• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Snapchat
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

MsMarmiteLover

  • Food
    • Recipes
    • Vegetarian
    • Vegan
  • Travel
    • France
    • Italy
    • Spain
    • UK
  • Wine
  • Gardens
  • Supperclubs/Events
  • About
    • Published Articles
    • Books
  • Shop
    • Cart

Food/cookbooks to buy for Christmas

November 10, 2014 9 Comments Filed Under: Christmas, Food, Gardens, Recipes, Uncategorized

This is a selection of books that I have been sent over the last few months rather than the last word in Christmas gifts. But here at least there is more variety than just buying Jamie’s latest Christmas opus (he certainly needs no help from the likes of me). This list only has one blockbuster, a reissue of Nigella’s Christmas book.

For women who like pretty books:

Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson (Chatto & Windus reissued 2014)
Love the new cover of this reissued book.  This is a cookbook that feels like a friend holding your hand, helping you through Christmas, the toughest meal of the year. She may be a cocaine-sniffing, spliff-smoking, mustard-carrying, downtrodden billionaires ex-wife down to her last 20 million quid but Nigella Lawson is a sensualist who loves eating as much as cooking and her writing has an intimacy that makes you feel like you know her. I really like those modern British nature goddesses Nigella, Diana and Cheryl.
What to cook: Christmas sprouts, eggnog syllabub, gleaming maple cheesecake

Three Sisters Bake by Gillian, Nichola and Linsey Reith
As a person who has a fraught relationship with my own sister,  I am starting to think there are altogether too many sisters (and of course they all ‘like’ each other just like real siblings- NOT) around in the food world right now: those Welsh birds that pretend to be Italian, the Hemsleys and now this lot from Scotland who I’ve never even heard of. I’m sure they are lovely but their book is soft-focus lifestyley and ‘look at us, we are sweet unthreatening girls in every flavour: a blonde and two brunettes’. One for fans of their cafe probably. Nice photos though.
What to cook: giant Empire biscuits

For serious cooks:

Egg by Michael Ruhlman (Jacqui Small 2014)
I already have Ruhlman’s book Ratio and I enjoy his approach to food writing and cooking. I already have a great book on eggs by Michel Roux, but Michael Ruhlman’s heavy and well illustrated volume features many tempting egg recipes, which is saying something, as I don’t particularly like eggs.
He divides the recipes into whole and separated eggs, in the shell and out of the shell. He writes about what to do with the yolk and what to do with the white and what to do with a blended egg. He opines on the correct way and difficulty with cooking an omelette or an egg salad, both exquisite examples of simplicity that are hard to get just right. He puzzles that while an egg is perfection design-wise, it is also one of the cheapest ingredients we can buy.
What to cook: Nougat (using the white), traditional Bearnaise sauce (using the yolk), traditional egg flower soup (blended)

La Patisserie des Reves by Philip Contoncini and Thierry Teyssier (Grub St 2014)
Really intimidating super-glossy professional patisserie cookbook. One doesn’t even dare attempt any of the recipes. Maybe I’ll have a bash one day, see if they work. The Japanese love this sort of stuff: tiny, pastel, cute, shiny, perfect pastries and cakes. Unreal. Not sure why the slightly shitty picnic in the park photos are there either, they don’t go with the rest of the book.
What to cook: Brown Sugar waffles, Rich coffee log, Sugared almond cake (love sugared almonds).

Books to slip inside your suitcase:

Fragrant Heart by Miranda Emmerson (Summersdale 2014)
This is a first book by Radio 4 journalist Miranda Emmerson recounting a year living in China with her boyfriend before returning home to the UK, settling down with marriage and kids. She also travels to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia. At the end of each chapter there is a recipe, relevant to the part of Asia she is visiting. Now, we all want to write Nora Ephron’s Heartburn or Jorge Amado’s Dona Flor and her Two Husbands, both of which combine love and recipes seamlessly and wittily. But this is surprisingly hard to pull off.
As a single mum, I have a hard time with books that talk about partners, it’s literally the last thing I want to read about, so for me the boyfriend stuff was off-puttingly co-dependent.  As a first book, it is  bravely honest, and Miranda comes across as rather lonely and vulnerable, making the best of things in a high-rise flat on the outskirts of Beijing while her boyfriend is out at work all day. He irritated me, seeming distant and a bit heartless towards her. (Whether this is a fair reflection of their relationship, I don’t know, but I was mentally urging her to be tougher with him). I also felt that the book could have done with some editing. As someone who earns my living from food, I was wondering why I should be following her recipes. Only halfway through the book was the importance of food in her family properly explained, this should have been the first chapter of the book. I found it weird that, as a vegetarian, she was listing meat recipes. (More boyfriend-pleasing behaviour?) Good gift for young marrieds who are going travelling.
What to cook: Pineapple rice, Fish fragrant aubergine

The 100 foot journey by Richard C. Morais
This is currently my tube book. It’s so beautifully written, the descriptions of food preparation, cooking and buying at the market are virtuoso. I hate unnecessary adjectives but Morais knows how to make them work in prose, he paints pictures with words, you can see the scene before your eyes as you read. I saw the film which was a lovingly photographed, feel-good couple of hours.
What to cook: no recipes, but you will be dying for a curry the whole time you read it so stock up and prepare.

Sous chef by Michael Gibney (Canongate books 2014)
This is the kind of book that blokes really like. It’s all macho cooking, male bonding, gee I’m so tough stuff, over the steel counters of a pro kitchen, then getting drunk afterwards. He only gets to see his girlfriend for about five minutes a day. It is well written and takes you through 24 hours ‘on the line’ in a high pressure kitchen; the hierarchy, tasting the ingredients, the suppliers, the cliques (the latinos basically running the whole caboodle). This is updated Kitchen Confidential land but you get the feeling Michael Gibney takes himself more seriously as a writer and a cook than Anthony Bourdain. I did feel like yelling at him ‘go home and get some sleep you silly billy’ at the end of the book when he’s burning the candle at both ends.

For your Christmas stocking:

The Kitchen Magpie by James Steen (Icon books 2014)
Being a small handy size, with a hardback, this is a really good Christmas stocking/loo book. You can dip in and out, gleaning intriguing bits of info, cookery tips from famous chefs, lists and handy hints. A good present for dads who like to cook.
What to cook: Earl Grey sorbet, 3 types of Mauritian chutney

Sushi at home by Yuki Gomi (Fig Tree 2013)
Well designed with clear instructions, this is the best book I’ve read on sushi making. One for fans of Japanese food.
What to cook: beans with black sesame sauce, soba sushi, pressed trout cakes with bamboo leaves

Perfect Preserves by Thane Prince (Hodder and Staughton 2014)
The gorgeously statuesque Thane Prince (woman of a certain age who is still stunning) is a presenter of The big allotment challenge but also a veteran cookery book writer and columnist. Here she brings all her experience to the subject of preserves. There are interesting recipes which I’m going to spend some of the winter tackling. Fantastic for those with allotments who need to use up excess fruits and vegetables. I’ve always wanted to write a book on condiments, I’m a bit condimental, and this book is very much along the lines of the book that I would have liked to have written. Well done Thane!
What to cook: Spiced pumpkin and maple syrup butter, chestnut and vanilla conserve, rhubarb and custard curd, to name but a few.

For stove-side travelling cooks:

Morito by Sam & Sam Clark (Ebury 2014)
Intriguing but at the same time fairly simple Hispanic/North African recipes from the ‘Moro’ duo.
What to cook: squid ink rolls

 Pizza, a slice of American history by Liz Barrett (Voyageur Press 2014)
a) I love the idea that you can be a ‘pizza journalist’. b) pizza is actually quite hard to make well at home c) she talks about the different types of pizza (New York Neopolitan style pizza; Chicago deep dish; Newhaven, thick Sicilian ‘grandma’ pizza; topping-heavy Californian) that exist in America. There are chapters devoted to the sauce, the cheese, the dough plus interviews with chefs and other pizza journalists. A fascinating read by an expert in their subject and while the photos and design leave something to be desired, this is a great gift for dads, pizza freaks, food anthropology students.
What to cook: St Louis style pizza, tomato pie

For hosts and hostesses:

Treat Petite by Fiona Pearce (Ivy Press 2014)
Beautifully designed little gift book with canapes and miniature versions of dishes, including a ‘life-size’ photo. I haven’t cooked anything from it yet, but I can see myself delving into this ahead of a party.
What to cook: miniature Victoria sponges, polka dot lemon shortbreads

Party-perfect bites by Milli Taylor (Ryland, Peters and Small 2014)
Again, a great book, with gorgeous photography, for inspirational ideas on what to make for parties. The book is divided into chapters based on regions such as India, Asia, North African, The Americas, Scandinavian, Mediterranean, dips and sweets so it’s very easy to find something appropriate to the occasion. Milli also does Secret tea parties, see her site here to book.
What to cook: borek, pani puri (dying to try these)

For drinkers:

Natural Wine by Isabelle Legeron (Cico books 2014)
I’ve been on a couple of natural wine trips (Georgia, Slovenia) with Isabelle Legeron and so have seen up close how passionate and knowledgeable she is about natural wine. Therefore I was excited to see this well designed book explaining the history and provenance of natural wine. She divides wine into the classic sparkling, red, white and rose but also expounds upon ‘orange’ wine. She explains the difference between natural, organic and biodynamic wines. In the wine world natural wine is rather a controversial subject, it can be a rough and ready shock compared to the bland homogenised modern wine industry. Natural wine is like punk rock to the wine industry; young, uncultured and raw; like punk, its influence will filter through to the mainstream, no doubt.

Artisan Drinks by Lindy Wildsmith (Jacqui Small 2014)
Beautifully styled and photographed book. There are recipes for alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks including cordials, shrubs, syrups, liqueurs, nogs, fizzes, sherbets, waters, beers, spritzes, digestifs, punches, cups, coolers, sodas, cocktails, infusions, tisanes and wines. Fascinating!
What to make: Venetian eggnog, May’s dandelion, ginger and liquorice beer. Everything!
For gardening cooks:

Kitchen Garden Experts by Cinead McTernan (Frances Lincoln 2014)
If I were to write a gardening and food book it wouldn’t be dissimilar to this lovely volume. There are visits to famous kitchen gardens such as that of The Ethicurean, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons (Raymond Blanc), The Pig hotel, River Cottage, L’enclume (Simon Rogan) to name but a few. This book is just as foodie as green-fingered so a great gift for cooks while giving advice on gardening. It’s also nicely illustrated with photographs with an easy-to-read lay-out.
What to cook: The George and Dragon’s baked gooseberries with lemon verbena icecream and flapjack, Skye Gyngells’ plum and almond flan

What books on food or drink have you bought this year? Any particular recommendations? 

Recent posts

Discovering fairytale Saxony in Germany

January 25, 2023

Fake meat taste test for Veganuary

January 8, 2023

A round-up of my favourite travel destinations of 2022

January 1, 2023

Previous Post: « What wines match with curry?
Next Post: Bloomsbury Secret Tea Party »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sarah Moore

    November 11, 2014 at 6:54 am

    I think I want all the books you want to keep, especially the party ones.

    Have you made puri before? They're easy, the trick is to make sure you roll the dough into very smooth balls before rolling them flat. Any flaws and they won't puff up. I learned how to make them from my Sri Lankan flatmate back in the day…

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      November 12, 2014 at 11:01 am

      I never have Sarah, but I've always wanted to have a go.

      Reply
  2. Debs Dust Bunny

    November 11, 2014 at 10:15 am

    You missed out on the ONE book I really want for Christmas…Your Secret Tea Party book! I have informed Santa that he will be on my SH*T List if I don't get it for Christmas.

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      November 12, 2014 at 11:02 am

      Absolutely. I'll do a blog post about my book on pub day 27th November. And I'll keep plugging it as long and as often as possible. Thanks Debs x

      Reply
  3. Lisa Niblock

    November 16, 2014 at 3:25 pm

    There are some great titles here! I guess my wishlist will be getting a bit longer after I add on some of these titles!

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      November 16, 2014 at 6:50 pm

      Hi Lisa,
      Thanks. Two more I would add to this list are: my book Msmarmitelover's Secret Tea Party and Bitter by Jennifer Maclagen.

      Reply
  4. Sophie James

    November 18, 2014 at 6:06 pm

    Really helpful and honest, thank you for weeding out the good ones. I think the Kitchen Magpie sounds interesting. I recently read The Pedant in the Kitchen by Julian Barnes which is similarly petite and good as a stocking filler and very funny and incisive about the general crapness of a lot of cookery books. And I think Thane Prince's book looks awesome – chesnut and vanilla conserve; yes. Thanks again.

    Reply
    • theundergroundrestaurant

      November 18, 2014 at 11:03 pm

      Ooh thanks for that recommendation Sophie. Yes Thane's book is very enticing.

      Reply
  5. Liz Barrett

    November 21, 2014 at 7:05 am

    Thank you for recommending my book, Pizza: A Slice of American History!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

Subscribe to my mailing list

msmarmitelover

Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuv Naples at Christmas- discovering piennolo di vesuvio,the Christmas 🍅, which lasts up to a year fresh. It’s given boxed as gifts around Christmas being the only local fresh tomato available. It dresses all the Christmas pizzas and pastas. It’s grown on volcanic Vesuvius soil and sparsely watered. As a result it has thick skins, and a sweet intense flavour. #tomatoes #italy #naples
Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick laye Not cooking much at the moment due to a thick layer of dust over my kitchen. This will be my dining room/photography studio. Done on a whim.#unplanneddemolition
Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a n Another picture of my granddaughter Ophelia in a nest of apricot tulle (found at portobello market). Isn’t she lovely? #granfluencer
Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is defin Broccoli Stilton soup. This freezing week is definitely a week for soups. My friend @jimfrommanc is staying & needs his hot lunch.
Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Ven Cheese on toast with crushed chilli 🌶️ in Venice the fresh food market sells bouquets of colourful chillies. I’ve still got mine, drying in an enamel jug. #travelandfood
The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read The Christmas tomato or piennolo di vesuvio. Read all about it: https://msmarmitelover.com/2022/12/christmas-in-naples.html  Got a couple of bunches hanging in my kitchen. #naples #campania #tomatoes🍅 #travelphotography
Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Opheliagram. This morning I photographed her in an Italian outfit I bought in Naples on a William Morris playmat which looks great and is practical for tummy time. So many things are different about parenting now. Parents use apps to track feeding, pooing, weeing etc. You don’t bathe them anymore for the first few weeks because you want to leave the vernix ( the white waxy stuff they are covered in at birth) on their skin as long as possible. Nappies now have a line on them that turns blue if they’ve done a pee. White noise apps to help them sleep. New technology guides new parents. As well as ancient probably prehistoric customs being rediscovered. #granfluencer #grandaughter I’ve tagged in @siennamarla and @jamescalmus as the authors of this baby.
I made two dishes from one pack of white beans las I made two dishes from one pack of white beans last night. Soak, then cook with 2 stock cubes, water & a fan of bay leaves. When soft & cooked, scoop some into a soup bowl with plenty of stock, add white wine, fresh basil and or a scoop of pesto and a squeeze of lemon for soupe au pistou. Garnish with Parmesan. Today I cooked the pot until the liquid had almost disappeared and added a block of feta. I baked this in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, added @pomoragoodfood new olive oil, salt and pepper for a gigantes plaki (but with smaller beans). Eat more beans!
What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yo What to make when you have lots of leftover egg yolks after making a pavlova? Zabaglione, that classic Italian trattoria dessert made from egg yolks, sugar & tons of masala sweet wine. Whisk it up over a bain-marie or be a bit cheaty & add a teaspoon of cornflour. Strong wrists needed. #italianfood #christmasdesserts #leftovers #cooksmart
The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from c The unpackaged vegan meats. My panel of 4 ( from carnivore, to recent vegetarian, to long-time vegetarian to never eaten meat (my daughter)) tasted 18. It was quite a bushtucker trial. Carnivores & vegetarians liked very different things. Full report in next weeks @hamandhigh #veganuary #vegan #vegetarian #tastetest #fakemeat #plantbasedmeat
Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuar Fake meatathon tasting taking place as my veganuary column for @hamandhigh So many companies doing this now. As a longtime vegetarian I don’t want anything that tastes too much like meat. But new vegetarians and vegans may want something that tastes close as damnit to meat in order to stave off cravings? Which category are you in? Have you any favourites or dislikes? Is this just another example of ultra-processed food? Let me know in the comments #vegan #vegetarian #meatfree #veganuary
Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragr Pasta buselli al cedro. Cedro or citron is a fragrant citrus & one of the founding citrus (along with pomelo and mandarin) that created all the other citrus fruits you know about. Usually candied, it is also used in this unusual neopolitan recipe in which you soak the zest in the pasta water overnight before cooking. Post up on the blog later today. Board a Xmas present from @siennamarla #pasta #naples #cedro #citrus
My london garden ce matin My london garden ce matin
My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- My Sacher Torte (1 word or 2?) with a difference- bergamot marmalade in the middle. In the @hamandhigh this week. It’s bloody delicious. #chocolatecake #feelaustria #untoldstories #vienna #sachertorte
These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ These are Mela Annurca apples, ‘mel’anurca’ in Neapolitan dialect. They are a Christmas apple, in season now. I bought this little model basket of apples in San Gregorio di Armenia street in Naples where every year neopolitans buy something to add to their ‘presepe’ or nativity scene. Often scenes from markets to add to the expensive, anything from 500 euros to 5000 euros nativity crèches. Around Christmas this street is packed (watch out for pickpockets) with locals and tourist picking out their addition to the scene. Melanurca apples are picked in September then laid on the ground to ripen, turning them every day by hand, to ensure all sides transform from a yellow green into a Wicked Witch red. They are very healthy, particularly for your hair, according to scientists at the university of Naples. #naples #neopolitanchristmas #melanurca  #food #travel #sangregorioarmeno #presepenapoletano #nativityscenes
The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, The Christmas tomato 🍅 or piennolo di vesuvio, a local tomato that is sold around Christmas in Naples. It is grown with very little irrigation and lasts fresh up to a year. Hence it is used for tomato based Christmas dishes. This tomato has a thick skin and is really intense in flavour. It hangs outside grocers, on balconies, in kitchens, having been braided by ladies into bunches of 1.5 kilos. Each costs 15 euros. I went to visit the farmers and the ladies skilfully tying the tomatoes into clusters, using the vines to fasten them, like cherries. Boxed, these are given as gifts. Reel on the way! #naples #christmas #tomatoes #travel #food
Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as Travel: how I pack. I choose one colour as well as black and white and stick to that palette. For Sicily & Naples I’m doing red, white & black. I’ve bought @coti_vision red glasses chain, a red beret & a black one, a pair of red @snagtights & a black pair, a red hair clasp, a red & white pair of shoes (25 euros, leather from Naples), a red & white dress, a black & white striped dress, and so on. Do you roll? Do you flatten & spread? Do you fold? How do you pack? A few days before I leave I leave my suitcase open in my bedroom and every time I think of something I need to take I sling it in there. ( like adaptors) Last thing is wash bag ( I have a hanging one which is useful) and coat (red for this trip). Basically I colour code my life. When I did the Camino everything was blue & yellow, the colours of the Camino. When I went to Ireland I took all my green clothes ( I don’t have many). If I go on a boat trip I pack blue and white. #packing #colourcoding #travel #mysuitcase
Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicili Ruota di pesce spada. A glorious oven baked Sicilian fish dish, baked on onions, studded with garlic cloves wrapped in mint leaves, then more onions, capers, olives, oregano & rosemary. Use a thick central slice of swordfish (where can I get that in london?). I’m tasting grillo & Nero d’avola wines @tenutorapitala about an hour inland from Palermo. The owner is the last count Bernard de La gatinais. He has 3 daughters. He’s French (Brittany) and Sicilian. He spoke about how difficult it has been for wine growers since lockdown- so many restaurants closed. Now they are grappling with high energy & fuel costs. ##winesofsicilia #siciliaDOC #wine #travel #sicily
I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I lo I love Venice. I love Maneskin. I love Italy. I love boats and water. #biennalearte2022
London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield wit London cure smoked salmon from @formanandfield with mikawa citrus (cross between mandarin & pomelo) and home pickled green peppercorns on a plate I bought in minori Italy. #londonfood #citrus #sundaylunch
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Archives

Copyright © 2023 msmarmitelover