What would an expert like Tom Kerridge or Gizzi Erskine recommend to someone just starting out in the kitchen? This fantasy bookshelf would help you tackle everything from kimchi to anchovy butter roast chicken
Leith’s Cookery Bible, by Caroline Waldegrave and Prue Leith
Gizzi Erskine, chef and food writer
I trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine and this book has every base recipe you could possibly think of in its most pure form, which allows you to be playful with it. It’s been invaluable to me – whenever I’m redeveloping something, it will always be on my table for reference. It’s useful when you need the quantities for making a proper jus, for example, or the recipe for a perfect hollandaise, and for getting to grips with cooking terminology.
World Vegetarian, by Madhur Jaffrey
Melissa Hemsley, chef and cookbook author
When I was about 19, I went to Devon with vegetarian friends who brought a battered copy of this book and started cooking from it. When we left, they forgot to take the book with them – so I kept it. It’s ginormous and has no pictures, which can be off-putting, but Jaffrey’s writing sucks you in and there are loads of great recipes you can make using everyday ingredients. I find her spicy punjabi red kidney bean stew very comforting.
