The Cook's Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen

This book is an absolute must have in your kitchen library !


Stephanie: The Boon Companion   May 7, 2005
 42 out of 44 found this review helpful

It is almost impossible to begin a review of this book. The mere mention of Stephanie Alexander's "The Cook's Companion" conjures so many delights - of food, food tips and tricks, of information and of history - that the literary mind becomes carried away with sudden urges to describe the specific delight of dishes Stephanie Alexander has used rigour, clarity and passion to present in this culinary masterpiece.
"The Cook's Companion" is a wonderful cookbook, that much is sure. Stephanie has taken the unsual step of collating her recipies ingredient-by-ingredient, in alphabetical order. Foods common and obscure receive a chapter of their own, from the puzzling jerusalem artichoke to the everyday pork to the rare delicacy of Stephanie's own beloved tripe. These chapters contain not only the recipies but invaluable information about the history of the ingredient on world tables, as well as their seasonal appearances, their variations, and Stephanie's own personal experiences eating or serving each ingredient on offer. One of Stephanie's most useful gifts to the domestic chef are the lists she provides of companion ingredients of her selected food. Anyone confronted with a meal to cook and a full, if confusing, larder need only heed Stephanie's advice to improvise a delicious, full-flavoured speciality dish.
The recipies themselves prove why memories of Stephanie Alexander's Melbourne restaurant are so passionately recalled by her former diners. She is a chef who approaches every ingredient in her kitchen with an encycopaedic knowledge and a passionate love of its unique properties. In addition to jaw-droppingly delicious formal main courses, side dishes, sauces, desserts, soups, salads and hors d'oevres, her recipies and margin notes proffer hearty suggestions for scrumptious snacks, breakfasts and little treats as well as the best modes of preparation for special occasion foods. Since the publication of this book in Stephanie's Australian home, there are not many Australian households left that do not now prepare a Christmas turkey the Stephanie way.
The greatest thing about "The Cook's Companion" is not, however, its wealth of information or the scale and variation of its recipies. What makes the book essential for any household is its accessibility - the fact, like a favourite work of fiction, it can be picked up and enjoyed as a dynamic work of literature, dropped open at any page. It is a book that transports the reader from their own domestic surroundings into its author's wonderful, sensual world of kitchens, restaurants, pinics and intimate personal memories of food and the rituals of food preparation. Anyone who's lost their faith in the magic and mystery of a kitchen need only dive into this book to refire their taste buds and reawaken their culinary soul.
The book makes a wonderful present, eternally-beloved of its every recipient. Anyone who needs food needs this book - and, let's face it, that's all of us.


The Chef's Bible   November 4, 2004
 22 out of 24 found this review helpful

This is THE cookbook for anyone who loves food and has a slight sense of adventure in the kitchen. As it is ordered by ingredient you can buy something new, go home and read about what to do with it. Her recipes range from easy to challenging and her descriptions of the ingredients are interesting and helpful. Her lemon roast chicken has always been a massive hit at my place. Buy it - the only cookbook you'll ever need!


An excellent reference, and a thumping good read to boot   March 14, 2002
 24 out of 26 found this review helpful

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I brought this book with me when I emigrated from New Zealand, and I could not be without it. Sure, there is an antipodean bias, but I've found this to be my most useful cooking reference even in the UK, and I think it generally useful no matter where you are in the world.

Its organised alphabetically into chapters, each chapter exploring a particular ingredient. The chapter begins with an encyclopaedic description of the ingredient, advice on selection and different methods of cooking. Then follows a range of recipes.

Throughout the book there are useful hints in the margins. One of the most useful things is each chapter has in the margins a list of the things that go well with the ingredient, for instance the herbs or spices that complement it well.

Stephanie has a wonderfully clear style, her recipes and advice are straightforward and valuable, and I can quite happily nestle down with this book and just read it for hours.