Product Description

'A reference bible...inspirational in the way that it opens up new possibilities for vegetables' - Daily Mail Jane Grigson's definitive guide to the selection, preparation and cooking of vegetables - from the common potato to the exotic Chinese artichoke. She gives tempting, stimulating ideas for side dishes, main courses and even the odd dessert. This marvellous book has become a classic work of reference for good cooks everywhere.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12999 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-30
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

About the Author
'The most companiable presence in the kitchen' - The Independent Brought up in the north-east of England and educated at Cambridge, Jane Grigson started writing cookery articles in 1968. She has won numerous awards including the Glenfiddich Writer of the Year Award, the Andre Simon Memorial Fund Book Award and Cookery Writer of the Year. Her books include: Fish Cookery, English Food, Fruit Book, The Mushroom Feast and The Enjoyment of food. She died in March 1990.

Customer Reviews

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

A book to read as much to cook from.
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.