Qhere is nothing cautious about Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many (4th Estate) by Jeremy Lee. I kept wondering if the editorial brief was more! More stories, more illustrations, more wit, more advice, more recipes. The abundance feels contained, though, as it does the gregarious, expert and tender writing, in an exquisitely well-crafted volume. This is the most complete collection of recipes: pies, soups, stews, salads, tarts, puddings and a dish of potatoes, butter and cabbage called Rumbledethumps. It is also a biography recounted through home and professional cooking; a meditation on ingredients and eating; and a celebration of food writers past and present. Lee notes that time spent in the kitchen is “something to cherish and celebrate”. This book is, too.

“I was the kid you saw running behind the counter,” said Angela Hui. Her memoirs Take Away: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter (Trapeze) is an exhilarating delight even when it isn’t – for example, when