No cooking in this one – just possibly my favourite cookbook of all time: French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Édouard de Pomiane, written in 1930.
I don’t necessarily cook a lot from it (though it inspires me more and more), but the way it’s written is pure joy. He explains everything you need in your kitchen to cook a meal in ten minutes when you come in from work, alongside wonderful little nuggets of advice: open the window while you cook, and keep your kitchen as clean as a laboratory. When you have a friend for lunch, never make more than two trips to the kitchen, and don’t let your guest help – that only causes chaos. If he’s enjoying his food, he won’t notice you’ve gone.
My all-time favourite passage is his description of the end of the meal: coffee poured, feet up, leaning back in your armchair with a tango or some jazz on the radio, savouring every sip – before the lunch hour disappears.
It’s a magical book, and every now and then I buy it for foodie friends. (Wayne and Martha – don’t buy it. I’ve got one for you!)