The Fragrant Pantry

sub-heading:

Floral Scented Jams, Jellies and Liqueurs

$15.99

Adding to cart… The item has been added

160 pages
ISBN 978 1 68219 094 4

about the bookabout

While the use of flowers in cookery is becoming ever more popular, they often feature as little more than decoration. In The Fragrant Pantry, the third volume of an already acclaimed trilogy, Frances Bissell shows us how the scent and flavour of flowers can be used like that of a herb or a spice to add magic to a range of dishes.

In these pages you will find recipes for preserves as diverse as myrtle-scented figs, peach and lavender mostarda, rum and jasmine mincemeat, wild garlic flower pesto, mango, jasmine and lime kulfi, elderflower, cucumber and lemon gin and 'gorgeous gillyflower grappa.'

You will also discover how the delicate taste of rose petals can transform raspberry ice cream. And you will learn the way in which fresh edible flowers or floral extracts can be used to create exquisite preserves.

For Frances Bissell cooking with flowers is not a fad or a fashion, but a natural way of cooking which reflects the seasons, and which owes much to English culinary traditions going back over centuries. These easy-to-follow recipes allow both the experienced and novice cook to experiment with floral cooking with real confidence.

“Frances Bissell has always been a key reference for me for food and cookery. In her new book, The Fragrant Pantry, she has distilled the essence from fruits, teas, and flowers into a book full of delicious ideas. I will be consulting this book for many years to come.”

—Ken Hom

“Another delightfully fragrant book from Frances Bissell. Her passion and thorough knowledge of the use of flowers and herbs in the kitchen is unrivalled. Frances not only gently handholds the reader through the preserving process, but she offers original and exquisite recipes for preserves using seasonal fruits and, herbs and flowers. This book is a must for every kitchen bookshelf.”

—Fiona Cairns

About The Author / Editor

Frances Bissell is the author of many books and was The Times' food writer for thirteen years. Her articles have appeared in numerous publications in Britain, and she has been widely featured in the international press, including The New York Times, San Francisco Examiner, Boston Globe, Le Figaro, Bangkok Post and El Diario de Jerez, and magazines such as Taste, A la Carte, Victoria and Food Arts. She has written and presented two television series based in the West Country and appeared on a variety of TV shows in North America.

She has received the Glenfiddich Award for Cookery Writer of the Year in Britain, while her Book of Food won a James Beard Foundation Award in America. Frances Bissell has been guest chef in some of the world's leading hotels and restaurants, including the Café Royal Grill Room in London, the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong, the George V in Paris and The Mark in New York. She is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts.

Preview

Couscous

This is the Moroccan national dish. It will be served to you at the end of a copious meal by your host anxious to saturate your already failing appetite and you will be incapable of tasting more than one or two mouthfuls. On the other hand, if invited informally by friends and sitting round the table you are given couscous, you can, with impunity, stuff yourself with this semolina, each grain separated from the other, so light, smooth and scented, and digested with incredible ease. You must take in your right hand a chickpea or a raisin with a handful of semolina, press and shape it carefully to form a small ball and an expert twist of the thumb should carry it to your mouth. As you will probably only succeed in besmearing yourself with grease it is better to ask for a spoon. But learn to appreciate the contrast between the softness of the raisins and the sharp burning of the peppery semolina.

Kefta

1 lb beef — choose fatty meat, if possible from the ribs
A small bunch of finely chopped coriander
A few coarsely chopped parsley leaves
A blade of sweet marjoram
Salt
A pinch of pepper
A good pinch of hot red soudania pepper
1 heaped teaspoon ras el hanout
1 teaspoon powdered cumin
1 finely chopped onion

Mince the meat very finely and put it in a bowl with the seasoning so that it is very heavily spiced. Mix carefully and leave to marinate. Take a little meat, enough to make a small ball the size of an egg, and pack it tightly around the skewer in the shape of a small sausage. Lay the keftas like this in twos and threes. Grill quickly, turning them often and serve very hot.

Tea

Tea-making is a gift of God, a gift that cannot be acquired. There are no proportions, no rules for making tea, no two glasses ever taste the same. The quality of the leaves is of an infinite variety — before the war I was told of more than sixty sorts. The quantity and quality of the mint, everything counts in this infusion. I will try to teach you to make this green tea in a way that I hope will be drinkable without presuming to reach the ultimate perfection where the scented mint brings to the bitterness of the tea its fresh and piquant flavour.

in the media