Confidence and intuition in the kitchen can be yours with a little help from Alice Zaslavsky in the joy-infused cookbook The Joy of Better Cooking: Life-changing skills & thrills for enthusiastic eaters. Photo: Supplied.
The title says it all. Self-confidence and instinct in the kitchen are yours for the taking – with a little help from Alice Zaslavsky, an inspiring cook, a fun and zany broadcaster, an enthusiastically engaging entertainer and a ‘’human fountain’’ of concepts and eagerness.
Zaslavsky instils wonder in this joy-infused, vibrant cookbook! This brilliantly coloured kitchen manual contains stacks of veg-forward recipes that you will want to cook regularly, but the real gem lies in the handy kitchen skills and know-how that will help build the foundations for a lifetime of better cooking.
She is the award-winning author of Alice’s Food A-Z, a fact-filled cookbook to help kids get curious about food; In Praise of Veg, a definitive guide to help households fall in love with vegetables; and The Joy of Better Cooking, to help build cooking confidence.
It does much more than that. The 319-page hardback is instructive, enlightens, exudes knowledge, is deliciously enjoyable (once the recipes are converted to meals, I mean!) and makes you crave more delectable food. You can become a culinary artist. It then makes you smile (with satisfaction), and even feel elated!
Many people don’t know where to start when it comes to falling in love with cooking, but The Joy of Better Cooking will help you feel more confident and competent in the kitchen. It puts the spotlight on skills, gadgets, ingredients … plenty of vivid photographs of the process and grids of cooking and final dish on the plate so you know what you’re aiming for.
“Toss out the concept of being a ‘good’ cook and replace it with the idea of becoming a better cook,” Zaslavsky writes. “Better Cooking is a lifelong journey. It’s made up of single steps, with plenty of whoopsies and notes for next time along the way. But every step gets you a bit closer to cracking the codes that unlock the confidence to feel freedom and joy in the kitchen. I believe that ‘foodie’ is a word to be embraced rather than shirked, because it can also mean more conscientious consumption.”
As a gateway to lure you in, the recipes are stacked in sections from what Zaslavsky perceives to be easy to harder. If you get stuck on a skill or a fancy-looking cooking word, just check the index as it’ll probably have some form of extrapolation in another part of the book.
Start with the chapter titled Slapdash (bits and bobs simply tossed together), then move to On autopilot (great go-tos for weeknights on the fly) and Making the most of it (gluts, windfalls and leftover makeovers). Before long, you’ll be ready to Loosen your shoulders (for weekend pottering and entertaining), just in time for some Seriously good sweeties (like, *seriously* good).
For the assumed knowledge that comes with better cooking, you’ll find it in the form of ‘’Bonus bits’’ on the pages that are ever-so-slightly tinged with a touch of lilac. The recipes in this book may look like a “motley crew at first flick – different from the usual ‘Home Sweet Home’ collection for beginners. That’s because I don’t want to limit you, or bore you, and because I believe that everyone can benefit from going back to basics and understanding ‘The Why’ every now and then.”
However, the recipes fit within a framework of Zaslavsky’s own design: namely, they encapsulate and enrich the qualities that define better cooks of the 21st century. The cookery columnist also lets the principles of thrifty thinking prevail.
The joy of better cooking is that you can stop second-guessing yourself. This book is designed to act as an instruction manual. It motivates. Zaslavsky will make you want to cook, on a weekly basis, again and again. The range is extensive and you will be spoiled for favourites.
Zaslavsky makes the ultimate in flavourful food: delicious free-for-all fritters that are gluten-free, egg-free and nut-free; tasty, vegetable-rich, no-knead, slow-rise overnight garden focaccia; scrumptious pumpkin wedge mujadara; Lady Marmalade melting moments; Queen Hera’s honey cake; and the yummy coffee pecan babka scrolls.
It’s high endorsement indeed when you are praised for your culinary expertise by well-known English food writer and television cook Nigella Lawson: “This is the very book you need to teach you how to be inspired, confident and happy in the kitchen. Like its author, it’s a rambunctious delight!”
If you already enjoy the eating part, you have everything it takes to find joy in cooking too. Food doesn’t just open mouths, it opens minds too!
The Joy of Better Cooking: Life-changing skills & thrills for enthusiastic eaters, by Alice Zaslavsky, Murdoch Books, $55
