Nothing beats a spot of decluttering – throwing things out of your wardrobe that you don’t use or need to see what you have and make space for things you do need. I am useless at it when it comes to clothes and other clutter, but cookbooks are another matter. I review cookbooks; I probably had about 150 of them, some of which have been used for just one recipe. When it came to the point when they were falling off the shelves – and they’re hefty, being mostly hardback – I had to let some go.
So, which ones justified the shelf space? Most of my cookbooks don’t get used in their entirety. I make for two or three familiar and reliable recipes, and use them again and again. Some I keep out of regard for the author-cook, Elizabeth David chiefly, but also the venerable Edouard de Pomiane (Cooking in Ten Minutes).
Among the cookbooks I use often – you can tell, because the pages are stuck together – there are some unexpected authors.
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