Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (1965–)

Last time we had friends over for dinner, I made a dessert of home-made avocado ice-cream, with brownies. I should have taken a photo because it was scrumptious, despite the recipe's claim that the brownies had only 91 kcal per serve because they were made with yoghurt instead of butter. I don't care about calories, but I do try to offer desserts that are healthy-ish. OTOH if I'm only going to make brownies once or twice a year, I want them to taste decadent.

So I am pleased to add River show more Cottage Good Comfort, to our recipe book collection. (That's the British River Cottage TV series with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (HFW), not the Australian adaptation with Paul West.)

With recipe books, which are usually expensive, it's important to identify the target audience before you choose. The obvious decider is whether the book is for experienced or inexperienced cooks; but also keen v unenthusiastic cooks who can't cope with more than four or five ingredients; and cooks who take shortcuts with packets, jars and tins v those who would starve rather than buy carrot or cheese that's already grated or use a packet to make a 'home-made' cake. There are also cookbooks pitched at those for whom nutrition or ideological principles take priority i.e. vegan, vegetarian, organic, non-allergenic, heart-healthy etc etc. With River Cottage Good Comfort there's another audience I'd never thought much about before: it's pitched at people with a habit of eating unhealthy so-called 'family favourites', who need or want to take a healthier approach to food and cooking, with or without the support of the rest of the household.

You can see this pitch in parts of the blurb:

The perception that the food we love can't also be good for us is swept away by this stunning collection of delicious, heart-warming recipes that also happen to be packed with good things that help keep us healthy.

And Good Comfort is in every way generous, as Hugh makes our favourite foods healthier, not by taking stuff out of them, but by putting more in: the best whole ingredients, celebrated in all their colourful and seasonal diversity.

The book begins with an Introduction. It's the usual cook's philosophy section, which in this case is HFW's mission to recreate comfort foods that are not heavy, cloying, too rich or too sweet. His key principle is 'Go Whole: The more whole, unrefined ingredients we can get on to our plates, the better. But he doesn't just mean the grains and pulses we typically associate with the term 'wholefoods'. He means foods that are whole, or very close to it, when we take them into our kitchens. (I heard these described the other day as 'foods your granny would recognise'.) Minimally processed is ok, so he includes dairy foods such as yoghurt and cheese, and some tinned vegetables (such as low-salt tomatoes canned with just water and a little salt.) He stresses that it's important to get the balance right: overdo the pulses and you're in the danger zone of 'padding'. Likewise, full-on wholemeal flour can take you a little far from textures you know and love, so 'half-wholemeal' is a better choice.

I'm already onboard with reducing sugar: I find most modern recipes and storebought cakes have far too much sugar for my taste. My cakes, biscuits and puddings mostly come from battered recipe books from decades ago. HFW's other mission is to encourage cooks to use a variety of good ingredients, which is my culinary mission too.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/09/21/river-cottage-good-comfort-best-loved-favour... show less

My granddaughter spotted this humongous cookbook at a book sale on bag day and snaffled it for her book collection. It was probably the best deal of the day. It's a great cookbook, not just for kids, but for anyone who is part of a family. It explains things about British cookery. (Victoria sponge cake, called pound cake in the States, is made of equal weights of eggs, sugar, butter, and flour -- and it has you weigh the ingredients, starting with your chosen eggs as the measure!) It also show more has fun activities that might use kitchen ingredients but are not strictly cooking. I wish I had known about this book sooner! show less

You've got to warm to a man who gives placenta pate a go (famously in one of his early TV programmes) and weeps over the lot of battery hens. And he knows his stuff. Friends who went to one of his River Cottage workshops on how to raise a pig and prepare proscuitto report that it was extremely good and technically spot on. See www.rivercottage.net. Hugh's books are always educational in the best possible way, with seriously good recipes using seasonal ingredients and some evocative show more photographs. His re-working of panzanella, listed as tomato and bread salad, is barely a recipe but just the sort of inspiration needed to produce something a bit different for the mid-week supper. show less

This is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's eating manifesto, after he decided that things were drifting slowly over-weight-ward, and that he was going to fix things before they got any worse. He has 7 rules (on the back so no spoilers)
1. Go whole
2 Go varied
3 Go with your gut
4. Reduce refined Carbs
5 Factor in Fat
6 Think about your drink
7 eat (and don't eat) mindfully

so overall quite like a lot of other books of this ilk, only with this one he does consult science and tries to use as much of the show more latest science to inform himself and the reader about what his ideas are and how they work.
Worth a read, literal food for thought. show less