In this four-part series, Dick and James Strawbridge known for their popular
BBC television programme It’s Not Easy Being Green and ITV's The Hungry Sailors (an Artisan Food Trail favourite) show you how to grow, harvest, preserve, cook and make the most of seasonal produce. Each book is packed with expert advice and tips on choosing the best ingredients; methods of creating delicious hand-crafted foods; and recipes for truly mouth-watering and memorable meals, because ultimately it’s all about the eating! This is a very timely series as many people are returning back to the traditional ways of living and self-sufficiency. Whether you are a city-dweller or country lover, it’s easy to have a go at the Good Life.
Made at Home: Curing & Smoking
These are two of the best ways to preserve and enjoy meat, fish and dairy produce. This helpful how-to guide on the subject presents simple methods that can be tried at home. With very little effort you can create your own cures, hot and cold smoke with wood chippings and even smoke delicate meats and seafood on your stovetop with scented teas and rice. Featuring step-by-step practical instruction on brining, dry curing, air drying and hot and cold smoking, and recipes for creating your own luxury grub, such as salt beef, dry-cured hams, salamis, smoked cheeses, gravadlax and smoked oysters - you can enjoy the delicious results for months on end.
Made at Home: Eggs & Poultry
Whether you have a large country garden or a small city enclosure, keeping a couple of hens is essential if you want to be self-sufficient. You’ll have fresh eggs daily and all the expert knowledge necessary; from housing to feeding, breeding and safe-slaughter. With sections on chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys, and featuring recipes that range from simple egg dishes to home-made favourites, like Southern fried chicken and turkey curry, there’s plenty to whet the appetite.
Made at Home: Preserves
Shows you how to take best advantage of plentiful, fresh, seasonal produce and enjoy it all year round. It is a how-to-guide to preserving and pickling, featuring step-by-step practical instructions for storing fresh produce and recipes to make your mouth water. From strawberry leather to sweetcorn and pepper relish, to honeyed figs with lamb and goats cheese crostini, sauerkraut to piccalilli, and the perfect Bloody Mary, you’ll learn how to preserve good quality cordials, syrups and jams to herb oils and accompaniments and to create fantastic dishes every time.
Made at Home: Vegetables
Whether you have a tiny urban patch, a dedicated allotment or plenty of space in your own garden, growing your own vegetables is one of the easiest ways to transform the way you eat. You’ll have fresh ingredients at your disposal and, with this book, the knowledge to cook with them to create perfect dishes every time. Lots of people are unsure what to do with some of the really easy to grow veg such as kohlrabi and Jerusalem artichokes, so with the step-by-step guides to growing and cooking you’ll be sure to increase your flavour palate and transform your meals, enjoying such dishes as pea and mint risotto, kohlrabi coleslaw and baked sweet potato and goat’s cheese pie.
Made at Home series by Dick & James Strawbridge,
published by Mitchell Beazley on 7th May, £12.99 (each).
www.octopusbooks.co.uk