The world is full of recipes – they spill out of shelves in bookshops, magazines devote pages to them, they turn up on the back of packaged foods, even on bottle labels (Delia Smith 1980: 8)
Nowadays, we can add website, blogs and Pinterest searches to the list that UK food writer and TV cook Delia Smith wrote over 40 years ago. She is right, the world is full or recipes, old, new, reinvented and, some best forgotten.
There are some cook (or is it recipe?) books on my shelf that I have had for many years and to which I still return. Madhur Jaffrey’s classic Indian Cookery, first published in 1982 and based on her BBC TV series of the same name, is one I always turn to if we feel like ‘a curry’ (I do come from the UK!). It is full of easy to make dishes with easily accessible ingredients and clear instructions. I have never had a failure with anything from her book.
Another TV tie in is Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery. To be honest, I can’t remember when I last used this, but his lemon chicken used to be a firm favourite. It is much easier to get a wider variety of ingredients than when the book was first published, but it is still a decent basic book.
I am sure there are many other UK readers that have at least one of Delia Smith’s books somewhere. Her complete cookery course, also based on a TV series, has everything in it from how to roast a piece of beef, poach an egg and all the classics from pea soup to apple crumble. Her Italian Baked Fish has turned up on many an occasion, and there was a time her avocado sauce to go with salmon was a frequent dish in the summer.
I also own two volumes of recipes from the US 1980s favourites The Silver Palate (Julee Ruskins and Sheia Lukins). I picked up the Goodtimes book to take this photo, and several pages fell out, it had been that well used. The pear and parsnip puree, the chicken with courgettes and carrots, the winter greens soup were all favourites that need to get made again sometime.
Anyway, this Sunday I made the lamb with spinach dish from Madhur Jaffrey’s book, a lovely dish full of flavour with added greens. Nowadays it is easy to find cardamom pods and fresh ginger in the supermarket, but am not sure that was the case back in the day.
I also made her cauliflower and potato dish to go on the side with rice. The leftovers the next day were even better. Perhaps the old ones are the best, ones and maybe I really don’t need another book of recipes. We will see….
Do any of you have any old cook books that you return to again and again?
Post to appear in Min from Write of the Middle #WWWhimsy Wednesday Words & Whimsy link up
Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com