Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Food/recipes

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Best recipe books for eating seasonally and locally

16 replies

Tr1pleJump · 10/09/2023 10:04

Just read Animal, ,Vegetable, Mineral and horrified myself so going to try to eat a bit more local and seasonal.

Are there any recipe books out there with decent recipes which help with this?

OP posts:
Georgyporky · 11/09/2023 18:08

I use the New Covent Garden "A soup for everyday".
It's great for seasonal veg, & things like mussels.
It's also more than soups, as a lot of the recipes can be veg side dishes if you use less liquid & don't blend.
Some of them could be main courses, again with less liquid, or a complete meal with perhaps some bread.

BlackForestCake · 11/09/2023 21:45

Most of us have no idea what is in season, beyond a vague feeling that fresh strawberries at Christmas are madness. Where do we start?

hermioneee · 11/09/2023 22:05

Riverford did a lovely book where it had recipes for each season.

FrenchBoule · 11/09/2023 22:46

I’d start at looking what’s in season now and what you enjoy eating then look out for recipes,otherwise you might end up with bundle of useless books.

I don’t know where are you placed so you might have some specific foods around you that I have no idea of.

It’s time of abundance,plenty to choose from.

julie81 · 13/09/2023 14:29

Nigel slaters kitchen diaries are quite seasonal

PaminaMozart · 13/09/2023 14:36

Hugh Fearnly Whittingstall wrote a book about seasonal veg:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Cottage-Veg-Every-Day/dp/1408812126

Then there's Delia's series of books for each season, copies of which can often be found in charity shops.

BeastOfBODMAS · 13/09/2023 14:47

Definitely buy a Riverford Farm cookbook. It will tell you how to buy seasonal organic veg and roast it in the most expensive olive oil money can buy and put some salt on.
Really good use of a tenner.

ThisNameHasChanged · 13/09/2023 15:22

Gather is a wonderful book, as is Time: A year and day in the kitchen. Both by Gill Mellor one of the chefs/recipe creators from River Cottage.

Xiaoxiong · 13/09/2023 17:05

I like
Riverford cookbooks
Diana Henry's books Cook Simple and Oven to the Table both have the veg recipes divided into spring/summer and autumn/winter
Nigel Slater Greenfeast - there is a spring/summer volume and an autumn/winter volume
Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries - shows what he's eating through the year
Nigel Slater Tender vol 1 - this is really nice if you're a gardener as well, as it goes through vegetables, how to grow them and when they're ready, and then recipes to use them up (vol 2 is fruit)
And one that isn't Big Nige is the Home Cookery Year by Claire Thomson - what to cook through the seasons. It's really well thought out. Here's a review: https://cookbookreview.blog/2020/10/08/home-cookery-year-by-claire-thomson/

Home Cookery Year by Claire Thomson

Home Cookery Year by Claire Thomson

What’s the USP? Less of a unique selling point, and more of an all-encompassing approach to the cookbook, Home Cookery Year is a 400 page, 200+ recipe doorstop tat seeks to offer seasonal ideas for…

https://cookbookreview.blog/2020/10/08/home-cookery-year-by-claire-thomson

Xiaoxiong · 13/09/2023 17:13

BlackForestCake · 11/09/2023 21:45

Most of us have no idea what is in season, beyond a vague feeling that fresh strawberries at Christmas are madness. Where do we start?

I think strawberries probably most common, but most people have some seasonal associations with foods in this country that just feel "right" to eat at that time. Then when you learn about the fact that those are the veg that are available at those times, those vague seasonal associations start making a lot more sense. (The waters are muddied by the fact that UK food culture encompasses foods from all over the world where stuff is in season all year round or at very different times from in the UK).

I think most people would resonate with the following very basic description:

Spring: peas, lettuce, softer fresh green veg like spinach, baby veg like baby leeks and carrots, candy pink early rhubarb, asparagus. Spring lamb at easter with peas and mint sauce and jersey royals.

Summer: tomatoes, sweetcorn, strawberries at Wimbledon, blackberries, peppers, courgettes.

Autumn: pumpkins, sweet potatoes, apples, gingerbread. Harvest festival/bonfire night kind of vibe.

Winter: root veg, darker leafy greens like kale and PSB. Christmas dinner having potatoes, parsnips, sprouts as the veg.

Teaandbiscuits60 · 13/09/2023 17:36

A really good one I’ve been using since the 80s is Readers Digest The Cookery Year, you should be able to get one preowned off Amazon.

stickybear · 13/09/2023 18:41

There used to be a BBC show called What to Eat Now presented by Valentine Warner that was all about what is in season through the year, there's probably a book. Hugh FW Veg Every Day and the Nigel Slater ones mentioned above are good too.

Defiantlynot41 · 13/09/2023 18:58

@Teaandbiscuits60 does that one have a recipe called Gardener's Chicken? A kind of light chicken casserole with new potatoes? My friend used to make it and I absolutely loved it but all I can remember is that the book had a kind of seasonal emphasis

Maraudingmarauders · 14/09/2023 01:19

The British Larder by Madelene Bonvini-Hamel

The Allotment Cookbook by Pete Lawrence

Defiantlynot41 · 14/09/2023 07:55

@PoppyGG , not sure but it looks delicious and so simple, I will give it a try!

New posts on this thread. Refresh page