As I discovered when I came to write my own, Nights Out At Home, good cookbooks aren’t just about great recipes. They are about tone, about the sense of a trustworthy, non-judgemental hand on your shoulder. Although I have shelves of them, most of which get flicked through now and then, the most used ones are those which aren’t just a great source of information, but which also are a joy to read. A great cookbook should be a friend in the kitchen. Here are five of my favourites:
Masterchef winner Tim Anderson’s cookbook
Japanese soul food dishes with a twist
Easy recipes as well as elaborate feasts
Nanban
Tim Anderson, a former MasterChef winner, is a self-declared Japanese food nerd, but he has the evangelist’s desire to bring you in rather than exclude you with his knowledge. Nanban is a beautiful book full of great recipes including one for his magnificent karaage, or Japanese fried chicken.
Roast Chicken and Other Stories
Simon Hopkinson, the one-time head chef of Bibendum, is regarded by many in the restaurant business as the cook’s cook; a man rich in both technique and great taste. This book, arranged by ingredient, and beautifully illustrated rather than full of shiny photography, gets everything right. Plus, it really is a great read.
Buy Jay Rayner’s cookbook
Nights Out At Home: Recipes and Stories from 25 Years as a Restaurant Critic
Do Yourself a Flavour
If you’re waving off a new student this year, this is the cookbook to give them. Too many student cookbooks are written by people for whom student life is a distant memory. Freeborn is not long graduated. More importantly she is a brilliant writer full of wit, vigour, insight and great recipe ideas.
Completely Perfect
Whenever I’m looking for a recipe for a classic dish, I may thumb through a few cookbooks but eventually I know I will turn to Felicity Cloake. Her rigorous method – researching all the different versions, working out which are the key bits of it and which are the useful additions – is just superb. Roast chicken, beef Wellington, mayonnaise – it is all here in this volume which brings together previously published books.
Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery
It is hard to overstate the impact or importance of Madhur Jaffrey and of this book, first published in 1982 to tie in with a BBC TV series of the same name. It completely demystified a culinary tradition which until that point had been shrouded in mystery. She took the reader by the hand and reassured them. And it hasn’t aged. It is still absolutely invaluable.
With his first cookbook, Nights Out At Home, Jay Rayner takes inspiration from his years of dining across the UK and beyond to bring you anecdotes, wisdom, and 60 recipes for accessible restaurant-quality from the comfort of your own kitchen.
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