Yes, this book is so ambitiously titled that it should make any self respecting cookbook owner both a) want to own it to prove the title wrong, and b) laugh and laugh and laugh. The Only Cookbook you’ll ever need by Zoe Camrass was published in 1977 and is a very interesting snapshot of food of it’s time as well as things you never thought you’d need to know. For example, if the zombie apocalypse (or any other apocalypse) happens tomorrow, this book helpfully guides the owner through how to clean various farmyard animals for eating. It’s not something I thought I’d need to know, but I have this book now just in case.
The book is divided into several sections, each with it’s own theme, roasting and baking, boiling and steaming, stewing and casseroling, etc. It also opens with a great section on basic preparation, storing food, kitchen equipment (from the 70s), and information about various cooking methods. It’s a helpful book with hand drawn images of various recipe steps or important things to know, such as how to carve lamb, how to make pork pies or beef wellingtons.
Despite the ambitious title I really enjoyed this book, and it was one my husband bought me in the hope that I’d stop buying cookbooks about 17 years ago. The instructions are reasonably clear (see notes for issues), and the author has put a lot of thought into what a kitchen needs if you’re planning to cook most of your food, and if you’re really planning to live off the land, what you need to know to do it. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Roast Shoulder of lamb with herb stuffing
Ingredients:
- 1 boned shoulder of lamb (1.5 kgs)
- 3 tablespoons dripping
- salt and pepper
- 300ml stock (lamb or beef)
Stuffing
- 40g butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 100g breadcrumbs
- 6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
- 2 eggs, beaten
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190C.
- To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a frying-pan and fry the onion and garlic until soft. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the rest of the stuffing ingredients.
- Open up the meat and put the mixture in the centre. Roll and tie securely. Put the dripping and meat in a roasting tin, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for about 2 hours, basting frequently. Lift out the meat and keep warm.
- Pour off most of the fat from the tin. Put the roasting tin over the heat and pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, stirring and scraping the bottom of the tin. Boil for 12 – 13 minutes. Adjust the seasoning. Pour the gravy into a sauce boat and serve with the meat.
Notes on this recipe:
- I love lamb so much
- I ended up getting a deboned leg instead of a shoulder. This meant that the bone cavity was smaller, so I used less stuffing.
- I used oil instead of dripping, with no problems. I also didn’t bother making the gravy because… well I was hungry and wanted to eat the lamb straight away. Also, I wasn’t sure the roasting pan I was using was stove top proof.
Garlic mashed potatoes
Ingredients:
- 900g potatoes, mashed
- 50ml cream
- 50g butter
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- salt and pepper
- small pinch nutmeg
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 190C
- Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat well with a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients together thoroughly.
- Spoon the mixture into a forcing bag fitted with a large star nozzle and either pipe the mixture into a baking dish, or pipe individual rounds on a greased baking sheet.
- Place the dish or baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.
Notes on this recipe:
- 1kg of potatoes will yield about 900k of potatoes once they’re peeled, diced and any icky bits are thrown away. Potatoes will cook for about 20 minutes in boiling water (use a lid on the saucepan). Drain them once a fork can be easily inserted and removed (no resistance), and then mash thoroughly.
- As you can see from my photo, I didn’t pipe the mashed potato into a baking dish, I just smoothed it out. It was still delicious.
- I don’t actually like mashed potato all that much, and this I’d eat every day. Probably something to do with the garlic.
Clafoutis
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 75g sugar
- 100g flour
- pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 300ml milk
- 450g pitted black cherries
- 25g butter, cut into pieces
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- 300 ml custard
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Butter a 23cm flan dish.
- Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until foamy and pale.
- Gradually wish in the flour, salt, the melted butter and milk.
- Put the cherries in the flan dish. Pour over the batter, dot with the butter and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is firm to the touch. If the top begins to brown too much, cover with foil.
- Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve warm with the custard.
Notes on this recipe:
- This is really easy and very tasty. It’s a bit like baked custard itself, so serving it with extra custard seemed weird. I served mine with cream.
- I also used 1.5 tins of black cherries (drained), which got me to about the right quantity of cherries. I had them sitting in the cupboard, so though I’d may as well use them.
- This recipe can apparently be made with other stone fruit, cherries are the most traditional.
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