A Cook's Companion

Spice

"Mark Diacono&hellip; has such a friendly, self-deprecating and comfortable voice you want to follow him into the kitchen." - Diana Henry&rsquo;s Autumn 2022 Best Cookbooks, The TelegraphSpice is a vibrant exploration of flavour, fragrance and heat that majors on the kitchen, with a celebration of over 50 spices that will fill your kitchen with a wealth of heady aromas and tastes. Packed with ideas for enjoying and using spices, Spice is much more than your average recipe book. Mark Diacono shares the techniques at the heart of sourcing, blending and using spices well, enabling you to make delicious food that is as rewarding in the process as it is in the end result. Focusing on the familiars including cumin, turmeric, vanilla, pepper and cinnamon, Spice will also open the door to some lesser-known spices such as grains of paradise, asafoetida, tonka beans and passion berries. The recipes build on bringing your spices alive &ndash; whether that&rsquo;s creating blends to easily enhance your food when short of time on a weekday evening, or in infusing and blooming spices to bring out the very best of these treasured ingredients. The reader will become familiar with the differences in flavour intensity and provenance and discover how, through the use of spice, we can applaud and appreciate cuisines from around the globe. Beginning with a guide to 50 of Mark&rsquo;s much-loved spices and blends, the book then offers over 100 innovative recipes that make the most of your new spice knowledge. With additions throughout from chefs and food writers of whom spices are an integral part of their cooking identity, including Jos&eacute; Pizarro, Honey and Co, Maunika Gowardhan and Yuki Gomi, Spice is sure to inspire and uplift.

Less of a cookbook than an encyclopedia in the universe of spices, Spice deepens even the most versed cooks and chefs on the intricacies of flavors from all over the world.

As voices in your head go there are few more chatty and compelling than Mark Diacono&rsquo;s [...] with a spice-grower&#39;s enthusiasm for liberally stirring aromatic, zingy or warming bark, berries and seeds through both everyday dishes and some very special indulgences, he eggs us on to uplift our cooking.

A book to cook from as the nights draw in, to fill your kitchen with the warm scent of spice.

Mark Diacono is lucky enough to spend most of his time eating, growing, writing and talking about food. He has written a number of award-winning books, including A Year at Otter Farm and A Taste of the Unexpected (which both won Food Book of the Year for Andr&eacute; Simon and the Guild of Food Writers, respectively), Sour (which was Food Book of the Year 2019 in The Sunday Times and Daily Mail, and nominated for a James Beard Award in the US), Herb and Spice. Known for growing everything from Szechuan pepper to pecans to Asian pears, Mark&#39;s refreshing approach to growing and eating has done much to inspire a new generation to grow some of what they eat. He was involved with River Cottage, appearing in the TV series, running courses and events at River Cottage HQ, and he has written four River Cottage books. Mark has a monthly column in The Sunday Times, and writes regularly for a range of publications including The Telegraph, Delicious and Country Life;&#160;his features have appeared in The Observer, Guardian, National Geographic, and others. He also speaks and demos at food festivals around the UK and writes for an engaged and growing audience on his Substack: &lsquo;Mark Diacono&rsquo;s Imperfect Umbrella&rsquo;.

Slow Down, Make Food to Last

Ferment

&#39;The perfect capsule guide to the hows and whys of fermentation. Mark Diacono is an excellent teacher.&#39; &ndash; Diana HenryFrom Scratch: Ferment is the no-nonsense guide to fermenting at home.From homemade kimchi to kombucha, shrub cocktails, and making your own pickles, award-winning food writer Mark Diacono tells the story of fermentation, and offers recipes that maximise the transformative power of this amazing process.From Scratch: Ferment offers a gentle guiding hand on a natural process that would happen without you, encouraging largely invisible activity of bacteria to work to your advantage. These skills take little of your time, they are particular yet simple, and the results are extraordinary.Packed with useful, accessible information and focussing on back-to-basics skills, the From Scratch series is designed to inspire you to slow down and create. Titles include: Sourdough, Brew, Charcuterie.Text is extracted and updated from Sour, with new recipes, by Mark Diacono.

A breezy, beguiling guide to sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough, vinegar and all things fermented. [Mark] clearly explains the practical principles behind the process and offers up a slew of recipes that make the most of vital, vivid ingredients.

If you want your eager-to-ferment hand held, Mark Diacono is your man. His new, short, vividly imaginative book kept me on what I used to think of as the daunting road to being a fermenter &ndash; to making fermented foods a bigger part of my daily eating.

Herb

Guild of Food Writer’s Awards, Highly Commended in ‘Specialist Subject Cookbook’ category (2022)André Simon Awards shortlisted (2022)"A beautiful book, and one which makes me want to cultivate my garden just as much as scurry to the kitchen." &mdash; Nigella Lawson"At its core this book is about cooking, but it&#39;s an essential and valuable resource for folk who love to grow their own herbs and cook. Sorted by individual herbs with detailed notes on how to grow and use them, it&#39;s going to be a book I will turn to a lot over the years." &mdash; Nik SharmaHerb is a plot-to-plate exploration of herbs that majors on the kitchen, with just enough of the simple art of growing to allow the reader to welcome a wealth of home-grown flavours into their kitchen. Author Mark Diacono is a gardener as well as a cook. Packed with ideas for enjoying and using herbs, Herb is much more than your average recipe book. Mark&#160;shares the techniques at the heart of sourcing, preparing and using herbs well, enabling you to make delicious food that is as rewarding in the process as it is in the end result. The book explores how to use herbs, when to deploy them, and how to capture those flavours to use when they might not be seasonally available. The reader will become familiar with the differences in flavour intensity, provenance, nutritional benefits and more. Focusing on the familiars including thyme, rosemary, basil, chives and bay, Herb also opens the door to a few lesser-known flavours. The recipes build on bringing your herbs alive &ndash; whether that&rsquo;s a quickly swizzed parsley pesto when short of time on a weekday evening, or in wrapping a crumbly Lancashire cheese in lovage for a few weeks to infuse it with bitter earthiness. With a guide to sowing, planting, feeding and propagating herbs, there are also full plant descriptions and their main culinary affinities. Mark then looks at various ways to preserve herbs including making oils, drying, vinegars, syrups and freezing, before offering over 100 innovative recipes that make the most of your new herb knowledge.

A beautiful book, and one which makes me want to cultivate my garden just as much as scurry to the kitchen.

Award-winning (and green-fingered) food-writer Mark Diacono shares the techniques at the heart of growing, preparing and using herbs, from basil and coriander to sage and everything in between.

Herbs are the most evocative of plants [...] Mark Diacono's latest book Herb perfectly captures these life-enhancing properties, urging us all to make more room for them in our gardens and on our plates.

An ideal lockdown companion, packed with recipes and tips for delicious dishes that are a breeze to make.

A reference book, growing guide and all-round love letter to herbs.

This is a genuinely intriguing and inspiring book. Diacono's enthusiasm is infectious, and his desire to share the pleasure herbs can bring to the garden and the table shines through.

A comprehensive A-Z herb compendium provides an ultimate reference that cooks of all levels will find invaluable.

A complete companion to identifying, growing and cooking with herbs.

Right now, Mark Diacono is the brightest writing star in the food firmament.

Mark Diacono is lucky enough to spend most of his time eating, growing, writing and talking about food. His A Year at Otter Farm and A Taste of the Unexpected both won Food Book of the Year, for Andre Simon and the Guild of Food Writers, respectively. His book Sour was Food Book of the Year 2019 in The Sunday Times and Daily Mail, and nominated for a James Beard Award in the US. Known for growing everything from Szechuan pepper to pecans to Asian pears, Mark&#39;s refreshing approach to growing and eating has done much to inspire a new generation to grow some of what they eat. 
 He was involved with River Cottage, appearing in the TV series, running courses and events at River Cottage HQ, and he has written four River Cottage books. Mark also writes regularly for a range of publications including The Telegraph and Country Life, and his features have appeared in The Observer, Guardian, National Geographic, and others.

The Magical Element That Will Transform Your Cooking

Sour

SUNDAY TIMES FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019DAILY MAIL FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019A THE TIMES FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019A FINANCIAL TIMES FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019A GUARDIAN FOOD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019A BBC RADIO 4 FOOD PROGRAMME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019From cheese to vinegar, throughout the centuries we have deliberately let &ndash; and even encouraged &ndash; food to go sour to enhance its flavour. Now, sour foods have never been more fashionable, with the spotlight falling&#160;on foodstuffs as disparate as Belgian sour beer and Korean kimchi. But what is it that makes sourness such an enticing, complex element of the eating experience? And what are the best ways to harness sour flavours in your own kitchen?Sour offers a series of invitations to the modern cook, to learn the life-enhancing skills behind the everyday transformations that hold the key to this most enduring taste. Award-winning food writer Mark Diacono sets out to demystify the sour world, and explore why everyone&#39;s extolling the virtues of kombucha and fermenting for their digestive health. By grappling with gooseberries and turning his hand to sourdough, experimenting with ultra-cool shrub cocktails, and making his own yoghurt, kefir and pickles, Mark tells the story of what makes things sour, and offers recipes that maximise the transformative power of this amazing taste. From sumac-roasted duck and kombucha mayonnaise to roasted plums with labneh and cherry sour cream clafoutis, it is time to let a little (or a lot) of sour into your life.

&#39;The recipes...are crying out to be made.&#39;

&#39;If, like me, you have a sour tooth, then this is gloriously the book for you.&#39;

&#39;If you share my sour passion, I strongly recommend a superb new cookbook by Mark Diacono called "Sour".&#39;

Eating and living with the seasons

Abundance

Abundance is a record of one man’s year living on the south-west coast of England as he quietly contemplates life, nature and his next meal. 
 
With his days distracted by the ping of communication and the tug of commitments, Mark Diacono wondered how he might better savour this one precious life. He started to write and photograph each week, hoping that this simple commitment might sharpen his appreciation of the magic in the everyday and his time spent in the kitchen. It reminds us that abundance comes in many forms – the passing of the seasons, our connection to the world around us, and the wealth that a garden, a town and its surrounding landscapes offers. 
 
With over 80 recipes like Early summer shakshuka, Salsify and radicchio gratin, Onion seed and oregano flower focaccia, Fig leaf and olive oil ice cream, and a Mulberry martini, there are dishes to inspire and satisfy every week as the year unfolds before you.

Mark Diacono&#160;is lucky enough to spend most of his time eating, growing, writing and talking about food. He has written a number of award-winning books, including&#160;A Year at Otter Farm&#160;and&#160;A Taste of the Unexpected&#160;(which both won Food Book of the Year for Andr&eacute; Simon and the Guild of Food Writers, respectively),&#160;Sour&#160;(which was Food Book of the Year 2019 in&#160;The Sunday Times&#160;and&#160;Daily Mail, and nominated for a James Beard Award in the US),&#160;Herb&#160;and&#160;Spice. Known for growing everything from Szechuan pepper to pecans to Asian pears, Mark&#39;s refreshing approach to growing and eating has done much to inspire a new generation to grow some of what they eat. Mark has a monthly column in&#160;The Sunday Times&#160;and writes regularly for a range of publications including&#160;The Telegraph,&#160;Delicious,&#160;and&#160;Country Life;&#160;his features have appeared in&#160;The Observer,&#160;Guardian,&#160;National Geographic, and others. He runs the Cafe Murano Book Club with Angela Hartnett, and speaks and demos at food festivals around the UK. Mark originally wrote&#160;Abundance&#160;as a serialisation on his engaged Substack, Mark Diacono&rsquo;s Garden to Table, for which he won the Garden Media Guild Digital Gardening Writer Award 2024.&#160;

Mark Diacono

This amazing book will bring sunshine into your life. Mark is such a knowledgeable and fabulous writer who takes the simplest of vegetables and recipes to another level.

Mark puts vegetables in their place, and that&rsquo;s right at the centre of the table. Follow him on a journey through the seasons, feasting on your way. Simple, soulful, seasonal.

This is a wonderful book. Mark Diacono has combined his exceptional skill and passion for growing and cooking along with his own superb photography to create something truly inspiring and beautiful. I am deeply jealous!

This is such a joyful and beautiful book. Mark Diacono make me yearn to eat more seasonal vegetables, not because they will be good for me but because his recipes are so full of colour, flavour and excitement that I can&#39;t imagine a better way to eat and to cook. He is also one of the wittiest food writers in Britain.

In a world where the way we eat is becoming ever more important, this inspiring veg bible is absolutely brilliant.

Easy and Inventive Vegetarian Suppers

&#39;This amazing book will bring sunshine into your life. Mark is such a knowledgeable and fabulous writer who takes the simplest of vegetables and recipes to another level.&#39;&#160;&ndash;&#160;Angela Hartnett 
 &#160; 
 &#39;Mark puts vegetables in their place, and that&rsquo;s right at the centre of the table. Follow him on a journey through the seasons, feasting on your way. Simple, soulful, seasonal.&#39;&#160;&ndash;&#160;Yotam Ottolenghi&#160; 
 &#160; 
 &#39;This is a wonderful book. Mark Diacono has combined his exceptional skill and passion for growing and cooking along with his own superb photography to create something truly inspiring and beautiful. I am deeply jealous!&#39; &ndash;&#160;Monty Don &#160; 
 &#160; 
 &#39;This is such a joyful and beautiful book. Mark Diacono make me yearn to eat more seasonal vegetables, not because they will be good for me but because his recipes are so full of colour, flavour and excitement that I can&#39;t imagine a better way to eat and to cook. He is also one of the wittiest food writers in Britain.&#39; &ndash;&#160;Bee Wilson 
 &#160; 
 &#39;In a world where the way we eat is becoming ever more important, this inspiring veg bible is absolutely brilliant.&#39; &ndash;&#8203;&#160;Julius Roberts 
 
Enjoy the best of veg, all year long, with this must-have vegetarian cookbook. 
 
Vegetables showcases almost 100 inventive vegetarian recipes that encourage you to celebrate the seasons, switch up your diet, upgrade your sense of vitality and health and tread more lightly on the planet. From Spring Onion and Tarragon Tart and Radicchio and Chestnut Risotto to Baked Aubergines with Spiced Rosemary Cream and Stuffed Tomatoes with Coconut Rice, this book makes our most-loved veg the main event. Packed with recipes for generous lunches and hearty dinners, these crowd-pleasing dishes will leave everyone deliciously nourished, and with &lsquo;seasonal swaps&rsquo;, plus vegan and gluten-free options, you&rsquo;ll never run out of mouth-watering variations to bring to the table. 
 
 Whether you have a few sad carrots at the bottom of the fridge, are a veg-box advocate in need of inspiration, or a keen gardener with a glut of produce, Vegetables will show you just how easy it is to pack plenty of tasty plants onto your plate, every week of the year.

Mark Diacono

Praise for Vegetables

This amazing book will bring sunshine into your life. Mark is such a knowledgeable and fabulous writer who takes the simplest of vegetables and recipes to another level.

Mark puts vegetables in their place, and that’s right at the centre of the table. Follow him on a journey through the seasons, feasting on your way. Simple, soulful, seasonal.

This is a wonderful book. Mark Diacono has combined his exceptional skill and passion for growing and cooking along with his own superb photography to create something truly inspiring and beautiful. I am deeply jeal ...

This amazing book will bring sunshine into your life. Mark is such a knowledgeable and fabulous writer who takes the simplest of vegetables and recipes to another level.

Mark puts vegetables in their place, and that’s right at the centre of the table. Follow him on a journey through the seasons, feasting on your way. Simple, soulful, seasonal.

This is a wonderful book. Mark Diacono has combined his exceptional skill and passion for growing and cooking along with his own superb photography to create something truly inspiring and beautiful. I am deeply jeal ...

This amazing book will bring sunshine into your life. Mark is such a knowledgeable and fabulous writer who takes the simplest of vegetables and recipes to another level.

Mark puts vegetables in their place, and that’s right at the centre of the table. Follow him on a journey through the seasons, feasting on your way. Simple, soulful, seasonal.

This is a wonderful book. Mark Diacono has combined his exceptional skill and passion for growing and cooking along with his own superb photography to create something truly inspiring and beautiful. I am deeply jeal ...

Books by Mark Diacono

Series by Mark Diacono

From Scratch

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