THE GOOD BOOK

Dan Stock puts new local titles to the Christmas present test

It’s Christmas time, and there’s no need to be afraid. Though when trawling the local bookstore, the shelves groaning with tasty tomes from Nigella and Jamie, the River Cafe and the River Cottage – let alone the stack of great Aussie books with a heap of local authors, too – it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But it’s one thing to flick through and oohh and aahh over artfully shot, drool-worthy dishes, quite another to actually cook them. So we put the best local books to the test to try to answer: what book would be best to buy for the favourite cook in your life?

These are be best that should be found under every tree.

YUMMY EASY QUICK By Matt Preston (Plum, $39.95)

The pitch: Matt Preston is back with his fifth cookbook promising an answer to the question: “What’s for dinner.” A cookbook for home cooks written by a home cook (albeit one with an inexhaustible knowledge of, and curiosity for, food from around the world), it contains 127 recipes that take 30 mins or less to prepare. It’s filled with good things you want to eat written in Matt’s breezy, approachable style. There’s a wealth of useful info throughout in never-fail list form.

The dish: It’s hard to go past a recipe called “My favourite pork braise ever”, and it’s now been added into my slow-cook repertoire. Pineapple juice and a touch of curry powder add sweet heat, while pecans at the end add toasty crunch to the fall-apart pork. Completely delicious. Word of warning: the flavours – especially the salt – intensified in next-day leftovers, so if cooking with a view to getting two meals out of this, dial down the soy sauce.

Matt’s big on adding layers of flavour, so you’ll need a wellstocked pantry – and a herb garden – to make the most of the book and gain economies of scale. Best for: The main cook in the house.

MR & MRS WILKINSON’S HOW IT IS AT HOME By Matt Wilkinson and Sharlee Gibb (Hardie Grant, $49.99)

The pitch: “A cookbook for every family” is how husbandand-wife duo chef Matt Wilkinson and Sharlee Gibb have billed their first co-written book, and, while a broad remit, it’s filled with a heap of easy-tofollow globe-hopping recipes.

It’s not just about dinner time, with breakfasts and school lunches, as well as weekend baking, taken care of (as well as boozy drinks for mum and dad for the win!). Again, a wellstocked pantry is a must.

The dish: Can Sharlee turn 1970s apricot chicken into a 2017 winner? No French onion soup mix in this version – with the savoury/salt coming in the no-less-daggy addition of Promite/Vegemite.

Cauliflower is another on-trend addition to this version that was rather less sweet than I remember of the dish of my youth. The toasted couscous salad suggested to serve with is a winner. Filled with nuts, seeds, feta and sultanas, pan-toasting the couscous is inspired and adds a brilliant nuttiness to the flavour-packed salad.

Best for: The chief cook and bottle washer.

HARD-CORE CARNIVORE By Jess Pryles (Murdoch, $39.99)

The pitch: “A protein-packed cookbook for meat lovers everywhere” is how co-founder of the Australasian Barbecue Alliance has billed her first cookbook. Though Jess is an expert in low-and-slow southern-style barbecue, this book is a broader celebration of barbecue in all its guises. There’s more than 100 recipes covering chicken, game, pork, lamb and – of course – beef. There’s a heap of info on the science of grilling, cooking to temperature, salting, and the “reverse sear” method for cooking the perfect steak.

The dish: Melbourne-born Jess now lives in Texas and so I couldn’t go past trying out her “Peanut butter and jelly wings”. Sweet and savoury and sticky, they have a touch of sambal oelek heat for the adults but will be a peanut buttery hit with kids, too. Finger-licking fun. They make a mess of the barbecue, though! Best for: The meat lover who wants to up their grill game.

IGNI By Aaron Turner (Hardie Grant, $60)

The pitch: It’s just been crowned the No.1 restaurant in Victoria in the delicious.100, but as this heartfelt, raw and honest account of IGNI’s first year makes searingly clear, it’s been a long journey for chef Aaron Turner’s ultimately triumphant return. It’s a brilliant read, told in diary from across 12 months, from the highs of first accolades to the challenges of running a business. It’s an unflinching look at the creative process and just what it takes to be a chef at the top of their game in one of the most competitive industries around.

The dish: IGNI’s – and Aaron’s– brilliance lies in the open fire that’s at the heart of the kitchen on which everything is cooked. Not having flames at my disposal, I instead simply feasted on the glorious photography and the compelling story. Few cookbooks could be described as great reads – this is a pageturning exception.

Best for: Every aspiring chef/ restaurateur, industry types, food fans.

BRAE By Dan Hunter (Phiadon, $75)

The pitch: “In his first book, Dan Hunter explores the theme of place and its impact on him and his unique style of cooking.” Having transformed a farmhouse in Birregurra into one of the world’s best restaurants, this is chef Dan Hunter’s account of Brae – its food, its people, its kitchen garden and its philosophy. Part instruction manual, part mission statement, part missive, Brae is a beautiful book about a beautiful restaurant that’s cooking simply beautiful food. The dish: Everyone who has ever questioned the “value” in spending $200 to eat at our top restaurants need only read one of the recipes in Brae to see what a huge undertaking every dish is – in labour, in product, in technique, in time. Not having a professional kitchen behind me, I didn’t attempt to cook anything, but rather settled back with Dan’s flow-of-consciousness “kitchen do’s and don’ts” that should be required reading for every kitchen around the country.

Best for: Professional chefs, restaurant lovers and gastrodreamers.

HONG KONG FOOD CITY By Tony Tan (Murdoch Books, $49.99)

The pitch: Thousands have learnt valuable – and delicious – skills over the years at Tony Tan’s cooking school. Part travelogue, part reference book,

Hong Kong Food City covers one of the world’s greatest food cities through recipes Tony, one of our leading experts in Chinese cuisine, has collected from some of the best restaurants and reflects the diversity of Hong Kong cuisine.

The dish: Having only recently returned to wok cooking, I tried one of the simpler, home-style dishes — stir-fried chicken with lap cheong and snow peas. It was very easy, but a perfect example of the use of texture and aromatics to elevate a simple dish into a totally satisfying meal. A trip to the Asian grocer to stock up on staples is a must to make the most of the recipes here. Best for: Dumpling fiends.

PIDAPIPO By Lisa Valmorbida (Hardie Grant, $40)

The pitch: “Deliciously cool and creamy creations” that’s a celebration of authentic gelato.

Lisa Valmorbida has committed the gelato knowledge she gained in Italy – and transferred into her cult Carlton Pidapipo gelataria – to paper. It’s a handsome book, though admittedly limited in its practical appeal to specialists.

The dish: Funnily enough, a book about gelato requires a gelato maker! It’s a fairly technical tome, though anyone with an ice cream maker at home will be able to try out recipes that are divided down seasonal lines.

Best for: Aspiring gelato makers. BBQ BEER EER AND BS S By Merv Hughes (New Holland, and, $40)

The pitch: “Food to bowl you over.” Merv Hughes – thehe moustachioeded fast bowler from the ’80s andd early ’90s – loves to barbecue andnd talk cricket, and this book brings themm both together. Though whenen Merv admits he

prefers his steak well done – burnt meat is his specialty – it’s probably clear this is a no-frills book for Merv fans rather than serious barbecuers. The supersimple recipes are interspersed with cricket tales of the glory days.

The dish: I tried Merv’s curry yoghurt lamb cutlets – a simple marinade of ginger, garlic, and curry powder stirred through natural yoghurt. They were OK, the suggested mint-andchutney yoghurt dipping sauce a nice addition.

Best for: The cricket fan who can’t cook.

THE TIVOLI ROAD BAKER By Michael James (Hardie Grant, $60)

The pitch: Michael James, who’s rightfully considered one of our best bakers, shares the recipes from his South Yarra bakery that’s rightfully considered one of the city’s best. Bread obviously plays a big part of the bakery and also in the book, which has in-depth instructions for sourdough starters, kneading and baking at home, joined by recipes for pastries, tarts and British bakes that reflect Michael’s heritage.

The dish: More often than not sold out by early lunchtime at the bakery, I gave making Michael’s pork, caramelised apple and fennel sausage rolls a whirl and … I reckon it takes the win for best-ever sausage roll recipe! The sweetness of the apple with the fennel-fragrant meat makes for a match hard to beat. Worth the price of entry alone. Best for: Bakers, bread makers and sausage roll aficionados.

CHIN CHIN By Benjamin Cooper (chinchinrestaurant.com.au $49.95)

The pitch: MenusMe designed for different scenscenarios from one of Melbourne’s — and now Sydney’s — favourite restaurants. restauran There’s brunch for four, romantic dinner for twotwo, a kids party for 18 and a bbarbecue for 10. It’s glogloriously shot in coveta covetable lifestyle fashion, fashio and along with a hefty dose of Chin Chin ccheekiness, chef Benjamin Benjam Cooper’s recipes arare easy to follow — though they do draw on an extensively extensivel stocked Asian pantry, and hahaving an Asian grocer on speespeed dial will help. The shopping and prep list for each menu is a clever touch.

The dish: One from the brunch menu, the stir-fried noodles with sausage and broccolini is a flavour-first burst of salty goodness to get the day underway. Heady with lap cheong and rich with pork sausage, it’s a wok star dish for the AM. Best for: (Dinner) party people.

A CHARCUTERIE DIARY By P. J. Booth (acharcuteriediary.com.au, $74.99)

The pitch: A personal diary from “a humble enthusiast”, this deeply engaging and encyclopaedic tome on all things cured is a joy to read. It’s idiosyncratic, funny and earnest in equal measure, filled with inspiration for anyone with more than a passing interest in bacon.

The dish: Not quite ready to embark on my own journey of salt, smoke and curing meat (that’s a resolution for 2018 right there), I instead delved into the classics chapter — corned beef, gravlax, pickled eggs and the like. I made chicken liver parfait, which worked well although the method unfortunately omits adding the salt, which I only realised upon the first mouthful of the otherwise excellent parfait.

Best for: The best kind of meat head.