Mary Berry's Top Book Recommendations

Mary BerryLast year my husband and I finally bought our own home in the British countryside and in it was an AGA stove. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an old-fashioned cooker which is always on. That’s useful in the cold, damp British climate. Many people turn theirs off in summer, but we found we didn’t need to—it was still cold enough in July for it to be nice to have a warm kitchen hearth. (Source)

Helena Frith PowellEating is fundamental to life and to some extent defines you. You don’t look good if you live off McDonald’s and Diet Coke. (Source)

Jojo TullohFrench Country Cooking has got briefly written recipes that are encouraging but also kind of improving. It makes you feel like you need to try harder, which is a good thing, but then Elizabeth David says something like, ‘The merit of food, all different kinds of food, is less important than the spirit with which cooking is approached.’ As opposed to being determined to do it in a spirit of... (Source)

Mary BerryMary’s own cookbooks are very much in the style of Katie Stewart—practical, doable, traditional cooking with a touch of the international. And I do think traditional British home cooking is fabulous. It deserves to be up there with the great cuisines of the world. I’m talking about Sunday roasts—lamb, pork, beef—with crunchy roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding, toad-in-the-hole, and some of the... (Source)

Mary BerryAnother thing I like about the list is the inclusion of two books on more exotic cuisines. Italian food is wonderful and it’s hard to beat a perfectly cooked steak frites. But, probably partly because Britain has traditionally had a reputation for rubbish food (at least for eating in restaurants), its cuisine has always been more adventurous, geographically speaking. And you get used to that.... (Source)

Mary BerryA lot of new cookbooks are published every year, but for me Mary’s list is perfect. The oldies are often the goodies, and I can personally attest to the timelessness of book no. 2, Katie Stewart’s Times Cookery Book. My parents, both Dutch, used it, my sisters, who live in New York and the Netherlands use it. I use it (I like the moussaka recipe on p57. See? I even know the page number). (Source)

Mary BerryIn 2015, a few weeks after the death of my father in Italy, I moved back to the UK. My husband is British, and I was at boarding school in England from the age of 9, so in spite of not having a British passport, it’s the country where I feel most at home. We rented a barn down a small lane near Oxford, and one of the first things we were told was that we might see Mary Berry walking along it, as... (Source)