The French Brasserie Cookbook – Daniel Galmiche

Daniel Galmiche, Executive Chef at The Vineyard at Stockcross (and Relais & Chateau Rising Chef of the Year 2011) is a chef who knows about flavour. His French Brasserie Cookbook: The Heart of French Home Cooking is his hymn to the eternal verities – a good stock, simple but fresh ingredients, straightforward cooking methods and an honest heart.

Keda Black’s The Illustrated Student Cookbook

There’s nothing worse than coming home to see that your flatmate has been cooking. And that he has dirtied every single piece of kitchen equipment you own in the process. You wonder why he even tried in the first place — you’ve never seen the kid do anything beyond nuking some leftover curry before, so why now? Maybe it’s because he has got himself a copy of Keda Black’s The Illustrated Student Cookbook. Inside are 35 recipes which require limited cooking equipment — a toaster, oven, microwave, and hotplate, and a Survival Kit of essential kitchen tools.

The Free Range Cook by Annabel Langbein

The Free Range Cook reflects the essence of New Zealand life: easy, relaxed, wholesome, fresh, warm-hearted, generous. Getting lost in its 320 pages, and especially its spectacular photos, is the cheapest way to travel there, says Joanna Biddolph not long after visiting New Zealand.

Cox Cookies & Cake Cookbook

With a foreword by Sir Elton John and David Furnish, this book was never going to be anything but high camp but the cakes also speak for themselves. Wondrous cupcakes such as Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with a chilli-flavoured frosting. Summer Flower Cupcakes and Orange and White Chocolate Chip Cookies are just some of the 75 recipes, on glossy black backgrounds, created by Eric Lanlard and designer Patrick Cox.

Orchards in the Oasis by Josceline Dimbleby

This is a book to take not just on a journey but also to bed. Its comfortable meander through cities and civilisations (even those that bristle with the bustle of the bazaar) brings restful calm and its fabulous photographs (of places and plates) ensure you end your day with the softest images imaginable. You’ll want it by your sofa and in your kitchen, too.