Want to know what books Giles Coren recommends? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Giles Coren's favorite book recommendations of all time. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
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Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking
Fergus Henderson
4.5
Fergus Henderson caused something of a sensation when he opened his restaurant St John in London in 1995. Set in a former smokehouse near Smithfield meat market, its striking, high-ceilinged white interior provides a dramatic setting for food of dazzling boldness and simplicity. As signalled by the restaurant's logo of a pig (reproduced on the cover of Nose to Tail Eating) and appropriately given the location, at St John the emphasis is firmly on meat. And not the noisettes, fillets, magrets and so forth of standard restaurant portion-control, all piled up into little towers in the middle of the plate: Henderson serves up the inner organs of beasts and fowls in big, exhilarating dishes that combine high sophistication with peasant roughness. Nose to Tail Eating is a collection of these recipes, celebrating, as the title implies, the thrifty rural British tradition of making a delicious virtue of using every part of the animal. This new edition, beautifully redesigned, comes with an introduction by Anthony Bourdain.
When he talks about chopping parsley he says, ‘Chop it not too fine, but just enough to discipline it’. It’s a brilliant concept. [source]
Richard Coles
@timhayward @jennylinford I love that book. [source]
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Real Cooking
Nigel Slater
4.3
Nigel Slater fans will love this bestselling classic recipe book, packed full of simple but tasty dishes.
'This is real cooking. The roast potato that sticks to the roasting tin; the crouton from the salad that has soaked up the mustardy dressing ... these are the things that make something worth eating. And worth cooking' Nigel Slater
Nigel Slater's sumptuous recipes are not about making fancy stocks and sauces or perfecting spun-sugar baskets. They are about using the best quality ingredients to make food that is a joy to eat. Freshness, simplicity and flavour: these are what count for Nigel Slater in the easy-to-follow and deliciously satisfying meals contained in Real Cooking.
Nigel Slater is the Observer's food writer, writing a month column for Observer Food Monthly. Real Fast Food was shortlisted for the Andre Simon Award while The 30-Minute Cook was nominated for both the Glenfiddich and Julia Child Awards. In 1995 he won the Glenfiddich Trophy and he has twice won the Cookery Writer of the Year Award as well as being named Media Personality of the Year in the 1996 Good Food Awards. His other bestselling books include Real Fast Puddings, Real Food, Appetite and The Kitchen Diaries.
There is something offbeat and quirky and brilliant about Nigel Slater and he is also a very good writer. [source]
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The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York
Claudia Roden
4.6
A monumental work - the story of the Jewish people told through the story of Jewish cooking - The Book of Jewish Food traces the development of both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jewish communities and their cuisine over the centuries. The 800 magnificent recipes, many never before documented, represent treasures garnered bu Roden through nearly 15 years of traveling around the world. 50 photos & illustrations
The book is divided in half, which the world’s Jews are, between Ashkenazi and Sephardic. [source]
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The River Cottage Meat Book
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
4.6
First published in the United Kingdom, THE RIVER COTTAGE MEAT BOOK quickly became an underground hit among food cognoscenti around the world. Now tailored for American cooks, this loving, authoritative, and galvanizing ode to good meat is one part manifesto on high-quality, local, and sustainable meat production; two parts guide to choosing and storing meats and fowl; and three parts techniques and recipes for roasting, cooking, barbecuing, preserving, and processing meats and getting the most out of leftovers. With this thought-provoking and practical guide, meat eaters can knowledgeably buy and prepare meat for better health and better living, while supporting the environment, vibrant local economies, and respectful treatment of animals.
• Already a sensation in the United Kingdom, this groundbreaking treatise on choosing and preparing meat is now available in the United States for the first time. • Includes more than 100 recipes and more than 200 full-color photographs. • Thoughtfully Americanized, with complete information about assorted cuts (including illustrations), production standards, and sources for buying and learning about meats in the United States. • British edition has sold 150,000 copies.
He looks at how the animals are reared, and allows you to make an informed and moral choice about what you are eating. [source]
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French Provincial Cooking
Elizabeth David, Juliet Renny
4.3
Elizabeth David's books belong in the libraries of everyone who loves to read and prepare food and this one is generally regarded as her best; her passion and knowledge comes through on every page. She was one of the foremost writers on food in the latter half of the 20th century and this book has her most celebrated writing. "French Provincial Cooking" should be approached and read as a series of short stories, as well written and evocative as the best literature. The voice is highly personal and opinionated, sometimes sharp but always true and always entertaining. Here is a long essay on French cuisine, offering background stories and sketches of recipes more than the slavishly didactic type of recipes that most modern readers might be used to today. For many Elizabeth David was the first to introduce us to the French notion of la cuisine terroir, sometimes interpreted as 'what grows together goes together'. For David, this is the heart of regional cooking, and the thing which most distinguishes it from cooking in haute cuisine restaurants where diners arrive at any time or any season and expect to be able to order any well known French specialty. One of the passages which best characterizes David's approach to a lot of cooking is her opening statement on the perfect omelet: 'As everybody knows, there is only one infallible recipe for the perfect omelet: your own.' The book starts with a short essay on each of the major culinary regions of France, starting perhaps not surprisingly with Provence which is blessed an abundance of produce. The largest portion of the book consists of chapters on cuisine by type of dish: Sauces, Hors-D'oeuvres and Salads, Soups, Eggs and Cheese, Pates and Terrines, Vegetables, Fish, Shellfish, Meat, Composite Meat Dishes, Poultry and Game, and Sweet dishes. The book is all the more valuable in that it paints a picture of a cooking style which existed before modern equipment such as the food processor. Most importantly, the recipes work if your aim is to produce the most excellent food imaginable. What initially may seem to be annoying details (e.g., for omelets, eggs 'should not really be beaten at all, but stirred, ' whereas for scrambled eggs, they should be 'very well beaten') are actually secrets to be treasured, that elevate a good dish to a superb one. The lesson is that good food should be done simply, but it takes care, attention to detail, and frequently, time. A hardback edition of French Provincial Cooking has been unavailable for many years and Grub Street is re-issuing it because of overwhelming demand. It should become as popular an edition as the best-selling "Elizabeth David Classics."
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