Megabytes by John & Sally McKenna
Seasonal Book Special
Paul
Flynn: “An Irish Adventure with Food: The Tannery Cookbook”
(Collins Press, €25)
Paul Flynn is well known to food lovers thanks to his cutting-edge
cooking in Dungarvan’s The Tannery Restaurant, where he is
chef-proprietor, and thanks to 2 years spent writing a hugely
witty and wise weekly column for The Irish Times. He has also
written some sparkling pieces for Megabytes when he isn’t
doing a zillion other things. “An Irish Adventure” is
his first book, and it’s a beauty: incredibly funny, utterly
practical, packed with beautiful ideas. Conceived and written
by someone who understands food just a s much as he loves food,
Mr Flynn’s relish with gustatory matters is simply irresistible:
‘An Adventure…’ is just that, a never-ending adventure
with great food.
From boiled egg and marmalade sandwiches, to winning a Jim Figgerty look-alike
competition in Dungarvan back in 1969, to a series of impressive and sound
recipes using any and every ingredient, Flynn speeds us through his chapters.
“I can remember every restaurant I have been to and what I had to eat”,
writes Flynn. In fact, he seems able to recall every single food moment of
his life, and here they are written with grace, modesty and great good humour.
This is one of the most amusing books on food ever written, and one of the
best books ever written by a working chef. Don’t miss it.
‘Neven
Cooks 2’
(Poolbeg, €15)
Neven Maguire’s celebrity chef status is so great that he doesn’t even need to use his surname anymore: we all know who Neven is, a charming twenty-something who has made the MacNean Bistro in Blacklion into one of the icon addresses of modern Irish cooking.
This book is more of the snappy, hugely flavourful and fail-safe
food that featured in his incredibly successful first book, and
with razor-sharp editing by Orla Broderick, and some fine photography
by Kieran Hartnett, the book is even better than volume 1. The
vegetarian ideas are particularly good, the sweet cooking as good
as it gets, and this is smart, hip, accessible modern food. In
fact, for anyone who wants a decent and varied diet and who wants
simple techniques using available modern ingredients, this book
is pretty darn essential.
Diana
Henry: The Gastropub Cookbook
(Mitchell Beazley £20 stg)
Diana Henry’s first book, “Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons” is a sure-fire masterpiece that continues to enthral us a year after it was first published. Here, Ms Henry turns a completely new tack: where the first book was personal and evocative, this new book is a piece of excellent reportage combined with the recipes of other chefs. Is there any other food writer working today who could pull off two such different approaches so successfully? We don’t think so, and it is a sure sign of Henry’s toughness of intellect and resolve of purpose that she alone could do it.
The Irish chapter, which closes the book is masterly, with recipes from Ken
(cpf of Rick Stein) Buggy and from the brilliant Georgina O’Sullivan
of The Ballymore Inn. But Diana Henry ranges right across the UK, Scotland
and Wales to find the best gastropubs, and she really does seem to have unveiled
a distinct and valuable culinary revolution, one that preaches simplicity,
generosity and trueness as its mantras. As ever, Jason Lowe’s photography
is peachy. Here is a food writer at the top of her game.
Elizabeth
David’s Christmas, compiled by Jill Norman
(Penguin £14.99 stg)
The great Elizabeth David may not be fashionable anymore, but it only takes you to read a couple of paragraphs of this fine book to realise that here is a cookery writer of rare distinction, and a person whose work, thanks to its intellectual acuity, will last for as long as people care to cook and read about food.
As ever, Mrs David is iconoclastic: her perfect Christmas “would consist of an omelette and cold ham and a nice bottle of wine at lunchtime, and a smoked salmon sandwich with a glass of champagne on a tray in bed in the evening”. She was always someone with a love of the austere but, knowing it never works out like that, the book is packed with great ideas: it would be fun to cook from this book alone during the festive season. Culled from her journalism over many decades and beautifully assembled by Mrs David’s literary executor, Jill Norman, this is a little delight.
Bill
Granger, bills open kitchen
(Murdoch Books £16.99 stg.)
You may not have heard of Bill Granger, but we reckon, give or take another 6 months or so, that you will know all about one of Sydney’s hottest restaurateurs. The chef and owner of the restaurants bill’s and bill’s 2 has just published his third book, ‘bill’s open kitchen’, and it’s a fantastic success. ‘I do home cooking’ Granger told one interviewer recently, and this is home cooking at its very best: unfussy, full-on flavours, and incredibly smart from breakfasts through to dinners. The layout is ace, the writing fleet and smart, and if there is a little trace of lifestyle – Bill with his little daughter is scattered through the book in Saturday magazine-style shots – it doesn’t upset one of the coolest cookery books we have cooked from in aeons. This is a peachy book.
Fuchsia
Dunlop, ‘Sichuan Cookery’
(Penguin £12.99 stg)
Fuchsia Dunlop sounds like a West Cork sort of girl, but in fact she is a
Londoner with fluent Chinese, a fact that gives her first book, ‘Sichuan
Cookery’ the true tang of authenticity. You have to warm to a woman who
admits that her choice of university was heavily influenced by Sichuan’s
reputation for amazing food, and Ms Dunlop got lucky in China by being offered
a place at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine. She was an apt pupil,
and her thoroughness in explaining Sichuan folk cooking is captivating. Bring
on the cleaver and the Ken Hom wok!
Mary
Berry’s New Aga Cookbook
(Headline £12.99)
Not having an Aga, we didn’t feel qualified to review ‘Mary Berry’s
New Aga Cookbook’, so we asked our neighbour, Liz Haddon, to review it.
Here is her verdict.
I really enjoyed reading and using this book. Although I have a Stanley, which
is slightly different, the book is still relevant. The instructions are easy
and simple to follow, which makes success stress free! I especially liked
the recipe for the Leek and Stilton soup, a treat I haven't had for years.
The Devilled chicken works well too, and you can make it as hot as you like.
Some brilliant ideas are here so that the ovens are used to their full potential and produce some wonderful tasty food. Your cooker can become "part of the family"- check out the Other Aga Benefits on page 21. Enjoy cooking. Liz Haddon
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text © John & Sally McKenna
illustrations © Ken
Buggy
