As mentioned in a previous post, I bought two of Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall’s books, The River Cottage Year and The River Cottage Meat Book. While I finish reading about raising my own meat I thought I ought to post some of my thoughts about The River Cottage year.
The book is pretty good, it’s well written quite concise. It’s a bit more of a cook book then I was expecting though. Basically it’s broken up into 12 chapters, once for each month and Hugh talks a little bit at the beginning of each chapter about what he is doing at this time of year for his farm, usually about 2 pages worth. From there it’s all recipes though the book does have a pretty good listing of what is in season and when. This list is helpful though by no means comprehensive. The book even tells you that the list is for where Hugh lives and will not be the same in every part of the world. For me, here in the north east of the United States, we’re something like 10 degree’s farther south then he is which I suppose suggests that some of our items will come into season faster then they would for him? I don’t know, it’s hard for me to be sure.
The recipes themselves look pretty good and while I have made a few it’s not packed with things I’m dying to try. Over all the few pages of insight are very helpful, they are like the pulse on Hugh’s life. A quick glimpse at what he is working on at the time and what he is planning for. If you have an interest in English cooking then this book is a must have, if you, like me are looking for information on how to grow your own food you may want to pass on this book. It’s good to have but not something I would consider required reading.
Robert