The best new cookbook in forever
My Book of the Year, in fact
I was scrolling through Substack earlier and came across this, which is insane on very many levels, one of which being that I haven’t actually written anything about food or drink yet.
So I thought I’d better, pronto. My first proper food post - which is my former Sunday Times column, about making things easier in the kitchen - will be up on Sunday and free to read. But now I am nervous about it. DO PLEASE NOTE that it’s very down-home and simple and that it assumes you’re tired and busy. (I’m now worried that choosing Food & Drink as one of my categories was a mistake. Also I stopped drinking years ago now, so the & Drink part is a lie. Also I’ll link to recipes, but I am not a recipe writer because it is an art, like reviewing opera. You can’t just review opera just because you have some ears, and you can’t write recipes just because you have a mouth).
Anyway. I was going to write about this UNbelievably good cookbook as part of my Sunday post, but I’m doing it now because of that list. I say cookbook, but it’s so much more than that. It is my Book of the Year, across any genre, and by miles - heaven to read (she’s an enviably brilliant writer), packed to the absolute gills with invaluable advice, hints and tips, so reassuring and warm in tone that you feel actual love for the author, and, of course, also full of fantastic, achievable, home-kitchen friendly recipes that I guarantee will immediately become part of your repertoire.
It feels like a friend who happens to be a book. I’m not going to say Christmas again - oh - but this book is the gift of gifts for anyone foody in your life. It also does that very clever thing of making itself immediately useful whether you’re a total novice or an experienced cook.