What We Are Reading…
A shout out to the team - Which book is your latest acquisition?
Betty was first to reply - “The last cookbook I acquired was the French version of The Silver Spoon or La Cuillère d’Argent. I had almost ordered it in English when it came out in October 2005, but am glad I held out for the French version, which was released about a year later. It was clearly a big item in bookshops for Christmas — and in fact, I got it as a Christmas present.
So far I have mainly tried out a couple of classic recipes: spaghetti carbonara and three-cheese risotto. The results were very good and I enjoyed knowing that I was using the “real Italian methods” even though they were only slightly different from recipes I had used before.
Mainly, I am amazed by the breadth of recipes included in this book. I thought I was worldly and knew something about how vast Italian cooking was, but this proved me wrong. There are plenty of recipes I have never heard of, but, of course, some of the classics that I know, like veal with tuna sauce (vitello tonnato freddo). But what interests me most are the funky little basic recipes that I never would have associated with Italian cooking, like Ham and Kiwi Mousse (mousse di prosciutto e kiwi).
This is a cooking guide for a lifetime, a bit like the French Françoise Bernard cookbooks are to everyday French cooking.”
The Silver Spoon listed by Amazon.com
Jennifer wrote that the last two cookbooks she got (very recently) are Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty and Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook.
“I just got them a few days ago, so haven’t had a chance to do any cooking from either. I’m reading Land of Plenty and have just hit the first recipes for noodle appetizers; they all look great and I’m looking forward to trying them. Then again, this is looking like one of those cookbooks that I’ll want to cook most of the recipes from. I got the books because Dunlop’s work has gotten some rave reviews among people who like Asian cooking; Barbara’s post about Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook at Tigers and Strawberries.
“Both look good on first glance, with clear instructions and good context. As someone who’s cooked Chinese food before, the books look easy to start cooking from. I can’t really give an in-depth assessment on either yet, though.”
Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty available from Amazon.com
Madeline has just received the Dave Dinner’s by Dave Lieberman and has since wrote about it on Paper Palate.
I love this cookbook. Amazing photos and mostly approachable recipes. A few of them look a bit intimidating, but I will consider them a challenge!
Dave Dinner’s By Dave Lieberman is listed by Amazon.com
