Books, mostly cooking

Firstly, in good news I think the difficulty commenting thing has been fixed. Jo suggested that the ability to comment without a google account was switched off and it was, so hopefully anybody that would like to comment now can. 

I like books. Whenever I try to reduce my possessions a bit they're the things I struggle with the most. I have a few other things that spark Marie Kondo-esque joy (mostly pottery dishes which Zak the Greek rescue dog is ironically doing his best to smash) but I do love my books. They've mostly been acquired second hand.

I have books I want to read, books I've read and intend to read again, lots of useful reference books and I do think I see them as a public display of who I am. There's certainly an eclectic mix of classic literature (I'm currently rereading all of Jane Austen's books. On Pride and Prejudice, just Persuasion to go), historical fantasy (is that a genre? It should be. Mostly Stephen Lawhead who I thoroughly recommend for re-tellings of classic tales and interpretations of Celtic mythology), travel, mid- 20th century literature, 1930's and 40's cinema, herbs, aromatherapy and herbalism, history, gardening, permaculture, biographies, and then, mostly food.

There is a book case full of books in my kitchen. As well as recipe books I have books about food history, travel books about food, books on pickling, fermenting, storing, drying, brewing, foraging, herbalism and health. That's my excuse anyway. I try to organise the books by category which mostly works, but I am constrained by shelf size (the bookcase is a Gumtree find) so for instance the book on root cellaring is on the top shelf with other small books, not with the other preservation guides.

(Mostly) preserving section

My interest in foraging started with a 1930's children's book of things to do (not shown) that my mum was given by her step dad in the 50's. It suggests trying some foods from 'country lanes' and I remember adding daisies to salads and experimenting with making acorns taste better and feeding the results to my younger brothers. I never did make them taste good but I seem to remember them still trying my concoctions! as a young adult I bought the Wild Food book on the left and realised how many more wild plants were edible. I've added to my collection over the years.

Foraging and herbalism

I bought the copy of Culpeper's Herbal as a teenager (I don't think I was a particularly odd child, just curious!) and then Lesley Bremness' Complete book of Herbs. The Handmade Apothecary is fairly new but I think it's excellent. 

Grow Your Own drugs is maybe not as exciting as it sounds- using plants and herbs for common ailments rather than cultivating magic mushrooms. I have a soft spot for James Wong- I've heard him speak a couple of times- and my family like to tease me about him at  length. He introduced one of his TV series by saying he wasn't a hippy, he was an ethnobotanist and my children take pains to remind me that I am exactly the opposite.

More herbs and foraging. Food for Free is a classic and an excellent pocket foraging guide

The history of food and cooking

I find domestic history fascinating. Kings and Queens and wars are all very well, but I'm interested in how people lived. You'll always find me in the kitchen in stately homes. And anyway, as the small blue book says, how we ate and preserved food affected how explorers travelled and soldiers fought wars. Until canning was developed it was hard for armies to be sustained outside of the summer months when raiding local villages and farms couldn't be relied on. Margarine was developed in response to Napoleon needing something more easily portable and shelf stable than butter. Okay, not necessarily a good thing, but interesting,
My project this summer is to learn to cook on a campfire more effectively. We actually do it a lot, and I help the local Guide unit who cook on wood for their camps, but I want to master baking bread and cooking meat in a water pit with hot stones. It's all in these books.

I love these books, A couple were my Dads, there's an international cookbook there that was mine as a child, the blue one was a present for my daughter when she was little from a cooking friend and we love the boboti recipe in it.

Some of my favourite books

I had a recipe book by a famous British chef when I was newly married and it was hopeless. I'm sure his macaroni cheese is outstanding but I don't want to spend six hours preparing it. I haven't bought a 'cheffy' cookbook since then. I love food and I like cooking but I'm more interested in making a really good loaf of bread or pot of jam or baking a really nice cake than recreating complicated patisserie or restaurant-style main courses.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (affectionately known as Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall in our house) trained as a chef but doesn't publish long, complicated, wasteful recipes. I tend to use recipes as a starting point on the whole, and Love your Leftovers and Three Good Things are excellent for that.
I've read all my books and can generally remember which book that recipe I'm thinking of is. How To Eat, the Nigella book at the bottom, was such a revelation I read it cover to cover like a novel. The Domestic Goddess has great baking recipes in it which really work.
I bought the Marie Claire cookbook as a young singleton in London and drooled over the photos and realised later that the Food Editor at the time was one Nigel Slater. Appetite is another good book for starting with what you have.
Sophie Grigson is a bit of a heroine and I have several of her books but this one, Eat Your Greens, is probably my favourite, though I love her Herb book as well. She had a series on TV years ago which told you how to grow vegetables and then what to do with them This is the cook book that accompanied the series and is notable in that it introduced me to Oded Schwartz' carrot chutney which is so good you can eat it by the spoonful. Ahem. Apparently.
The Creative Kitchen is a new book by Steph Hafferty of no-dig gardening fame (her blog No-Dig Home is on the side bar). A vegan book, perfect for dealing with gluts. I've been saving my squash (not quite what for) and so need to think of a few different ways to serve it before it rots.
An Everlasting Meal I love, love, love. Not a recipe book, but a series of chapters on making the most of food in your kitchen. She makes bread soup sound really good!

So many favourites but I don't want to bore. Alys Fowler is another hero, I love Darina Allen and the little books about one obscure subject. I have a treasured copy of the Farmer's Weekly cookbook, with recipes donated by readers in 1947 which has the recipe for Green Tomato chutney in it that my Granny used to make (and I still do).

It's still easy to get in a weekday cooking rut though, so my plan is to review some books, cooking a couple of dishes from it. I might even stick to the recipe.