Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Aussie Chefs' Cookbooks

Heather
 Share

Recommended Posts

Shinboners

Shinboners

Posted
Posted

I've been tempted by "Sri Lankan Flavours". I may take the plunge and buy it soon. Recently, I've been buying up on spices, and I've been roasting and grinding my own spice mixes, and I'd imagine that there would be plenty of spices used in Sri Lankan food.

What's your view on "The Lebanese Kitchen"? Speaking of Abla Amad, I've just made a booking for tomorrow night. It'll be my first time there and I'm very much looking forward to it.

I think the next cookbook I'll be getting will be "Rockpool". I just want to read Neil Perry's thoughts on food and there are a couple of recipes that I want to try.

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Sentiamo

Sentiamo

Posted
Posted

Kylie Kwong ( dontcha love that name!!) has a great book out and my copy of Bill Granger's Sydney Food has been thumbed through so much that the pages are beginning to blur ( or is it a senior moment?!)

Donna Hay's magazine/books are OK but if you spend a little time REALLY looking, it is easy to see she relies on her photographs and her food stylist rather too much... as I do on my hair colourist and gym meister. hehehe. :wink:

Far too much of the ' pretties ' happening and far too many simple tweaks to food we already know. But good on her. She is makin' a $!!!

My 2 cents worth...for what it's worth! :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
arbuclo

arbuclo

Posted
Posted
Hello Suzanne

Vogue E+T is a beautiful magazine to look at - and it does write lovely reviews of restaurants etc - but I have to confess that I prefer a magazine called Delicious. It is produced by our national govt TV station (the ABC) and has a much higher usability rating, and lower glossy ad rating. I am pretty sure that you can get it overseas. Try here:

http://shop.abc.net.au/browse/product.asp?...roductid=602160

Hope this helps!

Maliaty

I completely agree with the assessment of delicious. magazine. In fact I was just admiring the latest copy that came in the mail to me today. Yeah! (doing the dance of joy :raz: )

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. – Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973, Italian Designer

Link to comment
Share on other sites
arbuclo

arbuclo

Posted
Posted
Kylie Kwong ( dontcha love that name!!) has a great book out and my copy of Bill Granger's Sydney Food has been thumbed through so much that the pages are beginning to blur ( or is it a senior moment?!)

Donna Hay's magazine/books are OK but if you spend a little time REALLY looking, it is easy to see she relies on her photographs and her food stylist rather too much... as I do on my hair colourist and gym meister. hehehe. :wink:

Far too much of the ' pretties ' happening and far too many simple tweaks to food we already know. But good on her. She is makin' a $!!!

My 2 cents worth...for what it's worth! :biggrin:

I really like Donna Hay. Her recipes inspire me and are easy to do with stuff I already have around. I'm one of those people that needs inspiration to help come up with dinner!

I was privileged to go to a special Kylie Kwong dinner held at Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder (in Melbourne) a few weeks ago. Extremely delicious! Also got to see her at the delicious. double acts during the Melbourne Food & Wine festival. I really admire her.

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. – Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973, Italian Designer

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 months later...
Shinboners

Shinboners

Posted
Posted

I've been looking forward to Shannon Bennett's cookbook and it's now been released. I picked up my copy two days ago. It's a hardback, 426 pages, and costs $60.

It has a short forward by Paul Bocuse - nothing too enlightening, just a few kind words about Bennett. The first section is an overview of Bennett's journey in cooking. It's often humourous, sometimes egotistical (his Swedish model girlfriend), but balanced with some self-depricating comments (his London greengrocer winding him up). But all in all, he gives a good overview over why he loves cooking and the pressures and pleasures of his profession. I get the impression that he thinks very deeply about the relationships in his life - he's well aware of the family and friends that have supported him, but also the personal sacrifices he has had to make. There were two very poignant stories on the personal losses that chefs endure - for him, it was losing touch with school friends, and in another, he tells a story of hearing his head chef apologising to his (ex-)girlfriend about working too hard over the phone.

The rest of the book is divided into sections based on ingredients: The Tomato, The Potato, The Mushroom, etc. - 18 sections in all. Each section starts off with a discussion on the ingredient, a few personal views, some tips, even some history and stories. He then follows up with around a dozen recipes based on that ingredient. There is a short comment on the recipie, the usual list of ingredients on one side, and the recipe on the other. The instructions are quite clear, but then again, you never really know until you actually cook the dish. For myself, I bought this book because I'm a fan of Bennett's cooking rather than with the intention of cooking from it. However, after reading some of the recipes and his comments, I will be giving it a good crack.

There are colour photographs of some of the dishes, but more impressively, there are pictures of the artwork by Tom Samek which are on display at Vue De Monde.

I've picked up a few other cookbooks, but of the recent releases, I've got "Spirit House" by Brierly/Fear (I've cooked a few recipes from it, all have worked well) and the Cook And the Gardener (Hesser) which has, so far, been quite entertaining.

There have been plenty of other new releases: Bathers Pavillion (Danserau), Falling Cloudberries (Kiros), Moroccan Modern (M'Souli), Bistro (Johnson), and the new Cooks Companion (Alexander).....any opinions on these?

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
Link to comment
Share on other sites
arbuclo

arbuclo

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the description of this cookbook. I haven't had a look but now I want to. I frequently avoid flipping through cookbooks because I want to resist buying them!

Would love to know how you go with Shannon's recipes. Do tell, once you've tried some!

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. – Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973, Italian Designer

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PCL

PCL

Posted
Posted

I flipped through this one at Books for Cooks on Saturday. It's comprehensive. Worth a second look.

I also went home with Bourdain's new gem. Fucking great.

Got Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating on Order, and Keller's Bouchon.

Will be a great month ahead.

"Coffee and cigarettes... the breakfast of champions!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
arielle

arielle

Posted
Posted
I flipped through this one at Books for Cooks on Saturday. It's comprehensive. Worth a second look.

I also went home with Bourdain's new gem. Fucking great.

Got Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating on Order, and Keller's Bouchon.

Will be a great month ahead.

Is that the same (Aust. issue) of the Nth American "The Whole Beast"? It's a fantastic book......we have "Bouchon on order, and were supposed to receive it *before* it came out in bookstores.......it's been out for a week or two and.....nada..

Slightly pissed.

Back to the topic, though, thankyou for the heads up on this (for me) new chef and his book. It's always great to see young Aussie chefs make a name for themselves.......of course Donna Hay has made a fortune through her books, but, not wishing to denigrate her, it's great to see chefs' recipes out there, rather than the "easy" home-cooking fare that she promulgates.......

'though it must be said: anything that gets people in the kitchen and away from the TV must be worthy!!!!!!!!!!

Forget the house, forget the children. I want custody of the red and access to the port once a month.

KEVIN CHILDS.

Doesn't play well with others.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shinboners

Shinboners

Posted
Posted
It's always great to see young Aussie chefs make a name for themselves.......of course Donna Hay has made a fortune through her books, but, not wishing to denigrate her, it's great to see chefs' recipes out there, rather than the "easy" home-cooking fare that she promulgates.......

'though it must be said: anything that gets people in the kitchen and away from the TV must be worthy!!!!!!!!!!

I'm not sure how many people here know their sports, but Matthew Hayden, an Australian cricketer, has released a cookbook.

Oh well, if it gets the sports nuts off the couches and into their kitchens, it may not be such a bad thing.

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
Link to comment
Share on other sites
helenas

helenas

Posted
Posted
Falling Cloudberries (Kiros), Moroccan Modern (M'Souli), and the new Cooks Companion (Alexander)

All of those are in my wishlist - although not available in US, sounds like UK and CA amazon will carry them.

Another australian book that i think might be interesting is Lemongrass and Sweet Basil.

And if one considers Alastair Hendy australian, he just published Food and Travels: Asia. - sounds like a great one.

Poblano Gambit
Link to comment
Share on other sites
helenas

helenas

Posted
Posted

So we discussed australian food magazines and how we like them: Vogue, Delicious, Donna Hay - all of those are fortunately widely available in US.

Now how about Gourmet Traveller? From their web site and one issue that i succeeded to get looks like a great magazine - maybe even the best one.

Poblano Gambit
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shinboners

Shinboners

Posted
Posted

I keep on looking at "Falling Cloudberries". It's a beautiful book - great layout, wonderful photographs, but I'm just not that interested in Greek and Cypriot cooking (either cooking it or reading about it). The book does have sections on South African and Finnish food, and another section on home recipes from around the world.

Also, Stefano del Pieri is about to release his new book, "Modern Italian Food".

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Shinboners

Shinboners

Posted
Posted
Got Fergus Henderson's Nose to Tail Eating on Order,

Is that the same (Aust. issue) of the Nth American "The Whole Beast"? It's a fantastic book......

I picked up "Nose To Tail Eating - A Kind Of British Cooking" (Fergus Henderson) from Readings (Carlton) today. It was $45. I did some cross checking with the reviews on Amazon, and although the titles, cover, and format are slightly different, the text is the same. I would think that the other key difference is that the one I've got has got metric whilst the US version would have imperial measurements.

I've also seen "The Whole Beast" at the Hill of Content.

Daniel Chan aka "Shinboners"
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Akiko

Akiko

Posted
Posted

Helenas,

They sell Gourmet Traveller here in the UK and when I see a new issue I definitely pick it up. It is a great magazine. I can only compare it to Australian Vogue (I haven't ever seen the others) and I definitely think its better. There is nothing else on the market that I've seen that is quite like it.

Amedama on the Go Go!
Link to comment
Share on other sites
arbuclo

arbuclo

Posted
Posted

I used to subscribe to Gourmet Traveller. It is a good magazine. I found that the recipes are really restaurant sort of recipes not what I cook every day or even for many dinner parties. It's been awhile since I read an issue, though so the style may have changed.

A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness. – Elsa Schiaparelli, 1890-1973, Italian Designer

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
Tim White

Tim White

Posted
Posted
Hmmm, don't know if he's coming out with a new book.  His website only lists this current two:

http://www.gregmalouf.com/books.htm

We've been told one is under way but a release date has not been confirmed yet.

"The purpose of a cookery book is one & unmistakable. Its object can conceivably be no other than to increase the happiness of mankind - Joseph Conrad"

www.booksforcooks.com.au

new & old books about wine, food & the culinary arts bought & sold

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
ozmouse

ozmouse

Posted
Posted

i did'nt get any cookbooks for xmas for the first time in many years. but my situation has changed at home, so that has more to do with it than anything.

out of the current releases i flipped thru, i certainly fell in love with Cloudberries as well. also Plenty by Gay Bilson.

Lately im getting away from cookbooks, and going for food literature. I just finished reading Advanced Australian Fare by Stephen Downes. Great read on the history of restauranting in the past 30 years in oz. It was so interesting reading all the big names and in most cases, very humble beginnings. shows how far we've come in a very short time.

Also read Celebrazione! by michael harden. it is the history of the debortoli family. Again, I enjoyed reading all about the recent history of the oz wine industry revolvin around one ethnic family.

i also have the 'grossi Florentino' book. have not read it yet, it is sitting there next....

as for the comments about Matthem Hayden's new book. I scoffed at it when i first saw it. Just another rip off book. But then when you flip thru it, it would appear he is a bit of a foodie and whenever he travels he maximizes his experiences around food. (lucky bugger!) Like someone else said, if it gets someone into the kitchen.....

cheers

ozmouse

melbourne

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...