Books Special

by John McKenna

Lawrence Osborne: The Accidental Connoissuer

There are very few great books about wine and the culture of wine, but this is one of those rare birds: The Accidental Connoisseur is a truly great, funny, oblique book about wine and the strange, oblique people who make it.

Lawrence Osborne has no truck with the completist, value-by-numbers game of wine writing that has spoiled so much commentary on the grape and its factotums: his work is personal, deeply idiosyncratic – make that wildly idiosyncratic – and all the better for that. Osborne comes across as a complex bloke who likes a drink and who doesn't much like the bullshit endemic in the wine world. He is a Robert Parker for the real world: fallible and foible-filled, in pursuit of magic, but not sure just where you might find it. His book is a beaut and if you love wine and all its complexity and cussedness, then The Accidental Connoissseur is the book you have been waiting for.
North Point Press

Rachel Allen: Rachel's Favourite Food

Rachel Allen's first book is razor sharp, and packed with the sort of direct, knowledgeable and enjoyable food that is exactly what we eat today. Best of all, Mrs Allen also writes about the times when we eat today, so recipes are geared for brunch, chilli nights, family food, comfort food, vegetarian food for everyone, and so on. First thing we made from Rachel's Favourite Food was Thai Coconut Soup with Pak Choi and Rice Noodles, and our kids wolfed it down like there was no tomorrow. That's the kind of simple, straighforward but sensually engaging food you will find here in abundance, and we also like the snappy layout and drawings.
Gill & Macmillan

L'Ecrivain Restaurant: Not Just a Cookbook

Derry and Sallyanne Clarke's L'Ecrivain restaurant is the great destination address of Dublin city, and if you want to understand how Mr and Mrs Clarke and their crew have reached this pinnacle, their book explains just how they have done it over the last decade.

The answer is simple: L'Ecrivain is a crew. Chefs, suppliers, staff, all pulling together to make the best food, the best entertainment, the best of times. The food here is gorgeous, and quite cheffy, but what truly impresses us is the space devoted to detailing and describing suppliers and staff: Udo and Penny Lange at their farm; a magical Mike O'Toole photograph of Michele Power and her daughter, Slaney; the legendary sommelier Martina Delaney; front office manager Mary Weddick, and all the chefs and waiters and suppliers who make this glorious entertainment complex tick.

Derry and Sallyanne Clarke have succeeded because they are generous, and hard-working. Their grand generosity shines through this book, and that grand generosity towards people – whether staff, suppliers or customers – explains why L'Ecrivain is first amongst equals. Buy the book, book the table. www.lecrivain.com

Eunice Power: Cook with Stanley

Anyone who has had the good luck to enjoy Eunice Power's cooking in Powersfield House, just outside Dungarvan in County Waterford, will know just what to expect from this pretty and well-designed book: finger lickin' food that is gutsy and real and utterly unpretentious: pan-fried turnip and bacon; Helvick fish pie; Catalan pork; country ham pie; stuffed lamb's kidney's...

But don't think this is just trencherman food, for Mrs Power has a light touch and there is delicacy and subtlety here as well, and a generous helping of culinary wit and wisdom. The book has been produced in association with Stanley ranges, but you certainly don't need a Stanley to cook these smashing recipes. The book has been beautifully produced by 3Sixty Marketing, and Hugh Glynn's photography has a real signature style. A cult book if ever we saw one.
www.waterfordstanley.com and www.powersfield.com

Edward Behr: The Artful Eater

Ed Behr's meticulous quarterly food journal, The Art of Eating, is our favourite food publication, filled with modest, learned articles that approach food and wine with a deeply holistic attitude. The Artful Eater first appeared in 1992 but disappeared from shops quite quckly, so it is splendid to have this investigation into primary ingredients back once again.

Mr Behr quietly and methodically looks at vanilla, at walnuts, at coffee, at sorrel, salt, pepper, carrots and a host of other key foods. His approach is organoleptic: teasing out the qualities of the foods under examination, but he is also alert to the poetry of foods: "Possibly, the best apple I ever ate was a Wealthy that I picked one cool, sunny September day some years ago from the last living branch of an old tree in an abandoned farm orchard. Not many orchardists would be impressed by my 'best' claims for a Wealthy".

That is gorgeous writing, especially that first, punctuated "Possibly”, hanging there just like an apple on a branch, and if you treasure such crisp, intelligent and considered writing and thinking, then this Artful Eater is for you. Available from www.theartofeating.com

Annie Bell: In My Kitchen

If Lawrence Osborne is a Robert Parker for the real world, and Derry Clarke is perhaps a Gordon Ramsay for the real world, then Annie Bell is a Nigella Lawson for the real world. Forget the hyped icons of the unreal world, and turn instead to the practical and true work of Mrs Bell, one of our favourite food writers, but someone whose wit and imagination is too scarcely appreciated or bestowed with sufficient respect.

In My Kitchen is yet another distinguished work of delicious cooking and writing. "My kitchen is as personal as another person's art studio or writing hut at the end of the garden: it is my den, where I think, dream, potter and muse as well as cook and wash up. And in its extended role it is pivotal as the space that defines home".

What an elegant summation of a beloved kitchen: "pivotal as the space that defines home”.
The cooking has energy, zest and focus, classic dishes presented with an imaginative, liberal interpretation. Mrs Bell is Megabytes' Domestic Goddess.
Conran Octopus

Dan Lepard: The Handmade Loaf

Dan Lepard is one of England's great bakers and, as this book reveals in a brilliant exploration of European domestic baking, he is as voraciously inquisitive about traditional baking styles as he is meticulous in his own baking techniques.

Lepard chooses different bakers and bakeries in his quest to unearth European baking styles, so we have Michael Power from Ann Sutton's bakery in New Ross, County Wexford, The Bakehouse, whilst in Denmark we focus on Camilla Plum, a food writer, who powerfully states of the era when convenience food invaded Denmark: "Customers were persuaded to demand characteristics from these foods that would not naturally be present, as well as a level of convenience that is immodest and at times immoral"

A level of convenience that is immodest and at times immoral. That single line could stand as a testament to the impact of this book, which is holistic and deeply philosophical. Baking, Lepard makes clear, isn't just about bread: it's about life. The photography by the author is as superb as the recipes.
Mitchell Beazley £20stg