Sunday, August 31, 2008

When I'm bored I make soup - the book

Sunday 7.42am

When I'm bored I make soup - the book

There are two main themes that run through my life. One is simplicity, the second is an intense curiosity. About everything.

Having got to here you probably share this curiosity, so let me explain further. Like most people I like to eat, and because I like to eat I also like to cook. Now I learnt to cook the usual amateur way, from my mother when little and then from various recipes after I left home. But have you ever wondered why certain recipes work and others don't? Why different foods are prepared in certain ways? Why some things go together better than others? I certainly have and for me making soup has become a way of exploring these themes, an artists sketch book if you like, of ideas.

And then one day it occurred to me that to make soup you only have to consider three things, three basic elements or building blocks that depending on what you use can make any soup at all. This was quite a revelation to me and has enabled me to break away from recipes and cook creatively, from scratch. The three elements are - the main ingredient, the base and the thickening. Thats it, everything flows from here.

An exploration of these three things, along with some recipes forms my book (it also explains why my recipes are written as they are). The recipes are all already on one of my blogs somewhere but the method is not. It is so simple that a beginner can quickly understand what they are doing and create something delicious and yet allows endless variation and exploration if you can already cook. You can read it online or download it here, it is entirely free and I am happy for you to print any of it out, email it, pass it onto your friends or whatever. And although you are under no obligation to do so, it would be nice if you credit me or link back to here.

Alternatively, if ebooks are not for you or you would just like a hard copy instead you can purchase one here.

As I write my book is a featured document on scribed - one that the editors consider to be of "high quality and to have added significant value to their collection of documents."

A recent reader has commented -

" awesome book (and blog)! the recipes are simple and easy to learn and follow.
thanks so much for sharing! "

Documents


Have a look, enjoy.


peter

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very very nice!

Lea said...

I can't wait to try some of these. Thank you for publishing this e-book. The recipes sound wonderful and I love the way you write about them. The pictures only make me want to cook them sooner, they look wonderful!

N2 said...

The cookbook has a nice conversational style spiced with bits of self-deprecating humor here and there =o). I like the way you spell out the elements of base, stock and texture in the beginning and make interesting bread pairings with the soups. Thanks for the generosity of publishing it online!

Fröken Vildäpple said...

Now that is just a wonderfully simple and straight forward book.

However, do you have any ideas with more meat in them? I've got a vegetable-hater at home.

Tomato soup has been known to work, though - I'll have to try your way of making the lot in the oven.

Vickie said...

Wow - thank you for the cookbook! I love your photographs, recipes and musings. Can't wait to try a couple of the recipes!

IV said...

http://www.scribd.com/full/20386408?access_key=key-26qiyxfuc8x8hguouv3j

Hi! Here you can download my daddy tomatoes soup. It is from Spain and it is named "Salmorejo" very appreciated in Cordoba and Seville.

And this is my apple cake (I've create! and everyone adores! :P)
http://www.scribd.com/full/20386344?access_key=key-djjl1914x3j740amnl0


Your book is delicious! thank you for sharing it! Regards from Spain

http://soldage.blogspot.com

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