Forgotten Skills of Cooking: The Time-Honoured Ways are the Best

by Darina Allen

Original publisher: Kyle Cathie

Date of publication: 2009

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Recommended by

Rachel de Thample

Head of Fantastic Food at Abel & Cole

If you decide to cut yourself off from modern life and set up a cabin the woods, bring this book with you. It'll give you everything you need to know in terms of food survival. You'll learn to forage, pickle, pluck birds, skin fish... you'll even learn how to harvest and process your own sea salt. This is one of the most endearing books I have on my bookshelves and I used it loads the year I decided to grow my own Christmas dinner. In fact, when I picked it off the shelf to write this, I found notes from the project and a saffron crocus I'd grown, beautifully pressed between it's 600 pages.

Rebecca Seal

Food and drink writer and TV presenter

A hugely comprehensive book, focusing on traditional skills and methods - a book to have on hand if you have a garden glut to preserve, need foolproof pastry, or want to try your hand at cooking game or wild foods.