cake; GF honey and almond cake; GF spiced honey loaf

Edible Gifts: caramelised nuts; savoury nut mix; sweet and salty popcorn; mint coconut ice; salted caramel truffles; Christmas pudding rum balls; peanut butter and banana dog cupcakes (yes, for dogs!!); dog Christmas cake (again, for dogs!!); meringues; tutti frutti nougat; popcorn baubles; gingerbread house; caramel apples

You can buy a copy here >

October 25, 2014 Baking

British Baking… by Paul Hollywood

This book is a look at regional baking around the United Kingdom. Paul has taken recipes from all over the Isles, and broken them down into the following categories:

Southwest; South and Southeast; Midlands; North; Wales; Ireland; and Scotland

More useful for me though is the breakdown by recipe type:

Savoury pies, pastries and puddings: baked Somerset Brie; Cornish pasties; Denby dale cake; Dingle lamb pie; fidget pie; hame and goat’s leek couronne; homity pie; leek and Caerphilly tart; Norfolk plough pudding; priddy oggies; Sussex churls; Welsh onion cake; Whitby fish pie

Scones, griddle scones and pancakes: boxty pancakes; cheese and chive scones; oatmeal drop scones; pikelets; Staffordshire oatcakes; sultana scone ring; Welsh cakes

Breads: Boxty bread; crusty Swansea; Kentish huff kings; Norfolk knobs; oat bread; Sally Lunn; soda bread; stilton, pear and walnut bread; stottie cakes; wholemeal seeded load

Sweet yeasted breads: barm brace; Devonshire splits; Dorset wiggs, Isle of Wight doughnuts; Lincolnshire plum bread; mothering buns; saffron cake; Selkirk bannock; Whitby lemon buns

Sweet pies and puddings: Bkaewell pudding; Eton messl halloween pudding; Hereford apple dumplings; Leicestershire hunting pudding; marmalade cheesecake with whisky oranges; Monmouth pudding with plums; Odlbury gooseberry pies; Osborn pudding; poor knights of Windsor; rhubarb plate pie; St Fillan’s pudding; Sussex pond pudding; treacle sponge pudding

Sweet tarts and pastries: Bakewell tart; Chorley cakes; Ecclefechan butter tarts; Eccles cakes; maid of honour; Manchester tart; Northamptonshire cheesecakes; strawberry and pistachio shortcakes

Cakes and tea breads: bars brith, black burn; cider cake; Cumbrian sand cake; Dorset apple cake; farmhouse walnut cake; Guinness and black mini muffins; honey buns; Kentish cherry cake, Hevva cake; Irish coffee cake, marmalade cake, Melton Hunt cake; porter cake; raspberry crumble cake; Ripon spice cake; seed cake; white chocolate and cherry plate cake

Biscuits and tray bakes: chocolate chip petticoats tails; chocolate heavies; coconut flapjacks; Cornish fairings; Goosnargh cakes; jumbles; oat biscuits; oatcakes; parlies; Shewsbury biscuits; Tantallon cakes, Welsh gingerbread; Yorkshire parkin

I’m not sure I’d ordinarily rave about Paul’s books, and I do have several… However the process of indexing my hundreds of cookbooks has really made me focus on content – where increasingly recipes overlap, Paul has managed to capture a number of old-fashioned recipes that aren’t listed very often these days. It’s worth having for that alone. I love making bara brith, so it was very useful to have some other variations – I’ll definitely try the Ripon spice cake.

You can buy your copy here >

October 18, 2014 Baking

Sweets Made Simple… by Miss Hope and Mr Greenwood

I have all of the Hope and Greenwood books, their kitsch and charming approach to confectionary always make for a good read. However, be under no illusion that this is all style over substance, there are a substantial number of techniques in the books, and this particular one includes more grown-up recipes.

There are individual pages on each of the following, providing useful tips about confectionary-making:

Hello The Rules! How and why to temper chocolate Storage

Then the following sections, with recipes listed…

Fudge, Caramel and Toffee:
Black Forest fudge
Peanut butter fudge
Honey & almond white chocolate
Cheats
Gingerbread latte
Pulled butter toffee
Salted liquorice caramels
Penuche
Chocolate orange caramels
Cinder toffee
Seashell caramels
Chipotle
Almond & sea salt toffee

Chocolatey:
Peppermint crackers
Cherry chapel hat pegs
Very bad smores
Coffee creams
Rose and violet creams
Syrup sponge nuggets
Matcha and white chocolate truffles
Mango truffles
Malted nougat
Gin and lime truffles
Chilli and lime kisses
Nougat clusters
Tequila chillies
Limoncello creams
Sherry trifle cups
Garden mint ‘peas’
Rose hip iced gems
Devon strawberry truffles
Chilli and lime shards

Fruity:
Twinkly blackcurrant flowers
Fig and cassis truffles
Toffee apples
Candied peels
Peach and apricot pastilles
Maple walnut pears
Raspberry marshmallows
Passion fruit hearts
Sour lemon travel sweets
Pavlova islands
Blackberry cups
Strawberry and cream lollies
Pear and ginger coins
Will berry jellies
Sherbet lemon marshmallows
Sherbet dipper
Rock sugar stirrers
Cherry Bakewell shards

Nutty:
Proper peanut brittle
Marzipan sandwiches
Pear and chestnut truffles
Maple syrup, pecan and bacon lolly
Coconut ice
Coffee walnut whips
Squirrel nibbles
Mr Greenwood’s buttered brazils
Jewelled Florentines
Chocolate and pistachio palters
Peanut butter and jelly truffles
Pistachio katli
Peanut butterflies
Sisin

Chewy:
Unicorn mallow pops
Rose and pistachio turkish delight
Lemon and blueberry nougat
Cherry and almond nougat
Salted caramel mallow teacakes
Sweet sushi
Salty dogs
Blueberry aniseed diamonds
Apricot leather belts
Popcorn espresso macchiato balls
Ice-cream oysters
Candied peel and white chocolate nougat

Yes there are a few duplications from the earlier books, but they are probably the most popular recipes, so deserve to be included here too.

You can buy your copy here >

October 13, 2014 Book Review

Social Suppers… by Jason Atherton

With over 100 recipes, broken down into four sections, this is a cookbook to suit most levels of cook, and is a very comprehensive selection of cuisines and styles.

The following are examples in each section:

Starters:
Tuna tartare DIY; confit tuna with piperade and chives’ salmon crude with pickled cucumber, wasabi and avocado purée; Spansh tomato bread with sardines; pastrami of sea bass with gazpacho garnish; beetroot-cured sea trout with roast beetroot and horseradish cream; kohlrabi, apple, whisky, walnut and sea trout salad; scallop ceviche with pickled fennel and lemon confit…

Main Courses:
Loin of venison with beetroot and venison sauce, braised cabbage; Roast venison and beetroot with poached pears; roast Anjou squab, with yakitori of innards, Brussel sprout and braised red cabbage; roast duck breast with mini roast potatoes, turnips, beetroot and carrot purée; Spiced roast pheasant with pumpkin, bread sauce and home-made granola……

October 11, 2014 Book Review

Food for Thought… By Alan Murchison

Alan has worked in a number of world-class restaurants, including Inverlochy Castle, Claridges, Nobu, L’ortolan and Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons. His restaurants La Bécasse in Ludlow and L’ortolan in Shinfield both have Michelin stars, and made Alan the only chef with more than one Michelin starred restaurant outside London. He’s also appeared on a number of television shows, including The Great British Menu, Hairy Bikers and Market Kitchen.

The book is divided into the following sections:

Without doubt this is one of my favourite. Ironically Alan had a great deal of trouble getting this book published, and ended up publishing it himself. This makes the resulting book even more remarkable, because the dishes are fabulous and the pictures make you want to get yourself straight to his restaurants.

There are a number of quotations alongside beautiful shots of the countryside. The photographer Mark Law, get’s his own section – Julia Charles, the nutritionist gets a section – favoured suppliers get a section… This book is a celebration of Alan’s journey, and the people who have helped him along the way….

October 10, 2014 Book Review

The MEATliquor Chronicles…

By far one of the most original cookbooks in my collection. The recipes are easy to follow, and straight forward. The book is so much more than a cookbook though – it’s a journal which documents the beginning of Meat Liquor through it’s various incarnations, to the beast it is now. There are lots of photographs of the crew, little vignettes, there’s a whole conversation about queuing, refereed by Stefan Chomka… In fact, maybe that’s why I like it so much? It feels like my twitter stream, full of the opinionated and food obsessed people I love. I’ve listed some of the recipes at the bottom, but I can’t imagine you’ve found your way to this book without knowing who Meat Liquor are. If you do, yes, my darlings – you’re going to love it!

…

October 9, 2014 Baking

The GBBO: Big Book of Baking…

People buy the GGBO books for a variety of reasons. There are profiles of the bakers featured in the 2014 competition, some of their specialist bakes, and usually the technical challenges. I noticed that a couple of the technical challenges weren’t included, so to make doubly sure you get what you want, I’ve listed them all here.

The technical challenges for each week of the 2014 GGBO are:

Cake: cherry cake
Biscuits: Florentines
Bread: ciabatta
Desserts: tiramisu cake
Pies and tarts: mini pear pies (not included)
European cakes: dobbos torte
Pastry: Breton kouign amann
Advanced dough: Croation povatica
Patisserie: German schichttorte (not included)
Final: perfect sponge, caramel, choux pastry as petit four

…

October 9, 2014 Book Review

The Artisan Marshmallow… by Paige Couture

The joy of a single-subject cookbook is that it gives your the broadest range of recipes, and this single tome on marshmallows should keep most marshmallow fans happy for ages.

It’s broken down into the following sections (and examples):

Easy (classic vanilla; honey and almond marshmallow cake; mocha latte; liquorice allsorts; peppermint…)
Fruity (apple, cinnamon and rose marshmallows; double raspberry marshmallows; fresh ginger and lemon…)
Swirly (peanut, salted caramel swirl; apple, spice and chocolate hazelnut swirl; honey and peanut butter swirl…)
Cutesy (chocolate honeycomb; jam doughnut; filled chocolate; gingerbread with almond praline; orange blossom…)
Boosey (B52; Cointreau and honey, with pine nut praline; cranberry cosmopolitan; gin with a lemon twist…)
Hipstery-y (chai; chocolate and chilli; liquorice twists; coconut, lemongrass and palm sugar muffins…)
Variety (choc peanut wagon wheels; citrus roulette with chocolate ganache; cosmopolitan rocky road…)

Beautifully shot, lots of variety, helpful technique tips, lots of ideas to inspire future efforts

October 8, 2014 Book Review

Plenty More… by Yotam Ottolenghi

Mr Ottolenghi has three cookbooks in the top 20 on amazon – no mean feat!! Why is he so popular? Can one person be a zeitgeist in their own right? If they can, then he is… The recipes are clean, full of flavour, use a variety of ingredients, and more importantly for me at the moment, don’t rely on mountains of meat… If we’re going to encourage people to eat a broader variety of food, we have to make it flipping delicious!…

September 30, 2014 Book Review

Sweet Paul, Eat & Make… by Paul Lowe

This is a charming book, with a variety of projects and recipes in it. There’s everything from making your own personalised napkins, spice bowls made from children’s modelling clay, a trivet made from old fashioned wooden pegs…. Then there’s the smoked trout salad with hard boiled eggs, Mormor’s fish pie, and pasta with roasted butternut squash, garlic and lemon.

Ordinarily, I would list everything in the book, but in this particular case i think it would take away the charm of the book. I’m assuming you’ve reached Sweet Paul because of his blog, in which case this book won’t disappoint. It’s not a book you pick up on an emergency supper night, but it’s one you could pore over on a Sunday morning with a cup of tea…