A compliation of the very successful New Zealand baking books: Ladies, A Plate and A Second Helping, Ladies, a Plate: The Collection is Alexa Johnston’s treasure trove of traditional New Zealand recipes, and it’s fabulous.
I’m liking
This is a truly beautiful book. The publishers have paid a lot of attention to detail and the result is quite stunning. Alexa Johnston has put together a large number of kiwi classics from both recognisable and little known cookery books through the ages. Many of the books have cute images and a little story next to them about how that book came to be. The page layouts are beautifully simple with some adorning handwritten gems. Each recipe appears in both ounces, cups/spoons and in metric so you can take your pick.
The recipes will spur memories in the minds of many kiwis who have grown up with their mother’s and grandmother’s baking in the family tins. It has images of the real deal – not always pristeen baking, but the way it actually would have looked when it was produced with a cuppa for arvo tea. I really like the real feel to the images.
It’s a hardcover edition and is quite substantial – over 300 pages. I love everything about it, from the stock its printed on to the memories invoked, to the conversations it can start and to the recipes I have tried. I often stick to the recipes I already know. I have already cranked out three from this volume this week! These are selected winners, so you’re not going to get baking flops from these pages. Sometimes Alexa has sifted through several recipes for the same baking from a number of books – and the ones printed here are the finest of them all.
Things that made me go hmmmm
This is baker’s bliss and there are no issues with this book!
The conclusion
If you thought Ladies, A Plate and A Second Helping were wonderful, this really trumps them. And if you’ve never seen either of those, then you will love this volume.
It’s pricey – around $60. But it is one of those books that will never go out of style and has the potential to be passed through the generations. And it’s worth the price.
You can probably pick the people in your life that would suit this book down to a tee, and if you chose to buy it for them for a gift, I imagine they’d be very, very pleased.
