Paper Palate

Sips & Apps by Kathy Casey is an inspiring Cocktails and Nibbles book. Kathy is a “bar chef.” Like any chef, she creates new recipes; in her case, drinks recipes, and she explores and tweaks the old favorites. She has her signature cocktails, she knows her craft and she shares the results with us in this fantastic book.
I […]

“Lighten Up” by Jill Dupleix is part of a genre: “Healthy Approach To Cooking.” You will not need me to tell you that the “HATCH” books emerge in the spring from the depth of winter’s extra layers. They spring up on shelves and in booksellers’ windows with an ostentatory attitude which can be despiriting. What an […]

Diary of a Paper Palate Reviewer:

Day 1: A new book to review: “Oh great, Abel & Cole Cookbook:” the people who home-deliver organic produce up and down the land, with their little vans have written a book.
Next step: Open the book.  When I say open, I forgot a step: Flip and open the book. I always start […]

I do like my magazines small; I know it’s not a criteria, but between an A4 and an A5 I will reach for the booklet before opening the magazine. So when a magazine offers a free booklet, I am very tempted to buy it. If the booklet is a FREE mini cookbook, so much the better. 
BBC good food magazine offers […]

Way back in the 80s, my partner introduced me to his best friends, like one does, and he gave me a bit of background. “They are vegan.”  Not completely fluent in English then, I stored this new word  in the back of my mind and happily jumped in the car for a long weekend in the North […]

Alain Ducasse is the most Michelin starred chef in the world. When most proudly boast one, two or three Michelin stars, Alain Ducasse has a constellation with an outstanding 14. He also created a network of cooking schools, 24 restaurants, and a plethora of bakeries. And if this was not enough, his success does not […]

When Richard Bertinet wrote “Crust,” he wrote more than a book on dough, and I am not referring to the fact that this is a book and a DVD, “Crust” is a holistic approach to bread. This book is like a classroom, it teaches you all you need to know to make all sort of breads: slow breads, sweet breads, even ciabattas […]

For weeks now, I have been trying to discover why one book rather than another makes it on a “Best List.”  Some books I have struggled with, but very few have been as obvious as this one. Of course, it does depend on who is deciding the list; this is the reason why the Independent best 50 cookbooks was […]

Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible is a book of best. Best curry recipes from India but also best selection for best curries from around the world. And because of that (+ an untimely computer crash) my review almost did not see the light of the day. Let me explain: my partner got hold of this book  and it has […]

“It is in the old pots that the best broths are cooked” - if there was such a idiom, most of us would agree with it. It could define Mark Hix’s aim with this book, and would explain why his British Seasonal Food is in the top 50. Chef Hix resurrects traditional recipes, sourcing local food; each chapter is a month.
Sure, if you don’t […]