The River Cottage Family Cookbook

By JULIETTE ROSSANT What makes The River Cottage Family Cookbook (Ten Speed 2008)so wonderful is that it does what it sets out to do. It is precisely a family cookbook – or, rather, a book about food. There is plenty in between the covers for children, adults – both experienced cooks and novices. The pages are full of photographs by Simon Wheeler of children really doing the cooking, gardening, and eating, but in no way do the photographs or the text condescend or make them simply cute or charming – although they are that, too. This cookbook speaks with a voice of serious chefs teaching their own children to cook - someone who assumes their children are smart, capable, and curious. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Fizz Carr are industrious cookbook writers with a whole stack of River Cottage cookbooks to their names. Hugh along with Jamie Oliver is famously a campaigner for better treatment of farm animals, mostly recently in a vociferous fight with UK retailer Tesco, and his ongoing Chicken Out campaign. He has had many television cooking shows, many of which were based on the Ten Speed 2008 River Cottage in Dorset and farms nearby, which explored British cookery and raising organic food. The River Cottage Family Cookbook is organized according to ingredient: Flour, Milk, Eggs, Fruit and so on, and within each chapter the ingredients are explained start to finish, that is wheat to flour to bread: And so in our cookbook, the "whys" of cooking are at least as important as the "hows." Why do you rub butter into flour when you make pastry, and why do you have to put so much effort into kneading bread dough? Once you know the answer, you'll make better pastry and better bread, because you'll understand the reason behind what you are doing. (pp. 9-10) Don't confuse this approach with Alton Brown's or other cookbook writers who explain the science of food. Their approach is more about incorporating facts into understanding. They are not rigid, but follow a seemingly natural line of discovery that answers questions: Why make bread? The importance of yeast. Choosing flour for bread. (pp. 19-21) Following each discussion are projects like Making Sour Dough Bread (pp. 25-26) and then yeast bread recipes: Fresh White Bread (p. 41) and Raisin Bread (p. 43). There are also recipes for pizza, soda bread, and scones, so learning the easier recipes leads to further exploration in the book. The projects in The River Cottage Family Cookbook are the most fun, from simple such as Making Ice Lollies (p. 358 361) or Growing Your Own Little Salad Garden (pp. 187-189) to quite complex, such as Homemade Bacon for a Bacon Sandwich (pp. 326-327) and far from the traditional kitchen boundaries, such as Building a Campfire for Outdoor Cooking (pp. 275-277). The British terms your kids will learn while reading the book just adds to the fun. You could get this book and have your kids use it as a textbook about food, farming, and sustainable agriculture. But better not to tell them how much they'll learn. Why spoil the fun they - and you - have learning to cook? This is one of the best, serious cookbooks for young people finding their way around food. Previous articles: Jamie Oliver: Chicken Out! [Cookbook Reviews - complete] [Children's Cookbooks - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef