Cookbook Reviews: Fish 'n' Chips, Comfort: Food for Sharing

Fish'n' Chips - The Great New Zealand Feed
by Kevyn Male, New Holland, $34.99
This book really surprised me. I was expecting a cookbook with seafood recipes and maybe a batter recipe.
However, when I sat down to have a quick peek, I was still in the same spot half an hour later, grinning away at the superb kiwiana photographs.
Kevyn Male travelled New Zealand photographing fish'n' chip shops, customers and workers. The stories are funny and fascinating and begin with the early history of our favourite takeaway.
Chapters include "Catching", which takes readers from the hand-held line at the wharf through to trawlers; "The Cooks"; "The Best of British"; and "A Taste of Asia".
My favourite was "The MMM Factor", which looks at how you like eating your fish'n' chips - do you dish it on to plates and use a knife and fork or get stuck in with your fingers?
Fantastic photos in this chapter depict the many ways New Zealanders like to enjoy eating fish'n' chips.
And of course the last chapter is recipes.
Anyone who likes to fish or likes eating fish will enjoy this book. Put it on your coffee table, I bet it will be well worn within weeks.
Here's a recipe from Fish'n' Chips to sample:
Tartare sauce for fish
2 cups homemade mayonnaise
2 tbsp capers
1 large gherkin, finely chopped
1 tbsp red pepper, finely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 stuffed olives, finely chopped
Combine all ingredients and serve with fried fish.Linda Hall
Comfort: Food for Sharing
edited by Lauraine Jacobs, Random House, $45
I have Yvonne Lorkin's best-ever Christmas cake sitting in my cupboard and last night we enjoyed Jan Bilton's cranberry and apple pie for dessert. I have my eye on Michael Daly ... well, his Lemon & Paeroa trifle with kiwifruit and hokey pokey cream in particular.
These recipes and more I found in just one book ... New Zealand's leading recipe writers and cooks have come together in a joint effort to support Starship, our national children's hospital.
It's a fabulous book and a fabulous cause.
The focus is on family food - food you'll enjoy at home, but also food you can share or give to others, especially in their time of need.
Comfort includes a lot of tasty one-pot meals such as casseroles, pasta dishes, soups, curries and ovenbakes, as well as baking, desserts and a section on gifts.
As the book's editor, Lauraine Jacobs has brought together the likes of Jo Seagar, Allyson Gofton, Peta Mathias and many others to create a book every Kiwi will want to support.
"There's nothing more comforting than home-cooked food, prepared with love," says Jacobs. "And when that food is freshly made as a gift for a family needing a little help or cheering up it takes on even more meaning. The gift of food brings extraordinary pleasure to both the cook and to the recipient."
This book has 145 recipes with stunning food and lifestyle photography throughout. It's a must for every Kiwi home. A great Christmas present, with all royalties going to Starship.