As days lengthen, the sun shows its face, and coats are cast off, thoughts turn to outdoor cooking, to lighting the grill and revelling in the taste of food cooked over fire and seasoned with fresh air. We’ve got three books newly live on ckbk to inspire your grill cookery throughout the outdoor season.
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Cooking and television have a long association, with viewers enjoying the opportunity to see techniques and dishes demonstrated with flair. TV chefs are welcome culinary guides, whose familiarity encourages us when we approach their cookbooks. Little wonder that when it comes to recipes, those by TV chefs are often among our favorites.
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Have you ever hesitated to try a recipe because it didn’t have a photo? You’re not alone! A great image can make all the difference, offering inspiration and confidence in the kitchen. Now, you can help fill the gaps and bring classic and modern cookbooks to life by sharing your own photos – and win exciting prizes!
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To celebrate the addition of Cooking Price-wise by Vincent Price to ckbk’s cookbook collection, we are pleased to offer a copy of the newly released Blu-ray edition of the associated TV series as the prize in our latest recipe photo upload competition.
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‘You’re going to get the secret to several incredible bowls of noodles, but you’re also going to get a story about immigrants leaving a place called home and creating a new one, both in China and in the United States. You’re going to get recipes that showcase the malleable language of food, the transformations that take place through time and through space, and the magical powers familiar flavors have in unfamiliar environments.’ Jason Wang
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‘I made a conscious decision when I started writing cookbooks not to make it into a science or an education. I wanted to stay on a level with the readers of my books, who mostly didn’t go to culinary school’. Trish Deseine
Kicking off our St Patrick’s Day celebrations we have three books from hugely popular Irish-French food writer Trish Deseine, newly added to ckbk.
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To celebrate the addition to ckbk of several cookbooks by Irish-French author Trish Deseine, and with an eye on the impending St Patrick’s Day celebrations, we spoke to Trish about her Irish roots, her love of the regional cooking of France, and some of the dishes which have meant the most to her over the years.
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From March 3 to 9 it is British Pie Week, an annual opportunity to indulge in a British national obsession, the pie. There is a long history of pies in Great Britain. They have been around since the Middle Ages, with the first recorded recipes appearing in the 1300s. Originally a way to preserve meats for longer by encasing them in a paste crust, once hot-water pastry was developed the pie became a vehicle for elaborate shaping, and decoration fit for a banquet table. As ovens became more widespread, they also became part of more ordinary mealtimes. And after the arrival of the potato in Europe in the 16th century, the main meal staple ‘pie and mash’ was born.
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This week we are delighted to add The Frozen Peas Cookbook to ckbk, ahead of the book’s print publication on 13 March 2025. Like author Samuel Goldsmith’s previous book (The Tinned Tomatoes Cookbook), the new title showcases creative ways with a familiar staple, ensuring that you are never out of ideas. We spoke to Sam about the motivation for his two cookbooks, his work as a food editor and podcast host, and his tips for success in the kitchen.
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‘If I knew you were coming I’d have baked a cake…’ As the song says, sometimes a cake is the very thing. A cake says celebration like few other foods, and baking a cake for someone always says something special. Which is why we can never have enough cake books, and are extremely excited to get baking from World’s Best Cakes: 250 Great Cakes from Raspberry Genoise to Chocolate Kugelhopf—by Roger Pizey and newly added to ckbk.
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It’s peak citrus season. In this latest contribution to our Consuming Passions series, chef, food writer and fermenter Clare Heal says it’s the perfect time to make preserved lemons and shares some of her favourite ways to use them.
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One of two authors featured in this week’s newsletter, bestselling author and chronicler of rural and regional Australian food and community histories, Liz Harfull learned to cook from recipes gathered together from family and neighbours. Whether created informally and organically, or through organised collaboration, community cookbooks are at the heart of cooking culture and recipes in the South Australia that Liz grew up in.
Meanwhile, esteemed professional bread instructor Michael Kalanty honed his teaching methods over years teaching students at the artisan bread course he designed at the California Culinary Academy, and we are delighted to add a new and updated edition of his book How to Bake Sourdough Bread to ckbk.
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Michael Kalanty taught breadmaking for many years and has published two in depth educational texts on the fundamentals of bread baking. He recently worked with ckbk to release a new and updated edition of his second book, under the title How to Bake Sourdough Bread. We spoke to him about his baking and his books.
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‘My straightforward recipes take you through breakfast basics, show-stopper sevencolour Sunday lunches, heart-warming soups and stews, sweet cheats and even traditional African favourites, just like Gogo used to make them…I hope that The Lazy Makoti’s Guide to the Kitchen will become your trusted guide to easy, unpretentious and delicious cooking – just what a cookbook was meant to be.’ Mogau Seshoene
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Just in time for Valentine's Day, four titles by Antonio Carluccio are added to ckbk this week. We take a look back at Carluccio’s remarkable journey – from the son of a stationmaster in a small Italian village to the UK's cherished "Godfather of Italian food.” Plus we offer suggestions for cooking with Salsify, sometimes called the "oyster plant" for its subtle, slightly briny flavor.
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With four Carluccio titles being added to ckbk this week, we look back on Antonio Carluccio’s journey from son of a stationmaster in a small Italian village to becoming the beloved “Godfather of Italian food” in the UK.
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Jenny Linford is the author of numerous cookbooks and food guides. In this latest contribution to our Consuming Passions series, she celebrates her love of tofu, one of the most flexible and adaptable ingredients that you will ever come across.
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Discover Jo Pratt’s family friendly cooking in her bestselling cookbooks, or take a leap into the culinary unknown with The Curious Cookbook, a compilation of unusual recipes from across the ages, published by The British Library.
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Jo Pratt is a prolific cookbook author, and five of her cookbooks are now available to ckbk members: The Flexible Vegetarian, The Flexible Family Cookbook, In the Mood for Entertaining, In the Mood for Healthy Food and Madhouse Cookbook. For our latest author profile we spoke to Jo about a range of topics including her favourite cheeses, top kitchen hacks and Valentine’s Day ideas, and the Gary Rhodes recipe she keeps going back to…
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In our latest feature, influential Scottish chef and restaurateur Shirley Spear goes behind the cookbook on both her books—The Three Chimneys: Recipes & Reflections, and The Three Chimneys Marmalade Bible.
Plus we introduce molecular biologist turned cookbook author Nik Sharma’s latest offering, Veg-table: Recipe, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored, Vegetable-Focused Meals.
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