Lorraine’s Favourite Cookbooks

Our bookshelf at Chalet Cannelle is mostly cookbooks and buying new additions is quite a regular event.  Living in the mountains, we don’t have an amazing bookstore on our doorstep so a few times a year when we go off to a city for a few days, be it Turin, Lyon or London, we will always spend a good amount of time browsing the latest cookbooks.

We often get asked, what are our favourites and which ones we use the most.  Here is my list, and you can find Andy’s list here

Instagrammers…all links are to the chef’s instagram page

British Baking by Peyton & Byrne

Peyton & Byrne’s book was recommended to me by my Baking Goddess friend Lynda who loved their baking goodies when she lived in London.  I have a number of baking books but I rarely go to anything else now because the recipes always work well for me.  I have tinkered with most of my favourites now but that is all part of learning to bake – once you understand what you can change and in what ratios, your cakes will always work. Well, nearly 🙂

The Cookbook by Ottolenghi

I think everyone now owns a book by Ottolenghi and for good reason, he was certainly a forerunner for exciting salads and vegetables.  Long gone are the days where we simply steam some beans and serve them! This is the first book by Ottolenghi and remains my favourite, I actually don’t use his follow up book, Plenty, much at all.

Tasting India by Christine Manfield

Neither of us have touched the surface of this beautiful but enormous book. It is the most comprehensive book on Indian cuisine that I have seen.  What I love most about it is that the recipes are categorised by region and how different the curries and dishes are depending on where in India they are from.  Christine Manfield is an incredible Australian chef and sadly those outside of Australia might find this one a bit hard to find.

The British Larder Cookbook by Madalene Bonvini-Hamel

The British Larder started as a food blog in 2009 and we were both keen followers. Madalene had been a top chef in a number of restaurants (think Claridges & La Gavroche) and her blog was precise and detailed with a strong focus on seasonal and ethical products.  Her book is ordered by month, using seasonal ingredients for the time of year.  Traditional as well as modern, I love her references to her grandmother’s handwritten cookbook and in particular the recipe for the Gooseberry Ginger Beer (tastes amazing but a labour of love to make!)

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