TOM PARKER BOWLES: The books I devoured this year
The Whole Fish Cookbook
Josh Niland
Hardie Grant £25
This rather brilliant Aussie chef wants us to treat fish as we treat meat. Nose to fin, if you will. And although many of the recipes are fairly complex, one of the joys of this book (and there are many) lie in his basic cooking techniques. Authoritative, and quietly revolutionary too.
Baan: Recipes And Stories From My Thai Home
Kay Plunkett-Hogge
Pavilion £20
Plunkett-Hogge demystifies Thai cuisine without ever dumbing down. The heat, pong and power are all very much intact, yet she makes her recipes gloriously accessible too. Her prose is wonderful, her recipes faultless and my copy is already fish sauce-stained and happily battered. A modern Thai classic.
Mandalay: Recipes And Tales From A Burmese Kitchen
Mimi Aye
Bloomsbury Absolute £26
The book that opened my mind, and belly, to Burmese food, a cuisine I knew little about. Aye is the most beguiling of guides, weaving in tales of Burmese family and childhood travels, alongside recipes for mohinga and pickled tea-leaf salad.
Black Axe Mangal
Lee Tiernan
Phaidon £24.95
God, I love Lee Tiernan and BAM, a dementedly brilliant mash-up of Turkish, Sichuan and English flavours. This is a big, brash, beautiful book filled with cracking practical advice (grilling, smoking and bread), as well as recipes for Crispy F****** Rabbit and lamb offal flatbread.
From The Oven To The Table by Diana Henry; Sour by Mark Diacono
Dishoom
Bloomsbury £26
Not just a recipe book from this excellent mini-chain but a ‘highly subjective guide to Bombay with a map’. And it’s as good as any travel book, if not better, packed with elegantly written anecdotes, history and reminiscence. A love letter to Bombay, and a delectable one at that.
From The Oven To The Table
Diana Henry
Mitchell Beazley £25
I’m not quite sure how Diana Henry does it but every book she writes is a winner; practical, enticing and evocative. And the recipes always work. This one may seem as simple as it gets (one-pot or tray cooking) but it never ceases to delight.
The Book Of St John
Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver
Ebury £30
‘Brains are a wonder, fluffy clouds of joy, soothing and creamy. Treat them gently.’ Yes, there’s offal in Henderson and Gulliver’s third St John book. Obviously. But there’s also lyrical prose, wonderful recipes and an absolute delight in the art of cooking and eating. All bow down to the altar of St John.
Fire Islands: Recipes From Indonesia
Eleanor Ford
Murdoch £25
A passionate, comprehensive guide to the food of the Indonesian archipelago. From Sumatra to East Papua, Kalimantan to Sumba, Eleanor Ford takes us through this vibrant, spice scented cuisine, so often overlooked in favour of its better-known neighbours. The best work on the region since Sri Owen’s Indonesian Food.
Hooked
Mark Hix
Octopus £20
Hix is a brilliant fishermen and a fine chef too. And in Hooked he draws the two together, from Lyme Bay to the Bahamas, with plenty of recipes and stories about the ones that got away. One for both committed angler and serious eater.
Sour
Mark Diacono
Quadrille £25
Sour is my favourite flavour of all, and Mark Diacono’s book is my favourite of the year. He guides the reader gently through the arts of sourdough, dairy and vinegar, as well as a fine section on fermentation and the great sour flavours. He is the wisest and most eloquent of teachers, and I return to his book again and again.