NICOLA GALLOWAY, POTTON & BURTON, $59.99

There are two parts to this book: part one consists of sensational but simple seasonal recipes with spring, summer, autumn and winter recipes for breakfast, vegetables, dinner and baking; part two focusses on preserves, sourdough and cultures, with useful master recipes for pickled vegetables, fermented foods and doughs that can then be adapted to your particular ingredients, tastes and/or needs.

The thing that struck me most about this book is how genuinely practical and useful it will be in any kitchen. That isn’t meant to make it sound purely utilitarian, it’s also a beautiful book, but it’s not one that is going to sit on your coffee table to flick through now and then; it’s made to do some heavy lifting in the kitchen. Reading through it, recipes and techniques that might have seemed merely aspirational – the type of thing I’d tackle ‘one day’ – are explained so well that I wanted to jump up immediately and get on the tools.

It’s also simultaneously a beginner’s guide and a masterclass. With this book at their side, a novice will be left feeling like they really can’t go wrong, while there’s also enough breadth and detail in here to satisfy the cook who wants to level it up and truly master techniques.

Ultimately, as Nicola says in her introduction, this is “more than just a book about preparing homemade meals, although that is a big part of it – it also encompasses a way of living and thinking about food”. SÍANA CLIFFORD