Eurydice's Reviews
Cookbook Reviews
2 books reviewed. Showing 1 to 2Sort by: Rating | Title 
The Cook's Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen
By Stephanie Alexander
Penguin Global - 2004
This is my way out ahead choice for the one cookery book I would keep if I could only have one. I have been a fan of the original 1996 edition for many years, but had to buy the 2004 (striped) revised edition when I realised that it doesn't just have 300 extra recipes, but is also far better indexed so that all Stephanie's "margin recipes" are searchable now. Like the original edition it is still the perfect book to turn to when you want to experiment with some unusual ingredient and wonder what to do with it and what it goes with, and yes, it is highly reliable. Stephanie really knows her stuff.
Maggie's Harvest
By Maggie Beer
Michael Joseph - 2008
A book to buy just for its cover! The recipes are organised by season and within each season by produce of the season. The book is unashamedly quirky, full of Maggie's reminiscences of people and places in between her lush, produce-focussed recipes, and particularly produce from the Barossa Valley. In this book, while there are plenty of tempting recipes, she also ventures into ever more exotic culinary realms with many recipes whose ingredients would be hard to obtain for the average home cook. Also I would have preferred far fewer Barossa Valley landscapes and more illustrations of the actual dishes, and it was frustrating to find some of the tastier looking dishes illustrated had no corresponding recipe. I'll always love Maggie though for reviving our interest in quinces, figs, prunes, parsnips, chestnuts and many other delicious and overlooked fruit and vegetables, and there are plenty of those recipes here too.