Book review – Simply Good Food, by Neil Perry

Simply Good Food
By Neil Perry
Murdoch Books, £20
ISBN 978-1743360521

Neil Perry is one of Australia's leading and most influential chefs and is founder of the successful Rockpool restaurant empire, not to mention established cookbook author. Simply Good Food is his eighth collection of recipes and like the other seven, it is driven by Perry's passion for produce.

His core values of cooking with top quality, sustainably produced and seasonal ingredients might not be unique or even particularly original, they are apparent throughout the book. And rather than feeling prescriptive and worthy, they are presented as the favourable and common sense option.

Australia is blessed with an abundant natural larder of both the turf and the surf varieties and within many of the recipes are suggestions for alternative ingredients, most likely aimed at the domestic cook that welcomes such guidance. Can't get hold of any octopus? Squid or king prawns will work.

Other suggestions sound less appealing than the original in terms of flavour, but could work well for tighter budgets and chefs looking to stretch their GP, such as egg noodle salad with barbecue duck and hoisin sauce reworked using chicken and spaghetti.

Perry says that as he compiled the recipes for Simply Good Food he noticed that a number of Mexican dishes would work well together, not to mention those from Asia or the Mediterranean. As such, there are chapters dedicated to the production of a feast or banquet featuring one cuisine, highlighting his love of multicultural cooking.

Photography is by Earl Carter and while very stylised, you can't help but wonder whether he forgot the flash gun on the day of the shoot. In a well-lit room, the pictures work hard to reveal beautiful plates of food. But sadly Perry's enthusiasm for fresh and vibrant ingredients is a little bit lost in the darkness. Perhaps he and Carter were trying to show you what the food will look like when you're in the middle of a candle-lit dinner party. Who knows?

For many this style will appeal, and for those like me, the recipes go a long way to make up for it. Clear, concise layouts and appetising food ideas are ultimately what's needed in a cookbook and that's something Perry does very well.

By Janie Manzoori-Stamford

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