sign in sign up
<<
Home , Elizabeth David, Giuliano Hazan, Marcella Hazan, The Accomplisht Cook

10 OF THE BEST

Ten celebrated food writers share favourite recipes to cook through the year Design by Mecob FROM CKBK's FOUNDERS

For too long, food lovers have faced a choice between the speed and convenience of internet search or the quality and authority of the best . As keen cooks, we became frustrated with this tradeoff. Too often we found ourselves making do with what we could find online, only to regret it. We knew that the best-loved cookbooks could offer so much more — if only they could be made more accessible. We decided it was time to do something about it, and the result is ckbk. By bringing the best cookbooks by award- winning food writers and culinary legends together in one place online, ckbk unleashes your imagination in the kitchen. Our curated collection caters to every possible taste, while ckbk's personalized recommendations guide you to the dishes most relevant for you. To give just a hint of ckbk's range and diversity, we are thrilled to share with you this "taster selection" of 10 recipes, each one chosen by a leading food writer, to inspire you through the year. For a summery dish, try ’s Fettucine with Clams and Zucchini, personally recommended by her son Giuliano, a leading instructor on . If the weather has turned chilly, how about Patience Gray's rustic Greek fish soup, suggested by Tessa Kiros? With each recipe you will find an accompanying recommendation from one of our experts, explaining why that dish means so much to them. Savour them all, and be sure to let us know how you get on in the kitchen! Join us on our journey with ckbk — we promise to keep you stocked with an endless supply of culinary inspiration!

MATTHEW COCKERILL NADIA ARUMUGAM spring

method The Sugar Club Cookbook was one of “the most inspiring cookbooks of its time, Put the first seven ingredients of the chilli sauce and twenty-two years on, this beautifully in a food processer and purée to a coarse paste. illustrated and designed tome still fills Put the sugar in a saucepan with 4 tablespoons me with the kind of mouthwatering of water and place on a moderate heat, stirring excitement about food that only a truly well until the sugar dissolves. When it has, great cookbook can. Peter Gordon’s remove the spoon and turn the heat up to full. uniquely imaginative approach to cooking Boil for 5—8 minutes and do not stir until it has has been one of the most inspiring turned a dark caramel colour (but don’t allow it catalysts of my own career and this to burn). Now stir in the paste, bring the sauce book was for a very long time back to the boil and add the last three ingredients. my Bible. Return to the boil and simmer for 1 minute. Leave it to cool before eating. It is impossible to select only one recipe as they all resonate so strongly with me— Lightly oil the scallops with sesame oil and Sugar-cured on Ginger Buckwheat season, then grill each side on a char-grill, Noodles; the chapter dedicated to offal; overhead grill or skillet for 90 seconds. Sit the now infamous Grilled Scallops with them on a bed of watercress, put a dollop of Sweet Chilli Sauce and Crème Fraîche— crème fraîche on top and drizzle generously but above all I love the chapter on laksa, with sweet chilli sauce. which thanks to Peter has become one of my all-time favorite dishes not only to eat but to cook. Each version has its own unique palette of powerful flavors, and bold colors and textures; all comforting, enlivening, and encouraging of experimentation in that very charming and informative way that Peter has about him.

Peter’s recipe for Grilled Scallops with Sweet Chilli Sauce and Crème Fraîche, his signature dish, really sets the scene for this groundbreaking book. The combination of charred sweet scallops and rich crème fraîche—enhanced with a punchy sauce bursting with Asian aromatics such as lemongrass, lime leaves, ginger and galangal—results in a taste unlike any other. The dish Grilled Scallops awakens the palate and perfectly showcases Peter’s mastery, not only INGREDIENTS in the kitchen but at recipe writing too. with Sweet and roughly chopped 1 thumb of galangal, peeled His recipes always work! 12 large diver-caught scallops, and roughly chopped trimmed ” Chilli Sauce 8 lime leaves Sesame oil 3 lemon-grass stems; remove Salt and pepper and Crème the two outside leaves, discard Watercress leaves the top third of the stem and Selected by ANNA HANSEN ½ cup crème fraîche Born in Canada and raised in New Zealand, Fraîche finely slice the remainder Anna Hansen trained as a under Fergus 1 cup fresh Henderson and Peter Gordon. With Gordon, she SWEET CHILLI SAUCE coriander leaves opened seminal London restaurant The Providores, 10 cloves of garlic, peeled 1½ cups caster sugar and was consulting chef to eatery Public. 100ml (5fl oz) cider vinegar From The Sugar Club Cookbook Hansen went on to open The Modern Pantry, 4 large red chillies, stems gaining two AA Rosettes and a ‘Bib Gourmand’ removed 50ml (3½fl oz) Asian fish sauce by Peter Gordon in the . She is the author of 3 thumbs of fresh ginger, peeled 50ml (1¾fl oz) tamari © 1997 Peter Gordon The Modern Pantry Cookbook. spring

method Geraldene Holt’s Cakes, first published “in 1980, contains the same recipes Prepare the cake tin by cutting a 28 × 28 cm that made the author’s stall at Tiverton / 11 × 11 in. square of baking paper. Fold the Pannier Market such a wild success— paper in half and line the base of the buttered it’s a solid collection of British standards, tin with the fold vertical lengthways to separate thoroughly tested and perfected in a real the two colours in the mixture while the kitchen. cake bakes. It’s not all Victoria and Cream the with the caster sugar and beat shortbread, however (though the book until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a has these too); Geraldene’s curiosity time, and then fold in the sifted flour. Mix the allows for everything from an airy Paris– vanilla essence into one half of the mixture, and Brest to a cake designed to use up spoon into one side of the prepared cake tin. the dregs of wine. The collection’s so Add a drop or two of food colouring to the comprehensive I haven’t quite managed remaining mixture to colour it pink, mix in the to cook my way through the whole book rose-water and spoon into the other side of . . . yet. the cake tin. Smooth the mixture level. One of my favorite recipes so far is Bake in the preheated oven until the cake the resolutely unfashionable Battenberg is springy in the centre. Cool in the tin for Cake with its neat pink and yellow 2 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack to checkerboard squares, the first of which cool. When cold, carefully peel off the paper Geraldene cleverly flavors with rose, and to separate the two cakes. Trim the cakes to the second with vanilla (very few other make them equal size and cut both in half recipes bother to flavor the sponge, lengthways. Spread apricot jam over the relying instead on the visual for interest). surface of each strip and them This delicate combination, both of which together to give alternating coloured squares. work brilliantly with the almond icing, makes it as delightful to eat as to look at. Roll out the marzipan on a board lightly dusted with icing sugar to make a rectangle about 40 In fact, it’s so beautiful that I once took × 20 cm / 16 × 8 in. or large enough to wrap a loaf to a boyfriend’s parents’ house, around the cake excluding the ends. Brush the expecting them to serve it for afternoon marzipan with the rest of the jam and place the tea. Disappointingly, they didn’t. Several cake on top, bring the edges together and press months later, as we all tucked into a Yule together firmly. Trim the ends neatly if necessary. log, eschewing the traditional fruitcake, I Turn the cake the right way up and crimp the top discovered that the entire family detested two edges with your finger tips as for pastry marzipan. I still wonder what happened crust, then use a sharp knife to lightly mark a to my poor cake. lattice pattern over the top. Wrap the cake in ” greaseproof paper and store in a lidded plastic box overnight before cutting.

Oven: 180°C / 350°F / gas mark 4 Baking time: 35–40 minutes

INGREDIENTS colouring ½ tsp rose-water Selected by Felicity Cloake 175 g / 6 oz butter 4 tbs apricot jam, sieved Felicity Cloake is an award-winning food writer 175 g / 6 oz caster sugar 350 g / 12 oz marzipan and the author of Perfect, Perfect Host, Perfect 3 eggs Too, Completely Perfect and The A–Z of Eating. EQUIPMENT From Geraldine Holt's Cakes Her most recent book, One More Croissant, a 175 g / 6 oz self-raising flour celebration of the culinary delights of France, is ¼ tsp vanilla essence 28 × 18 cm / 11 × 7 in. tin; by Geraldine Holt both a travelogue and food memoir. She is a food cochineal or pink food baking paper © 2011 Geraldine Holt spring

method One of my all-time favorite cookbooks “is Great Cooks and Their Recipes by Put the veal escalopes between two sheets of Anne Willan. It recounts 2,000 years Veal Rolls wax/greaseproof paper and pound them with a of the history of cooking through its rolling pin or mallet until very thin; sprinkle them greatest practitioners, complete with PER FARE POLPETTE DI CARNE with the salt and crushed fennel. Cream the lard recipes and period art work. and add the parsley, marjoram, allspice and DE VITELLO O DE ALTRA BONA CARNE cloves or . Spread the mixture over the The recipe I’ve chosen comes from a veal escalopes right to the edges. Bring the 15th century cookbook called Libro de edges to the center, then roll into neat bundles Arte Coquinaria ('The Art of Cooking'), and tie them with thread. written by a man named Martino de This recipe for making meat rolls turns up in Rossi, who was born around 1430 many old cookbooks. In England they are called If cooking in a rotisserie, spear the rolls on the in the village of Torre, within what is veal (presumably because of their shape) spit and cook in front of a high heat until lightly now the Swiss region of Ticino. His and in France oiseaux sans têtes (birds without browned, 10-15 minutes depending on the heat. book bridges the extravagant spicing heads) because they also resemble little stuffed Alternatively, roast the rolls in an oven heated to of the Middle Ages and the more birds. By Martino’s time a trencher (used below No 10/500°F/260°C. Baste the rolls with their restrained, ingredient-driven cooking for pounding) had developed from the medieval juices half way through cooking. Untie the of the Renaissance. slice of stale bread into a flat plate of wood thread before serving. or metal. In particular, I’ve picked a veal dish that would have been spit-roasted over a “First cut some lean meat from the leg of the wood fire—hey, I never like to stray too far animal and slice it in long thin slices and beat from barbecue. You start with escalopes it well on a trencher or table with the flat of a of veal, which you stuff with fresh herbs knife, and take salt and pounded fennel and put and lard (you could easily replace the these on the slices of meat. Then take parsley, latter with butter). It’s a great, simple way marjoram and good lard and beat them together to grill veal without drying it out. with a little good spice, and spread this well I met Anne at the La Varenne cooking over the slices. Then roll up each slice and put school in Paris in 1975, and she has it on the spit to cook; but do not let the heat dry been a lifelong friend and mentor ever the meat too much.” since. In fact, it was she who got me writing cookbooks. ‘You know, Steven,’ she said once, ‘You’ll never make a living writing cookbooks.’ Well, of course, being a rebellious twenty-something, I was determined to prove her wrong. .”

INGREDIENTS

1½ lb/750 g thinly sliced veal escalopes Selected by 1 tsp salt Steven Raichlen A cookbook author, television host, lecturer, and 1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed novelist, Steven Raichlen wrote the international 3 oz/6 tbsp / 90 g lard blockbusters The Barbecue Bible, How To Grill, 4 tbsp chopped parsley and Planet Barbecue. His 30 books and Public 2 tsp chopped marjoram Recipe by Martino de Rossi (c. 1465) Television shows, including Primal Grill and allspice From Great Cooks and their Recipes Barbecue University, have redefined modern ½ tsp ground American barbecue cookery. Raichlen’s books ¼ tsp ground cloves or nutmeg by Anne Willan have won five Awards and three thread for tying © Anne Willan 1977 IACP First Book Awards. SUMMER

When the zucchini have finished soaking, scrub Marcella, Mamma Mia! them in several changes of cold water with your hands or with a stiff brush to dislodge all grit from “My mother's brilliance was in making their skins. Cut off both ends from each zucchini the ordinary extraordinary. Her food was and dice the zucchini into ½-inch cubes. genuine, honest, and uncompromising. It was imbued with her soul. When I was Choose a sauté pan that can subsequently growing up, I always looked forward to her accommodate all the zucchini without too much making this dish featured in Marcella's overlapping. Put in the oil and chopped onion and Italian Kitchen: Fettuccine with Clams and turn on the heat to medium. Cook for about 5 Zucchini. It exemplifies her genius for flavor minutes, stirring occasionally, without letting the pairings. onion become more than lightly colored; then add the garlic. Her food was very rarely complex, and its flavors were never muddied—always When the garlic becomes colored a very pale sparklingly clear. In fact, understanding gold, add the diced zucchini and turn up the flavor was the most important culinary heat to medium high. Stir frequently, adding salt lesson my mother wished for me to learn. and liberal grindings of pepper. Add the wine, Flavor is the crucial element in cooking, turning up the heat to high and scraping loose and this dish is a great example, with any cooking residues from the bottom of the pan. Cook the zucchini until tender, but firm the sweetness of the zucchini perfectly and compact. Turn off the heat and transfer the complementing the savory clams. cooked zucchini to a small bowl, using a slotted ” spoon or spatula.

In the bowl containing the clam meat swish each clam gently in its juice to rinse it of any remaining sand, then place it on a cutting board. When Fettuccine there are no clams left in the bowl, filter the juice FETTUCCINE COL SUGO through a strainer lined with a paper towel or with clams a fine cloth. Put the juice into the sauté pan and turn on the DI VONGOLE E ZUCCHINE and zucchini heat to high. While the juice is reducing, chop the clams into 4 or 5 pieces each and cut the basil INGREDIENTS method leaves into fine strips. When the clam juice has 2 dozen small littleneck clams almost completely evaporated, return the zucchini 1 pound fresh, small, young zucchini, Wash the clams in several changes of cold water, to the pan, add the chopped clams and the basil soaked in cold water for 20 minutes rubbing the shells vigorously against one another, strips, stir 2 or 3 times, and turn off the heat. ½ cup extra virgin oil or with a stiff brush. 1 cup chopped onion Drop the pasta into a pot of abundant boiling 1 tablespoon chopped garlic Put the clams in a pot with ½ cup water, cover salted water. The moment it is tender but firm Salt the pot, and turn on the heat to high. Stir from to the bite, drain, toss immediately in a warm Black pepper in a grinder time to time with a long spoon. The clams are not bowl with the sauce, and serve at once. ½ cup dry white wine likely to open all at the same time, so be prepared 8 fresh basil leaves to remove them the moment they unclench their AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE Fettuccine made with 3 large eggs shells; otherwise they will overcook and The sauce is best if used the moment it is done, and about 2 cups flour, as described become tough. but it can be reheated gently after a few hours. Selected by Food writer and culinary educator Giuliano Hazan When all the clams are open and out of the pot, is the only son of Marcella Hazan, the godmother UTENSILS of modern Italian cooking. Marcella passed away small bowl transfer the liquid in the pot to a bowl, pouring it in 2013, but her influence in the food world lives colander gently so that as much sand as possible will be on through Giuliano, an award-winning author large bowl left behind. of bestselling cookbooks including Every Night large heavy pan From Marcella’s Italian Kitchen Italian, The Classic Pasta Cookbook, How to Cook Detach the clam meat from the shells and put it Italian, and Hazan Family Favorites. He teaches (a big Le Creuset casserole dish is ideal) by Marcella Hazan Italian cooking classes throughout the U.S. slotted spoon in the bowl to keep it moist until ready to use. © 1986 Marcella Hazan and at his school in Verona, . SUMMER

method I used to go to Alastair Little’s eponymous restaurant in Frith Street, , whenever MISE EN PLACE “I could afford to—which, admittedly, in the Prepare the vegetables, keeping each vegetable early 1990s wasn’t very often. There was separate: only peel the onion and garlic, but top something incredibly thrilling about the and tail the aubergines and courgettes. Destalk sparse, bare interiors, the precise cooking and deseed the peppers. Scald the tomatoes in and the bold, simple flavors. a bowl of boiling water for 60 seconds, then refresh, peel and deseed. Cut all the vegetables One afternoon, after a long lunch in good into bite-sized chunks. (If using baby courgettes, company (and full of enthusiasm and leave them whole.) Pieropan Soave), I bought Little’s cookbook Keep it Simple, and read it Strip the rosemary and thyme leaves from almost immediately from cover to cover, their twigs and chop the leaves. delighting in his and co-author Richard Whittington’s prose and drooling over COOKING David Gill’s vibrant photographs. Put about 3 tablespoons of into a large heavy pan, set over a medium heat and cook It was a long time before I attempted any the onions, stirring. They must not colour. As of the recipes, and when I finally did (as they soften and go translucent, add the garlic a clumsy amateur cook), I didn’t always and cook for another 2 minutes. Using a slotted succeed. But the dish I came back to spoon, transfer the contents of the pan to a again and again was the Ratatouille. colander placed over a bowl. Little’s dogged insistence on using the absolute best olive oil you can find, never Add another splash of olive oil to the pan, turn substituting dried herbs, only using yellow up the heat to medium and sauté the peppers. and red peppers (never green!) and his They need to be cooked until slightly brown, attention to detail in the method—gently not collapsing but with some residual bite. When stewing each ingredient separately and done, transfer to the colander. Repeat with the only bringing them together at the end, aubergines, then finally the courgettes.Add not cutting the vegetables too finely— the chopped herbs to the vegetables. Season and return all the cooked vegetables to the taught me that respect and concentration pan, adding any remaining oil and the juices are important even in a dish as deceptively that have drained into the bowl. Stew together simple as ratatouille. for 5 minutes, stirring. Remove from the heat The other thing that repeatedly draws me and stir in the uncooked diced tomato. This to this recipe is Gill’s mesmerizing will cook slightly in the hot vegetables. photograph of the finished vegetable If possible, let the ratatouille cool and then stew—in a baguette! It virtually leaps off refrigerate overnight to allow the flavours the page, glistening tantalizingly. There’s a to amalgamate. Allow to return to room throwaway comment in the margin: ‘If you Ratatouille temperature before serving. Always check can’t wait to taste your ratatouille, slice a the seasoning at room temperature. length of baguette and fill it with the hot ratatouille. Press down gently to let the INGREDIENTS This dish can also be warmed gently to be juices soak into the bread and devour.’ It’s

served hot with grilled meat or fish. a difficult instruction to ignore. I rarely do. olive oil 2 onions 8 basil leaves 3 garlic cloves SERVING ” salt and pepper 3 large aubergines Just before bringing the ratatouille to the table, 6 courgettes (or 12 baby tear over the basil leaves. courgettes) UTENSILS Selected by Russell Norman 3 peppers (1 red and 2 yellow- small bowl Russell Norman is a restaurateur and founder of never use green for ratatouille) colander the Polpo Restaurant Group. He has authored three 2 plum tomatoes large bowl cookbooks: POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (of Sorts); : Four Seasons of Home Cooking; and Spuntino: sprig of rosemary large heavy pan (a big Le Creuset Comfort Food (New York Style). He presented The sprig of thyme casserole dish is ideal) From Keep It Simple by Alistair Little Restaurant Man, a six-part prime time documentary for 300 ml / ½pt extra virgin slotted spoon © 1993 Alastair Little BBC2, and is a contributing editor for Esquire magazine. SUMMER

That the seventeenth century was a chef first and foremost, and “not a stylish writer, is evident in his only To Make a Grand Sallet book. is workman- like, practical, endearingly misspelled, and utterly charming—the product of someone who is in a hurry to consign his recipes to of Divers Compounds paper before he loses enthusiasm for the task, and who, one senses, would much rather be in the kitchen.

Like his modern counterparts, May collected method recipes from various sources. He worked, like his father before him, for aristocratic Take a cold roast capon and cut it into thin slices families, and I imagine him swapping tales square and small, (or any other roast meat as with visiting chefs from all over Europe: chicken, mutton, veal, or neats tongue) mingle One day he’s cooking with a chef from with it a little minced taragon and an onion, Spain (“Er, Pedro, what’s that yer cooking?” then mince lettice as small as the capon, mingle all together, and lay it in the middle of a clean “Huevos mesclados, mi amigo Roberto.” scoured dish. Then lay capers by themselves, “Tasty little dish, think I’ll make a note of olives by themselves, samphire by it self, broom it,” and so we have ‘Wivos Mequidos,’ eggs buds, pickled mushrooms, pickled oysters, lemon, beaten with a little sherry, lightly scrambled orange, raisins, almonds, blue-figs, Virginia , and served on toast. caperons, crucifix pease, and the like, more or less, as occasion serves, lay them by themselves May included many dishes described as in the dish round the meat in partitions. Then ‘in the French fashion,’ but also recipes from garnish the dish sides with quarters of oranges, Portugal, Poland, Turkey and Italy—such as or lemons, or in slices, oyl and vinegar beaten lemon cream flavored with orange flower together, and poured on it over all. water, little Portuguese sponge cakes with a hint of rosewater, a lobster pie, a very On fish days, a roast, broil’d, or boil’d pike boned, fine rice , a crayfish , some and being cold, slice it as abovesaid. interesting ways with veal and delicious oyster pies and oyster jellies that have another way for a grand sallet become part of my own culinary repertoire. Take the buds of all good sallet herbs, capers, dates, raisins, almonds, currans, figs, orangado. He used fashionable ingredients of the day, Then first of all lay it in a large dish, the herbs including imported citrus, caper berries and being finely picked and washed, swing them ‘Virginia potatoes.’ Today, I’m sure he would in a clean napkin; then lay the other materials be using yuzu, tobacco and tonka beans. round the dish, and amongst the herbs some of May’s recipes have huge appeal—they are all the aforesaid fruits, some fine sugar, and on elegant, whimsical, full of flavor and texture the top slic’t lemon, and eggs scarse hard cut in and incredibly contemporary, four hundred halves, and laid round the side of the dish, and years on. Try his Grand Sallet of Divers scrape sugar over all; or you may lay every fruit in Compounds and you’ll see what I mean: partitions several. a perfect lunchtime salad platter, using the remains of the . otherways Dish first round the centre slic’t figs, then currans, ” capers, almonds, and raisins together; next beyond Selected by Frances Bissell that, olives, beets, cabbidge-lettice, cucumbers, or A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Frances slic’t lemon carved; then oyl and vinegar beaten Bissell wrote an award-winning cookery column for The together, the beast oyl you can get, and sugar or Times newspaper of Britain for many years. Bissell is From The Accomplisht Cook the author of 17 books, among them The Book of Food, none, as you please; garnish the brims of the dish which won a James Beard Award, and Frances Bissell’s with orangado, slic’t lemon jagged, olives stuck by Robert May West Country Kitchen, which accompanied her television with slic’t almonds, sugar or none. Published 1660 series. Her recent books have been on floral cooking. FALL

Insert a large plastic or glass straw or bamboo Even though I have cooked Peking Duck tube through the neck hole to the tip of the and taught students how to make it over breast area. Loop string over this area, below the “five decades, I don’t think that anyone has hole, and tie loosely (you need this in place for so clearly explained this dish and made tightening it fast later). Hold your hand over the neck and tube and blow air in until the duck is it simpler than Irene Kuo in her masterful as taut as a drum, stopping now and then to rub book, The Key to Chinese Cooking. and roll the skin to even out the distribution of air. Ease out the tube and quickly draw the string I love how she explains one of the tight below the hole. Secure with more loops of greatest Chinese classical dishes in the string if necessary. Then insert a meat hook, or most erudite manner but with humor and a hook fashioned out of a wire hanger, securely straightforward instructions. Kuo distills through the neck bone above the string. While the mystical aura of this legendary dish the head is always served along with the meat in China so that one may relish the delicious brain like no other cookbook author I have ever and tongue, you may, at this stage, cut it off and read. All of her recipes—from the easiest discard it. to the most complicated—are explained so clearly so that anyone following them can If you can’t bring yourself to inflate the duck easily duplicate these fantastic dishes. this way, use a clean bicycle, balloon, or football pump with a rubber hose attachment. Insert the ” hose and inflate the duck as described above.

Bring 3 to 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large, deep pot. Hold the duck by the hook and dip it in and out of the boiling water, turning it from side to side, while you ladle water over the exposed skin. Do this for about 5 minutes until the skin is white and acquires a dull look. Then hang the duck up to dry 6 hours or longer in a draft near a window, over a shower rod, on a back porch, or in a ventilated basement, spreading paper on the floor to catch the drippings.

Combine the malt sugar or honey with 1 cup boiling water in a small saucepan; bring it to a boil over low heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Use a brush and paint the sugar water all over the duck, except on the lower wing tips, until well coated. Let the duck dry for 4 to 6 more hours, until it is creamy brown and looks parchment-dry. It is now ready for . This should be done 1 day in advance; wrap and refrigerate the duck overnight and hang it up to dry again for a few Peking Duck hours before the final cooking. In the meantime, make the Chinese , if you are making your own, and set aside. INGREDIENTS method Reheat the pancakes by steaming for about 1 duck, about 5½ to 6 pounds, with head on 10 minutes just before serving. Make the Hoisin Sauce Petals and Scallion Frills as follows: 2 tablespoons malt sugar Have your poultry man or Chinese butcher make the cavity hole as small as possible when he or honey Hoisin Sauce Petals—Cut firm lettuce leaves into 1 cup boiling water eviscerates the duck. Tell him that you want the neck skin intact with only a tiny slit made about petals 2 inches wide, with a cookie cutter, sharp 2 inches above the base of the neck. And have knife, or scissors. Arrange them on a plate and Chinese Pancakes* him remove and discard the cavity fat and oil spoon a heaping teaspoon of premixed hoisin Selected by Ken Hom Romaine or iceberg lettuce leaves for petals sacs from the tail. sauce into the center and refrigerate Ken Hom OBE is a chef, cookbook author and Hoisin sauce until needed. authority on Chinese cuisine. In a career spanning 12 scallions Rinse the duck and drain. Massage the entire nearly four decades, he has written 36 cookbooks, body by rubbing the skin back and forth; this From The Key to Chinese Cooking selling millions of copies, and presented several hugely popular culinary television series for the * For Kuo's homemade Chinese recipe, loosens the skin from the meat. Make sure you by Irene Kuo BBC. He has also sold over eight visit ckbk.com. Alternatively, ready-made Chinese pancakes are do not puncture the skin, or you won’t be able to © 1977 Irene Kuo million Ken Hom woks worldwide. widely available from Asian supermarkets. inflate the duck with air. FALL

method One of the recipes I love in Patience “Gray’s Honey From A Weed is the Put the olive oil in the bottom of a large pot Psarósoupa Tou Kyríou Manólyi ('Kyríou Psarósoupa Tou or marmite, neatly slice up the vegetables Manólyi's Fish Soup'). I love the approach (reserving the peas), simmer them in the oil, to the recipes in this book, with its then put in the cleaned fish, add the aromatics, beautiful prose and the ingredients just and pour on the wine. exactly as you might get them from a Kyríou Manólyi fisherman on a Greek island. These words Bring the water to the boil in a separate pan, carry me to a place that I know so well. pour it onto the fish in the large pot, season with (Kyríou Manólyi's Fish Soup) salt and pepper, raise the heat to bring the pot I appreciate the use of tomatoes and to the boil, then reduce the heat and cover. white wine in this recipe, as they are not Poach gently for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes always used together with egg and lemon have passed, put in the peas. in a fish soup. The ingredients are settled When speaking rather gloomily of culinary into the customary black cooking vessel prowess in remote Cycladic outposts, I mentioned to cook over a fire, and the essential egg the feast day occurrence of ‘an unexpected Strain off the broth into another pan, holding back the contents with the lid. Then slide the and lemon—the alpha and omega of so superb fish soup’. This is it, as made in Apollona by many Greek dishes, and so familiar to the the owner of the quayside café. fish and vegetables onto a large dish. Beat up the egg yolks with the lemon juice in a basin, Greek nation—are whipped in to finish the soup before serving. It is a simple way of cooking fish and vegetables then, while stirring, pour in a cupful of hot broth. in one utensil, the customary large black pot, and Return the thickened liquor to the pan ” results in a soup which has been thickened with containing the broth, stirring continuously, but raw egg yolks and the juice of a large fresh lemon, off the fire. Serve at once, and present the fish served hot in deep soup plates, and a platter and vegetables on their platter at the same time. offish with vegetables, which follows.

The reluctant fisherman, Kapetánios, having excelled himself on such occasions, supplied Manólyi with grey (képhalos), sea bass (lavráki), red gurnard (capóní) and John Dory (Christósparo). These fish, scaled and cleaned, went whole into the pot. Some substantial slices of conger (mougrí), moray eel (smérna) unskinned, or skinned and cleaned dogfish (skyláki, commonly caught at all times) were thrown in on top.

For 4 people you would need at least 2 kilos of whole cleaned fish selected from the fish INGREDIENTS mentioned above, plus some slices of unskinned and cleaned conger eel or moray eel which lend a fishes: 2 kilos of whole Kapetánios, or certain unctuousness to the broth. It is the use of grey mullet (képhalos), or sea bass various different fish that makes it so good. The (lavráki), or red gurnard (capóní), or John other ingredients: Dory (Christósparo). Slices of conger eel (mougrí), or moray eel (smérna) unskinned, or skinned and cleaned dogfish (skyláki) vegetables: 2 onions, 1 celery heart, 4 large potatoes, 4 carrots, ½ kg (1 lb) , 3 tomatoes (peeled and seeded) Selected by Tessa Kiros aromatics: 1 handful of finely chopped Born in London to a Finnish mother and Greek-Cypriot coriander leaves, a sprig of thyme father, Tessa Kiros grew up in South Africa and has seasoning: salt and black pepper traveled the world. She has written 10 books to date, the liquor: 1 glass of strong Naxian wine which explore the food traditions of many countries, From Honey From A Weed including Greece, Portugal and, in particular, her (golden), 4 tablespoons of olive oil, l½ litres current home of Italy. Her latest book, (54 fl oz) water for the soup: 3 egg yolks, by Patience Gray to Pondicherry, explores the lasting culinary juice of a large fresh lemon © 1986 Patience Gray influence of France's erstwhile colonial empire. WINTER

method was the first modern “cookbook writer. Her writing is elegant Mix very thoroughly one pound of finely-grated and precise, she gives clear directions, bread with the same quantity of flour, two and she was the first person to set out pounds of raisins stoned, two of currant, two of concisely the ingredients, quantities suet minced small, one of sugar, half a pound and time required for each recipe— of candied peel, one nutmeg, half an ounce of a methodical, meticulous style that mixed spice, and the grated rinds of two lemons; makes the recipes easy to follow. mix the whole with sixteen eggs well beaten and Modern Cookery (‘for private families’) was strained, and add four glasses of brandy. These intended to help the inexperienced proportions will make three of good middle class housewife instruct the size, each of which should be boiled six hours. cook in making nourishing yet economical meals. Obs.—A fourth part of the ingredients given above, will make a pudding of sufficient size Eliza obviously had a thorough knowledge for a small party: to render this very rich, half of the best traditional English cooking, the flour and bread-crumbs may be omitted, and some of French domestic cooking. and a few spoonsful of apricot The recipes in Modern Cookery are mostly well blended with the remainder of English, but she included French, Italian, the mixture.* Indian, Jewish, Turkish dishes and even a Mauritian shrimp . Her aim was to provide recipes for the staples of daily * Rather less liquid will be required to moisten meals (fashionable and luxurious dishes the pudding when this is done, and four hours could be purchased from a confectioner). and a quarter will boil it. In the preface to the 1855 edition, she condemned adulteration and waste through ignorance or mismanagement, but found “food rendered unwholesome by a bad mode of cooking it, a greater evil still,” criticizing dishes made carelessly or with poor substitutes for the correct ingredients. Eliza’s food is beautiful, often simple, rarely extravagant, and generous but not wasteful. She clearly had a real appreciation of good food for its own sake, and this she shares in her book. Her recipe for The Ingoldsby Christmas Puddings has been our family’s holiday dessert for decades—Eliza’s note Ingoldsby at the end provides measurements for a single pudding just the right size for Christmas Puddings a family today.”

6 HOURS raisins, 2 lbs sugar, 1 lb Selected by JILL Norman candied peel, ½ lb Jill Norman is a renowned British author and editor. INGREDIENTS rinds of lemon, 2 She created the Penguin Cookery Library in the 60s , 1 and 70s. During her time at Penguin, she worked Bread-crumbs, 1 lb mixed spice, ½ oz with and is literary trustee of the flour, 1 lb salt, ¼ teaspoonsful From Modern Cookery for Elizabeth David Estate UK. An expert in herbs and spices, Norman is a founding member of the London suet, 2 lbs eggs, 16 Private Families by Eliza Acton currants, 2 lbs Slow Food Convivium and of the Oxford brandy, 4 glassesful Published 1845 Food Symposium. WINTER

method FOR GULYÁS George Lang’s The Cuisine of Hungary “is one of those rare and valuable Peel onions and chop into coarse pieces. Melt lard cookbooks that fills in the gaps— KETTLE GULYÁS in a heavy 6- to 8-quart Dutch oven. Sauté onions the space between the recipes, the in lard. Heat should be low in order not to brown information that cookbook authors BOGRÁCSGULYÁS the onions. usually know but never tell you.

When onions become glossy, add beef and beef The culinary traditions of Hungary, a heart. Stir so that during this part of the process, country landlocked on the banks of the which should last for about 10 minutes, the meat Danube at the crossroads of Europe and will be sautéed with the onions. Asia, reflect her history. First came the Magyars, ferocious horsemen from the steppes who (along with the malarial A strange thing has happened to Hungarian Meanwhile, chop and crush the garlic with the marshlands) defeated the Romans. The gulyás. According to a 1969 Gallup Poll, gulyás caraway seeds and a little salt; use the flat side of Ottomans brought their own culture and is one of the five most popular meat dishes on a heavy knife. cooking, while the chefs of the Austro- the American cooking scene. Of course, what is Hungarian Empire introduced usually served under this name shouldn’t happen Take kettle from heat. Stir in paprika and the Parisienne refinement. to a Rumanian. The origin of the soup, as you’ve garlic mixture. Stir rapidly with a wooden spoon. read in the beginning of our story, can be traced Immediately after paprika is absorbed, add 2½ A quarter of the book covers the line of back to the ninth century-shepherds cut their quarts warm water. (Cold water toughens meat if descent from early settlement to post- meat into cubes, cooked it with onion in a heavy you add it while the meat is frying.) Soviet new beginnings; the second iron kettle (bogrács) and slowly stewed the dish quarter outlines regional differences; until all the liquid evaporated. They dried the Replace covered kettle over low heat and cook and the final half, as is to be expected of remnants in the sun (probably on their sheepskin for about 1 hour. a successful Hungarian-born New York capes), and then put the dried food in a bag made restaurateur, delivers authentic regional of the sheep’s stomach. Whenever they wanted While the braising is going on, peel the tomato, recipes ranging from the dishes you'd food, they took out a piece of the dried meat, then cut into 1-inch pieces. Core green peppers expect to find in aristocratic households added some water and reheated it. With a lot of and slice into rings. Peel potatoes and cut into and the restaurants of Budapest to the liquid, it became a gulyás soup (gulyásleves); if ¾-inch dice. peasant traditions of the Puszta, the Great less liquid was added, it became gulyás meat Hungarian Plain. (gulyáshús). Even today this distinction exists, After meat has been braised for about 1 hour probably to mystify foreigners and foreign (the time depends on the cut of the meat), add Come to grips with the difference cookbook writers. the cut-up tomato and green peppers and enough water to give a soup consistency. Add a little salt. between Gulyás (meat, lard, , onions, caraway, and water) cooked in the The more parts of beef and beef innards are used, Simmer slowly for another 30 minutes. INGREDIENTS for GULYÁS open air, and closed-pot Pörkölt (meat the better the gulyás will be. Of course, lard and 2 medium-sized onions fried in lard or bacon fat with onions bacon (either one or both) and chopped onion are Add potatoes, and cook the gulyás till done. Adjust 2 tablespoons lard and paprika but no water), the elegant absolute musts, just as you will find they are in the salt. Add hot cherry pepper pods if you want to 2½ pounds beef chuck or round, Paprikash (as previous but with veal other three dishes. make the stew spicy hot. cut to ¾-inch cubes or chicken and soured cream), and the ½ pound beef heart (optional), Romanian-Hungarian Tokány (pot-roast Never use any flour. Never use any other spice Cook the dumplings in the stew. cut to ¾-inch cubes diced meat, onion, pepper, and marjoram). besides caraway. Never Frenchify it with wine. 1 garlic clove My own edition of the masterwork, a 500- Never Germanize it with brown sauce. Never put Serve the gulyás steaming hot in large extra-deep Pinch of caraway seeds page Penguin paperback first published in any other garniture besides diced potatoes or bowls. The meat should be tender, but not Salt in 1971, is falling to bits, its pages lightly galuska. But many variations are possible—you falling apart. 2 tablespoons “Noble Rose” paprika dusted with paprika, onion juice and a few may use fresh tomatoes or tomato purée, garlic, 1 medium-sized ripe tomato splashes of soured cream. Brilliant! sliced green peppers, hot cherry peppers to make 2 green frying or Italian peppers method FOR LITTLE DUMPLINGS it very spicy, and so on. 1 pound potatoes ” Little Dumplings* Mix the egg with flour, salt and oil. Selected by Elisabeth Luard An interesting technique was suggested by Mrs. Spoon the mixture into boiling soup, using ¼ Elisabeth Luard is a British food writer and illustrator. Mariska Vizváry and originally published in the teaspoon at a time. Cook in the soup for 2 or 3 She writes about cooking and the historical context early 1930’s. She added grated raw potatoes in INGREDIENTS LITTLE DUMPLINGS of recipes in The Oldie magazine. Among her published the very beginning, presumably to give body to 1 egg work is European Peasant Cookery, and three memoirs- the soup, and she cooked bones and vegetables 3 tablespoons flour From The Cuisine of Hungary with-recipes. Her latest books include a cookbook, separately to make a strong broth with which to Pinch of salt by George Lang A Cook's Year in a Welsh Farmhouse, and a new strengthen the gulyás soup at the very end. 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil © 1982 George Lang travel-and-food memoir, Squirrel Pie and Other Stories. MORE THAN 85,000 RECIPES AND 350 COOKBOOKS ONLINE

CKBK’S COOKBOOKS AND RECIPES ARE RECOMMENDED BY LEADING CHEFS AND EXPERTS. OUR POWERFUL SEARCH TOOLS AND SMART FILTERS HELP YOU TO FIND JUST THE RIGHT RECIPE FOR YOU. CKBK OFFERS AN UNRIVALLED DIVERSITY OF CUISINES, DIETARY REQUIREMENTS AND SPECIALITIES, ALL IN ONE PLACE

Sign up for ckbk premium membership and save 50% for the frst 12 months with exclusive discount code: 10RECIPES £4.49 14-day free trial • Cancel anytime £8.99 per month www.ckbk.com/subscribe Design by Mecob