Celebrity chef Jenny Morris, also known as “The Giggling Gourmet”, recently launched her new cookbook, World Atlas of Food.
The coffee table book includes 100 traditional recipes which Morris has adopted and adapted to her palate.
She talks to us about her book.
When did your passion for cooking begin?
It began at a very young age. I suppose you could say I was an early bloomer.
I grew up in the kitchen with my mother and father, they were very patient and always encouraged us to cook.
We grew almost everything we ate, and nothing feeds one’s passion and inspires you more than fresh ingredients freshly plucked from the earth.
Tell us about World Atlas of Food.
I have been fortunate in my lifetime to have known people from many nationalities and I have been lucky to have travelled a lot and shared stories, meals and experiences with them.
This has given me a lot of insight into their lives and cultures and left me wanting to know more, hence the book.
The book is an easy and interesting read, with easy-to-prepare dishes.
What did you enjoy most about writing the cookbook?
Researching how the other half lives. Discovering new ideas, techniques, flavours, customs and ways of life.
What I didn’t enjoy was piling on the kilos when formulating and testing the recipes, haaaaa!!
What are your favourite recipes from the book?
They are so different from each other. I love Asian food, so they are my favourite recipes.
You have been cooking for a long time. What are the most important keys to success in the food industry?
To be consistent, to use the best quality ingredients you can afford.
Less is more sometimes and be in tune with the seasons.
Cook seasonal local produce where possible – it’s at its best, well priced and abundant.
Have you changed your style of cooking over the years?
Yes. Although I cook many different cuisine, these days I tend to prefer Asian flavours.
I find that Asian food is light and fragrant, well balanced, it is quick to cook and it allows me to eat lots of wonderful vegetables in one dish – and my family love it.
A lot of people find their recipes online. What’s the benefit of owning a cookbook?
There is nothing better than settling back in a comfortable chair or being cuddled up in bed with a cookbook… I even read in the bath.
I love the feel of the pages between my fingers and the smell of the paper.
Olive oil, coconut oil, vegetable oil or other?
Olive oil is my first choice – and, of course, butter. But the other oils definitely have their place in the kitchen and for preparing certain dishes.
What’s your favourite restaurant? And your comfort meal?
I love Chuck Yang in Rondebosch. It’s a small family-run Chinese restaurant. I like to mix two of the dishes he cooks together.
I mix the General Chicken, which is sweet and sticky and very crispy with the Kung Pow Chicken, which is cooked with ginger, garlic, peanuts, spring onions, Sichuan pepper and dried chilli, coriander and his special sauce.
I pile it on to yummy steamed rice; it’s pure comfort for me and my mouth loves me after a meal like that.
What’s the latest food trend you have picked up on?
Tapas are doing the rounds and they will be around for a while to come. People also seem to want to eat real food, beautiful prepared ingredients.
They say that they want to leave the table feeling satisfied and not in search of a take-out on the way home. Fine dining, they say, they keep that for special occasions.
There are many home cooks who have interesting ideas for cookbooks. What advice would you give the wannabe cookbook author?
Many a wonderful recipe book has been written by home cooks, you don’t need to be a chef to cook good food.
Record all your recipes and make sure they are well tested.
Once you have put together the idea of what type of book you want, present it to a pub-lisher.