Few things have prompted me to do a post about this cookbook now. One of them being the London Cheesecake recipe... I will get to that in a bit.
How To Be A Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art Of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson; softcover, second printing, 2000 by Knopf Canada is an essential cookbook to have. It is one of my well used cookbooks. I enjoy Nigella's ramblings with the recipes. They add that special something to this already personable woman. She literally oozes out of the book. The recipes range from basic, classic to some what exotic. This book has more to do with making you feel like a domestic goddess than actually trying to set you out to be one. Plenty of full page photographs. The book is divided into these following sections Cakes, Biscuits, Pies, Puddings, Chocolate, Children, Christmas, Bread and Yeast and The Domestic Goddess's Larder. All of the measurements in the book are UK measurements, so there is a Charts and Conversions table at the front to help you along. It's helpful but I still find that I have to toy with the converting of the the measurements and treat them as an approximate rather than an it is. Still the recipes I have tried have all turned out and taste delicious. The some of recipes I have made are: Gateau Breton, Banana Bread, Scones, Muffins, Courgette and Chick Pea Pie, Dense Chocolate Loaf Cake, Fudge, Cinder Toffee, Latkes and most recently the London Cheesecake. Which is absolutely amazing! I will do a separate posting regarding this cheesecake later on today or tomorrow.
Well used and well marked. The pieces of paper placed inside are the recipes I know I will be trying again. Another reason... not that I need one, after all this blog is about cookbooks. Reading the Preface got me thinking... about myself being in the kitchen. How I enjoy creating and sharing delicious things from my finger tips. How I am experiencing the pleasure and pain of cookery. The art of mastering the unknown. The ability to move around a full kitchen with ease... knowing your territory. Taking command of a ship. Being adventurous and venturing into near possible failure one tablespoon at a time. Mostly, trust your instincts. Baking can be more than about the cake. At the bottom of the Preface is this very telling quote: "This isn't a dream; what's more, it isn't even a nightmare."
It's about life! Just getting on and living life. To all the Domestic Goddesses out there I salute you! - JW