Fancy buying a food-loving friend or relative a book for Christmas but can't decide which one to go for? Here are our picks of 2013's top tomes.
The popular choice by a country mile this year, as once again Jamie leads the Christmas best-seller list. Save With Jamie arguably couldn't have been better timed, but you shouldn't feel reluctant to give it to someone. It's as much, if not more, about saving on food waste as it is about saving money (although obviously the two go hand in hand).
Definitely our favourite book of the year, Nigel Slater's Eat also picked up the Food and Drink Book of the Year at the National Book Awards the other night. Our Charlotte says: "It’s for those days, usually after work, when you only have the time or energy to cook something quick, but still want it to be fresh and tasty. There isn’t an ingredients list – instead they’re incorporated into the method, which I find far easier to read. It’s also a tiny book so doesn’t take up too much room in the kitchen."
Michael Pollan’s Cooked has been praised on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s not a cookbook, rather a love letter to the unbridled joy of cooking from scratch and a treatise on the health benefits of preparing our own meals, rather than relying on ready-made. Compulsive reading that should please any foodie.
The Great British Bake Off Winter Kitchen
If your gift recipient is both a keen baker and a fan of the exceedingly popular Great British Bake Off then don’t head for The Great British Bake Off Winter Kitchen. However, if they love experimenting in the kitchen and have time to do during the cold winter months, then pick it up. For this rather misleadingly-titled book is actually a selection of winter warmers for the keen amateur cook.
He’s one of our favourite chefs and he’s now taken the step to small screen stardom, so we have to include Tom Kerridge’s Proper Pub Food as a populist choice. His recipes aren’t as simple as the title may imply, but they will definitely wow. One perhaps for the parents of young children who miss their Sunday pub visits.
Another one for the time poor, Justine Pattinson’s Freeze has loads of wonderful ideas for meals that can be cooked and then stowed away for another day. Her tips for organising your freezer are almost worth the price of the book alone.
For the keen baker who wants something a bit sexier than Bake Off, why about The Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook? Compiled by the founder of this sweet idea, Lynn Hill, it features her own recipes plus others she’s collated from Cake Club members far and wide.
Our friend Tim Hayward is the foodie equivalent of the best car mechanic, stripping everything back and souping it up again from scratch. Food DIY tackles everything from making your own doner kebab to smoking a salmon in a gym locker. One for the blokes who like a bit of real DIY when they're cooking.
Lovers of the more avant garde school of cooking and/or all things Heston should relish Heston Blumenthal’s Historic Heston, where he flies his own foodie Tardis back to Medieval times. The recipes might not be dipped into too much, but it’s a beautifully illustrated and fascinating tome to browse. But it's pretty pricey too (£77.50 on Amazon, although that's a big reduction on the £125 cover price).
Which food books have you enjoyed this year? Are there any you're hoping to unwrap on Christmas morning? Let us know in the Comments box below.
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