Original Flava: Caribbean Recipes from Home

Product Information

First, make the breadcrumbs. Place the bread and the basil leaves in a food processor and blitz to fine crumbs. Tip the crumbs on to a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes, until golden. The food is phenomenal….New readers will be coached and coaxed through each technique, while long-timers will find something new here—even if they own every other book in the chef’s oeuvre.”— Epicurious

That being said, I would not suggest these recipes for beginning cooks. These dishes are elevated and elegant, the equivalent of meals from a four-star restaurant, and the ingredients he uses as his go-tos are hard to find on the shelves of many local American grocery stores. These are intermediate to expert dishes, with the refinements that come from many years of cooking. But there is nothing wrong with getting the cookbook to read and aspire to, trying one of the simpler recipes to add a dramatic flair to a holiday dinner or dinner party, and then working up to the more complicated recipes. Get The Incredible Spice Man cookbook at Waterstones and Books a Million The Monocle guide to Drinking & Dining What can we do to help?" That's the question Ryan Riley asked himself when people began experiencing loss of taste and smell as a result of COVID-19. Get the Monica’s Kitchen cookbook at Waterstones The Red Rooster Cookbook: The Story of Food and Hustle in Harlem Well, put a cape on Yotam Ottolenghi, because he is a superhero for vegetarian and vegan cooks. He is doing everything he can think of to add interest and flavor to vegetables. His cookbooks are a love letter to the taste and texture of vegetables, and his latest, Flavor, is his strongest missive to date.

About the contributors

This is a very informative cookbook that in many ways resembles a textbook in that there is so much text. Recipes are well done and distinct and there is a photo for each. While the recipes may be described as "low effort," this does not mean fast. In fact, only five of the recipes can be made in under thirty minutes or in one pan. Most take more than an hour and involve multiple steps and pans. You have to really want to make these dishes. Many recipes focus on less common vegetables such as rutabagas and celery root. Recipes all seem highly unique and creative but tend to run on the exotic side. Fans of Ottolenghi will love this book. With a book called Flavor, it’s clear from the outset what you’re getting into. And with Ottolenghi’s name attached to it, you know it’s going to be special. “— National Post What sets [Ottolenghi] Flavor apart from its predecessors is its focus on explanation—there are in-depth profiles of the cooking techniques and flavour pairings at play in these recipes.”— Chatelaine

In Natural Flava, the “fundamentals” of Caribbean cooking are upheld – using ingredients such as Scotch bonnet chillis, thyme and all-purpose seasoning, and techniques like marinating meat and using coconut milk to temper the heat of a curry. But through plant-based exploration, Shaun and Craig say they have been more experimental. For our plant-based foodies, Ella Woodword’s eponymous brand is here for you. The Deliciously Ella deli is the perfect pitstop for an Oxford Street shopping break, and there’s no reason you can’t recreate the calming, zen vibe she promotes in your own home. Intros to the chapters feels very comparable to Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat but without so much of a clear direction, so probably unlikely to reuse these for reference. Like the café, the shop is tiny and charming and a living embodiment of the word “curated.” Their Guide to Drinking & Dining stays impeccably on brand, and honestly, you’ll feel worldlier just opening the front cover. Along with global recommendations from some of the most discerning voices, you’ll also find some extremely upscale recipes. Think pea-and-panceta croquetas from the Oldroyd, and solomillo pork with pobre potatoes from Lurra. Grouping together multiple recipes steps in one bullet point is a real bugbear of mine - I don't like one step in a recipe to be a dozen lines long with a dozen substeps and taking several hours to complete. Feels like a case of trying to hide the complexity when the recipe could also afford to be a little simpler.But in removing those trigger foods like garlic and onion from recipes, another issue comes up: how do you build flavour? "I've been a cookery writer now for four years, we're told to build a recipe's flavour with garlic and onion, we've had to flip of the idea of cookery, and what we know about recipe writing on its head," says Riley. "So, we've eliminated all of those trigger foods from the recipes to make them what is known as 'safe food' and then we've added all of the principles that we use in Life Kitchen to try and elevate those safe foods to be absolutely delicious."