title: Nigella Bites
author: Nigella Lawson
publication date: September 5, 2001
publisher: Hyperion Books
…none of the recipes here has been specially constructed for broadcast or publication purposes: this is the food I cook, the food I eat.
— Nigella Lawson (Nigella Bites)
My obsession with all things Nigella began with this book. Well, this and her Domestic Goddess as I bought both at the same time. I had become addicted to Nigella’s show while doing late night essays and ‘required course reading’ and decided that if I was going to own any cookbooks (this was in my ‘will never learn to cook’ days), I would want to own hers.
Nigella’s easy-to-read narrative style in all her cookbooks is probably what kicked off my ‘reading cookbooks for fun, not recipes’ habit. As I’m sure many of you have noticed by now, I review a lot more cookbooks than I seem to actually COOK from cookbooks. But I’m sure I’m not the only one, right?
Anyhow, this book has been on my bookshelf for years and I’ve actually cooked from it many times (during my pre-blogging days). I’ve recently dug it out and plan on cooking a bunch of recipes from it again.
Bitter Orange Ice Cream
the first nibble:
It’s a breezy cookbook that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but makes it approachable and fun for cooks of all levels, but especially appealing to cooks that don’t want things to get too complicated in the kitchen.
On my first pass through the book (well, my first pass through after years of shelf-sitting), five recipes that jumped out as ‘must try’:
- Rice Pudding, pg. 44
- Salt & Pepper Squid, pg. 64
- Chocolate Cloud Cake, pg. 110
- Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich, pg. 140
- Sticky Toffee Pudding, pg. 216
the nitty-gritty:
number of recipes (as stated by book): n/a
recipe list? No, but there is an Recipe Index at the back of the book
table of contents: The Table of Contents reflects the breezy style of the rest of the book – including categories such as ‘All-Day Breakfast’, ‘Comfort’ and ‘Trashy’ (and yeah, ‘Trashy’ has the most FUN recipes!)
photography: The photography is nothing spectacular, but this isn’t surprising, considering this book came out before the big explosion of ‘food porn’. All in all, there are lots of food close-up shots, and very little focus on distracting things, such as table settings, food props and backgrounds.
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but some of the food shots are so close up that they appear blurry. Not a dealbreaker, but seriously, would it have killed the photographer to zoom out just a LITTLE? (Maybe the tablecloth was hideous or the plates were chipped).
photo to recipe ratio*: out of 74 total recipes**, 74 recipes had at least one accompanying ‘finished dish’ photo or step-by-step photo (photo : recipe ratio = 1 : 1)
notes:
* this is a manual count, so numbers may be slightly off due to human error (mine)
** only ‘main’ recipes are counted – recipes that appear as part of another dish are not counted
Turkish Delight Syllabub
recipes:
– separate ingredient list? yes
– serving info given? yes
– prep/cook time given? no
– recipe format: paragraphs
Each recipe is accompanied by longer than average intro blurbs. Actually, they are pretty normal length intros if you’re comparing them to other Nigella books, but extra long compared to most other cookbooks. The blurbs are usually a mix of personal stories and recipe tips.
The recipes are neatly laid out, with ingredients listed separately. Although the instructions are clear and concise, they are still written with Nigella’s distinct voice, making it easy (and enjoyable) to read.
The ingredients are generally easy to find and not super-expensive, plus I found many of the recipes are quite simple and (from past experience) turn out really well, no matter what your cooking level.
the last bite:
There’s a ‘Notes’ section at the back (blank, lined pages) of each chapter for the reader’s own notes and scribblings which is rare in a cookbook and a nice touch.
The mix of recipes is very eclectic, especially with the vague chapter headings. It’s a little weird (and fun) to see things like ‘Pigs in Blanket’ next to a recipe for ‘Lilac or Chocolate Topped Cupcakes’.
My gripes with this book:
– There isn’t a recipe list anywhere to be found. The vague Table of Contents and lack of recipe list make it very difficult to peruse and find recipes without using the index (and then you have to at least know the name or main ingredient for the dish).
– The blurry, too close-up photos. I forgive this only because this is an older cookbook and precedes the huge growth of ‘food porn’. If these were photos in a cookbook published today it would be panned big time.
Even with these two offences, I’m still glad that Nigella Bites was one of the first books in my collection as it helped fueled the flames of a long-term love affair with cookbooks.
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Spatchcocked Birds
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