Cookbook bookcase

I finally have all of my cookbooks on shelves. 

Cookbooks have become a bit of an obsession in recent years and as the collection has grown it’s been a case of squeezing them in wherever I could find space. More often than not this  meant piling them up, with the inevitable result of those at the top and easy to get at having frequent usage, while anything more than six books down in the pile was left to get dusty and quietly forgotten.

Now those piles, which were scattered throughout the house, have been collected together, there’s even a semblance of order and sequence. The Ottolenghi’s are all in a row, the Rachel Khoo collection is there, next to her the combined works of Honey & Co. Nigel Slater and Ruby Tandoh both have a couple of titles on the shelf and there are the inevitable Great British Bake Off books.

While it’s good to have these trusty favourites together, what I’m particularly enjoying is the chance to reacquaint myself with books that haven’t been opened for quite some time. The Ukrainian recipes in Olia Hercules Mamushka, West African recipes in Hibiscus or books covering the delights of Lima, Nashville and Syria.

In a summer where any sort of international travelling is out of the question, I have the opportunity for some exciting culinary adventures.

Many of the books getting their first airing for a long time are going to require ingredients not readily in my kitchen and that’s where souschef is going to come to my rescue. I recently tripped over this site when searching for something else and was instantly hooked. Full of all those rare and unusual things you need and a whole lot more you probably don’t, but will still be drawn into buying. It puts me in mind of the best bit of any supermarket shopping trip when you find yourself in the aisle full of oils, sauces and spices desperately thinking of a reason to add them to the trolley. I have a friend who likes to do late-night online yarn shopping. As I told her last week, this is my edible yarn shop.

My first order is in and I have a feeling it won’t be the last.

p.s I read yesterday that Honey & Co have a new title out and I’m glad to say there’s space on the shelf to squeeze it in. After that, it will have to be cookbook bookcase number two.