Not on my go to list, and not on the shelf in 2010
Here we are, 1st January, new decade and all that. Everyone will be buzzing with resolutions, or perhaps their heads will just be buzzing. Everyone will be wanting to weigh less, do more, give things up etc.
Well, I am resolving to do more by reaching to the far flung corners of the bookshelves, to help them weigh less and give up the cookbooks that have really not earned their places up there. The very opposite of a “go to” list, these are my no go books, that have been purely decorative, are as pristine as the day they arrived.
1. Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food - no offence to Gordon, but this is top of the tree. Wasn’t my choice, I think I read through it, and then it’s sat on the shelf after that. Great TV moments, cooking not grabbing me really.
2. Seriously Good! Gluten Free Cooking by Phil Vickery – I should have known with this one when the recipe for Onion & Chestnut bread has you caramelising onions and then never mentions them again in the recipe, at all. It’s also the only dish I’ve ever served an adult that I’ve nearly seen them spit out across the table. They are still scarred by the experience. And I’ve not opened this book since.
3. An Invitation to Italian Cooking by Antonio Carluccio - no offence to Antonio, but I’ve not cooked from this, and now I have The Silver Spoon I think that will be my go to book.
4. The Hairy Bikers Ride Again - all the way back out of the kitchen. I love their programmes, find them charming and endearing, and vowed to cook a number of the recipes in here, particularly the Indian ones. Just other recipes have always seemed to get in the way.
5. Gifts from the Kitchen – this was a gift, it’s a Marks & Spencer book, and it’s still where I put it after Christmas last year. Sorry, but there have been no shortage of gifts from the kitchen, but they’ve been mainly sloe gin and jam, not petit fours.
So my cleansing has begun, the weight is falling off, and I’ve had a good stretch reaching the far flung corners of the shelving. What cookbooks will you lose this year?
I had a bit of a cull when we moved back from Ireland. Some of my more random titles had to go, I’m afraid. I couldn’t bear to part with Kitsch Christmas, though, even though I’m unlikely to ever actually make the Christmas Tree entirely constructed from weener sausages….
If you ever think that one needs a new home, I am always happy to rehouse it for you!