Tried,Tested and True / Liz Harfull

Having looked at the 2 Blue Ribbon cookbooks by Liz Harfull (see ⬆️ ) , it is worth completing the trio with her latest book.

🇦🇺 Tried True and Tested is a collection of recipes from community cookbooks, the ones that were very common mid to late last century. Accompanying the recipes are gorgeous stories of the people who contributed them. Not only does it contain those recipes we grew up with, it is another book that showcases Australian food history. You can see it on Liz's website https://www.lizharfull.com/lizs-books/tried-tested-and-true/

True to the form of the community cookbooks I had, often published by church-affiliated women' groups and the Country Women's Association, this book contains mostly sweet recipes and meat recipes. There were very few veg recipes in those books! I used to have quite a few from my Aunties.

Tried Tested and True, by Liz Harfull
Published: 2018
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Pages: 320
Price: Around $25AU, beginning to be scarce. Ebook is available and can be cheaper.

Recommended by lovers of older recipes and of Australian food history.

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🧵 2/Indian Cooking Class/Christine Manfield ⬆️

(cont.) To the recipes. Honestly, I think had hoped that this book does not have the "cons" of her Tasting India book - at least I had my fingers crossed. But see below.

There are recipes that jump out - Kashmiri Tomato Salad, eg. How simple this is but how divine. I do wish she had included the Indian names of dishes in the titles. Its a black mark 🙅‍♀️ to not do so. #CulturalAppropriation . The names can appear in her introductory text, but I don't think that is good enough. THE INDIAN NAMES DO NOT FEATURE IN THE INDEX.

Another example of this is the recipe called Scrambled Cheese - NOT Scrambled Paneer, nor Paneer Bhurji. The recipe is not indexed under paneer.

I don't want to go on. If I can find such fundamental errors in a browse of the book, I can only imagine how it impacts those new to Indian cooking.

There are many dishes in this book that look so inviting, honestly. But the book is let down by some fundamental things.

So use at your own risk, and perhaps use for inspiration. The recipes indeed might be accurate, and many of the recipes are simple enough that the chance of error is low. Recipes are marked as GF or V where appropriate.

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🧵 2/Indian Cooking Class/Christine Manfield ⬆️

(cont.) It is a huge book, but luckily has 2 attached ribbon bookmarks. It could have done with a third. The book lies flat when open (phew). The paper is rather too glossy for ink-based comments. You will struggle for space in some recipes for biro (perhaps) or pencil (perhaps) comments.

The recipes seem well explained and towards sufficiently straight forward, however, unlike other books that we have reviewed lately, there is no introduction to spices, Indian pantries and equipment, cooking techniques etc at the front of the book. It dives straight in.

The Chapters are divided in the usual fashion, nothing different there. The index looks comprehensive and workable.

The recipes are well laid out, appear easy to follow, and a few have extensive photographs that show how to make the recipe. I notice some variations in spelling eg papri and papdi, various spellings of the same item, and wonder if I can pick this up, why an editor missed it. it can be confusing for people new to Indian cooking,

The pics are gorgeous, and all have a chefy feel, as you'd expect from a chef, rather than a home cook.

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🧵 1/Indian Cooking Class/Christine Manfield

I've been reviewing recent Indian cookbooks lately, starting from easy and moving up to chefy. This weekend we have 2 chefy ones. You can see the previous ones here: https://mastodon.au/@LifeTimeCooking/110518254036498714

For full transparency, I knew Christine waaaaay back when we were studying. I have 3 of her cookbooks. Although I love her to death, I find her recipes in the other books often leave something to be desired in terms of accuracy. This is especially true of Tasting India, and I suspect the recipes were not tested. That book is a beautiful coffee table book containing recipes she collected while travelling around India. I will often use this book for inspiration but search out recipes elsewhere.

Indian Cooking Class, by Chris Manfield
Published: 2021
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
Pages: 448
Price: Around $45AU, but always check around as prices vary. Ebooks can be cheaper.

RECIPES: 275, around 175 of which are meat, fish and egg free - EYB is down at the moment so I can't be more exact. The vegetarian ones include dips, chutneys, desserts, soups, etc as well as main and side dishes.

Chris spent a lot of time working in kitchens and chef-ing in hotels and restaurants in SE Asia, where she fell in love with spice, and India, which captured her heart. Prior to that she had award-winning restaurants in rural Sht Australia and Sydney, and afterwards had a fabulous restaurant in London.

Looking at EYB, the recipes in this book that have been cooked by members all have good reviews, many commenting that the recipes are easy.

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🧵 #FoodSavers/4

Overall, this is a sensible book. It is a book for inspiration, not for food to blow the sox off your friends and neighbours. It is focused on using the smallest scrap of anything in your pantry, fridge, or from your garden. I quite like it.

I think you do need some basic cooking skills to use the book successfully, but there is no need for advanced or long-term experience.

Recommended for all interested in reducing food waste, and those who want to be better at using up their pantry.

I just saw a recipe for Flotsam and Jetsam Flat Breads. It's a use whatever is in your pantry approach, and very much my style.

You will enjoy this book and find it very useful.

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🧵 #FoodSavers/3

Oh my goodness,t here is even a recipe for Apricot Chicken, an Australian classic from the 1970's. And there is a recipe for the four-ingredient Dried Fruit Tea Loaf. I have a special affection for this World War and Depression Era cake, and as we speak the dried fruit are soaking on the Kitchen Bench. It is in the chapter on using up dried fruit.

Oh (again), a recipe for cumquat brandy (I make cumquat gin) and cumquat syrup (I make cumquat molasses, similar).

My only complaint is that there is not a table of contents for the 150 items covered in the book. How do you know, then, that Crakers are covered. Or Kimchi, honey or fig leaves? Poppy seeds or flax seeds?

You might expect the book to be FULL of pickles, given Cornersmith's reputation. But it is not the case. The pickles are in proportion - and I would use this book as a companion book to their other publications.

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🧵 #FoodSavers/2

The book is LARGE as you can imagine with over 500 pages. It has 1 bookmark ribbon - not sufficient in my mind for a book that is likely to be used a lot.

There are lots of books that take produce and pantry items and talk about how to use them - Nigel Slater has at least 4 volumes, I have one that is the Twelve Months of Italian cooking, another that focuses on seasonal produce in the London Farmer's/Pop-up Markets.

The unique feature of this book is that it focuses on using everything. So you have recipes for daikon leaves, for example (Yes! I love daikon and radish leaves - he covers both separately). And Pumpkin skins. Of course, pumpkins seeds. Pear scraps. Half lemons. How to use up the bottom-of-the-jar bits of harrisa paste.

Of course it is not all scrap and leaf usage, there are good, simple (can I say "solid"?) recipes for produce and pantry items. Most recipes are written in 1 or 2 paragraphs (so, yes, very simple).

There are no pics in this book, just page after page of suggestions.

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🧵 #FoodSavers/1

Today it is another Cornersmith book - their latest publication. We've had a look at their previous 3 books - check them out at #Cornersmith tag. Cornersmith is an Australian icon that is the leading voice in the war on household food waste. This book takes a different tack to the others.

Food Saver's A-Z: The Essential Cornersmith Kitchen Companion, by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards
Published: Oct, 2022
Publisher: Murdoch
Pages: 560
Price: $30AU but look around as prices vary

Recipes: 899 recipes, and 746 of these are meat-, fish- and egg- free. Such a great ratio! 💓

The book is touted as the ultimate reference guide to using up and making the most of every ingredient in the fridge or pantry. It includes 150 common items, and discusses how to use up a lot or a little of something – from a single stem of asparagus to a bucketload of zucchini (I needed this a month ago).

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