STOBART, TOM — The Cook\S Enyclopaedia Ingredients and Processes

UK, Grub Street. 1998. Hardcover with dust jacket, 25cm. Book, Just over a kilo to post, here in 457 crisp pages is a descriptive compendium of just about everything we eat and how we cook it or otherwise transform it from a lower state of edibility to a higher. Hundreds, if not thousands, of ingredients are described, with English and foreign synonyms and scientific names; recipes are given in many cases to illustrate the use of the foodstuff in question. Cooking processes are explained in great and illuminating detail. The aim is both to entertain and to instruct--in particular, to give a sense of the essence and individuality of each ingredient. Tom Stobart has travelled widely, both as an explorer and a film maker, and his book is everywhere informed by an eye for telling details and an ability to evoke the background and context of the ingredients he describes. review >> This certainly makes a comprehensive addition to my cookbook library. Excellent/Excellent.