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Cooking: Simply and well, for one or many
Good food honed from great ingredients is the principle at the heart of Cooking.
There are sections on the usefulness and frugality of breadcrumbs, black olive crumbs to serve with everything; impromptu puddings like peaches in wine with bay leaves or plum compote with ricotta and hazelnuts; pea dishes galore; superb versions of classics like chocolate St Emilion and pommes Anna; big dishes to serve a few such as marinated chicken with roast pumpkin salad; and essentials like a wild garlic purée.
Cooking is brimming with stories, wit, infectious joy for food and indispensable advice. It is brilliantly illustrated by John Broadley and photographed by Elena Heatherwick, and will surely be one of the most distinctive cook books published for years from the renowned chef, Jeremy Lee.
There are sections on the usefulness and frugality of breadcrumbs, black olive crumbs to serve with everything; impromptu puddings like peaches in wine with bay leaves or plum compote with ricotta and hazelnuts; pea dishes galore; superb versions of classics like chocolate St Emilion and pommes Anna; big dishes to serve a few such as marinated chicken with roast pumpkin salad; and essentials like a wild garlic purée.
Cooking is brimming with stories, wit, infectious joy for food and indispensable advice. It is brilliantly illustrated by John Broadley and photographed by Elena Heatherwick, and will surely be one of the most distinctive cook books published for years from the renowned chef, Jeremy Lee.
416 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2022
35 people are currently reading
259 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 5, 2024
getting really tired of goodreads crashing mid review…
This book is lovely but it is not what I wanted or expected. Lovely ingredients and platters that can serve as a simple meal but which still require some languid perusing of the book or specialty shops. And while he seems great, I don’t really need the backstory of another famous chef to learn how to cook simply. I often pick a cookbook to have at hand throughout the year so J will keep dipping into this one but it doesn’t feel like it has rekindled a love for or interest in cooking yet.
This book is lovely but it is not what I wanted or expected. Lovely ingredients and platters that can serve as a simple meal but which still require some languid perusing of the book or specialty shops. And while he seems great, I don’t really need the backstory of another famous chef to learn how to cook simply. I often pick a cookbook to have at hand throughout the year so J will keep dipping into this one but it doesn’t feel like it has rekindled a love for or interest in cooking yet.
November 3, 2022
Beautiful, tasteful, tasty, classic.
I actually gasped when I received this book. It's so beautiful. It certainly doesn't look like your standard cookbook. Beautifully designed and presented with lovely illustrations heading up each chapter and gracing the cover and endpapers. Lee writes with obvious fondness about his Scottish childhood and the origins of his appreciation of ingredients coming from his parents - their knowledge of local and seasonal fare. I imagine this is the kind of book that will age delightfully, and that my copy will become battered and stained from a long life in the kitchen, possibly with messy notes scrawled in the margins and scrappy bits of paper sticking out but will look all the better for it, to be passed on to the kids when they're older.
It sounds like the book came out of lockdown, with the return to good home cooking but improved with years of experience at the top of the profession. I found Lee's excitement at ingredient deliveries and experimenting rather lovely. Many of the chapters are headed by a particular ingredient, from artichokes and salsify (which I had never heard of) to the more familiar, like garlic, potatoes and chocolate. Lee's joy in celebrating good ingredients comes through - introducing us to them, what to look out for, good suppliers. Others cover broader themes such as biscuits, fish, impromptu suppers, offal, pies, salads, vegetables, soup and sweet somethings. There are also useful sections about equipment, pantry or cupboard staples, supplier list and types of leaves and herbs. Recipes range from basics such as types of pastries, the pleasure of homemade breadcrumbs and different stocks to more complex sounding dishes. There are great sounding snacks as well as meals to share. I immediately went for the Pies chapter and on the way home collected the ingredients for the chicken, leek and tarragon pie which was much welcomed by the rest of the family that night. I was pleased to see that a lot of the ingredients are standard ones and used in multiple recipes and substitutes are suggested.
This feels a great basis to start understanding ingredients, how best to use them and what goes together rather than just blindly following recipes. I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of this book plus it's a perfect one to gift to foodies. You can probably tell I loved it. Off to try spiced marmalade steamed pudding now...
I actually gasped when I received this book. It's so beautiful. It certainly doesn't look like your standard cookbook. Beautifully designed and presented with lovely illustrations heading up each chapter and gracing the cover and endpapers. Lee writes with obvious fondness about his Scottish childhood and the origins of his appreciation of ingredients coming from his parents - their knowledge of local and seasonal fare. I imagine this is the kind of book that will age delightfully, and that my copy will become battered and stained from a long life in the kitchen, possibly with messy notes scrawled in the margins and scrappy bits of paper sticking out but will look all the better for it, to be passed on to the kids when they're older.
It sounds like the book came out of lockdown, with the return to good home cooking but improved with years of experience at the top of the profession. I found Lee's excitement at ingredient deliveries and experimenting rather lovely. Many of the chapters are headed by a particular ingredient, from artichokes and salsify (which I had never heard of) to the more familiar, like garlic, potatoes and chocolate. Lee's joy in celebrating good ingredients comes through - introducing us to them, what to look out for, good suppliers. Others cover broader themes such as biscuits, fish, impromptu suppers, offal, pies, salads, vegetables, soup and sweet somethings. There are also useful sections about equipment, pantry or cupboard staples, supplier list and types of leaves and herbs. Recipes range from basics such as types of pastries, the pleasure of homemade breadcrumbs and different stocks to more complex sounding dishes. There are great sounding snacks as well as meals to share. I immediately went for the Pies chapter and on the way home collected the ingredients for the chicken, leek and tarragon pie which was much welcomed by the rest of the family that night. I was pleased to see that a lot of the ingredients are standard ones and used in multiple recipes and substitutes are suggested.
This feels a great basis to start understanding ingredients, how best to use them and what goes together rather than just blindly following recipes. I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of this book plus it's a perfect one to gift to foodies. You can probably tell I loved it. Off to try spiced marmalade steamed pudding now...
November 25, 2022
This is an absolutely beautiful cookbook, although I don't think it is one that will be very easy to actually use due, largely, to the layout.
It has the feel of old-school classic recipe collections, and is beautifully put together.
It has the feel of old-school classic recipe collections, and is beautifully put together.
December 28, 2025
A really lovely cook book in terms of the recipes, words and illustrations.
May 16, 2024
What a lovely book, with beautiful photographs, as well as illustrations by the wonderful John Broadley. I've been making a habit of reading books that engage with life during the pandemic, and surprise! this book is a product of Jeremy Lee's time in Britain's series of lockdowns when his restaurant in London was shut down.
I became a cookbook reader when I lived for a year in the UK, and my friends there introduced me to the great cookbook writer Elizabeth David, with her keen appreciation of the fresh foods and idiosyncratic tastes of fine British cooking. I had been susceptible to the cliché of how bad British food is, and yes, when it's bad, it's very, very bad (I remember having some flabby cold chicken in a dormitory on my high school trip there that hadn't been thoroughly cleaned of its pin feathers.) But when it is good, it is VERY VERY good, because the Brits are gardeners and farmers, and if you are willing to seek it out, you have access to remarkable cream, fish, meat, veg & berries, all of it produced locally and cleanly. Recipes like the ones in this book lovingly make the most of that bounty.
I am a lazy American, however. I wish an American version of this book was available as far as measurements. I'd buy it if so. I'm an experienced enough cook to figure it out in most cases, but I'd rather have my local measurements!
I became a cookbook reader when I lived for a year in the UK, and my friends there introduced me to the great cookbook writer Elizabeth David, with her keen appreciation of the fresh foods and idiosyncratic tastes of fine British cooking. I had been susceptible to the cliché of how bad British food is, and yes, when it's bad, it's very, very bad (I remember having some flabby cold chicken in a dormitory on my high school trip there that hadn't been thoroughly cleaned of its pin feathers.) But when it is good, it is VERY VERY good, because the Brits are gardeners and farmers, and if you are willing to seek it out, you have access to remarkable cream, fish, meat, veg & berries, all of it produced locally and cleanly. Recipes like the ones in this book lovingly make the most of that bounty.
I am a lazy American, however. I wish an American version of this book was available as far as measurements. I'd buy it if so. I'm an experienced enough cook to figure it out in most cases, but I'd rather have my local measurements!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews