Cookbook Review: Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage - Part 1
I have a bit of a process when I get a new recipe book.
First is my initial flick through, this is where I start to get excited about a new book.
Next, I get a piece of paper and go through the book again, writing a list of all the recipes I want to make, and the page numbers (side note, I did use to use sticky notes but I find this method much better for finding what I want quickly).
Then I start planning what I'm actually going to make, especially if it's a book I want to review on my blog.
From my list of recipes, I tend to choose about 8-12 I definitely want to cook for my blog review. This can vary depending on what I've got going on (right now as you can imagine, not a lot), the seasons, the faff factor and generally whatever I'm in the mood for. I also spend a lot of time looking for reviews of books, so sometimes I'll add in a recipe or two that other people recommend online, or from Eat Your Books (I promise I've got a review of Eat Your Books planned because if you have a lot of cookbooks like me it's a godsend).
Then when it comes to figuring out when to stop cooking and when to start writing my review, I usually aim for 10 recipes. It's pretty clear when I own books which aren't going to hit the 10 recipes goal - maybe they're more weekend books, or more focused on a particular cuisine (for example, it might take me longer to cook from a book entirely about curries, because while I could eat curry every single night, I'm not sure Phil would love it).
I keep notes about every recipe I've made in my journal, and usually after 10 I feel like I've got a proper feel for the book. I try to do a good mix of recipes and after 10 I'm usually pretty ready to move on.
When it came to Flavour, this was not the case...