Saturday 9 April 2011

CUISINE REVIEW: Good Food: A Well Kept Kitchen - Gervase Markham, Buffalo Cake & Indian Pudding - Dr A W Chase, A Middle Eastern Feast - Claudia Roden

Release Date: 07/04/11

SYNOPSIS:

In 1615, the poet and writer Gervase Markham published an extraordinary handbook for housewives, containing advice on everything from planting herbs to brewing beer, feeding animals to distilling perfume, with recipes for a variety of dishes such as trifle, pancakes and salads (not to mention some amusingly tart words on how the ideal wife should behave). Aimed at middle-class women who would share in household tasks with their servants in the kitchen, this companionable and opinionated book offers a richly enjoyable glimpse of the way we lived, worked and ate 400 years ago.


REVIEW:

I love a title that takes the reader to another time so when I originally heard of this astounding release from Penguin that brought recipes from the period of Elizabethan England and into the reign of the first of the house of Stuart to the modern reader. Some of them are tricky to fathom but can give the reader an idea or two of flavours and tastes that they perhaps may not have considered before. Add to this a guide about how the good housewife should perform that makes an interesting study in itself and the reader really does have an historical item to hand. Finally add to the mix tips and tricks for cuisine from the time period and it really is an eye opener.



Release Date: 07/04/11

SYNOPSIS:

Travelling physician, salesman, author and self-made man, Dr Chase dispensed remedies all over America during the late nineteenth century, collecting recipes and domestic tips from the people he met along the way. His self-published books became celebrated US bestsellers and were the household Bibles of their day. Containing recipes for American-style treats, such as Boston cream cakes, Kentucky Corn Dodgers and pumpkin pie, as well as genial advice on baking bread and testing whether a cake is cooked, this is a treasure trove of culinary wisdom from the homesteads of a still rural, pioneering United States.


REVIEW:

What I really like about this book is that it’s a series of recipes gathered by a travelling man as he wends his way around America in the late 19th Century. Family secrets and tips as well as recipes that could have been lost to time are remembered and only the best have been saved in this title. With recipes for things like Watermelon cake, Cornbread and also Pork Cake its definitely a title of interest and should be preserved as such with some of the idea’s within destined to become family favourites.

Add to this a memoriam for the author and a whole host of recipes for everyday fare and you know that it’s an intriguing title that should not only be celebrated but used by everyone to give you that wonderful homemade taste that we’re sadly losing to the mass produced convenience foods due to their price.



Release Date: 07/04/11

SYNOPSIS:

Throughout the history of civilization, food has been more than simple necessity. In countless cultures, it has been livelihood, status symbol, entertainment - and passion. In the GREAT FOOD series, Penguin brings you the finest food writing from the last 400 years, and opens the door to the wonders of every kitchen.


REVIEW:

With the west getting more and more adventurous with their tastes in foreign foods its always a blessing when a title lands that brings the unusual as well as some of the more established favourites to your own supper table. What Claudia’s book produces is a lot of flavourful food using every day ingredients that can be obtained in your local supermarket and gives you something new to experience.

What this title does extremely well is banquet, after all a lot can be prepared quite a while in advance and give your guests something novel and unique and with the slow cooker coming into its own, Tagines with nearly every type of meat available. Finally add to this the chance to get some of your children’s five a day into them (the Middle East cooks with a lot of fruit) it is something that is not only tasty but also a great way to have something different to the norm.

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