Whether you are a master baker, someone entering the kitchen for the first time, or just a person curious to know about the flavourful world of food, there is no better activity than diving into a book to take you on an exciting culinary journey. However, picking a good book might seem like a Herculean task. We ask four Delhi-NCR chefs to recommend their favourite culinary books and why they resonate with them.
Insight into the world of Indian food
Chef Megha Kohli (right) mentions that Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India by food historian Colleen Taylor Sen (left) is one of her most treasured books. “I taught all my team members from it and have learnt so much myself,” she shares. Kohli feels the book is perfect for anyone who wants to know more about ‘Indian food’. “It is an exploration of Indian cuisine... covers the major developments in India and how those have shaped Indian cuisine.”
Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India by Colleen Taylor Sen
Understanding the INS and outs of the food business
Chef Priyam Kumar (below) recommends Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, a book that he referred to in his formative years as a chef. He feels this is a well-written insight into the behind-the-scenes of the food industry. “The book was crucial when I started my career. I had no idea about how the industry functions. This book gave me an idea—both the good and bad parts—and what to expect.”
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain
Say Bonjour to French baking
Before joining culinary school in 2012, chef Bani Nanda (left), founder, Miam Patisserie read The Art of French Baking by author Ginette Mathiot, a book that helped her brush up on her basics of cooking. “I was always intimidated by French pastry as it is not straight-forward. My mother is a baker too and her style was more English. This book eased me into French baking,” she says, adding that Miam Patisserie’s madeleine recipes have been inspired by this book.
The Art of French Baking by Ginette Mathiot
Preserving authentic recipes from coastal India
Aditya Mehendale’s Rare Gems: A Non-vegetarian Gourmet Collection from Maharashtra is chef Nishant Choubey’s (below) favourite book. “I love the recipes in this book since it is a unique guide to traditional Maharashtrian non-vegetarian cooking. Having said that, I have improvised and made a few vegetarian dishes as well by replacing the protein,” he shares. Choubey adds that the book also has recipes based on mussels and calamari, which are “hardly found anywhere else”.
Rare Gems: A Non-vegetarian Gourmet Collection from Maharashtra by Aditya Mehendale