Review
Saturday's Daily Telegraph cookery columnist, Tamasin Day-Lewis, brings the art and enjoyment back to cooking in "Good Tempered Food", aptly subtitled "recipes to love, leave and linger over". No fast, quick recipes to be found here. More slow, sedate, innovative, imaginative cooking, enabling the cook to taste and savour every stage of a dish's creation. Some are started days in advance, allowing meat to soak up juices, others will take a morning to prepare. Tamasin's aim is to bring the satisfaction and feeling of creation back to the cook. Overburdened with current advertising campaigns and tv chefs advocating "convenience" foods, the next generation is in danger of losing the art of cooking. But with recipe books such as this, containing scrumptious dishes such as pancakes layered with pesto and mozzarella di Bufala, 17thcentury Mantuan chicken, chocolate mocha cake with Irish whiskey and spiced three-sugar crumble, there will hopefully be a reversal and people will once again discover the joys of cooking, and eating, proper food. - Lucy Watson
Tamasin Day-Lewis is a good-tempered companion to have in the kitchen - provided you are willing to take your time. When it comes to 'fast food' her temper becomes remarkably short, and she blames supermarkets, advertisers, TV chefs and lazy consumers for the latter-day myth that food that isn't fast isn't worth the time or the effort. She's right to upbraid them - and us - although her floury finger-wagging against the quick fix in the kitchen might seem puritanical to some. This is not, then, a book for those who like their food Jamie Oliver-style. It's a collection of recipes built around the principle of 'quiet, unhurried, unchaotic ritual of preparation for the table'. From starters (a slow start, of course) to mains and accompaniments, through to a long, lingering finish, Tamasin makes a convincing and mouth-watering case for relaxed, pleasurable cooking. Old English favourites are here - Steak and Kidney Pie, Queen of Puddings - alongside recipes such as Bateyr Hara Masala, an ancient Indian dish of marinaded quail, and Bigos, a hearty Polish stew and-a-half. There's also an entire section on chocolate that chocoholics will probably come to treat as a holy shrine. The list of suppliers provided is limited and, you feel, somewhat begrudgingly given, but the fine photography by David Loftus will make you want to pour yourself a large drink and start planning a lavish dinner party for friends. A civilized and hugely inspiring book. (Kirkus UK)
Product Description
GOOD TEMPERED FOOD is quiet, unhurried, unchaotic cooking to be savoured with its natural accompaniments - conversation, music and a glass of wine. This is old-fashioned, slow cooking - the food we love to eat and cook with a new way to think about it. Preparation, marinating, half-cooking it before time, and adding the last minute touches without feeling stressed. It is what proper cooking is all about. 'This is one of those books that I suspect will never leave my kitchen. I want to eat everything in this book.' Nigel Slater