Inspirational books and teachers
One of the great joys of living is discovery. Here are a few discoveries that changed my
cooking.
Ken Hom his 'Hot Wok' is good, 'Chinese cookery’ even better, recipes from it worked
well when I cooked a Chinese banquet for 13 people at a family get together at Lucy’s house
in the sierras north of Madrid, Christmas 2003.
Delia Smith is 'the cook that women trust'; her step-by-step recipes are highly rated on
a 'what you see is what you get' basis. Her 'One is fun' cookbook for single people is highly
recommended, and her web site is outstandingly useful. This is a cookbook for real men, not
misogynists, so give Delia (and Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson) the praise she deserves,
even if her recipes are to my male mind very female learning style oriented. But then why
shouldn’t they be? I’m only trying to redress an inbalance.
The flamboyant gastronaut Keith Floyd (who died a few months ago as I wriote ni
December 2009) has written extensively, I like 'Floyd on Britain and Ireland' with recipes for
things like bubble and squeak, spiced beef, Royal hare stew, brown Windsor soup, and other
all but forgotten delights. His books on curry and fish are also inspirational. A genuine English
eccentric.
Rick Stein has produced some very watchable food TV and champions British regional
food. I had 40 seconds of fame on his 'Food Heroes’ from Winchester Farmers Market when
he tasted some of my apple juice and asked me about farmer’s markets (I actually wanted to
talk about English apples, but that’s TV). Of his books, I particularly like 'Fruits of the sea'
which has very helpful illustrations showing how to prepare crabs, lobsters and fish.
Elizabeth David inspired British cooks during the dull days of food rationing after the
Hitler war with her ‘sunny and carefree writing’. Anything by her is worth reading; I love
'French country cooking' although books like 'French provincial cooking' and 'An
omelette and a glass of wine' are better known. Probably the most influential food writer in
the English language. Enjoy.
Jane Grigson is a more practical teacher than her friend Elizabeth David. 'Good things'
(one of the first cookery books I ever bought, its well worn and yellowed now) and ‘English
Food’ are packed with recipes like fricassee of chicken with ceps, celery soup, pheasant a la
Normande, (not very English sounding, but who cares?) instruction on salting meat etc. Her
books are full of detailed but unfussy recipes and regional and historical food reflections with
nice line drawings.
John and Sally Seymour “A practical guide to self sufficiency” is not a cookery book but
a detailed and inspirational guide to making a life on 5 acres of land, which does have quite a
bit of cooking and preserving food in it, although mostly about food production. It has probably
influenced me more than any other book apart from the Bible, I read and re-read it during a
difficult time in my life as a young doctor who had to move around the country in temporary
accomodation with very few possessions, including books, so it has a special place in my
heart. Worth getting for the section on the kitchen garden alone, beautifully illustrated in 4
seasons with Sally’s pen and wash drawings and John’s practical instructions for getting the
absolute maximum food production from a little land. There’s so much more, from potting
mackerel and brewing beer to butchering a pig.
Fred J Taylor 'One for the pot.' A rough guide to fish and game cooking by the popular
fishing and shooting writer. This is the book to read if you want to cook wild food. I like his
rough ‘don’t worry, just go for it’ style which has probably influenced mine a lot.
Auberon and Theresa Waugh's 'The Entertaining Book' looks at food and wine round the
year, with an emphasis on guests, dinner parties, buffets, parties and such. Wryly humorous
and Francophile. I miss Auberon Waugh more each year, there is nobody writing that I know of
who skewered the rogues and knaves who govern and fool us with the combination of insight,
wit and disdain he used to.
Anna MacMiadhachain 'Spanish regional cookery' is another delightful out of print
paperback, this little gem is an appreciation of Spanish food. I have never sen or heard of this
book apart from the one specimen I picked up at a charity book stall. We took it to Mallorca on
a self catering holiday and it rings really true-lovely line drawings in particular. Spanish
cookery is not written about nearly so much as French, Italian or even Thai. I wonder why,
since so many of us visit and retire to Spain? Perhaps it’s all down, like so much else, to what
the TV moguls want to sell us.
Useful and fun cook books new and old turn up in bookshops, car boot sales, village fetes etc.
Keep your eyes open, you never know when you will find a book with just one golden nugget of
advice that will work well for you.
Cookery on the world wide web
Now that this book is being transferred from the printed page to the web, I suppose I could put some actual
web links to cookery sites up, and perhaps I will 'when I can find the time'. But not right now when I have just
spent 6 hours getting this up, fiddling with the formatting which didn't survive the transfer process to had to be
re-done, etc.
Want a recipe for Creole gumbo, Balti beef, Lancashire hot pot, lamb tagine or Thai green
curry? Just put the key words into Google® and find a hundred or so. I usually click on the first
half dozen and average them out or choose the least complicated or one I fancy. The web
changes constantly: any sites I recommend may be gone tomorrow, and new ones will appear,
so I am cautious about recommendations, but a few sites were specially helpful as I
researched for this book so I mention them.
The BBC has a strong web presence and bbc.co.uk/food is a rich source of sauce and much
else. Delia, Rick, Jamie, Madhur and various other TV chefs are here with easy to follow
recipes. Madhur Jaffrey is also featured on the uktvfood.co.uk site, which has over 6,000
recipes, some on video. Delia’s web site deliaonline.com is recommended very highly. Jointing
a cooked duck or raw chicken, boning a fish, making white sauce, pastry, preparing exotic fruit,
various puddings are all there with instructions and photographs, plus a message board and
readers’ recipes. Possibly the only cookery website you will ever need, although you won’t find
road kill chilli or baked hedgehog there which turned up on some of my searches.
My favourite Chinese chef can be found on kenhomcooks.com with plenty of good recipes
although as with Delia’s site there is some merchandising.
For illustrated curry recipes madgeandgeoffrey.co.uk is worth a click; obviously the title is a
good natured pun on the name Madhur Jaffrey. CuisineCuisine.com is a USA based
appreciation of India and Indian food I can warmly recommend to curry heads. The light
hearted toomanychefs.com is a cookery blog with many links, worth a look.
The recipes are out there, as are the farmer’s markets. Make your own discoveries. You can
do it if you try.
Happy cooking. One final comment which I saw on a post card in Cornwall a few years ago,
which I address to men who are afraid to cook in case they have any failures….
‘How to avoid criticism:
Say nothing....,
Do nothing.....
Be nothing.
Thanks to the people who contributed recipes and otherwise helped me, they know who they
are. I am particularly indebted to Terry Ozanne and Hobbs the printers of Totton,
Hampshire, or generously printing this book at cost. All profits from book sales will go to
building the extension to
All Saint’s C of E church, Botley, Hampshire. (*)
© Dr Stephen Francis Hayes October 2006
(*) In fact, due to many fund raising efforts and sacrificial donations, the extension opened
debt-free and now houses a public library and is used for various other purposes and makes
life a lot more comfortable. I know the architecture critic Piloti in Private Eye rails against 'the
rite of coffee' and moans about toilets, but our extension a architecturally very good and
blends in seamlessly, besides if we want families with children and frail elderly to come to
church, we do actually need decent and easily accessible toilets. Now we have them. This
book raised about £1,000 after printing costs, another £k was raised by a Chinese banquet at
which I was the principal chef-next time I'll just give more money!
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