A Choice Selection of Favourite Cookery Books

Here is my entry for Dom at Belleau Kitchen's fabulous Random Recipes, you can find a link here.  I've had to wait till now to post as I have two sets of recipe books, most are in London but there are a few in Brittany!

I did write a post a few months ago on the  bulk of my recipe books which  are in my Richmond townhouse on my other blog, Simplicity is the New Black, which you can find here, it has  more detailed  photographs of these books, though obviously I have added more books since May!

 I  have (by stealth)  purloined three shelves in the living room for my books.  My house is very open plan, very 'Sixties'.  Therefore the kitchen is not big enough to swing the proverbial cat, let alone house any cookery book.  Everything in there has to be considered for usefulness, and as I haven't room for a microwave or fancy coffee maker then cook books are a complete no no.  As a result my books are squished into one half of the living room bookcase.  (Just to reassure you we are a literate family, we have large bookcases downstairs in the study and under the stairs, and in each bedroom, but they are full of novels and University text books! Or in my daughter's case 'children's literature')

My cookery books

They are pretty "random"

I have tried to sort by author/cook/method

But sometimes size is the only answer
large on the bottom shelf (where there is more room)

Medium and small on the middle, some horizontal,
some vertical

(and a great many on the middle shelf are baking related)

And on the top whatever  I can squeeze on to the shelf,
including a growing selection of Irish cookery
something that as someone of  Celtic descent,
who is married to an Irish man
I want to discover more about

I have a smaller selection of books in France. Once again they are not to be found in the kitchen (why do I keep buying houses with small kitchens?  After all I love to cook?)

Here I have French cookery books, Fish cookery books and Summer themed cookery books, which just about cover the range of cooking I do in Brittany.  They are on a small book shelf at the end of the table, an ideal place as I usually make my shopping lists at breakfast, and reaching for inspiration is not too tricky with a small  selection of books at hand.

My French books are at the end of the table

A perfect place, and I have a lovely selection

Will it be Fish or French?  Or Fish and French?

In a holiday home everything has to fight for space
so here are cookery books with maps, a dictionary
and books about the local area

And there are more here, cheek by jowl with  my favourite
Anthony Trollope novels,
some craft activities for rainy days, and
My three newest books about which are about foraging and seaweed,
perfect for the Breton coast

What a great idea Dom, an overview of one's cookbooks!  Not only did I dust the shelves, (thank you it needed doing!)  but I have had time to look at the range of books I have.  I have discovered that there are some gaps, so I'm hoping that by looking at other peoples' collections in the round up, I will have the list of books I need to keep me happy for the next few years!