Showing posts with label Midnight Chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Midnight Chicken. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Books for Cooks (and Writers)

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I had to get "books for cooks" in the title, because it made me think about one of my favorite bookstores anywhere, BOOKS FOR COOKS on Blenheim Crescent in Notting Hill, just off Portobello Road. The tiny shop is a cookbook (or "cookery book", if you're British) lovers dream, and they do cookery demonstrations in the equally tiny kitchen at the back.

The thing is, I have wee bit of an thing with cookbooks. I know you can get anything off the Internet these days, but it's just not the same as holding a book in hour hands, browsing through recipes to see what catches your fancy. 

This is my official cookbook cabinet in the kitchen.

 This is the little table in the butler's pantry.

This is obviously not very efficient as you can't get to the ones at the bottom of the stack...

And I'm not even talking about the ones piled on the kitchen island or tucked away in other spots around the house. Oops.

It would be great, of course, if I actually cooked out of all of these books. I am really really embarrassed to admit that I own cookbooks that I've only made one or two recipes from...  Okay, okay, I own cookbooks that I have never made a SINGLE recipe from!

But I cannot resist a cookbook. They are so full of promise. Meals that might be fabulous, dinner parties or cookouts planned, cocktails drunk, favorite places revisited or dreamed of.

And every so often you discover a gem. This is one.

I came across a reference to this book in Eater London (which I subscribe to because I like to keep up with what's going on in the London food scene.) This was in a piece about Ciao Bella, an Italian restaurant on Lamb's Conduit Street, just down the block from Duncan's Holborn Police Station. I've never eaten there, but have always meant to, so I was intrigued that this cookbook had mentioned the place. 

I ordered the book from the UK, not realizing until much later that it had been a big deal there when it was published in 2019, winning all sorts of accolades, or that it had been pushed out in the US just this last summer. The book is gorgeous--I've always had a weakness for books that are illustrated rather than photographed--and the recipes all sound scrumptious. (Kit cooks one in A KILLING OF INNOCENTS.)

But it's the writing that blew me away. This is a cookbook that you read like a novel, joyous and heartbreaking, and I would put Ella Risbridger up there with any of the most iconic food writers, many of her influences among them.

So if you need a present for a cookbook loving friend, or just for a reading friend, this one comes highly recommended!

REDS and readers, are you addicted to cookbooks? What gems have you discovered?

AND-- Alert from Hank!

Ho ho holiday reading! A very special treat on Hank's First Chapter Fun – – you know it, right?  Every Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30 PM ET on Facebook and Instagram live, Hank and Canadian Bestseller Hannah Mary McKinnon read the first chapter of a brand new book out loud. (As Hank always says: it's live! What could go wrong?) 
Tomorrow: Episode 223 – – can you believe it? – – is a special holiday reading. You’ll hear some holiday classics, so don’t miss it!
Join the private Facebook group here today https://www.facebook.com/groups/firstchapterfun/ so you can be in on the fun.
Or view on @FirstChapterFun on Instagram. 
It's the perfect lunchtime break!