Good Tempered Food

by Tamasin Day-Lewis

A selection of simple but satisfying dishes celebrates the pleasures of cooking--and eating--with 188 recipes, ranging from Baked Cod with Greek Potatoes to Chocolate Mocha Cake with Irish Whiskey, that emphasize advanced preparation and the incorporation of foods into a second or even third meal. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 2002

About the author

From an illustrious family, Tamasin has also made a name for herself, in her own niche: cooking.

Tamasin is the daughter of Cecil Day-Lewis, poet laureate, and her brother is the acclaimed actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. She has established a career as a respected food writer - combining sophistication, literary skill and culinary class.

As well as writing a weekly food column for The Daily Telegraph, Tamasin's cookbooks have covered a range of comforting, rural recipes, from the preparation of seasonal dishes and picnics to the art of pie-baking and 'proper', slow cooking. She is a food purist and is known for her valiant promotion of all things organic and regional. She champions local products versus the supermarket giants.

Tamasin's books are refreshingly different for several reasons. She writes "for people who appreciate good food, for people of all skills." She collects recipes on her travels and sees her recipes as "a link with people" and her style is totally unique. Half novel, half practical, her pages are filled with fascinating background information on ingredients, memories, historical anecdotes, and all in impressively poetic language. Her book West Ireland Summers was a collection of favourite recipes taken from and inspired by her childhood in County Mayo. The rural theme continues in Tamasin's two series' for Good Food Channel, in which she cooks at her family home in the country.

Reviews

[Andrea Hickman Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up (at an Exclusive Books sale, what a surprise!) because I have this image of myself in my head. It's an image of a highly domesticated woman who spends hours in her kitchen and garden, being domestic. It's not who I usually am, but every now and then I manage it. This book helps.

There are a multitude of recipes in here that I'd love to try, but just haven't gotten around to. There are others that I'm waiting to make until I've got my first million (ten clementines to make jelly? Really?). And there are others that I've made many times already. Poor Man's Potatoes. Greek Potatoes. Caraway Rolls. That chocolate dessert, the name of which escapes me right now.

If you love to cook and (even only occasionally) have the time to spend over it, then this is a book for you.

[Gillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really taught me how to get along with food and cooking rather than seeing it as an almighty pressure. T D-L is an expert at letting the food sort itself out, which is just ace. Definitely worth a comfy Sunday afternoon slumped on the sofa reading through :)

[Miranda Ash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect lingering weekend cooking - great for a rainy day