Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food
Barely a month goes by without another homespun ode to simple British fare emerging from the pen (or pan) of the great Ramsay. Surely he must be tapped out by now; no wonder he’s called in co-author and head chef at Claridges Mark Sargeant to lend a hearty British hand. The pair of them seem to view the Sunday roast as if it’s some kind of endangered species (hmm, what would roast dodo have tasted like?) and mourn it in a way which makes Tennyson’s In Memorium seem flippant.
Never mind that the chances of finding a Gloucester sausage in the UAE are slim to say the least, and that the basic tenets of British pub food are based around lining the stomach and girding oneself for stepping back out into the cold (again, unlikely in the Gulf), but for misty-eyed expats craving some grainy mustard mash and the childhood comforts of treacle tart, it’s just ‘gravy’.
Perfect for: A self-catering weekend at the Dog and Duck
Harper Collins Gordon Ramsay & Mark Sargeant. Available from Magrudy’s, Dhs150
The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
It does seem to be the mission of America to spread sugar and buttercream wherever it goes, like a stealth invasion – everyone will be so bloated by the time they make their move, they will be unstoppable. Thus, like the patisserie equivalent of ground troops, when The Hummingbird Bakery invaded London in 2004, intent upon raising blood glucose levels in cockneys across the English capital with American-style muffins, cupcakes and mud pie, it was embraced, as it should be.
This is its cookbook, and anything which divides chapters into cakes, cupcakes, pies, brownies, bars and so on is surely to be cherished. Whether you have the time to indulge in the neat little flourishes which make the real thing so dainty is up to you, but if you have more than one sweet tooth, you won’t be able to resist.
Perfect for: Afternoon tea with great aunt Gladys
Ryland, Peters & Small Tarek Malouf. Available from Magrudy’s, Dhs111
The Seasoned Vegetarian
If you’ve read The Accidental Vegetarian or The Rebel Cook, then chances are you’ve already ordered The Seasoned Vegetarian. British TV chef Rimmer is an engaging character and a sure hand when it comes to avoiding the wackier elements of vegetarian cooking, although the accompanying anecdote with each recipe does irritate at times – how I long for the cold hard days of student cookbooks when the reader was treated as a dim stranger, to be shunned and advised in equal measure.
But Rimmer can be forgiven his foibles, as dishes like flatbread with pea pate, and potato pancakes with spiced beetroot are reason enough to give him a chance, even if you’re a carnivore at heart.
Perfect for: Guilty meat eaters
Mitchell Beazeley Simon Rimmer. Available from Amazon, Dhs81
Menu Del Dia
Daft by name… after reeling from a failed restaurant venture in London, the brilliantly named author packed his bags and headed for Barcelona, allegedly with little but a desire to ‘have a break’ and relax. Umm, it’s amazing where cookery books suddenly emerge from, and it’s fortuitous indeed that Daft brought his typewriter with him as he scoured the city’s markets, learning to prepare local foods, criss-crossing the country over a number of years building up an history and anecdotes to go with each recipe – yeah, he just went there to relax.
Nevertheless, Daft is an amiable companion, brimful of warmth and charm, and refuses to dumb down some complex dishes, although this does make it tricky to find appropriate ingredients at times. He also adds fun sidebars and titbits to explain most of the dishes, although many err on the side of brusque rusticity, such as Catalan boiled meats with potato, and bacalao a la vizcaína (salt cod prepared with red peppers). Authentic fun.
Perfect for: Pretending that the desert heat is really just a bit of Catalonian sunshine
Simon & Schuster Rohan Daft. Available from Amazon, Dhs92
The Cook’s Book Of Everything
Aiming to cover, well, everything, is rather stretching things a bit, but it doesn’t stop Lulu, for whom a Stephen Hawking-esque approach to the mysteries of the culinary arts provides an excuse to explain how to buy crab, or whip egg whites, or make perfect chips. Yes, for a book on ‘everything’, she is not afraid to start with the basics, but at 688 pages she’s got room to spare.
And true, the world needs to know how to make beer batter. But the results are very Western, and for a book on everything, it would have been nice if Lulu had stepped out of the more affluent areas of Europe a little bit more. Still, you have to admire her ambition.
Perfect for: Everything… (allegedly)
Murdoch Books Lulu Grimes. Available from Amazon, Dhs120
Betty Crocker’s Outdoor Cook Book
Delving deep into the sepia-toned, tupperware days of yesteryear, Betty Crocker is to modern cooking what shoes are to a man with no feet. Hailing from an era when onion rings were considered new-fangled, this corporate symbol (Crocker wasn’t real, but an idealised image of an American housewife) was a essentially a marketing ploy, albeit it didn’t stop her being named the second most popular woman in America by Fortune 500 magazine – Eleanor Roosevelt came top.
In the end, this is a cheerful dose of nostalgia, and if you want to barbecue lobster tails on your patio, then fair play to you. Just don’t expect nouveau cuisine.
Perfect for: An outdoor snack, in between scraping off the asbestos in your pre-fab ’50s home
Jon Wiley & Sons Betty Crocker. Available from Amazon, Dhs62
