Delicatessens and cafés are the places to go to when a bit of rest, relaxation, a hit of caffeine, and some ingredient inspiration are needed. Cookbooks from the best of them provide recipe inspiration in spades, and this collection rounds up great titles from South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United States.
By Tal Smith
Author Tal Smith runs Cape Town’s Sababa with her sister, Nirit Saban. The recipes draw on family roots in Libya, Romania, and Israel, incorporating influences from across the Middle East and the Mediterranean (as well as South Africa). Photography is by Tal’s husband Russell, and the recipes are bright and fresh, easy to make, and easy on the eye.
This is the first of a trio of cookbooks published by the successful Ripe Deli in Auckland, which opened in 2001. Recipes, arranged by season, are modish without being overly trendy. It’s all about “fresh, quality, seasonal, healthy food that’s good value for money,” as the author aptly puts it.
Legendary breakfasts to fuel days on the mountain; inventive, zesty salads and indulgent and luxurious cakes: these are all hallmarks of Aviemore's Mountain Café in the Scottish Highlands. Owner-chef Kirsten Gilmour draws on her Kiwi roots to turn out contemporary dishes with an Antipodean love of fresh and bold flavours.
For some 35 years, the legendary Claire's Corner Copia has been much more than a restaurant to its customers; it's been a home away from home. A New Haven, Connecticut, institution since its founding in 1975, Claire's has consistently won recognition for its vegetarian and vegan cuisine, leading to a national reputation and following.
Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso’s 1982 gourmet deli showed that complex, cosmopolitan flavors – Chicken Marbella, Salmon Mousse, Pasta Puttanesca – could emerge from modest cooking chops. Credited with charting the course for New American cuisine, the New York City-based catering duo introduced readers to now-ubiquitous ingredients such as pancetta and pesto.
Curated collections from ckbk's editors
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In 1971, half a century ago, two young mothers wrote a book that captured the spirit of the time, and still has strong resonance to this day. Poor Cook focuses on good simple cooking from scratch. Its “do what you can with what’s available” ethos is very much in keeping with today’s imperative to reduce food waste. We spoke to the two co-authors who told us how they came to write the book….
As we give a warm welcome to two titles that celebrate the joys of supreme kitchen gadgetry – cookbooks on the air fryer and the Instant Pot, we take the opportunity to consider some of the most well-loved kitchen gadgets and find out what our chefs and food writers have to say about them.
Former chef and restaurateur Chris Lawrence ponders how books by Auguste Escoffier and Harold McGee, written a century apart, have had a profound effect on the way that chefs, recipe writers, and home cooks think about food and how they cook. He argues for more care to be taken in recipe creation – and tells why he welcomes the digital recipe revolution
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