Show us your latest cookbook acquisitions!

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

I picked this up from the library on Saturday: Dan Pashman's 'Anything's Pastable'.

I'm on the fence with this one. There are some interesting recipes however there are some I would consider pretty bizarre. 

Not a cookbook I would buy.

 

[Smithy]

13 minutes ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I picked this up from the library on Saturday: Dan Pashman's 'Anything's Pastable'.

I'm on the fence with this one. There are some interesting recipes however there are some I would consider pretty bizarre. 

Not a cookbook I would buy.

 

That's a strange-looking cover photo. Is it really showing bacon draped over a rod, like a pasta drying rod? 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

9 minutes ago, Smithy said:

That's a strange-looking cover photo. Is it really showing bacon draped over a rod, like a pasta drying rod? 

 

That is 'cacio e pepe e chili crisp' made with a pasta I'm unfamiliar with, malfalde, and draped over what I presume to be a chopstick 🤨.

 

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

That's a strange-looking cover photo. Is it really showing bacon draped over a rod, like a pasta drying rod? 

That cover gets an F for design. And the title of the book gets an S for stupid. 

[blue_dolphin]

3 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

I picked this up from the library on Saturday: Dan Pashman's 'Anything's Pastable'.

I'm on the fence with this one. There are some interesting recipes however there are some I would consider pretty bizarre. 

Not a cookbook I would buy.

 

Thanks for the reminder!  I just put it on my “hold” list at the library. I've got plenty of pasta cookbooks and don’t need another one but would like to get a look at it. I’m 18th in line for 10 copies so I should get it in ~ a month.  

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

4 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Thanks for the reminder!  I just put it on my “hold” list at the library. I've got plenty of pasta cookbooks and don’t need another one but would like to get a look at it. I’m 18th in line for 10 copies so I should get it in ~ a month.  

 

Please post your impression/opinions of the book. 

My overall take is that I thought this type of fusion cuisine for the sake of fusion had had its day.

 

 

[Tempest63]

I have OCD over books, especially anything Indian, or similar.
I have a passion for food from the Indian continent and prefer traditional food as opposed to the slop served up in the U.K. high street Indian restaurants.

This arrived yesterday from Penguin India, although I ordered it several weeks ago from Amazon.uk.

I was working from home today and have had only had a quick flick through but it is already inspiring me. On first inspection it seems a cut above my other Nepalese cookbooks.

 

[Tempest63]

The book above was quite pricey in comparison to what I usually buy, but I saw this second hand hardback version of Madhur Jaffrey’s climbing the mango trees (2005). It is signed by the author and cost an unbelievably cheap £3.49, including P&P. I ordered it at the same time as I ordered the book above and it arrived within 3 days from the book seller.

The book was advertised as acceptable so I was unsure what I was to get as second hand booksellers often over estimate the quality. I would say this is in good condition, without any damage even to the dust cover.

I had a digital version of the book in my Dropbox which I accidentally deleted before reading it.

 

Edit: By the way, I have a double OCD over MJ’s book. I recently saw an expensive book that I didn’t own on Amazon.US. Luckily I found it is the same book as a British book carrying a different title before ordering it.

 

Edited August 2 by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

Another of my very recent acquisitions is Andaza by Summaya Usmani. This is a memoir of her life and the dishes that that go with that “soundtrack”.

Not many recipes but those included all look like they are worth a try.

It was this memoir that prompted me to go looking for the Madhur Jaffrey book, Climbing the Mango Trees, which is her culinary memoir.

These memoir style books would have never really appealed to me until quite recently. Maybe it’s part and parcel of getting on in life?

Edited August 3 by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

Two new books arrived today from second hand booksellers but ordered via Amazon UK. The first is Brindisa, Spanish cooking written by the Lady who opened the first Brindisa, Spanish deli shop in London in 1988. Her first tapas bar was opened in Borough Market, now she has several restaurants, including one in Spain. I paid £11.33 including delivery for this book whose condition is as new. The cost of a new book is over £26.

 

The second book in equally good condition that arrived today is the Immigrant Cookbook. Stories and recipes from those who have left their homelands, often due to conflict and persecution, and made a new home for themselves in other countries such as the U.S. and the U.K. A varied selection of recipes from many countries. I paid £4.36 including delivery for this hardback which is no longer listed as available as a new publication, though I bought this as a gift for someone in 2018 and paid £13.50 for a new copy then (according to Amazon).