Book Review: The Graham Kerr Cookbook

A Book You Can Buy From Me

Book Title: The Graham Kerr Cookbook

Author: Graham Kerr

Author's web site: http://www.grahamkerr.com/

Date: 1966

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Length: 284 pages

ISBN: 0-448-01300-2; Amazon code: B000V1LXMW

Illustrations: many photos and graphics

Quote: "I had been taught to cook in...London, England, where I had been born into the hotel industry...I regard my move to New Zealand as the most important step in my life."

What makes this quote so important? It explains many things about the recipes in The Graham Kerr Cookbook. They were meant to be affordable and easy to prepare...in New Zealand; and all the lists of ingredients are given in a chart format that helps readers translate between a U.S. pint (16 fluid ounces), a U.K. pint (20 fluid ounces), and a liter.

If your computer can handle Kerr's rather flashy, video-rich web site, you'll find that this is not the way the Galloping Gourmet cooks now. Still a big fan of home cooking from scratch, kitchen gardens, and the simplest palatable way to cook, he now describes conventional "gourmet" cooking as "neck-up," concerned only with flavor and not nutrition. He no longer teaches "neck-up" cooking. Which is probably why, unlike many people who wrote cookbooks far more recently than 1966, Kerr apparently still looks about as good as he did then...and is still giving credit to his wife Treena, too.

Even in 1966 Kerr was a locavore. He wasn't worried about any food tolerance, fats or carbs, or similar issues, but his recipes do feature what people in New Zealand could raise or catch instead of buying. He was also partial to grilling rather than baking or boiling. The idea that grilling is a manly way to cook may have something to do with the popularity of his TV show in the 1970s.

The trouble with locavore cookbooks is, of course, that locavores are never really working with the same ingredients. Recipes always need a bit of adjustment. This is especially the case with recipes from different countries. For Kerr (as for many people in Virginia these days) lamb and mutton were local, possibly organically grown, and cheap; for some U.S. citizens this isn't true. Kerr also provided recipes for Australian crayfish, which seem to be a different species than American crayfish--they're the size of large American lobsters--and a species of clam that he says is found only in Australia and New Zealand. "Chinese gooseberries" seem to be kiwifruit, which are available in most U.S. supermarkets now but weren't in 1966.

However, these are mostly simple recipes, worked out in conditions of austerity, so adjustments are easy to make. Several suggested meals can be cooked outdoors. Most dishes are seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, butter, vinegar, and/or one or two spices that can be substituted; no recipe calls for everything-but-the-kitchen-sink. Look up what you have, and here's a way to cook it that most people will find satisfactory, quite often gluten-free, lactose-free, sugar-free, etc., and very likely without having to go to the store.

There aren't a lot of desserts--although there are a few--and the suggested vegetables tend to be beans, potatoes, and "a salad." Salad is the keyword. It can include whatever raw goodies the garden is currently producing. Most things that grow in the kitchen garden don't need cooking, so why waste time and energy cooking anything but the beans and potatoes.

There are lots of vegetarian entrees, but no particular consideration is given to vegans, who avoid egg, milk, and cheese as well as meat and fish. People who ate the way this book suggests could go for long periods of time without animal protein, since grains, beans, and potatoes are quite nutritious. Still, vegans will probably prefer to buy a different cookbook.

Although The Graham Kerr Cookbook is old and a bit of a classic, it was too popular to have become rare and pricey. You may be able to find a clean copy on Amazon for less than the $5 per book and $5 for shipping that's our minimum...however, shipping costs can be consolidated if you buy more than one book at a time, and out of the $10 we will send Kerr (or his favorite charity) $1, which is more than any other secondhand dealer seems to be doing by way of showing due respect to a grand old man.