“Ginger Pig – Farmhouse Cook Book” by Tim Wilson and Fran Warde
The sequel to “Ginger Pig Meat Book” {Mitchell Beazley, 2011} has just been published, and it focuses on recipes from the Yorkshire farmhouse from where Tim Wilson started his butchery empire. “Ginger Pig Farmhouse Cook Book”, co-written by Fran Warde, designed by Pene Parker and photographed by Kristin Perers is a worthy successor – from the kitchen of Grange Farm this book is an excellent guide for those people that belong to the DIY school of kitchen skills.
Curing, preserving, smoking, pates, terrines, wild food, preserves, pastry, puddings, pickles and chutneys: this work offers nearly 300 pages of education and information about the sort of country farmhouse cookery that Britain excelled at the end of the 19th century right up until after the Second World War. Hearty, comforting, tasty and warming, you will find the recipes useful, simple and achievable.
There is little new ground covered here: pork and walnut pate, Beef Wellington, soda bread, bread salad, three bird roast, apple and mint chutney, custard tart, Queen of puddings {and so on} are all recipes you will find in other cookbooks as well, but what wins through is the overall combination. Excellent presentation, good writing and well laid out recipe techniques form the backbone of this compendium, and its didactic intentions far exceed ambitions to create any new fancy footwork in the kitchen.
The illustrations of beef, pork, lamb, poultry and game cuts are highly commendable – to be able to shop for meat properly, cooks need to know the different parts of the animal and how they should be cooked.
As a gift for a keen foodie who is looking to widen and deepen a culinary repertoire into country cooking, it’s worth its price of £25. Before you give it away, make sure you enjoy its voyeuristic tour of kitchen designer Plain English’s chic, chalk white kitchens. The countryside has never looked so gleamingly clean and organised.
Further Information
The Ginger Pig: www.thegingerpig.co.uk
Follow on Twitter: @GingerPigLtd
Mitchell Beazley: www.octopusbooks.co.uk
Follow on Twitter: @Octopus_Books
Follow Fran Warde on Twitter: @franwarde
Follow Kristin Peres on twitter: @KPerers
