Cheryl Cohen

Farmer's market organizer

https://queenofmarkets.blogspot.co.uk

Biography

Cheryl Cohen is Director of London Farmers Markets, a position she’s held for 15 years. She has made radio features about corned beef and candy floss, a film about whelks, worked in various restaurants and catering jobs, written about food and markets and continues to collect cookbooks and ingredients from her travels.

Good Things

Jane Grigson

One of the greatest luxuries you can have in Britain today is simple food of the best quality ' I love Jane Grigson, and out of her many books I'm choosing Good Things. Scholarly, wise, timeless recipes, larded with history. I will never grow out of Jane Grigson and I love her recipes. It's possible to hear her behind you as you read, slightly bullying, chivvying you along but always jolly and helpful. There's a quote from Jane that never leaves my head; 'We have enough masterpieces, what we need is a better standard of ordinariness.'

The Independent Cook: Strategies for Seasonal Cooking

Jeremy Round

Seasonality in food has always been important to me. The Independent Cook is probably the first book to work through the year. He doesn't ignore imported items, but he makes it clear what’s in season and when, and the best time to cook with these ingredients. At the time of writing this it's early September and Jeremy is advising us to look for Tydeman's Early, Worcester Pearmain, Miller's Seedling and James Grieve apples 'in the rare outlets where you'd have any chance of finding them.' His style is dry, sardonic & amusing. And all the better for it.

A Book of Middle Eastern Food

Claudia Roden

Hard to choose between this and the book of Jewish food. I love the way Claudia writes, the breadth of historical detail and the way recipes come to life. My first edition fell apart, so I was delighted with the new revised edition.

Home Baked

George Scurfield and Cecilia Scurfield

I love this book. Straight forward, easy to follow recipes and I adore Faber book designs. The only issue is transcribing imperial into metric, and fresh yeast into dry yeast but I've never had a flop yet. It's a calm and comforting little book and a true classic.

The Kitchen Diaries

Nigel Slater

Raising the bar on using sustainable, seasonal ingredients this book did what many of us aspire to do, shop at farmers markets and small shops and cook spontaneously without a shopping list. As Nigel has done it for us, we just need to follow the recipes. What makes this book more personal for me is knowing that he's shopping at farmers markets I run, buying from farmers I know.

Roast Chicken & Other Stories

Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham

I’m nervous of books by ‘top chefs’ where the list of ingredients is as long as the cooking method. This is about home cooking and all the better for it. With chapters headed by his favourite ingredients, the book feels warm and personable and is easy to love.

Simple French Food

Richard Olney

When I first read this, the list of ingredients was a revelation. Rocket was unknown, so I found the seed and grew it myself. The pages on the Impromptu Composed Salad should be required reading.

Italian Food

Elizabeth David

I still have my grandmother's copy of Italian Food. I used to copy out recipes and read chapters that made me want to travel to Italy, to cook and eat the food. At a time when ice cream meant a block of supermarket vanilla or Neapolitan, reading how to make apricot ice and coffee granita was a dream.

The Dean and Deluca Cookbook

David Rosengarten , Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca

The book that took me through stints in catering. Extremely useful, it contains a brilliant range of recipe categories, from spice blends and infused oils, through Cuban style fried calf's brains, the difference between cocido and feijoda, between a Kansas City and North Carolina barbecue sauce. Kimchi, ponzu, pizza dough, cassoulet. It's a roller coaster trip around the food world. When I made a tagine using their ras el hanout recipe, I received complements from Moroccan kitchen staff, which made me happier than complements from the people I was supposed to be cooking for.

Good Things in England

Florence White

For anyone who thought that regional food didn't exist in the UK, Florence White led the way, showcasing the range and diversity of regional specialities in great detail. It’s a joy to read. I love the Persephone books edition.

Follow Cheryl Cohen

What's playing in Cheryl's kitchen?

Mainly Radio 4 or Radio 4 extra but sometimes C W Stoneking Gloria, Vivaldi Etta James Jeff Buckley Bellowhead Dusty Springfield Cesaria Evora Mariza