By Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books
Don't forget: these books below are available at 20% off for tablehopper readers for two weeks following this mention at Green Apple Books—simply use the code "tablehopper" at checkout (either at the store or online) for your discount.
Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson was released last September. We ordered a copy blindly (it looked pretty), and there it languished on our shelves untouched until early December. Then, in a New York Times round-up of the best cookbooks of 2007, Dwight Garner lauded this book so profusely and convincingly that our copy sold before I could even check it out.
We saw the review and promptly ordered 20 more copies, thinking it might be a big Christmas book for us. But the publishers and distributors were all wiped out. So I (and countless others) waited until a new printing arrived last week to get our hands on this gem of a food book.
The review says it more eloquently than I can, so check it out here. To tempt you, here are some key phrases that may make you want this book as badly as I did:
* “the most useful cookbook of all time,”
* “a no-nonsense manifesto about eating”
* “Hopkinson is all about pleasing—he will not do fandangos at an ingredient's expense”
* “Imagine an entire book with four to five simple and extraordinary ways to prepare most of the foods you come in contact with on a regular basis, and you'll have imagined this nearly flawless book.”
Perhaps you won't use the brains or liver chapters too often (perhaps you will—what do I know?), but this is a unique, charming, handsome, and affordable little tome. The kind of cookbook you can read in bed, not just refer to in the kitchen. I think you'll enjoy it as I much as I enjoyed the Brandade de Morue I made from it over the weekend. Mmmm, creamy goodness.
Thanks for reading.
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