Cookery book club - August - Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard and Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop

[Wearytiger]

Welcome to the Mumsnet cookery bookclub! Each month we choose two cookery books. We cook a minimum of two recipes each - you choose the recipe, they just have to be ones you have never cooked before- which works out at four new recipes each month.Then we chat about them!

For July our books were:

• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall Veg Every Day
• Madhur Jaffrey Ultimate Curry Bible AND / OR madhur Jaffrey's Curry Easy AND / OR Hairy Bikers' Great Curries

And we posted here.

For August, our books are:

• Fuchsia Dunlop Every Grain of Rice
• Dan Lepard Short and Sweet

For September our books will be:

• Tessa Kiros Falling Cloudberries
• any book from the River Cafe books

We will always try to pick at least one book with recipes available on the Internet, and local libraries are great for cookbooks if you can order in advance. We pick books three months ahead so will be choosing October's books this month.

[minimuffin]

Wasn't sure if anyone would still be around but just to say that I made DL's pear mousse cake for my birthday this week (as you do!) and it was good - not quite as divine as I thought it sounded but really nice, and DH likes it even though he's not a cake person. It's more a dessert than a cake. It was fiddly in that I had to keep coming back to it all afternoon to do the next stage, but it wasn't difficult. I'm not sure about his method with adding the gelatine in though, it didn't dissolve completely but it didn't spoil it as you whizz it all in the food processor. If I made it again I might try putting it the mousse on a ginger biscuit base as the flavour is really delicate, and I'd also be able to dodge the baking a sponge and cutting it in half bit. I'm appallingly bad at slicing things so my cake wasn't as even as it should have been - it looked like a bit like a huge version of one of those childrens cakes you fill with buttercream and plonk the bit of sponge you've cut out on top. It kept well and got better after a couple of days too which I wasn't expecting, the sponge was a bit less dry.

I have some birthday money and am thinking of getting EGOR as it seems to have had really positive feedback on here. Was the verdict on Thomasina Miers good too (better go and find the thread hadn't I?)

[ScienceRocks]

I'm still here mini muffin! I love Thomasina, so would definitely recommend her book. I still haven't cooked from egor, alas

[HuevosRancheros]

I'm still here, and would thoroughly recommend both of those books :)

[glorious]

yes the vinegar is delicious isn't it love

I like both books too though we do more Chinese but that's probably because we've been there and loved the food then whereas we haven't been to Mexico.

The pear cake sounds good.

[HuevosRancheros]

I made the fish fragranced aubergine from EGoR last night.
Quite a lot of faff with the salting and frying of the aubergines, but quick and easy after that.
But, the aubergines were meltingly tender and the flavour delicious, so probably would do it again.
Problem is, DH doesnt like aubergines, so I would do it just for me. Which sadly makes it less likely that I will do it again.

[glorious]

huevos we loved the fish fragrant sea bream too which might work for your DH (unless you're veggie, I have a feeling you might be but possibly I'm thinking of someone else)


Had a laugh in the library today, they had Short and Sweet under Healthy Living!

[HuevosRancheros]

Thanks for thinking of me, glorious, but yes, we're veggie.

DH is away for a few days at the end of the week, so think I will do the aubergine again then! Also going to have a go at the Sichuanese wontons, if I have the time. Oh, and I'm going to make the chilli oil, as I don't have any, and so many recipes call for it, and its sediment. Bought a thermometer especially Figured it tied in with both books though, as S&S calls for one when doing caramels etc. Well, that's my excuse, anyway :)

[maniacbug]

Hello, hello to any late loiterers... I've belatedly cooked a number of things from both Aug books in the last 10 days, so just thought I'd report back. Most recent was DL's marmalade layer cake, which wasn't even on my list to try - I had the oven on earlier and felt like making a cake but was a bit low on butter, so it jumped out at me and: wow! Amazing. I make my own marmalade but don't actually like it (labour of love for DH and best friend), so it was great to use up half a jar like this, along with a pot of cream lurking in the back of the fridge. DS2 'helped' me with the icing, so we ended up putting all the cream in the middle, and it really was delicious - if anyone is still after suggestions, I would HIGHLY recommend it. Really moist, subtle orange flavour, worked well for pudding and would be great for afternoon tea.

Other things...

Fish-fragrant aubergine: seriously lush. Huevos I oven-roasted mine while I was getting on with other prep, which seemed to work OK (even though I forgot about them so left them in for longer than intended); a few stuck to the pan, but the rest held their shape and were meltingly soft in the sauce. I could have eaten the entire pot of them myself.
Another convert to gong bao chicken too. Less struck on the red-braised pork, which we had tonight, but I used belly rather than ribs so maybe that had something to do with it. Chicken in black bean sauce was v. tasty but DCs picked out all the black beans so dinner time took forever.
Am sending DH to Chinatown for wonton wrappers so we will (hopefully) but trying out the Sichuanese wontons next w/e.

DH made DL's top tea cakes (with white choc rather than dripping), which were incredible, but he found the multiple steps a bit tiresome. Poor thing almost needed a lie down afterwards. But I think the rest of us will be insisting on a repeat performance so I hope he is not scarred for life.
I was expecting great things of the butterscotch banana cake, but thought it was... OK. (Not as good as Nigel's muscovado choc/banana cake, but it made a change.) Rocky road rock cakes were a big hit with the DCs, but I didn't like the combination of hard cake/soft icing. Think I prefer it the other way round. Made the cream cheese pastry to go on top of the 'big match' pie filling, and it was great. Will definitely use that recipe again - really workable texture, and cooked up nicely, not too dense.

Right, now, September books....

[maniacbug]

Ha, cross-post Huevos! I skipped the salting stage with the aubergines too and it didn't seem to do any harm.
Hope your wontons turn out well!

[glorious]

Perhaps not the fish then huevos!. Good plan to scoff aubergines when DH is away

You've been busy maniacbug. I know what you mean about the rock cakes.

The wontons aren't too bad as you just mix the filling, fold and boil. The folding is the worst bit but you get the knack after a while.

[Cantdothisagain]

I've got wonton wrappers in the freezer... Next weekend will give them a try.

Made Dan's brazilnut espresso cake today. I don't like coffee cake but DH said it was delicious and it had a lovely moist crumb so it certainly looked good!

[glorious]

mmm just had the numbing and hot beef slices and spicy buckwheat noodles. Amazing. Light and zingy with incredibly tender beef. Reminded me a bit of Thai/Vietnamese beef salads.

[LovingKent]

Had Egor emergency noodles last week for dinner. Tasty and quick. Will be putting that on the menu again. Thinking of maybe gung bao chicken this weekend or maybe braised chicken with dried shittake.

Might have to give the wontons a go at some point although we usually make them at Chinese New Year (hubby is Malaysian Chinese). Might save them til then when there are lots of us to help fold them

[ScienceRocks]

Just made DL crumble mix (the one with oats and nuts) to top apples and blackberries. A very very good recipe, though it makes masses so I have frozen the surplus and can now look forward to superior crumble in 30 minutes whenever the urge strikes me

[maniacbug]

The plums on one of our trees is just ripe enough for a crumble, so I shall be trying that this weekend Science. Great idea to keep surplus in freezer.

[maniacbug]

are ripe enough, of course...

[LovingKent]

Mmmm crumble. Will have a look at the recipe Science as it sounds really good.
Thanks to all who recommended gung bao chicken. Had it for lunch today alongside spinach with fermented tofu and chinese chives with pork slivers. Really loved it. A mushroom dish of some kind would go really well with it.

[HuevosRancheros]

In case anyone still looks in here.....
Just made S&S Breakfast Soda Bread. Was so looking forward making them, and am so disappointed :(
They were far too large (he specifies the weight of dough per roll) to fit into the muffin tin, and they were undercooked at the allocated time. So I took them out of the muffin tin and put them on a baking tray to cook a bit more. Still not done, in my opinion. Stodgy, heavy, dense.... :(

[Pantah630]

I'm still making the gung bao chicken, sweet and sour courgettes and red braised pork on a biweekly basis. EGOR is a hit in our house but I still haven't cooked anything from S&S

[HuevosRancheros]

I feel like I am living on Hot and Sour Silken Tofu, from EGoR.
If DH ever isn't hungry, or is out, it is what I will make.
It takes less than 5 minutes to make and is so so tasty :)

Am in love!

[HuevosRancheros]

Pantah, if you have S&S, do go back to it at some point, it has some fab stuff in there.

[Pantah630]

If anyone is still watching this thread, my favourite dish at our local Chinese takeaway is Salt and Pepper Prawns and S&P Squid. Didn't have any squid in the freezer, Waitrose seemed to have stopped selling frozen packs of it in our store, but had a bag of raw prawns. Followed the recipe for the squid substituting the prawns and it was delicious, even better than our takeaway and quicker to cook, than phoning through an order....whoever was responsible for recommending EGOR, I'm forever in your debt.