Neil Perry and Stephanie Alexander: two names you need on your bookshelf

There’s always a deluge of new cookbooks towards the end of the year. How to sort the wheat from the chaff? Here are my top picks.

It’s a winner: Neil Perry’s gazpacho. Picture: Petrina Tinslay / Neil Perry Cookbook

Death, taxes, a deluge of pre-Christmas cookbook releases… life’s certainties don’t change a whole lot from year to year, pandemic or no. And so much of that deluge of new cookbooks, of course, will be completely unnecessary.

Many of them will recycle, fulfil contracts, plagiarise, and supply bugger-all that is new. And they will, as usual, have titles that include the all-important search-engine algorithm f-words: “family”, “food”, “friends” and “fast”. Maybe “fibre”. Oh, and the s-word: “simple”.

Excuse the cynicism; it comes from a place of great love and respect for food books that bring something new or meaningful to the table. Now bear with me a moment while I whip into the kitchen to knock up a sensational gazpacho for lunch: it’s a recipe from a book you actually do want and need.

Poor old Neil Perry hasn’t sold a lot of food this year, given how the lockdown has walloped the restaurant industry. The good news is he’ll probably sell a lot of books between now and Christmas. And he deserves to. His cookbooks are always excellent, and the latest, Everything I Love to Cook (Murdoch Books, $59.99), is no exception. The recipes are appealing, the explanations clear, the notes commonsense. This is how I’ve always found Perry’s recipes; they work. The research and testing that goes into the eventual publication is obvious. And his finger is freakishly on the pulse of the kinds of flavours we like and the dishes that can transform home cooking in an Australian context.

Neil Perry. Picture: Nikki Short

Open Everything I Love to Cook at random and it’s… steamed mud crab, or Thai-style beef stew, or spaghetti cacio e pepe or crispy tuna toastie with ssam sauce. There’s nothing in this book, except for barbecued salmon (because I’m off the salmon industry and I don’t rate it as a fish much anyway), that I don’t want to eat.

This hunk of a 464-page volume pretty much encapsulates the diversity and vibrancy of the best of Australian eating. One could, quite simply, cook, eat and learn from it for years without getting bored, or needing another book. And lest you think this is all a matey bit of back-patting, think again; the last thing Perry said to me, via Instagram, was that everything “that comes out of my mouth is shit” or words to that effect… Hey ho, Everything I Love To Cook is a superb book. Make of that recommendation what you will.

An online troll recently accused me of pandering to “boomers”. What would that (subsequently blocked) person make of my unbridled respect for Stephanie Alexander who, at 80 if you don’t mind, has published another book? And one that, without all the “look at me” nonsense of so many we see these days, should resonate with people who enjoy food across multiple generations, from teens to, well, octogenarians. Maybe beyond.

Home (Macmillan Australia, $59.99), Alexander’s 19th book, is part memoir, part travelogue. Fairly wordy. Her legions of fans will love musings on trips to Turkey, France and Italy. Yet despite a slightly more sombre look than Everything I Love to Cook, this is another triumph of substance over style.

Stephanie Alexander. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Like Perry’s title, Alexander’s book begins with her innate feeling for the foods and flavours that Australians want to eat these days. It’s more based on classicism, but is no less appealing for that. Alexander (see Guest Chef) has a knack for taking the architecture of classic flavours/dishes and renovating it all tastefully for current audiences.

As they are in Perry’s book, the explanations are clear, the recipes thoroughly tested. There’s a reason Alexander is the most successful cookbook author Australia has yet produced. And Home is one of those titles that could – nay, should – make a sound nucleus for a small but highly useful personal collection, providing insight and guidance in equal slabs.

The final words go to Alexander: “Of course the young need to blaze a new trail but the trail will be more meaningful if it is built on good foundations.”

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