Cookbook Review: The Little Swedish Kitchen by Rachel Khoo

Cookbook Review: Little Swedish Kitchen 

by Rachel Khoo

Hi readers, we’re back to regular content this week; no more milking the New Year!

This week I’m reviewing a cookbook; I imagine over time this will become a recurring feature; I have a lot of cookbooks that I’ve collected over the years.

One of the first things that got me into cooking when I was young was receiving a cookbook; I actually gave my niece a copy of the first one that I had for Christmas just gone. I hope it gets her into cooking as much as it did for me.

Somehow this is the first book review on this blog, I’ve mentioned a few others, but no dedicated posts. We’re starting off with a relatively new addition to my collection that I bought towards the end of last year, while out Christmas shopping for others.

Browsing the shelves of the bookshop this one caught my eye because I’d recently watched the associated TV program, and I really enjoy watching the chef.

I’ll be reviewing, as the title of the post suggests, Rachel Khoo’s ‘My Little Swedish Kitchen’. When I bought the book, I was quite excited, being both Rachel and something a bit different. I enjoy watching Rachel’s programs; she’s easy to follow, and she seems so genuinely lovely, yet also speaks with confidence and demonstrates her knowledge. Rachel does have a couple of other books on French cuisine, but Swedish sounded intriguing and less norm.

It did help that I’d seen the companion show, and was captivated by it; somehow, I found myself box-setting a one-series cooking show; indeed it can be done.

Scandinavia does provide intrigue to me on a few levels.

I’ll start with the obvious for anyone that knows me. Cold. I don’t do well with heat, so a place that is cold more often than not is going to draw my attention.

Another attractive thing about the region is that in those random surveys about countries that you find browsing the net or in the news about living conditions, crime, education, government capability, and pretty much anything, Nordic countries always seem to come out on top.

I do have a personal connection to the region also, not that I’ve been, I will have to do so.

Literally in my vision attached to the wall behind the monitor that I type this on, there is a certificate belonging to my late grandfather, that I never had the chance to meet, for his part in the liberation of Norway, signed in 1945. Yes, I know, it’s not Sweden, but its next door!

Also, I have a fair amount of Scottish in me, so I’m near enough Scandinavian, you can probably see it from Scotland, okay I don’t know if you can, but it can’t be far off.

First Impressions

Okay, a first pleasant, albeit odd, observation. The book has a texture to it in the hand.

I appreciate that if you’re reading on a tablet this is largely irrelevant, but the cover is smooth; I want to say like suede, but not. The experience of holding it is weirdly nice and exudes a level of elegance before opening the book.

Flicking through the pages, the theme continues; again high-quality paper. You can tell that a great amount of focus was put into the finish of the product. I have many cookbooks, and this is one of the best-constructed.

There are pictures throughout of all the dishes, which personally I find very important for a cookbook, not just to provide an idea of what is being aimed for, but in terms of appeal, and motivation.

The photos are fantastically composed, and every one is a treat for the eyes. I’ve only taken one short course on food photography, as previously reviewed on this blog, but from my perspective the shots couldn’t be better taken.

I’ll have to open a thesaurus on the word quality, because it’s going to come up a lot; everything about the book’s construction, from the fonts to the cover is summed up by a word that I almost never use, perfection.

Structure

I’ve contemplated writing a cookery book many times before, and this book is surprisingly structured in much the same manner as I planned, which I’ve not seen before.

Following an introductory section, the book is split into chapters by season, rather than by the traditional courses. I love this approach as it feels as though the recipes are collated emotively rather than purely categorically.

The only flaw if I were to label is so would be that you would need to remember the season if it weren’t for the index or bookmark. Even the saturation and hues of the photography appear designed to match the seasons throughout.

The introduction, whilst not exhaustive, sets the scene well and provides nice anecdotes to add a connection to Rachel while reading. A great addition to each recipe is both tips and, where appropriate, preparatory steps. From the recipes that I’ve used thus far, the tips have been useful.

Recipes

For a review of a recipe book, you may be interested in how I got on with the recipes. As you expect as a benchmark, all ingredients are clearly listed.

On occasion alternative ingredients are mentioned for items that are more regional. The only instance I’ve cooked a recipe with a potential substitute was pearled spelt, which I’d never bought before, but I managed to get hold of it in Waitrose.

From my experience the instructions are clear and give a firm understanding of the instruction. When making the Spelt Pudding, I’ll admit that I had to look it up to make sure that I was doing it correctly as the instructions and image didn’t seem to agree on how ‘wet’ the mixture should be; I got through using my judgment and the result tasted great. I’m still not sure it was as intended but I’ll be making it again.

Some of the recipes in the book are also in the television show, which does add some guidance and inspiration to make the food.

One of the recipes that I made, räkmacka, basically an open prawn sandwich, which tastes better than it sounds I made after seeing it in the TV program.

As mundane as a prawn sandwich sounds its delicious, and if you haven’t had it before, make sure that you do, it’s got to be on the lunch equivalent of a bucket list.

Another lunch that I tried was falafels with red cabbage and dill, in a Swedish flatbread. Apparently, falafels are quite popular particularly in the south of Sweden. An unusual paring of ingredients, but this is genuinely a delicious concoction.

Dill is one of my favourite herbs, and going by the amount that it features in this book, I should be using it more.

As a typically savoury person, I’ve found that I’ve enjoyed a few of the sweeter treats, perhaps because being an arctic influenced country sugar is lesser in these dishes reducing the overall sweetness.

I’ve made a couple of deserts, the Spelt Pudding, with honeycomb, and chocolate balls, resembling truffles.

I’ve always struggled with caramel, but the honeycomb came out well, I knew that one must work quickly with anything involving hot sugar, I just didn’t realize how quick! Any longer and I’m not sure that it would’ve worked. Honeycomb and essentially a grain version of rice pudding, although better, went well together. The lack of sugar was more than compensated by the honeycomb.

Careful you don’t lose the cinnamon stick. I may have had to fish a small amount of tree out of my bowl.

There’s a couple of dishes from this book that I’ve got coming soon, the marmalade biscotti, grabbed my attention. Admittedly, I may be the only person under the age of fifty to voluntarily buy marmalade regularly.

The seafood and saffron stew also looks particularly inviting, I’ve got some saffron stowed away that I bought from making lusserkater, a Swedish dish, although before I owned the book, which has this as a recipe by coincidence.

Conclusion

An interesting note from a dietary perspective is that although meat is present its not prevalent. I’m a pescatarian, and have been for six years now, and this was barely impeded. There’s times were meat is used, but it can easily be substituted in most cases, especially these days when there’s a veggie alternative to anything.

I couldn’t more highly recommend this book, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed using, and reading it.

If you’re a foodie, but fancy something a little different cuisine-wise, Nordic is worth an exploration.

Most of the dishes are comforting and homely dishes, the sort of thing that you’d be happy to eat whatever the weather.

The food in this book could easily raise a spirit or two, they did for me!

Of the books that I own, this is definitely one of my favourites, and has guaranteed that I’ll be buying others in Rachel’s collection.