Pop quiz: you’ve over-whipped some cream. What do you do? A) Throw it out. B) Make some butter. C) Buy Darina Allen’s Forgotten Skills Of Cooking.
Even if you knew the correct answer (B), you also should have also ticked C. With over 700 recipes, Darina Allen’s new book is a treasure trove of advice which can be used by everyone from absolute beginners to advanced chefs.
Darina Allen runs the much-lauded Ballymaloe cookery school in Ireland (along with being a food writer, TV presenter and cookbook writer).
When a student was about to throw out some over-whipped cream (see what I did there?), Darina saved it by making butter, and realised that many cooks – even advanced ones – had never learned some of cookery’s most basic and useful skills. The Forgotten Skills Of Cooking course was born and the resulting book was published last November.
In addition to running and teaching at Ballymaloe – which is situated on an organically-run farm – Darina also is a passionate member of the Slow Food movement, being councillor for Slow Food in Ireland and president of the East Cork Slow Food Convivium.
All incredibly worthy (I forgot to mention that she’s a pioneer in Ireland’s farmer’s markets), but the book is far from it. The advice is doled out through the mouth-watering recipes, which seem timeless yet easy-to-follow and surprisingly modern.
From bread and sausage-making to cooking the perfect steak, the proof in this book, really is in the pudding. Whether that’s baked cheesecake or Chelsea buns…
Forgotten Skills Of Cooking: The Time-Honoured Ways Are Best – Over 700 Recipes Show You Why is published by Kyle Cathie, £30.
