The Cook's Encyclopaedia: Ingredients & Processes

Cook's Encyclopedias

by Tom Stobart

Here in almost 500 pages is a descriptive compendium of just about everything we eat and how we cook it. Arranged alphabetically from Abalone to Zampone, the majority of entries in the book deal with the ingredients and processes used in cooking. Tom Stobart says in his Introduction ‘Ingredients are the fundamentals of cookery and every cook who hopes to excel should know about them...’ Likewise with methods and science in the kitchen, Stobart explains all the common processes from bottling brewing, brining, curing, smoking and vacuuming.

Hundreds of ingredients are described, with English and foreign synonyms and scientific names; recipes are given in many cases to illustrate the use of the foodstuff in question. Cooking processes are explained in great and illuminating detail. The aim is both to entertain and to instruct--in particular, to give a sense of the essence and individuality of each ingredient. Tom Stobart traveled widely, both as an explorer and a film maker, and his book was informed by an eye for telling details.

Many fans say they would be lost without this book, which segues effortlessly between exhaustive reference work and handy recipe book, and back again. It explains the world of the kitchen, whether you're a beginner or an old hand, revealing the facts behind foods, equipment and techniques. Stobart describes how baking powder works, for instance, the temperature at which bacteria grow, and how to make your own tomato ketchup, so every time you dip into this book, you'll be better equipped to return to the stove.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Reference, Nonfiction

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Thomas Ralph Stobart OBE (10 March 1914 – 28 November 1980) was a British cameraman, film-maker and author, notable for having shot The Conquest of Everest, the official film of the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition.

Stobart was born in Darlington and was educated at St Bees School near Whitehaven, Cumberland. He attended Sheffield University and Cambridge University where he studied zoology. He died at Hassocks, Sussex aged 66.

He made Army instructional films in India in World War II, went on a 1946 expedition to the Himalayas, and on an expedition to North Queensland. He made the official film of the 1949-50 Norwegian–British–Swedish Antarctic Expedition (NBSX).

There was wider public interest in the Everest expedition, and a need for sponsors. Countryman Films Ltd was one of the 1953 expedition’s sponsors.

On the expedition, John Hunt recalls him "recounting some thrilling if slightly improbable experience with wild game in Africa, or giving a vivid description of the Far South." He had a "seemingly endless repertoire of adventure stories" George Lowe had understudied him as a reserve photographer.

Later he went on an expedition to find the Abominable Snowman, wrote an autobiography in 1957 "I Take Pictures for Adventure". He published an autobiography in 1958 entitled "Adventurer's Eye" and wrote two books on cookery. Two later films were Adventure On (1956) and The Great Monkey Ripoff (1979).

Reviews

[Karen·]

An invaluable guide to all sorts of ingredients, and essential for those of us living in Other Parts Of The World - everything is translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish. Teresa just reminded me that I have this on my shelves with her review of Substituting Ingredients.

[Mike]

Alarm bells went off when the rather snobbish introduction suggested that there was no point "compromising" by trying to cook classic dishes with ingredients other than the original versions from the place the recipe originated, and also assumed that an anthropologist would be male (referring to how some anthropologists go so far as to "marry a local girl" as part of their study).

Returned for credit when I realized that it's a more or less random assembly of alphabetical entries, so I would have to read the whole thing to find everything that it covered, and most of it wouldn't be of interest to me.

[James Fillmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom Stobart was the photographer who accompanied Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay to Mount Everest in 1953.
A world traveller, he was an expert in food and wrote this excellent encyclopedia. Informative and a ´must' for anyone who cooks.

[Angela Skeie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book for over half a year now, and it's one that I keep getting back to, not just one to take up space on the shelf. It's an excellent quick reference to (almost) all things food, though some things are lacking altogether. There are some good, simple recipes in here as well (many strange ones you wouldn't find in most other places; ones that are too strange to make for most people--that's what makes it an interesting read) and I happen to love the style they're incorporated into the book, not anything like a cookbook, but just as useful nonetheless. The overall tone and opinion of the book is very old-fashioned and could very much be seen as from a superior, white-man view of cultures and cuisines(not so encyclopedia-like that way!). Once you can over-look this and take it for what it is rather than what it's not, you'll find it a very useful, interesting, and practical book--though many recipes are not so practical for the, well, general public. I now have my mind set on making some nettle beer, some day. Thanks to this book.