BOOKS

All of mine (save The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook) are on the slow boat to England, along with everything else that I though I could go six weeks without. And I'm still unemployed. So what's a cook to do?

Why, hit the library of course. I have to limit what I check out, as I have a near-pathological problem with turning in books on time, but my new routine is to come in, grab three books, open up the laptop and take notes. Unfortunately, the library has wireless, and I have no discipline. So while I've been trying to get my reader to below 1000 stories, my three books have mostly sat unread.

But I did allow myself to check out Elizabeth David's French Country Cooking yesterday, and it lives up to its reputation. It even made me, the avid fish-avoider, walk to the market to see what comes out of these cold waters. The answer: after 2:30 on a Thursday nothing. The market closes early.

Today I'm sharing my little table with: Le Cordon Bleu's Complete Cooking Techniques, The Taste of Britain, and Complete Italian Cookery Course by Ursula Ferigno.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the selection at the Coventry library. Last week I got to cozy up to The River Cottage Meat Book, and I keep finding slim little surprises, like French Country Cooking, tucked away between the tomes that everyone wants (Larousse Gastronomique, I'm looking at you here).

But this is an apprentice cook's blog, and when an apprentice cook is unemployed, I feel that it's only seemly to keep up the learnin'. Here's why I chose to invite these books to my table today, and what I'm learning from them:

LCB Complete Cooking Techniques: I need to buy a technique book, really I do. I've been told somewhere close to a thousand times, and I know that it's true, but these things tend to be huge and expensive, and there were always other things (food) that my meager salary went toward. Now that there's no salary, it's a lot harder to justify spending 30 quid on a technique book. But I only worked my way up to fry station at Woodfire, and I've got to get comfortable with cooking fish and meat at the restaurant level. So today I'm refreshing my memory on how to clean and fillet fish and how to cook meat and fish. I like this book. It's not huge, it's got lots of good information, and it 17 pounds instead of 30, though it takes a typically British indifferent attitude to meat temperatures, and don't ask about fish. I should really buy one of these...

The Taste of Britain: I should not be reading this today. I already looked at it last week. But it's SO GOOD. There's professional organizations, resources for cheese, local specialties, all the sorts of things that make cooking locally exciting. I have limited time, but darnit, I want to read this sucker cover to cover. And it's beautiful too, complete with the embossed hardcover and ribbon to mark one's place. Unfortunately, it's expensive, so here it stays. Maybe I'll buy it for myself for Christmas.

Complete Italian Cookery Course: I have an interview at an Italian restaurant tonight, so I'm trying to bone up on my Italian cooking. And I'm surprised by what I remember: how to make risotto and gnocchi, pizza dough, some basic pasta sauces. I've got my fingers crossed and have found myself muttering to the universe all day: "Please don't let this place suck." This book, for practical reasons, may come home with me.

And damnit, now I'm hungry.