Recent Cookbooks on My Shelf - July - September 2024

Baking Books and Learning Through Food - Extra Food Chat with Kath

Welcome to another edition of Extra Food Chat with Kath!

It’s been a few months in between cookbook reviews here, and all of a sudden I seem to have enough new (or new to me) books to write two of these newsletters in quick succession. Part two will be with you next Sunday, featuring at least a couple of new releases (Salad for Days! Love Crumbs!). So if you were hoping to know a bit more about those ones before buying, my views will be with you very soon.

It’s that time of the year where the pre-Christmas releases are hitting the shelves, and any semblance of cookbook buying restraint I had earlier in the year has been dashed more quickly than I could say ‘where did all these cookbooks come from?’. Cookbooks seem to be my go to stress purchases, which isn’t all bad I suppose, and certainly benefits being able to do cookbook reviews for these newsletters!

The cookbooks featured here are a little bit of a mixed bag and reflect my love of baking, but also my love of learning about different cultures and cuisines. They are also just happened to fall into the category of cookbooks recently added to my shelves between July and September.

Sift: The Elements of Great Baking by Nicola Lamb (Ebury Press) - Starting with the book I think most people are eager to hear more about if my Instagram DM’s are anything to go by! Sift by fellow Substacker

Nicola Lamb

, was recently released in Australia after much waiting and anticipation. I waited until I could have a look at a copy in a bookshop before purchasing, as I have so many baking books I am at the point where I really need to rationalise whether I need anymore. Sift however is a great addition to any bakers collection, as while I am unsure how many of the recipes I will actually make, this book has such a dominant educational element that even rather experienced bakers will learn something.

I really like the way Nicola explains the science of baking in the book, it feels accessible and friendly. The recipes in the book are separated by the base recipes (e.g. meringues and pie dough), to recipes utilising these base recipes and all the baking know how explained in the first part of the book, into recipes that are likely to take you an afternoon, a day or a weekend (plus some extras too). As someone whose main aversion to big baking projects is how long they will take (and thus how much energy I will need to do it), having the recipe chapters set out like this is really helpful. The recipes within each chapter are also separated by their category, such as cakes, desserts, cookies, tarts and pies etc. I appreciate how well organised this book is, and how the design, overall layout and clear beautiful imagery lends itself to learning baking, but also enjoying baking.

If you love Nicola’s Kitchen Projects newsletter here on Substack, or are keen to learn more about the specifics of baking, I think you’ll love Sift.

My Little Cake Tin by Tarunima Sinha (Hardie Grant) - Considering what I just said re trying to rationalise how many baking books I have, you are probably wondering how the very next book in this list is also a baking book. I didn’t say I was good at sticking to rules, even if they are my own (especially if they are cookbook related)! When I finally came across Tarunima’s book in a shop after only seeing things online, I was struck by how beautiful it is and really drawn in by the use of flavour. Edible flowers, and flavours like pistachio and rose are common place in My Little Cake Tin so this book was basically begging me to take it home.

Each recipe in this cookbook can be made using a 20cm round cake tin, the concept of which began with Tarunima using her Grandmother’s 70 year old chapati tin to bake when she was a child. The variety of cakes in the book is great, and something about knowing all the cakes can be baked in the same tin make the recipes feel less daunting. I have some concerns over how well this book was edited unfortunately, for example there is a recipe for a pistachio and raspberry friand cake whose ingredient list contains no pistachios. These things happen, and while it’s disappointing (especially for those who would have put in to much time and effort into creating this book), and I am unsure if the issue is widespread or if I’ve just happened to notice the one mistake. This is however, still a beautiful book and I am very much looking forward to baking from it.

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