Top Ten Foodie Books I Bought In 2009 (5)

Here’s Part 5, and the last in the series, of the Top Ten foodie books I bought in 2009.

9. The Curry Secret – Kris Dhillon

This is a fantastic little book about how to cook real British Indian restaurant meals at home. I liked this one so much I also wanted to buy the New Curry Secret as well, but sadly I was unable to find a supplier who had it in stock and who would ship it to where I wanted it. Still, I live in hope that perhaps I’ll find the New Curry Secret sitting in a book shop one of these days.

The Curry Secret really does do what it says on the tin. It gives you an insider’s guide to how BIR (British Indian Restaurant) curries are made, with lots of tips and tricks. It’s well worth owning this book if you’re a curry lover.

The Curry Secret

Buy from Amazon UK

Buy from Amazon.com

Kris Dhillon
Paperback, 128 pages
2008, Right Way
ISBN 978-0-7160-2191-9
RRP: £5.99

10. The Thai Table – Terry Tan (featuring many contributors)

I’ve only recently bought this one and not used it yet, but it looks so promising I thought that it really did deserve a mention in this list. So here’s the blurb:

“The Thai Table” is a compendium of modern and traditional recipes, making it a collectable volume for every foodie, amateur cook, and professional chef. With contributions from 12 master chefs from the US, Europe, Australia and Asia, it opens the doors to this fascinating and alluring cuisine. The chefs share several of their favourite recipes, the most notable being stellar culinary personalities such as David Thompson, Ken Hom, Neil Perry, Sam Leong, and chefs from the Blue Elephant and Chiang Mai cookery schools.

The blurb didn’t mention by name Sompon Nabnian of the Chiang Mai Cookery School. Way back in the mid 1990s Sompon gave me my first ever proper lessons in real Thai cooking. I’ve been a fan of his ever since. The blurb also tended to list the names better known in the west and excluded some of the top Asian chefs who really know their stuff. Vatchrin Bhumichitr (Vatch) being a case in point. Vatch has published some fantastic books about Thai cooking, some of which I own. So there’s another name worth looking out for.

One of my pet hates this year was people like Delia Smith and BBC Good Food magazine giving recipes which they described as being Thai because they had a bit of lemongrass or chilli in them. Not surprisingly my outspoken views got a lot of people’s backs up and caused plenty of arguments. LOL!

The Thai Table