bunyip's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
106 books reviewed. Showing 51 to 100Sort by: Rating | Title 
Kafka's Soup: A Complete History of World Literature in 14 Recipes
By Mark Crick
Harcourt - 2006
No really! There are recipes in this book, which look as though they will work. The charm is that each is embedded in a witty little pastiche of a famous author's style. A complete hoot!
The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate Ltd - 2007
Agreed, as an artefact, a beautiful book. Enjoyable reading, but I felt that the tone was slightly coy. Not as good as Appetite in which Slater's passion for food fairly jumps off the page.
Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Garden Companion
By Stephanie Alexander
Lantern Books - 2009
Stephanie turns her formidable talents to the subject of growing and cooking fruit and veggies. Not surprisingly given her work with schoolchildren, much attention is paid to getting kids involved in both gardening and cooking.
La Technique
By Leon Perer, Jacques Pepin
Papermac - 1982
Tremendously useful, with clear photos of everything. Possibly slightly superseded these days by You Tube.
A Little Scottish Cookbook
By Paul Harris
Appletree Press - 1988
A dear little book, but the recipes are quite authentic.
Lobscouse and Spotted Dog: Which It's a Gastronomic Companion to the Aubrey/Maturin Novels (Patrick O'Brian)
By Anne Chotzinoff Grossman, Lisa Grossman Thomas, Patrick O'Brian
W.W. Norton & Co. - 2000
This is a dead serious cookbook. Every recipe bar one has been tested; and the exception was not Millers (Rats) in Onion Sauce!
Absolutely fascinating insights into the British diet of 200 years ago. I'm sure it's been the basis of many themed dinners.
Maggie's Table
By Maggie Beer
Viking - 2002
Beautiful photography, charming writing, seasonal food from the idyllic Barossa Valley, foodie heaven. It is too, I've been there on holiday, that's how we got to be Rockford's Stonewallers (skite, skite).
Well, at least partly thanks to Maggie, a lot of the ingredients are nowadays available in Melbourne.
The Man Who Ate Everything
By Jeffrey Steingarten
Vintage - 1998
Not any sort of a cookbook, but entertaining and sometimes very funny. This guy is game for anything.
Master Class Lessons with the World's Greatest Chefs
By DIANE HOLUIGUE
E.P.Dutton - 1988
I'vr never actually made anything from this book, it's a bit intimidating. But it's intereting to look back on what was hot in 1988.
Michael Boddy's Good Food Book
By MIchael Boddy
Nelson - 1984
Michael Boddy used to write a cooking column for The Australian newspaper and later published a newsletter from his small farm - referred to always as Boddy Towers - in northern NSW. If he were alive today he would no doubt be a blogger of note.
This is a discursive sort of cookbook, short on precise recipes but full of valuable information and delightful anecdotes, The chapter on sausage making is a classic.
Mix and Bake
By Belinda Jeffery
Michael Joseph - 2008
A splendid range of recipes for all manner of baked goods. Lots of tips and hints from the very personable author.
Molly Weir's Recipes
By Molly Weir
Hyperion Books - 1989
Fascinating. This is the sort of food my mother would have been raised on - wholesome but limited in variety and a bit stodgy.
Molly Weir was a much loved and long-lived theatrical personality.
Moorish: Flavours from Mecca to Marrakech
By Greg Malouf, Lucy Malouf
Hardie Grant Books - 2001
Worth it alone for the recipes for spice mixes, dressings and pickles.
The other recipes are not traditional Middle Eastern but, like Malouf's cooking, are eclectic with an often subtle Middle Eastern influence. Hence Cock-a-Leekie Soup with Dates and Croque Monsieur!
Nanny Ogg's Cookbook
By Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs, Paul Kidby, Tina Hannan
Corgi Books - 2001
Is this a cookbook? Well, it's got recipes in it and I think most of them have been tested, with the exception of Bloody Stupid Johnson's Individual Fruit Pie which calls for 30 tons of apples.
Also includes a section on etiquette - helpful tips for dealing with wizards, trolls, dwarfs and royalty.
A New Book of Middle Eastern Food (Cookery Library)
By Claudia Roden
Penguin - 1986
Wonderfully informative, this is one of those books you read for the writing, rather than use to cook out of.
New Food: From the New Basics to the New Classics
By Jill Dupleix
William Heinemann - 1997
I do like Jill Dupleix. She doesn't vamp like Nigella nor rattle on like Nigel but her recipes are very do-able. My main complaint about this book is that it's another one of those impractical bloody folio sized things that look as if they're intended for use by the visually challenged.
New Larousse Gastronomique
By Hamlyn
Hamlyn - 2009
Well of course this isn't a cookbook, but you've got to have it. Still unsurprisingly rather francophile, but none the worse for that. The comprehensive updates include an entry on Gordon Ramsay, which is a bit of a worry. As for the entry on Australia, oh dear, oh dear...
Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry
By Donna Hay
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd - 2001
One of those handy inspirational books - what can I make from what I've got in my (admittedly well-stocked) cupboard and fridge? And you don't have to wade through any Nigel Slater style guff.
Old Fashioned Homemade Icecream
By Ann Creber
Decalon Pty Limited - 1979
Dunno where they got 'Old Fashioned' from, but this is a fantastically comprehensive collection of ice creams, sorbets, frozen desserts and sauces.
Old food
By Jill Dupeix
Allen & Unwin - 1998
One of those annoyingly large books, though I suppose it means you can read the recipes from a distance. Lots of good recipes for familiar dishes, and Dupleix's usual helpful suggestions. Very comprehensive chapter on broths and sauces.
An Omelette and a Glass of Wine (The Cook's Classic Library)
By Elizabeth David
The Lyons Press - 1997
This collection of short pieces contains very few recipes as such. But of course it is the divine Ms David - informative, entertaining sublime writing.
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
By Harold McGee
Scribner - 2004
This isn't a cookbook, it's a unique reference work. If you really want to understand what you're doing in the kitchen, to know why sauces split or the reason for browning meat, look no further.
The Original Australian & New Zealand Fish Cookbook (Penguin Handbooks)
By John Goode, Willson Carol
Penguin Books Australia Ltd - 1982
Needed not so much for recipes as enlightenment. For example, Groper, Sea Bass and Hapuku are all names for the same fish.
The Original Mediterranean Cuisine
By Barbara Santich
Wakefield Press - 1995
Imagine cooking before the introduction of tomatoes! But the story of Marco Polo introducing pasta to Europe is a load of old dingo's kidneys. Scholarly but entertaining.
And of course if you want to stage a medieval banquet, here are lots of recipes, adapted by the author to modern times.
The Oxford Companion to Food
By Alan Davidson
Oxford University Press - 1999
Of course this isn't a cookbook. With this, Larousse Gastronomique and Harold McGee, and possibly La Technique, you have a pretty good culinary reference library.
The Oxford Companion to Food 2nd Ed
By Alan Davidson, Tom Jaine, Jane Davidson, Helen Saberi
Oxford University Press, USA - 2006
An essential reference. Pretty well all of the late Alan Davidson's entries, the reader is assured, remain but there has been some necessary updating.
Complements Larousse Gastronomique which is naturally French oriented and, I have to say, distressingly inaccurate about Australia.
Pancake: A Global History (RB-Edible)
By Ken Albala
Reaktion Books - 2008
Not a cookbook, though it does include recipes. A fascinating little book.
The Pie's the Limit: Savoury Pies For the Holidays (Penguin Handbooks)
By Judy Wells, Rick Johnson
Penguin (Non-Classics) - 1984
The title is actually savoury pies for 'All Occasions' but I can't change it.
I dunno about some of the recipes - peas are never included in the classic Aussie meat pie (you're lucky if you get more than 20% meat), Shepherd's Pie is by definition made with lamb not beef - but there is a lot of information about pastry and technique generally.
Pie: A Global History (The Edible Series)
By Janet Clarkson
Reaktion Books - 2009
There are recipes (the oldest dating from 1320) in this delightful little book, but it's not really a cookbook. It's a concise and fascinating history.
Pizza: A Global History (Reaktion Books - Edible)
By Carol Helstosky
Reaktion Books - 2008
Fascinating, like all the books in this series. Pizza is of course Italian, but it has been spread across the globe by Americans.
Includes many recipes for classic and other pizzas, not to mention what the author styles "not quite pizzas".
The Pressure Cooker Recipe Book
By Suzanne Gibbs
Michael Joseph - 2009
I confess to being a little disappointed with this. I use my pressure cooker a lot - just select a suitable recipe and cut the cooking time by two thirds.
This seems to be one of those books, written to help market some appliance (remember the early microwave recipe books), where the author doesn't know when to stop and fills up pages with recipes of doubtful suitability.
But it does have handy hints for the novice.
The PWMU Centenary Cookbook 1904 - 2004
By Mairi Harman, Susan Stenning
Lothian Books - 2004
There's one in every jurisdiction; CWA, Mothers' Union, whatever. The little, reliable, absolute basic survival book that you leave home with. Contains all the comfort food you grew up with plus instructions on how to boil eggs.
Fearlessly retro - tuna noodle casserole made with a can of cream of celery soup - but also determinedly up-to-date with a section on stir fries.
Spirax bound so it fits in the drawer.
Real Fast Food
By Nigel Slater
Penguin UK - 1993
More inspirational ideas than recipes, the sort of book you consult when you just can't think what to run up from what you've got handy. Slater displays his usual urge to epate le bourgeoisie, exemplified by his recipe for bacon sandwiches. Cholesterol? What's that?
Real Food
By Anne Willan
Macmillan - 1988
Anne Willan was the founder of the renownedLa Varenne cookery school in Paris.
Her focus is turned firnly away from nouvelle cuisine. Let us not even mention the excesses of molecular gastronomy which was mercifully unheard of in 1988. This is no-nonsense (but by no means unsphisticated), honest food that respects the ingredients and the diner.
The recipes are varied: some simple, some fairly complicated; some traditional (one originated with Taillevent), some more recent like Pineapple Pavlova; although heavily weighted towards French cuisine she includes recipes from other traditions like sate kebabs.
The recipes are all preceded by a commentary giving a historical context.
The Really Useful Cookbook
By David Herbert
Penguin/Lantern - 2009
Would be more useful if it wasn't in coffee table format. But the recipes and helpful tips are up to the author's usual standard.
RECIPES MY MOTHER GAVE ME: Stephanie Alexander presents 'Through my Kitchen Door', the first published cookbook of her mother, Mary Burchett
By Stephanie Allexander
Viking - 1997
One of the greatest disappointments of my life was the realisation that my dear Mum, some time in the early stages of the dementia that eventually finished her off, had destroyed the black exercise book full of recipes that was kept in the kitchen drawer with the clean tea towels. Well, it didn't work any more, did it?
I make do with this. As a cook Mary Burchett was quite adventurous for her time, more adventurous than my Mum, but the evocation of Australian family life in the middle of the twentieth century that comes from reading her recipes and Stephanie's comments is heartwarming.
River Cottage Fruit Every Day!
By Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC - 2013
I'm glad I bought this depressing book on special. One expects a bias towards what is available in England, but not the whingeing about the poor quality of much of it or the need to import it at vast expense from Holland or Israel. Very unlike Hugh's usual cheerful style.
Most memorable is the advice about picking wild blackberries, something you can't do in Australia where they are a noxious weed. Always, says Hugh, pick from higher than the level at which a large dog can cock its leg!
The Salt Book
By David Glynn, Fritz Gubler, with Dr Russell Keast, Raewyn Glynn, Scott Cameron
Arbon Publishing - 2010
I was taught that salting your food before you've tasted it ir an insult to the cook. Of course, to quote Thomas Keller, "the ability to salt food correctly is the single most important skill in cooking." These days you can come across dishes that are undersalted because people are scared that it's bad for you.
This beautiful little book comprehensively covers everything you ever wanted do know (and things you didn't know you didn't know) about salt, its chemistry, uses, history and cultural significance. Recipes are included.
Sandwich: A Global History (Reaktion Books - Edible)
By Bee Wilson
Reaktion Books - 2010
In the 1980s I failed to acquire all of the Time/Life Good Cook series. They are now expensive and sought after by collectors.
I am not making the same mistake with these delightful little books.
The Seasonal Kitchen
By Beverley Sutherland Smith
Hardie Grant Books - 2001
Somewhat eclipsed nowadays by 'The Kitchen Garden Companion', nevertheless an invaluable guide to growing and cooking just about every veggie and common herb you can think of.
The Silver Palate Cookbook
By Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins
Doubleday (Australasian Edition) - 1985
An oldie but a goody, first published in 1981. Before Nouvelle Cuisine and EVO, but none the worse for that. Unfussy, fresh, tasty food, chatty commentary and charming line drawings.
Simple Food
By Jill Dupleix
Hardie Grant Books - 2002
I'm a great fan of Jill Dupleix. She's rather like Nigel Slater, but less verbose (and she takes her own photos).
I've made a few recipes from this book. They rely on good (but not exotic) ingredients and none are technically difficult. Simple they may be, but you could put together everything from lunch for the kids to a decent dinner party.
Soup: A Global History (Reaktion Books - Edible)
By Janet Clarkson
Reaktion Books - 2010
Another charming addition to the series! MUch fascinating information about this universal food.
Clarkson (the author of the excellent Pie) gives a recipe for Tomato Soup Cake , which she claims was popular in tne US in the 1950s. But she seems to have missed the modern American mania for adding tinned Cream of Mushroom soup to just about everything but the actual soup pot.
Soup: A Way of Life
By Barbara Kafka
Artisan - 1998
A bit of a disappointment. Recipes are not what you call 'doeable' and inclined to exotic ingredients. Nothing in it that you feel like trying. Would be no help at all to a beginner.
Stephanie's Seasons
By Stephanie Alexander
Allen & Unwin - 1995
Structured as a series of menus, but of course you can pick out individual recipes. Styled to remind you of the hand written menus at her late great, eponymous restaurant.
A Taste for All Seasons
By Beverley Sutherland Smith
Penguin Books Australia - 1991
First published in 1975. My first copy, acquired in 1977, fell apart. The recipes may be pre-cholesterol, microwave and food processor, but they don't date and can be adapted. No impossibly exotic ingredients.
Taste in Time: 60 Minute Menus
By Beverly Sutherland Smith
Horizon Book Promotions - 1986
Haven't used this for years, but at one time it was a favourite. I don't recall ever attempting a complete menu, just individual dishes.
Taste of Class
By Beverley Smith
Lansdowne Press - 2000
First publshed in 1980, which is the edition I have, this is competitive dinner party stuff. However, many of the recipes look more elaborate than they really are. Helpful line drawings with some recipes
Tea: A Global History (Reaktion Books - Edible)
By Helen Saberi
Reaktion Books - 2010
What is it about tea? It has always and everywhere had all sorts of cultural significance.
Love the illustrations.
Tender
By Nigel Slater
Fourth Estate - 2011
Two large and beautifully designed volumes, one for fruit and one for vegetables - but note that the recipes are by no means only vegetarian.
Slater is a wonderful writer, and very knowledgeable about all sorts of produce. Better still, his recipes are (unlike the currently fashionable Yotam Ottolenghi) not at all intimidating. Every few pages I was reaching for the sticky notes - "must try that".
Note that many of the recipes leave the fine details to your discretion - cook something in "a thick slice of butter" or use a "large" apple. This is my definition of unintimidating, but might flummox the inexperienced. Of course this relaxed attitude does not apply to baking
Up there with Jane Grigson and Stephanie Alexander, really should become a classic.