Better cooking is a lifelong journey. It’s the flick of a wrist, pinch of the fingers, the whiff of a waft. It’s intuition. It’s flying hours and muscle memory, from childhood, through school and young-adult years, to bring-a-plates and dinner parties where you learn to keep things simple … eventually.

But what happens when we miss a stage? Or three?

The Art of Better Cooking is an instruction manual, but you’d never know it. Alice Zaslavsky, master-mind behind the colourful debut (and award-winning) cookbook, In Praise of Veg presents a collection of 100 recipes (plus countless riffs) that you’ll want to cook, on a weekly basis, with tips and tricks scribbled in the margins, and explanations where need be, so that by the time you’re finished (never!) you’ll have tripped over technique to a point where if feels second nature.

Starting with chapter one, entitled Really Outstanding Things Simply Thrown Together (hello All-seasons Avo Half and Wedge Caesar), through to Never Going Back (Fava Bean Felafel, Hubbababaganoush) and Making the Most of It (delicious ideas with leftovers, saggy bits and preserves). Then it’s Loosen the Shoulders Time (Onion and Tomato Pie) and building up to Showstoppers and Centrepieces (yes you can make Salt and Pepper Creme Caramel).

All recipes are naturally veg-forward, with countless suggestions for making adaptations, spotlights on favourite produce and kitchen gadgets galore.

You are a better cook than you know. Here’s the book that builds your confidence.

My Thoughts:

I love reviewing something a bit different from my usual reads. Being a big fan of cooking my own meals and regularly making things from scratch I was excited to delve into this book. I love the retro design and feel of this book, it is packed with some delicious sounding recipes that I cannot wait to try and recreate. There are different sections to this book, so like bits and bobs tossed together, using up gluts and windfalls, go-to’s, weekend food and of course sweet desserts. Just looking at the pictures made my mouth water and I couldn’t resit writing a list of all the different recipes that I want to recreate. I also like how after the recipe it has bonus bits which really helps as it shows you how to do certain things to do with the recipe like making the sauce or tips if things are not going how they should. Such a brilliant and amazing cookbook that I cannot wait to try out. It seems easy to follow too.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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