Keep It Simple: A Fresh Look at Classic Cooking

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I was a bit put off by the inclusion of proper push-ups in the exercises section and relieved when the actual sessions said you can do kneeling ones, as I haven’t been able to do a proper one for a while.

The cast of characters does fit in with the classic mid-century village novel: the acerbic retired major and his pliable wife, the lady of the manor and her cossetted son, the faded widow and her two daughters, the impoverished sisters mulling over forgotten glories, the impoverished himself landlord, the tweedy women and their dogs, and the incomer with the Wrong Clothes. Brush them with oil and bake them off and they will form the basis of a light lunch served eg with chunks of dolcelatte or goats cheese or chopped tomatoes and basil. Every single one of the recipes presented is intended for any one from the absolute beginner to the accomplished culinary artisan. A set of short pieces by women authors with themes suggested by reclaiming negative terms given to strong and strident women – think termagent, vituperator and the like. I did want Reverend Richard Coles’ second novel and was turned down for it by NetGalley having read the first from there, so picked up “A Death in the Parish”.This has a delicious light crispy crust of yeast-raised dough rather than the more usual puff pastry. This book also introduces such useful chef's practices as mise en place (preparing ahead) and how to cook some dishes to the holding point, so that they can be finished later with a flourish -- indispensable for when you entertain. This recipe I have based on an inspired idea of Alice Waters, chef proprietor of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.

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A restaurant critic told me the other day Mr B also believes that if you prick each chip individually with a fork, this makes for an even finer end-product; but that for some reason (like straining our credulity) he didn't put this in the recipe. Turn the mixer to low and pour in the flour in a steady stream to combine with the egg and sugar mixture. Finally, cut more bread triangles to cover the top of the bowl (which will be the base when turned out). Add the carrots and sweat for a further 5 minutes, then add the rest of the vegetables except the leeks. The vast array of those national culinary traditions does point in the same direction though: British, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Morrocan flavours are all here in this publication.

A plan was formulated and we both started reading the book last Saturday, with me finishing it that afternoon and Paula a few days later. If it burns, then you must throw it away and start again or the end result will be horribly bitter, but if there is only one small burnt patch, don't worry. The addition of several unpeeled garlic cloves to the roasting juices gives a subtle depth to the flavour. Like most people, I annotate my cookbooks - ticks, crosses, exclamation marks, emendations and suggestions for next time. Out of the 187 (187, 185, 159) books I read, I assigned a diversity theme to 94 of them (82/187 in 2022, 74/185 in 2021, 43/159 in 2020), so 71 (45, 50, 21) about race, 10 (6, 17, 8) LGBTQI+ issues and 11 (17, 3, 10) covering both, 0 (1, 2, 3) solely disability and 1 (2, 1) race, LGBTQI+ and disability, none (2, 1, none) primarily about class and none (2, 1, none) race, LGBTQI+, disability and class.I quite want to cook some of what Mr Blumenthal does: though when he tells me that the best way of cooking a steak is to flip it every 15 seconds, making 32 flips in all for its eight-minute cooking period, I am inclined to wonder who will be minding the chips and mushy peas while I flip four steaks 128 times, so I say Pass. I think I might whip up a white chocolate mousse using the recipe from Frances Bissell’s book Entertaining. Check whether they are cooked and, if still too crisp, add a little more water and cook until done to your liking. Aboriginal and other Indigenous languages and their role in the countries that include Indigenous communities are also included in this chapter; I appreciated the wide range of the book in this respect. And then I finally got to the epilogue, which is an interview between the author and his mum, and discovered that his mum was very explicit in saying that she did not want to discuss her past and did not want the author to make her past or any of her story into a book!