Books for cooks (and dads)

Fired up vegetarian, by Ross Dobson.

For: the vegetarian pariah at the otherwise-friendly barbecue bash.

Barbecues and vegetarians don’t always end well. The uninspired vegetarian turns up with a packet of rubber frisbees masquerading as burgers. The uninspired host catering for so-said vegetarians may, if inclined, kindly remember to withhold bacon from the potato salad. Here’s a book for those displeased with this arrangement. Like most cookbooks it’s written by someone who spends their life experimenting with food and dutifully recording success stories for posterity. Recipes such as blackened paneer skewers, chickpea and pumpkin pakora and more salads and dips than you can poke tongs at look good enough to eat. They might even see the vegetarians fighting off the meat-eaters. Enough said.
Murdoch Books, RRP $34.99

Bill’s Italian Food, by Bill Granger.

For: Those who wish their lives looked and tasted like Roman Holiday.

• Recipe extract here

Bill Granger, restaurateur and food publishing demon, is known for his simple, predominantly healthy approach to cooking. He owes much of this to a love of Italian cuisine, and the love is given an outlet here. Granger confesses it’s not just the food he loves, but they way Italians live: ‘‘They don’t suck coffee from disposable sippy-cups ... They lean against marble bars and drink tiny grown-up espressos.’’ True. This book is chock-full of those tomato and basil-laced recipes we mostly know and love, with some more adventurous dishes for those so inclined. Going by the photos it was also a good excuse for Bill and his lovely looking children to make a special trip. Jealous.
Harper Collins, RRP $49.99

Baking with passion, by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington (re-release).

For: the show-off.

The small percentage of humans in the developed world who knead and bake their own daily bread, rather than buying it, freezing it and breaking up the solid block on the edge of the kitchen bench each morning are impressive enough. But for the pinnacle folk for whom simple, crusty, straight-from-the-oven loaves aren’t enough, here are recipes for pagnotta and rye sourdough starter. Apparently a separately yeasted semolina topping will give your bread, sorry – your pain de mie loaf – a distinctive appearance.

There are also many recipes for picture-perfect treats sold at London’s upper-crust Baker & Spice outlets, the original launching pad for this book, and for which our own Dan Lepard was a consultant baker. It’s been re-released and promoted here on the back of Lepard’s appearance in The Great Australian Bake Off.
Quadrille Publishing, RRP $24.95

The Blue Ducks, by Mark Labrooy and Darren Robertson.

For: Fans of low-mile food and handsome chefs.

The authors run a successful cafe a stone’s throw from Bronte’s crashing waves and have carved out a following with their dedication to ‘‘real food’’ – meat and seafood sourced locally or fruit, veg and herbs grown in the cafe’s garden. They’ve even got their own chooks out back and host community dinners. There are lots of delicious and photo-worthy meals here for breakfast, lunch and tea and helpfully, many photos of Mark and Darren carrying surfboards. They’re quite handsome, not that dad will care.
Plum, RRP $39.99

7000 Islands: A food portrait of the Philippines, by Yasmin Newman.

For: The curious cook

It’s fair to say the Philippines is not known for its contribution to our culinary tapestry. No one is raving about the latest backalley joint to dish up a good adobong tupa or bowl of sinigang. But Australian-Filipino Yasmin Newman does her best here to change that with this beautiful hardcover that travels a slice of the nation’s 7107 (!) islands. There’s much to learn and enjoy here for the intrepid cook, though I don’t see anything too-likely to spark the next foodie fad. Newman, a writer and editor, presents Kitchen Conversations: Philippines on SBS Food Online. Hardie Grant, RRP $49.95.

• More cook book reviews and recipe extracts here.
• The Age Good Food Guide 2014 will be available for $10 with The Saturday Age this weekend from participating newsagents, Coles, Woolworths and 7-Eleven stores, while stocks last. It is also on sale in bookshops and online at theageshop.com.au for $24.99.