Books for Cooks

Venezia food & dreams is a book bound to please those that enjoy Italian food. As with all Tessa Kiros's books, this is a feast for the eyes and mind too; delightful prose winds its way through the walkways of Venice as Kiros alights upon little cafes and osterias serving delicious morsels. Part travelogue, part recipe book, Venezia is a real treat post Christmas when the cooking is all but done and you can revel in the sumptuous photography by Manos Chatzikonstantis. Recipes are genuine Italian and delicious.
amazon: £12.49 (rrp: £25)


Turquoise - Suffering from seasonal affective disorder? Look no further than Greg and Lucy Malouf's new book on Turkish cuisine where sunshine and blue seas beckon you from every page. An exciting mixture of ancient Oriental and modern European influences give Turkish cuisine its rich variety. The Maloufs want to share their journey and inspire readers to learn more about the country, aromas, flavours and textures. The recipes are a distillation of these travels and are Greg's spin on Turkish food but at the heart of each recipe is the people and the ingredients they came across. Stunning photography by Lisa Cohen and William Meppen add further status to an already world-class cookbook.
amazon: £19.50 (rrp: £30)


Food Lover's Treasury is the perfect book for Christmas, whether you wish to reserve it for your own consumption or to give to a friend. 'A running of bouquet of extracts', it is a collection of literary extracts that introduce you to some writers, now long forgotten and to the musings of age-old favourites. Whatever, you are bound to come across a new author who could well set you off in a new unchartered direction. These little titbits are short enough to be snatched between stirring the pot or gazing into the embers before slumber takes over.
Frances Lincoln: £9.99


Hot Drinks - Delicious recipes guaranteed to warm you up on the chilliest of days. What's not to like about a book that will warm the cockles of your heart whether you prefer a rich hot chocolate or something with an alcoholic kick to keep out the cold. Louise Pickford has worked through all the possibilities and come up with some interesting and at times unusual recipes. In keeping with the festive season, why not try a White Christmas, a mixture of milk, white chocolate, Grand Marnier, cinnamon sticks and whipped cream. Or perhaps a Honey Baba, simply half a litre of milk warmed with two teaspoons of honey. Tea and coffee feature too but perhaps the Mulled Bloody Mary, a warmed version of the classic cocktail, will get the singing going round the Christmas tree. This is a great stocking filler or present.
amazon: £7.25 (rrp: £10.99)


Cardamom and Lime is the perfect antidote to the UK's grey skies at this time of the year. Sarah Al-Hamad, who lives in both London and Kuwait, is passionate about the food and cooking traditions of the Arabian Gulf, researching family archives and local traditions to write this book. Taking in the cuisine of Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, this is the definitive cookbook on the region. Al-Hamad starts with a brief history of the Gulf and its traditions and customs that have made food so central to daily life. Needless to say, rice features large as well as chicken, lamb and fish that all play their part in some of the region's most favourite dishes. This is a good eye-opener to those unfamiliar with the cuisine, wanting to learn and cook authentic dishes.
amazon: £8.99(rrp: £14.99)


All You Can Eat - 1000 Recipes - This is a collection of Tamsin Day-Lewis's recipes taken from her eight popular cookbooks, along with some new ones thrown in for good measure. Described by Marie Claire as a 'funky version of Delia', this weighty tome represents a lifetime of good cooking and is enough to equip the cook through the seasons should they wish to cook from just one book alone. The recipes are tried and tested and foolproof making it the perfect one-stop books for cooks at every level. There are no glossy photographs, just page upon page of hearty fare.
amazon: £19.50 (rrp: £30)