What makes a good cookbook?
Here I give you my personal opinion, not as a food critique, an author or a book reviewer, as I am none of these, but simply as a reader who likes to cook.
- Good photography
Well yes, there are good cookbooks out there with no photography. 'How to Eat: Pleasures and Principles of Good Food (Cookery)' by Nigella Lawson is one of them. But if a cookbook has no photography it needs something very good to make it strong and ‘How To Eat’ certainly has that – a celebrity name attached as well as quality, bulging, content. But I think this is an exception to the rule.
The all important cover and the glossy photograps inside catch your eye and draw you in. I want to see the food being described; I want my taste buds enticed through sight. And when I’m creating a dish I want to know how the end result should look. - Clear instructions
If it’s long-winded, doesn’t make sense the first time or is full of waffle I’ll be inclined to throw it to one side. I want instructions that I can easily follow when I’m in my kitchen with the book on the surface getting splattered with flour. I don’t want my pastry burning as I stir the risotto that I can’t leave all the while attempting to figure out what exactly it is that the author wants me to do with the roux. - Personality
My books become like old friends and I want friends with personality. I want to get to know the author a little and I want to be able to relate to them.
When I pick up a cook book I want a little of what the author can give me, whether it’s a bit of their lifestyle, their skill with pastry, a dream of being supremely domesticated or the perfect soufflé.
The book should engage me, the reading style should be attractive and I should be able to lose myself in the pages. - A theme
What distinguishes this book from the rest? What makes it flow? The theme could be anything from a certain cuisine, country, or produce, a type of cooking or a particular style of writing. But there should be something running through the book that ties it all together. Otherwise it’s just another collection of recipes. - Recipes that work
Well, naturally.
4 comments:
I couldn't aggree more and I can't think of a better example of all of these things than this new book I have tried call Breakfast Lunch Tea. Have you seen it? Do you like it? I defy anyone to look through this lushly illustrated wonder of a book and not want to get busy baking cakes, tarts, pizzettes etc.
I have always tiptoed around pastry and baking, made to feel like it is a slightly mystical art: easy to do but almost impossible to master and perfect. The thing I really like about Rose Carrarini’s approach is that she lets you into this hoard of little trade secrets and details that all the other cookery books perhaps take for granted eg how the weather, the temperature of your hands etc make all the difference.
With this advice I found classics: carrot cake, ginger biscuits, were reborn as mouth watering, exquisite treats and I progressed onto the more exotic recipes with confidence in my own judgement eg broccoli cake (sounds wrong but tastes so right!) . It seems even the snootiest of the baked-goods eating public, the French, have been won over by Rose Carrarini contemporary classics; the book documents the rise of the cult English bakery/tea room she set up in Paris.
The other brilliant thing about this book is its attention to maximising healthiness without compromising taste; there are many gluten free, low sugar and vegan recipes: finally cakes are not a crime!
If this book comes with one hazard it is a serious addiction to baking, eccles cakes and ricotta cheesecake are next on the list. On the other hand, do not underestimate how people warm to the bearer of baked goods! It’s got to be tried to be believed.
Hi, no I haven't seen it but after your great description I must seek it out, it sounds wonderful - thanks!
I disagree. I take a very unsentimental view of cookbooks. To me, a cookbook is an instruction manual. Photographs are optional and serve mainly to show what the finished product should look like. (But they must be in color; black-and-white pictures of food are blah!) I once exchanged a cookbook with beautiful photographs but few likely recipes for one with many likely recipes and no illustrations of any kind.
I'm not sure what a theme is in relation to a cookbook, but that's not important to me either. If a cookbook deals with a particular kind of food, that's theme enough for me.
That's not to say I don't enjoy reading cookbooks; I do, very much. I also read the dictionary for pleasure.
This is very interesting to me because I am helping my husband write a cookbook. He is a professional/personal chef to an A-list actor. He will co-author with the actor who is in amazing shape and is well known for that. The basic premise of the cookbook will be what he eats and how to cook it, so you to can learn to eat very healthy and somewhat simple foods that taste awesome with lots of variation from most peoples day to day. He also plans to have some more recipes to "enjoy" and take time to make for those who enjoy entertaining for family and friends. Would appreciate feedback to help us design and create something that people will love.
Any comments are all good.
Thanks,
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