The 12 books of Christmas for a feast of good ideas...
Thursday, December 23, 2010 at 4:24PM OUR pick of the outstanding cookery compilations of the year. (The Australian)
NOMA by Rene Redzepi (Phaidon Press, $69.95): If you've never heard of Rene Redzepi, you've clearly been trapped inside the Kelvinator for the past 12 months. His Copenhagen restaurant, Noma, was voted best in the world this year, he headlined at the Sydney International Food Festival and his innovative style of seasonal, local cuisine has become the talk of the international food community.
Redzepi's book is an expensive-looking tome with glorious photos of his avant-garde dishes and the Nordic landscapes from which he forages for ingredients. There are also diary notes, interviews with suppliers and 90 Noma recipes; it's the perfect addition to the high-falutin' food lover's coffee-table collection.
If you haven't visited Gilmore's Sydney harbourside restaurant but your curiosity was piqued during the MasterChef Australia segment featuring his snow egg dessert, then this exquisite book is the perfect alternative.
Reinventing Food, Ferran Adria: The Man who Changed the Way We Eat by Colman Andrews (Phaidon, $45): Chances are, like the rest of us, you never got to eat at the much-hyped El Bulli restaurant, the award-winning eatery on Spain's Catalonian coast that made Ferran Adria the world's first rock-star chef. But you can still impress your mates with your detailed knowledge of the man who's not averse to turning foie gras into frozen dust and who first introduced liquid nitrogen to the dinner table.
In this detailed biography, food writer Colman Andrews charts Adria's beginnings as a humble cook in military service to his announcement earlier this year that he will close El Bulli in 2011. One for Adria admirers and those who want to understand what all the fuss was about.
Abla's Lebanese Kitchen by Abla Amad (Lantern, $49.95): There is something to be said for a woman whose restaurant has been packing in the punters for more than 30 years. Most obvious, perhaps, is that the food is up there with the best. In this updated version of her 2001 book, Abla Amad, the face behind Melbourne's Abla's restaurant, presents 100 of her favourite recipes, from dips and pickles to breads, pastries and a celebratory feast of a fragrant whole stuffed lamb; it's hearty Lebanese food served with love.
Amad says in the foreword that she considers the book a memoir of her culture; it's our good fortune that she's prepared to share her happiest family moments.
Food from Many Greek Kitchens by Tessa Kiros (Murdoch Books, $69.95): Evocative photography of Greece, its food, festivals and family feasts is a highlight of this pretty-as-a-picture offering from Tessa Kiros, whose previous books include Falling Cloudberries and Venezia. The recipes include paidakia, grilled lamb chops with lemon, garlic and oregano; peppers stuffed with fetta; and baked stuffed vine leaves. These are perfect dishes in which to indulge with friends on a hot summer's day. And don't get me started on the syrup-drizzled baklava or the melomakarona honey cakes. One for the dreamy traveller who has designs on Greece for that next overseas holiday.
Feasting by Karen Martini (Lantern, $59.95): Karen Martini's wonderful Where the Heart Is is one of the most dog-eared cookbooks in my collection. Her delicate Mediterranean flavours are guaranteed to appeal to even the pickiest of diners. Here's cheers, then, that this tome has hit the market in time for the festive season. Martini has cut out the need for endless hours of menu planning and research by presenting 23 ready-made menus (featuring more than 130 recipes) covering everything from a naughty-but-nice high tea to an Asian banquet and a Christmas buffet extravaganza.
365 Good Reasons to Sit Down to Eat by Stephane Reynaud (Murdoch Books, $79.95): I love the quirky illustrations, diagrams and comments that have become a hallmark of Reynaud's books. His previous volumes include the popular Pork & Sons, Ripailles, Rotis and French Feasts; in his latest, Reynaud provides a recipe for every day of the year. Some are pie in the sky (one would struggle to whip up a slow-cooked breast of veal after a hard day in the office, for example) but others hit the right spot (tuna with sauce vierge sounds like the perfect light supper to me).
The whimsical style and trademark rustic presentation will appeal to many; definitely one I'd love to find at the bottom of the Christmas stocking.
It Tastes Better by Kylie Kwong (Lantern, $69.95): Anybody who is a fan of the ethical, environment-friendly philosophy espoused by celebrated Australian chef Kylie Kwong will love this book, certainly the feel-good release of the year. More than 100 new recipes from the prolific chef are interspersed with introductions to the growers, farmers, fishermen and providores who've helped make Kwong's biodynamic, organic restaurant, Billy Kwong, one of Sydney's best. It's a celebration of all that's good about sustainable eating, and the recipes aren't half bad, either.
The Book of Tapas by Simone and Ines Ortega (Phaidon, $59.95): From the people who produced the terrific encyclopedic reference books The Silver Spoon and 1080 Recipes comes this compilation of 250 authentic Spanish tapas recipes, including favourites from some of the world's leading Spanish or Spanish-inspired chefs. Featured recipes are short and surprisingly simple, perfect for the inveterate party giver who would rather stick toothpicks in their eyes than buy ready-made but finds time is too short for such ideals.
Buy Phaidon's previous two volumes as gifts for the next couple of special occasions and you'll surely have a friend for life.
Recipes My Mother Cooked (Allen & Unwin, $29.99): One's earliest food memories often stem from the family favourites mum used to whip up. In this charming book, some of our leading food personalities share their fondest recollections of meals their mothers made. I wish I'd been one of Bombay-born chef Anil Ashokan's friends as a kid. His mum's steamed rice-flour dumplings in banana leaf would have been right up my street. I'm not sure what to make of the "hypnotic chook" from Max Walker's mum Dulcie, though; perhaps there was more to Walker's sporting successes than we knew.
Salades by Damien Pignolet (Lantern, $59.95): This surprise package brings new meaning to the humble salad. Celebrated Sydney chef and restaurateur Damien Pignolet has put together a comprehensive line-up of some of the world's best salads: cauliflower, beetroot and celeriac salad with horseradish cream, perhaps, or a main course of confit duck leg with lentils and fried walnuts? Anybody who has the mind to introduce foie gras into a salad of quail eggs, red peppers and toasted hazelnuts deserves to garner a big following.
La Cuisine: Everyday French Home Cooking by Francoise Bernard, (Hardie Grant Books, $75): What on earth was blogger Julie Powell, of Julie & Julia book and film fame, complaining about when she made her way through the entire recipe repertoire of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking? Preparing the likes of poached whole fish in court-bouillon or a rabbit aspic terrine is child's play. Well, it is if you have a copy of this guide to the classic dishes of France; it eschews grandness and trickery for recipes with no more than four steps and uses readily available ingredients. Note that this is no dumbing down of French cuisine, rather a compilation of 1000 tried-and-true recipes from the woman dubbed "the Margaret Fulton of France".
I love it, and so will your favourite Francophile. The same publishing house put out the equally impressive La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy earlier this year.
