The Kitchen Cabinet

I really enjoyed this, perfect for foodies and cooks. And I think it would be such a nice gift too! Easy to rifle through every now and then. Made me so hungry!

I didn’t realize this was from a BBC radio show, that made sense when I started to read the book. It’s divided by month, and each month features an English city. The month also talks about the holidays for (many of them not celebrated in the US) and foods in season. There’s city and food history, funny stories, household questions and answers, and recipes.

I’m definitely going back make the Socca Pancake and the Spicy Noodle Salad. In many cases, the recipes are without specific quantities, so don’t expect a traditional recipe format.

I had fun reading this book, I learned a lot of food history. I’ll return to it again, it’s best read in smaller doses. 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

A delightful book, featuring recipes and tales of each of the localities mentioned, for example York, Newcaste and Bakewell, well worth reading and re reading. Highly recommended and I really enjoyed the book. I realised before long, how little I knew about food, and I had thought myself something of an expert before, but this book filled in some of the gaps, and made me realise there may well be more gaps. Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the book.

The Kitchen Cabinet is one of the very best programmes on Radio 4, and this book really captures everything that makes the radio show so enjoyable - the enthusiasm and expertise of the panellists, the eclectic range of topics discussed and the general sense of humour and bonhomie that permeates every episode.

This is a book which every food lover would enjoy - a compendium of culinary debates, anecdotes and practical tips. Dr Annie Gray has done a brilliant job of compiling this book, and as with the radio show, it's quite an achievement that our taste buds are so fully engaged without recourse to any photographs of the dishes under discussion. It's not really a cookbook but does include lots of recipes that you could cook from. These are generally sketched out in quite general terms, so those who like precise instructions on cooking times, temperatures etc. might need to supplement these recipes with advice from online - but I don't think that's a problem.

The topics under discussion are wide-ranging, from asparagus, offal and crab to the best way to make a crisp sandwich or a train picnic. The book benefits from the varied expertise of the panellists, including chefs such as Tim Anderson (whose suggestions are always delightfully zany), scientists such as Barry Smith, and Annie Gray herself, whose insights as a food historian are unfailingly illuminating. The book is gleefully gluttonous, refreshingly unpretentious, and often laugh-out-loud funny - I was very pleased to be reminded of Annie Gray's legendary 'candle salad', and was also tickled by M.F.K. Fisher's description of a "bum sandwich".

The book is divided into sections, each focused on a month and a place in the UK, which means that eating locally and seasonally are both foregrounded. The book also touches on questions of ethics and sustainability, but never comes across as pious or didactic. As Jay Rayner says in the Foreword, "The Kitchen Cabinet has always been a place for people who live to eat and so is this book."

This could either be dipped into or read from start to finish - I intended to do the former but ended up doing the latter! It would also make a great gift for any gourmands who would like something slightly different from another cookbook! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

The Kitchen Cabinet has become a quintessential part of Saturday morning Radio 4:listening ; a blend of facts , recipes , opinions and trivia. The same team’s thoughts and ideas has been collated into this quirky compendium by Dr Annie Gray highlighting a range of recipes, historical facts , ideas and the downright curious. Divided into the twelve months and seasonal foods and delights the book explores customs and the regular panels approaches to creating certain dishes along with myth busters and various observations towards long held cookery beliefs..This isn’t a cookbook but a delight for the foodie enthusiast to dip into through the year or in one greedy sumptuous reading and enjoy the cornucopia of delights that is The Kitchen Cabinet. The only quibble is the layout is a bit random at times and including visits to venues featured in the programme it did feel a bit like an old fashioned annual / review