28 May 2010

Neil Sowerby

Cheese: The World’s Best Artisan Cheesemakers by Patricia Michelson (Jacqui Small, hb £30)
La Fromagerie, off Marylebone High Street, is arguably Britain’s finest cheese shop. London rival Neal’s Yard may have done more to champion our native cheese but for a panorama of European cheese La Fromagerie’s temperature-controlled, humidified Cheese Room can’t be rivalled.
Now owner Patricia Michelson distils 20 years of experience in seeking out the finest cheese into this definitive bible of cheesemakers. Around 450 varieties feature in a handsomely produced volume and, as a bonus there are tips on storing, matching and 100 recipes.

Geetie’s Cookbook by Geetie Singh (Grub Street, hb £18.99)
The Duke of Cambridge was Britain’s first organic pub. Now in its second decade, Geetie Singh’s Soil Association certified street corner hostelry in Islington still leads the way with its hearty, seasonal Mediterranean-influenced British food. The good news is that much of the recipes collected here transfer easily to the domestic kitchen. Some of the organic background errs on the self-righteous side, but the proof’s in the pudding – and mine would be the gooseberry and almond cake (page 82).

The Greens Cookbook by Deborah Madison (Grub Street, pb £12.99)
Staying on the green trail, but this time wholly vegetarian, this is a timely reissue of a modern classic, long out of print. I still treasure my 1987 first edition, which brought a blast of Californian glamour to veggie cooking. Deborah Madison’s imaginative combinations, swing fresh ingredients (many not quite as hard to track down nowadays) are appealing to carnivores, seeking alternatives. Green was the name of Madison’s restaurant on San Francisco Bay.

New Urban Farmer by Celia Brooks Brown (Quadrille, pb £14.99)
Seeking reassurance I bought a raft of grow-your-own advice volumes when I launched my own raised beds, sometimes sowing the seeds of confusion in my brain. Brooks Brown’s engaging diary of her own trial and error growing, subtitled ‘From plot to plate, a year on the allotment’ has helped clarify much of my thinking with its month by month tips. The seasonal recipes are enticing, too.

Kitchen Knife Skills by Marianne Lumb (Apple, hb £14.99)
This book has been out a while, selling 40,000 copies on the back of its author, a private chef, reaching the final of Professional Masterchef. Not bad for what initially sounds a rather recherche tome. On the contrary, there won’t be a more common sense kitchen primer published for a long time. It guides you through how to chop, carve, slice, mince, fillet, bone – essential tasks we all bungle with blunt knives and a blunter awareness of how to get the best out of our raw materials. Highly recommended.