What's in a recipe? — The Social Foodies

Happy Tuesday!

Firstly I am sorry for the long absence. I know you aren’t meant to draw attention to absences by talking about them but our last blog was so long ago it would be wrong to just skip over it. Life has been extremely busy and the day jobs exhausting. There is a huge amount of work to writing blogs and researching and testing recipes and my tank has just been too low for that. Sometimes even cooking has been too much during the week and sandwiches have been the preference after a long day. Luckily we love sandwiches and there are so many different flavour combinations. We recently went to porto for a few days and so are feeling much brighter.

Still, here I am, the sun is shining, it is a short week thanks to the bank holiday so a short week ahead and and the last few days have been good, we have been cooking (we made boerewors for the first time), I had a lovely catch up with Clare, Spurs are the Europa League winners, we had a fabulous weekend and catch up with Nicky and Brian and so today feels like the perfect day to break the block and get writing.

Nicky made our version of beef stroganoff last week (if you have not made it, you really must, it is divine) and talking to her about how we came up with our stroganoff recipe, it got me thinking about recipes and cookbooks, how recipes start, how they are changed and how they grow. There really are not many recipes which are completely new or wildly different to other recipes that you have seen many times over. This is not necessarily a bad thing, some foods just go together really well and some are classic pairings for a reason.

The pleasure of coming up with our own versions of recipes is that we can make them to suit us, exactly for our tastes and with the flavours we like. So, take our version of stroganoff, for me this is the very best version of stroganoff, it has the right amount of acidity with the tomatoes and vinegar, a slight bite with the mustard, the right amount of umami, it is creamy from the sour cream and just so delicious. I also love that it is simple enough for a midweek meal and so full of fabulous flavours it doesn’t feel an easy midweek cop out meal. This recipe also works really well with beef leftover from your roast and makes it so mouthwateringly tender. We have also developed a really good mushroom version which is great for meat free Mondays and so good you won’t miss the meat.

It is difficult coming up with ‘new’ recipes and like many other people that cook, I often find myself inspired by another recipe (or two!). I start reading and if something is not quite to my taste or just not right for me then this then sets my mind off with how it would be perfect. Taking inspiration in this way is not wrong but when this happens, the polite thing to do is always say what recipe inspired yours. You will notice this over our website. I have noticed that both Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith cite their inspirations in their books.

There is currently a fight going on in Australia between Nagi Maehashi, founder of Recipe Tin Eats and Brooke Bellamy, also known as Brooki Bakehouse, an influencer with over 3 million followers on TikTok. Nagi has accused Brooki of plagiarising her recipes in her new book, Bake with Brooki. Without getting into this case too much, the recipes highlighted do look remarkably similar, the ingredients, the weights, and the method. Even though with baking there really is only much you can change because baking is a science (if the balance is out the cake won’t rise, the cookies will flatten rather than spread nicely, the icing won’t set etc etc), the recipes really are strikingly similar. Nagi has launched legal action and although Penguin books are standing by Brooki, Brooki herself has offered to pull a few of the recipes from future prints.

As I said earlier, most recipes are not ‘new’ they are, for the most part, just a new version. I know when there is something I want to cook, I first spend a long time researching the recipe, where did it start, what is tradition, what are in most recipes, is there a new way to make it, do I have any recommendations. I compare recipes and then decide how we want it to be before coming up with the first recipe and testing it. I love it, I love researching recipes I always learn so much and it is great to actually immerse myself in my little library.

One of the recipes that Nagi was the most upset about was for a caramel slice (millionaires shortbread). Completely ignoring the fact of whether or not that recipe was copied by Brooki, Nagi said she used sweetened condensed milk rather than golden syrup which she said is the traditional ingredient, and said that she remembers the moment when she came up with the idea of using condensed milk and this was one of the things that highlighted to her that Brooki’s recipe had been copied. When I read this, I was surprised because I remember an ‘aunt’ when we were growing up that used to make millionaires shortbread with condensed milk. Not trusting my memory, I consulted my extensive cookbook and recipe library, I can tell you there is only 1 recipe out of more than 10 that I have that does not use sweetened condensed milk in the caramel layer (that odd 1 does use golden syrup). So going by my research, I would argue that condensed milk is normal, golden syrup is usually only added in a small quantity, most likely for that distinct flavour. To me a caramel layer of golden syrup just would not be the right flavour profile.

This brings me to salted caramel. I know salted caramel is everywhere always but when you make millionaires shortbread, please make sure you add salt to the caramel layer, it does temper the sweetness and bring out the flavour notes of the caramel.

In case you are wondering how I have 10 recipes, I should probably confess, I am a bit of a cookbook-aholic. I have over 400 books, they are different cuisines, cooking techniques, courses, styles and from all over the world. I love them, they broaden my knowledge and are great for trying different recipes and discovering new ingredients.

With so many books I found it really difficult to cook using them because where do you start? Then I discovered this wonderful app, eatyourbooks.com which makes cooking from the books and knowing where to look, a doddle. Once you have signed up, you add all of the cookbooks you own and then, if you want millionaires shortbread, type in millionaire and you will be given a list of all books with that recipe in, it even gives you the page - magic! It makes it so much easier than trying to guess what book might contain what you are looking for. You can also put in an ingredient and up pops every recipe that contains that ingredient. It really has opened up my cookbooks and I cook from them so much more than I did before.

I love my cookbooks and have learnt so much from them. Having so many has helped me be a better cook and helped me to really dive into each recipe, thinking about them deeper in order to get our very best version. Despite the huge online presence of recipes now, a good cookbook is still my favourite thing, there is nothing like getting a new cookbook to sit and pore over. My pay day treat is always a cookbook and for birthdays and Christmas I always ask my loved ones to buy me a book from my extensive wish list (at least 300 books) and nothing makes me happier than that.

I have been fascinated by cooking since I was a young girl and often used to read through mums cookbooks long before I had my own. I really wish I still had more of them than I do, I have a lovely memory of sitting in her chair reading through them. My mum was a good cook, although with two young children and needing to get food on the table this was mostly easy food that was quick to get on the table and filled you up. She loved food and I wish she was here to taste some of the fabulous food we now are exposed to and cook.

I am part of the great British Chefs cookbook club and this has lead me to books and authors that I would probably never have discovered (Bitter, Fire islands and Hong Kong Diner are all from the club) and many are books that I utterly love. I don’t always love them but I do always enjoy reading them and cooking from them and being able to make that decision.

My favourite cookery book is The Ultimate Recipe Book by Angela Nilsen which was published in 2007. It was the first book that really gripped me. I loved reading how Angela researched recipes and cooked so many different versions finding her way to get her ultimate version. This very much is how I approach recipes and reading how she arrived at her ultimate version is really fascinating. Some of Angela’s recipes are so good that she is right, they are the ultimate and there is no beating them.

The best book of last year (2024) and actually the surprise book of the year is Bitter by Alexina Anatole. I have always described myself as having a sweet tooth (although in all honesty, as I get older I notice that is changing more and more to much less sweet). If you had asked me if I liked bitter things I would have said no without even needing to think about it. This book was the book of the month in March 2024 and when I bought it I flagged a couple of recipes to make but sort of half heartedly if I am honest. However, with every recipe we made it made me love the book more and more and tag more and more - there was not one duff recipe and it really made me look at the different ingredients Alexina highlights and how much I enjoyed each one. This was taking bitter ingredients and tempering them to get the most out of them. This book is the reason I have a new found love for walnuts and really enjoy cooking with them in different ways. If you buy 1 book based off of a recommendation, make it this one.

There are a few books that made me want to jump on a plane and go explore our wonderful world, Fire Islands by Eleanor Ford and Hong Kong Diner by Jeremy Pang are two of them. Fire Islands is all about Indonesia and the wonderful foods and ingredients of the islands. I can still remember the first time we made nasi goreng, so easy, so simple but so unbelievably delicious. How had Indonesian food passed me by for so long? Hong Kong Diner is the book that taught me how to make bao buns which are an absolute favourite in our house. I remember getting the book and putting on social media, this is my new book now where do I start? Jeremy Pang himself replied saying at the beginning of course! So that is where we started, with the first recipe in the book. Both are wonderful wonderful books. Our love of Asian flavours has been enhanced by both books and they both really remain firm favourites.

The oldest book in my collection is The Dairy Book of Family Cookery which my mum bought when I was a small child from the milkman. Yes the recipes are old now but some of them are true classics and still the best versions of that recipe. I remember James and I excitedly flick through deciding on cakes we wanted when we were smaller. In fact, the last time I flicked through I realised there is a very very good looking Bakewell tart recipe that I still need to try.

My favourite cookbook author is Eleanor Ford. Whilst two of her books are about places (Samarkand and Fire Islands), the other two books are about spices (The Nutmeg Trail and A Whisper of Cardamom. You KNOW how much I love spices!) and they are all wonderful. The Nutmeg Trail is in my top 5 books I own, it’s a great book full of really very good recipes. A Whisper of Cardamom had me hooked very early on as Eleanor Ford asked the Cookbook Club for volunteers for recipe testing which we were happy to oblige with. I love cardamom and do love sweet treats which is essentially what this book is all about - spices with sweet dishes.

The heaviest book I own is A Purnell’s Journey: There and Back Again: by Glynn Purnell. Until Purnells sadly closed its doors last year, this was our favourite restaurant. This book is huge - far too big for a bookshelf! - and weighs 6.5kg. It is stories of how Purnells came to be and then lots of lovely (and difficult!) recipes. Glynn is very funny and this comes across in his writing.

Cooking for me is a way to escape the stresses and hum drum of everyday life, a way to completely relax and, by being able to cook so many different cuisines, it means escaping to anywhere I want to in the world for a brief moment. Yes I have lots of cookbooks and our house has many bookshelves filled but these truly bring me joy.

My last point on cookbooks. Mark them up. How many times have you cooked something and it needed adjusting in some way and you forget the next time you cook it, only to remember later. Take a pen, be brave and write all over it if you liked it and any changes you made, it will make next time so much easier and the food so much better.

For now, I am off to curl up with a cup of coffee and the book I am currently reading, Samarkand with Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford.

What’s in a recipe?

Did someone say burger?