1/ 🧵 /Eat More Vegan/ Annie Rigg

Following on from the vegetarian cookbook #TheWholeVegetable, is a recently published one that ups the ante to #vegan status.

Eat More Vegan, by Annie Rigg (Make sure you pick up the correct book - there are others with this title)
Published: 2023
Pages: 176
Publisher: Pavilion GB
Price: around $35AU, but look around as prices vary. An eBook is available.

Recipes: 80, all of which are vegan, vegetarian and egg-free.

Annie has written over 15 cookbooks including #EatMoreVeg, a companion book to this one. The dishes in this book take inspiration from all over the globe, with some nice Indian ones as well.

There is quite a bit of protein in the recipes, but there could be more. There is little use of lentils, for example. #TheWholeVegetable did better, I think. There is such a variety of lentils, grains and beans, and even soy bean products besides tofu. There seems little excuse to not have protein in every dish, really.

Yet the dishes are tempting ad look delicious. As expected it is very plant-forward. I love that it makes its own feta replacement using tofu, preserved lemon and nutritional yeast and uses tofu instead of paneer in dishes.

Recommended for a flavourful transition to vegan eating.

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3/ 🧵 /The Whole Vegetable/ Sophie Gordon

See here for another review of this book and some recipes that were trialled. https://thecookbookbar.com/review-sophie-gordon-whole-vegetable/

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1/ 🧵 /The Whole Vegetable/ Sophie Gordon

It is a thing these days to write (or at least own) cookbooks about no waste or using the whole product. Truth be told, these cookbooks have been around for ever, just not named that way.

Sophie Gordon published on in the past couple of years. She is UK based, but you'd never know as her website (https://www.sophgordon.com) overlooks this important detail. It is only in the Catering section that she mentions they source local UK ingredients.

Soph is about seasonal and veg-heavy food. This is her first cookbook. The blurb for the cookbook is full of buzz words - seasonal, vibrant, sustainable, vegetable-heavy, eco-conscious, no-waste.

The Whole Vegetable, by Sophie Gordon
Published: 2020
Pages: 384
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Price: around $42AU, but look around as prices vary.An eBook is available.

Recipes: 158, all of which are vegetarian and egg-free.

The book is divided into seasons. This could be a problem for Australia readers as our seasons don't translate by just doing a 6-month shift.It does help that Summer is divided into Early Summer and Height of Summer. Similarly Winter is Winter Begins and Depths of Winter.

Each season is divided into a section for each vegetable featured. Many recipes feature Waste Tips - what to do with the bits we normally would not use.

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2/ 🧵 /The Complete Small Plates Cookbook/ America's Test Kitchen

There are some nice things about this just-published book. There is a table at the end of the book listing every recipe and nutrition information (calories, salt, fats cholesterol, carbs, etc and protein) It is in a table format so you can glance down a column to see which recipes are low or high in that column.

Also at the end is an appendix on how long things can be made ahead, from a day or two, up to a month.

The book starts with info about using small plates, and some great menu suggestions including open house, eating on the couch, Indian tea party and weekend brunch.

The recipes are clear, well written in a readable font. Each has a section on Why This Recipe Works, and perfect pairings, what can be prepared ahead, and what accompaniments or condiments it needs. There is clear information on serves, active time and total time. I am impressed that it doesn't dumb down ingredients, using items such as black vinegar and red vinegar sauce quite casually.

The book tends to open flat except at the beginning and end - you'd need your weights here. There is no bookmark which is a red mark for a book this size. And the index looks Ok.

Recommended for entertainers, lovers of small plate meals and nibbles, and fans of scratchit meals. There are recipes from all around the world.

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1/ 🧵 /The Complete Small Plates Cookbook/ America's Test Kitchen

When the kids were teenagers we'd often eat "scratchit" meals, especially on weekends. The fridge would be raided, everything would be placed on bowls on the table, crusty bread would appear and some olive oil, and we'd sit around and chat and help ourselves.

It is a great way to eat, and oh how good it is for using up leftovers. It also meant I could cook small dishes at any time of the day, without worrying there wouldn't be enough for everyone. Small plates/Meze/Tapas style food is a lot of fun.

The Complete Small Plates Cookbook, by America's Test Kitchen
Published: 2023
Pages: 432
Publisher: America's Test Kitchen
Price: around $45AU, but look around as prices vary.An eBook is available.

Recipes: 309 recipes, around 250 of which are meat, fish and egg free. These include some sauces and dressings etc.

This book is for the "scratchit" eaters. Small plates to cook any time, eat immediately or pop in the fridge to contribute to a meal later. Salads, pies, pizzas, croquettes, fried cheeses, vegetables, finger food, dips, spreads, breads, dumplings, pastries and sweet treats.

I looked for vegetarian protein recipes, and found 2 tofu dishes, 1 with tempeh, 2 with lentils, 12 with beans and 54 with cheese. There is a chapter called Protein, but it is primarily non-veg. I am impressed there is a tempeh recipe (Seared Tempeh with Tomato Jam). I guess in total it is relatively Ok, but I would have liked seeing more.

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/Bread and Butter: Cakes and Bakes from Granny's Stove / Ciara McLaughlin

A quick look at this cookbook too. I didn't connect well with this book, which is unusual. At first I was puzzled as to the country (I presumed the US) and how how old Granny was - perhaps a lot younger than me.

It is an Irish book, but very little in the book "speaks" to me of Ireland. A lot of the desserts and pastries are common here too - coconut ice, jam drop biscuits, apple pie, roly poly cake, banana bread, crumbles, scones, lemon meringue pie, madeira cake .....

It may be my lack of knowledge about Irish food, but the Irishness comes through more in the breads and some of the heavier cakes/sweet loaf cakes.

It you are interested, it is available for around $45AU, but check around. I think there are better and cheaper books than this one. The cover is nice, though.

Better books on British food include Dark Rye and Honey Cake, and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South, by Regula Ysewijn. I have reviewed them previously. And best of all they are around $50AU for the pair, if you buy them together (See attached pic)

#cookbookReviews #cookbookReview #LTCCookbookReviews #cookbooks #food #BritishFood #BreadAndButter #CiaraMcLaughlin
#IrishFood #DarkRyeAndHoneyCake #OatsInTheNorth #RegulaYsewijn

1/ 🧵 /National Trust Book of Scones/ Sarah Clelland

Scone obsessive Sarah Cleland has gathered 50 scone recipes from National Trust experts around England, and has written a quirky guide to 50 National Trust places to delight and entertain you while you bake or eat those blissful treats. Note that these are TRUE scones (not the US variety, thank goodness).

National Trust Book of Scones, by Sarah Clelland
Published: 2017
Pages: 128
Publisher: National Trust GB
Price: around $15AU, but look around as prices vary.

Recipes: 51 scone recipes

Eccentric owners, strange treasures, obscure facts—it's all here. Whip up a Triple Chocolate Scone while you read about the mechanical elephants at Waddeston Manor, savour an Apple & Cinnamon Scone while you absorb the dramatic love life of Henry Cecil of Hanbury Hall, or marvel at a Ightham Mote's Grade 1 listed dog kennel while you savour a Cheese and Spring Onion Scone.

It is a small sized book, easy enough to pop into your handbag when visiting friends in case you want to whip up some Singing Hinny while you are there. To go with the freshly made strawberry jam you are also bringing, of course.

The recipes are all tempting, and enough different scones to have you never repeating them for a year of Saturdays.

There are sweet and savoury scones, not all are egg-free but mostly I think you could replace the egg.

It is a truly British book that lovers of TRUE British scones will adore as well as all nostalgic British immigrants. Note that the book annoyingly does not lie flat when open - grab your kitchen weights out.

50 of the best scones and 50 of interesting places to read about—you’ll never need to leave the kitchen again. I might start with the Carrot and Coriander Scones.

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3/ 🧵 /Saffron Swirls and Cardamom Dust /Ashia Ismail-Singer

As mentioned, the author lives in NZ now, after migrating first from India to Malawi where she grew up, and later to NZ. She has a fabulous website here https://www.ashiaismailsinger.com/ where you can view even more gorgeous photos. This, I think, is her 2nd cookbook.

Recommended for all lovers of the exotic, and the sweet.

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2/ 🧵 /Saffron Swirls and Cardamom Dust /Ashia Ismail-Singer

Down to some nitty gritty. Many of the pages are verging on black, and these are useless to jot notes on unless you have a white ink pen. Go get yourself one. The book has 1 attached bookmark ribbon, sufficient for a book of this size. The book lies beautifully flat when open, so no need for weights when you are cooking from it.

Some of the recipes are egg-free, but not enough is this is your dietary preference 😢 UNLESS you just love Indian desserts and reckon the book is beautiful enough for the ones that are egg-free.

The book is divided by season, and is written in NZ, so the seasons might just align with ours (I find European seasonal books have to be adjusted by a month or two).

The recipes are spice-forward, and she has a couple of pages at the beginning of the book with information on the ones she uses.

#cookbookReviews #cookbooks #cookbookReview #LTCCookbookReviews #cooking #cookingAU #SaffronSwirls #AishaIsmailSinger #NewZealandCookbookAuthor #Food

1/ 🧵 /Saffron Swirls and Cardamom Dust /Ashia Ismail-Singer

Have I got a book for all you sweet tooth baking fiends out there. A dark mysterious book full of delights influenced by India, the Middle East and beyond.

Book: Saffron Swirls and Cardamom Dust
Author: Ashia Ismail-Singer
Published: 2021
Publisher: Bateman Books
Pages: 192
Price: Around $40AU. Ebook is available and can be cheaper.

It is a fabulous, mysterious, dark-paged book with luscious photos, enough to give you cavities by just looking. There are some familiar recipes and others evocative of exotic cuisines elsewhere.

#cookbookReviews #cookbooks #cookbookReview #LTCCookbookReviews #cooking #cookingAU #SaffronSwirls #AishaIsmailSinger #NewZealandCookbookAuthor #Food

As a #vegetarian, I welcome the plant-forward, plant-based and plant-centric cookbooks. It is a more honest description. In the past, many #cookbooks that were really just vegetable cookbooks claimed to be vegetarian cookbooks. A vegetarian diet is more complex than a plate of vegetables, and very few “vegetarian” cookbooks take care to balance the various dietary needs of vegetarians.

#CookbookReviews #cookbook

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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This is absolutely fabulous. The Sad Bastard Cookbook.

"It has recipes to make when you've worked a 16-hour day, when you can't stop crying and you don't know why, when you accidentally woke up an Eldritch abomination at the bottom of the ocean."

Download FREE from here: https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook

#cookbookReviews #CookbookReview

🧵 /3/ The Blue Ribbon Cookbook / The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook / Liz Harfull

⬆️

To finish, some recipe names to bring on nostalgia or astound you.

Shirley's Orange Cake
Rosemary's Reliable Carrot Cake
Rod's Bloody Hot Tomato Sauce
Rainbow Cake
Pumpkin Damper
Pineapple Jam
Pickled Eggs
Petticoat Tail Shortbread
German Yeast Cake
Gingernuts
Peanut Butter Swirl Slice
Norm's Water Sponge
Lamingtons
Jubilee Twist
Jenny's Jam Drops
Sponge Roll
Dolly Varden Cake
Ginger Cake
Grape Jam
Anzac Biscuits (proper flat ones!)
Ginger Fluff
Genoa Cake
Pasties (country style)
Sausage Rolls
Lemon Slice
Cumquat Marmalade
Nestor's Yeast Buns
Boiled Fruit Cake
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Jam Rolls
Honey Biscuits
Rote Grutze (from the Barossa of course)
Cockles
Chocolate Orange Swirls

There goes the diet!!!!

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🧵 /2/ The Blue Ribbon Cookbook / The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook / Liz Harfull

⬆️

The second unique feature is the recipes that are as old fashioned as can be, but that were part of my childhood and hold so many memories. They are mostly sweet dishes, with some pickles, chutneys and sauces to balance the sweetness. Jams, marmalades, cakes, muffins, slices, scrolls, puddings... There are a few breads and dampers too.

Looking through these books is the same as looking through photo albums - such memories and such nostalgia.

Liz also has a new cookbook out, Tried, Tested and True, which I'll review in a day or two.

.... TBC... ⬇️

#cookbookReviews #cookbooks #cookbookReview #LTCCookbookReviews #cooking #BlueRibbonCookbooks #LizHarfull

🧵 /3 END / Vegan Yack Attack's Plant-Based Meal Prep/ Jackie Sobon

This is a book for all Veg*ns and people wanting more plant-based food in their diet. You'll love it if you are starting out on that journey, but also if you are a seasoned home cook. The details are so freeing - it is all laid out for you.

I think I will start with the Mushroom Onion Burgers, but there are also good recipes for buckwheat and tempeh. Fabulous!

BTW, the pics are lovely, the paper is glossy so difficult to scribble notes with an ink pen (and perhaps pencil too). The book lies flat when open. It doesn't have an inbuilt bookmark ribbon.

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🧵 /2 / Vegan Yack Attack's Plant-Based Meal Prep/ Jackie Sobon

There are 6 weekly menus for one person - how many cookbooks include meals for 1 these days?? - and mostly these would be scalable for 2 and perhaps up to 4.

They are followed by meal plans for couples, families or just room mates. It takes a mix-and-match approach with 7 menus, each with 5 days worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks.

The same detailed approach is used, detailing, for each week, the equipment you'll need, what you'll be making, what to do on the pre-prep day (things you can make ahead). Sadly, no shopping lists in this chapter, but you could construct your own as you cycle through the menus.

The dishes also make use of the almost-out-of-fashion Instant Pot, but they are easily convertible to stove-top cooking.

There are also some intriguing recipes (in a good way).

I quite love this book.

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In other news, I found a fabulous Australian cookbook today, which I will dive into on the weekend and share details with you.

Tried, Tested and True: Stories and recipes celebrating the traditions of Australian community cookbooks, by Liz Harfull

#food #cookbooks #cookbookReviews

COOKBOOK REVIEW/Chetna's 30 Minute Indian/Chetna Makan

A quick look at another Indian cookbook, this time focused on quick Indian meals. Not a vegetarian book, but some nice recipes in it. It reminded me of the sub-cuisine of India called Bachelor Food - quick and easy dishes for those studying or working away from home and having to cater for themselves.

This doesn't quite fit the genre, as you do need some kitchen items a bachelor (male or female) might not have in more temporary accommodation.

It's a good looking book, glossy pages, lovely photographs, and lies flat when you open the book. There are Indian recipe names along with the Anglicised names.

Chetna is also the author of Chai, Chaat and Chutney, a book of Indian street foods which is much loved here. She has a website, with recipes! https://chetnamakan.co.uk/

Overall, a nice book, for quick and presumably easy meals from the sub-continent.

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COOKBOOK REVIEW/Modern Pressure Cooking/Catherine Phipps

I am not a user of pressure cookers, so I can't comment much on this book. But I did want to bring it to the attention of all you avid pressure cooker users.

It's a huge book, over 200 recipes, and around $39AU. There is only a small introduction to pressure cooking, but otherwise, it is the book I'd like to have if I ever got into pressure cooking.

She makes the point that a good pressure cooker can also double as an extra saucepan, and thus there are some recipes I feel would be just as quick on the stove.

It is a beautifully laid out book, the paper is perfect for note jotting, and it lies flat enough when opened.

It is just that I love the flavours of long cooking, and some dishes (I think) are less-than for shortening that cooking time. But I haven't tested my theory, and sometimes we don't have endless time. It is a rushed world.

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