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Book Review – Gran’s Kitchen

May 10, 2013

Gran's Kitchen 1

A few months ago I was sent a review copy of Gran’s Kitchen by Natalie Oldfield. My review is long overdue, but I don’t like to rush these things. This was one of those books I wanted to read properly and try a few of the recipes before I reviewed.

What struck me straight away was what a special project this was to create. Natalie Oldfield has compiled a beautiful book filled with wonderful recipes taken from the notebooks of her Grandmother Dulcie May Booker. As well as the extremely well captured pictures of food there are touching family photos both recent and throughout her life. The book tells a lovely heart-warming story of a life as well as being a recipe book. The personal touch makes the book so much more enjoyable to use.

Gran's Kitchen 2

Reading Dulcie May’s life story reminds me of my own Nan and how amazing the stories of her past are. The little anecdotes are so personal and charming and compliment the recipes perfectly.

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The book is a nice big size and printed on wonderful thick quality paper, designed to last a life time! The recipes are laid out well and very easy to follow, and as I mentioned before the pictures are beautiful. the books covers a full menu from Breakfast, to tea, to dinners to desserts, as well as some very tasty cakes. And in true Gran style there are also jams and traditional sauces.

The book for me is definitely a keeper, I often pass recipe books on if I don’t think I’ll use them but I know this is one I’ll be dipping into for years to come.

So far I’ve actually made three recipes from the book. I love making cakes and I’ve used the Orange Madeira Cake recipe twice, once for my family which I left un-iced as my daughter doesn’t like icing (crazy I know). I also made it iced for a friend’s birthday. I have to say this is one of the nicest cakes I’ve ever made. If you follow the instructions you end up with an absolutely huge cake. Ours was so big that I sent my husband out to deliver some to his parents and Nan, who all loved it. The flavour is amazing and it’s really moist.

I also made the Ginger and Lime Loaf which was really easy to make and again was completely delicious. I loved the sharp flavour and the icing was lovely.

Lastly I treated my husband and his work mates to some homemade Cornish Pasties. These took a long time to make and I devoted a good couple of hours to it, but it was well worth the effort as again they were delicious.

I’m looking forward to trying many more recipes from this book and I’d recommend it to anyone who has been brought up eating beautiful home-made dinners and like to get a sense of nostalgia from their food, as this book has oodles of old-fashioned charm.

I’m sure I’ll be revisiting this book again on the blog as there is lot’s more cooking from it in the pipeline.

If you’d like to get your hands on a copy you can buy the book on Amazon here

Gran’s Kitchen is published by Hardie Grant Books

All book images © Hardy Grant Books

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