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Depending on how you arrived at reading these pages, you may or may not know that I’m a big Twitter fan. Actually, Dr T says I have been wittering for years so it was a natural step. Anyway, one of the things I love about it is the great people I have met, and I’m thrilled that some of them have agreed to share some of their fave cook books, recipes and gadgets, as a guest spot on the Friday Five.

First up is the shining star of wonderful gorgeousness that is English Mum, and her old farts. I’ll let her explain…

Floyd on Italy

I love a cookery book.  I perpetually annoy my family as they fall over random piles of them that mushroom in every room in our house: in piles by the bath, stacked up in a leaning tower next to my bed and stuffed into already-groaning shelves in the kitchen.  My husband sighs every time he sees me glued to Ebay, desperately bidding on another ‘must have’.  Seriously, I should get out more.

Firstly, then, I suppose I should qualify my chosen title by assuring you that it’s not the authors of any of these classic cookery books that I am referring to as ‘old farts’, but the books themselves.  They’re my old faithfuls; always close at hand, well-thumbed, well-used and loved.  I find myself coming back to the doddery old dears time and time again and would be lost without them:

 1.  Floyd on Italy, by Keith Floyd.  Not just as a tribute to the late and much-loved Floyd, this one had to be included as I return again and again to his perfect ‘fresh tomato sauce’.  The ‘white bean goulash’ is also a stunning dish – brilliant for using the ham bone after Christmas too (oops, I said the C word, sorry!).  Not only a boozing legend, he was a serious craftsman in the kitchen too.

2.  English Food, by Jane Grigson.  As far as I’m concerned, Jane Grigson was the Grande Dame of English cookery.  She was delightfully scathing about fast food and supported the use of fresh, local produce long before it was popular.  First published in 1974, this is one of her best and should be on everyone’s kitchen shelf.  It’s a great back-to-basics book to buy for a beginner or student, and the stories between the recipes will entertain any food lover.

3.  A Book of Mediterranean Food, by Elizabeth David.  This was Elizabeth David’s first book and I find myself returning not so much for the recipes as for the wonderful, slightly ‘posh’ way that David writes about her travels and the Mediterranean cuisine that must have seemed impossibly strange back in the 1950s.  Her ‘courgettes au tomates’ is a simple classic.

4.  Good Housekeeping Cookery Book: The Cook’s Classic Companion.  I’ve got two versions of this veritable cookery

Good Housekeeping Cookery Book

bible, the first one presumably pinched from my Mum some time in the 1970s, then a revised edition from 1985.  This is probably my most referred-to book, not only for basic weights and measures, but for inspiration when a certain ingredient is glaring at me from the fridge, demanding to be used.  There’s great information about ingredients and cooking methods too.

5.  Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, by Isabella Beeton.  Try to find an unabridged version of this, a bestseller of its time.  Yes, it’s a weighty tome, but doesn’t everybody need to know how to dispatch a turtle to make classic turtle soup (apparently, it’s best to ‘cut off the head of the turtle the preceding day’) or handle the manservants?  A must-have for entertainment value if nothing else.

So there you have it, from flamboyant Floyd to impeccably organised Isabella: five old farts that should grace every bookshelf.  Enjoy!

And you can’t argue with that!