Magic mince: recipes from Julie Goodwin’s new cookbook
We take a sneak peek into Julie Goodwin’s latest book, Essential Cookbook, and choose our favourite recipes using mince.
Cooking has brought me closer to the people I love. I treasure the connections I feel with the beautiful cooks in my life who aren’t physically with us anymore, especially my nan, Edna White, Mick’s mother, Kathleen Goodwin, his grandmother, Imelda Henebery, and my friend, Julie Wilson. They live on in my cooking and in my memory.
The point I find myself at is as the parent of three sons who are new adults. They are all still at home right now, but I guess the clock is ticking. Although I have taught them what cooking knowledge I could over the years, I feel an almost desperate need to get all the important recipes, information and tips together, so that when they go, they’re set.
My Essential Cookbook is a collection of everything I think is important to know in order to nourish yourself and the people you love, the recipes that bring back childhood memories for me and my kids. It’s the little bits of kitchen wisdom that have been handed down through generations, or passed on from friends, or discovered by accident, or through trial and error. It’s the book I want my boys to have when they have families of their own.
I want them to have these recipes, not just so they can cook well, but so they can cook for the people in their lives and, through that act of love, draw them closer and make them feel valued. So they can create new memories of their own and, by doing that, be truly connected to the patchwork of our family through generations. So they can have family meals like we have – gathered around a table, appreciating the food, laughing and talking about the day.
So their children might develop their own passion for cooking and pay it forward to their children.