There are of course many styles of cookery books, but almost all of them suffer from the same shortcomings. Like anyone who enjoys preparing food, I have my library of cookery books. I’ve thrown a lot away (after scanning any pages of interest) and only keep about a dozen, of which my top two without question are Jamie Olivier’s “5 ingredients” and Gordon Ramsey’s “Ultimate Cookery Course”. The latter is Gordon’s best book for me, and all 20 videos of the TV series can be found on YouTube so before trying any recipe I’ll watch the 3 or 4 minutes of Gordon to get a good idea of the dish, and then refer to the book for any specific details – quantities and timings. If it’s a success, I’ll then write up the “concept” of the meal – not the exact recipe, but the general idea so I can reproduce it again without slavishly following the recipe (always a bore). The shortcomings I feel about cookery books in general justifiy this approach. Here they are…
Videos are worth a thousand words
It’s important to have good technique and a practical confidence when cooking. This simply can’t be conveyed by the written word. A short Youtube or Tiktok video is usually enough to have the “feel” of the dish, avoiding the need to read the recipe line by line when your hands are dirty in the kitchen.
Few explanations
Most cookbook recipes just list the ingredients and the method without stepping back and really explaining why you’re doing what you’re doing.
To take a simple example, what can you do with a chicken breast? You need to cook it somehow – and infuse it with flavours. So you can fry it (whole, cutting into strips, cutting into thin sheets – “scaloppini”, or cutting into bite sized morsels), roast it or boil it. If you keep it whole and fry it (with garlic and thyme or whatever you want) then it will take quite some time to cook properly and it can dry out, so it’s good to fry for a few minutes and then cover with some stock and cook for another 10 minutes to ensure it’s cooked properly and remains moist. But most recipes will just list the steps without justification, not equipping you properly to make the necessary choices when you have to divert from the recipe for whatever reason. After all, the most satisfying cooking should be when you depart from the text.
Recipes also waste time repeating the obvious. They will instruct you for example to add seasoning as if it’s the first time you’ve ever cooked. It would be better just to point out when you don’t need to (eg if you’re already using anchovies, olives or capers) By the way, I always thought the instructions “add seasoning to taste” meant “add seasoning so you can taste it”. It was only until I read the french translation – “selon votre goût” that I understood it meant “according to your taste”!
Too prescriptive
If you’re missing one ingredient – which often happens – then what can you do? ChatGPT can come to the rescue here. Just tell it what you’re making and that you’re missing say tomato purée or some herb, and it can propose suitable alternatives. Chat is also helpful when you have to use up ingredients (“what can I do with over-mature bananas?”), and can remind us how long to put potatoes in the oven at what temperature, and how long to boil a small egg so it’s still a bit runny inside. No need to keep books anymore for this kind of know-how.
Recipes with a twist or “revisited”
For celebrity chefs to justify yet another cookbook, they have to push creativity to the limit with original combinations. They rarely stick to basic dishes (Delia was an exception). Instead of a normal pizza, we might be told to make a pizza out of cauliflower. So not only do you not get the basic recipes, but you have to filter out the silly combinations or the ideas that don’t work.
No help when shopping
Ideally we’ll have a well-stocked larder so, except for the main special ingredient (a fish fillet, a lamb cutlet, scallops…) that we can buy on the way home, we should be able to attempt any standard recipe. But in practice there’s a good chance we won’t have at least one of the listed ingredients at home (beetroot, an unusual herb), and it’s always a shame not to get the dish exactly as intended, at least the first time we try it. However, when wandering around the supermarket or the farmer’s market we might not think to look for that out-of-the-way ingredient. Cookbooks don’t usually make this task easy. At least for Jamie Oliver’s “5 ingredients”, I made a simple Excel sheet listing the ingredients, so I could consult it on my phone when out shopping:
The answer is to raid your cookery books for ideas to try out, and then make your own notes. And after a while this is all you’ll need to consult in the kitchen or when out shopping for food.