Lucky dip - Australian Women's Weekly Tomato Cookbook

"Tested by us, trusted by you."

It's not that I am feeling particularly uninspired today, it's more that I'm feeling lazy. I didn't want to think too much.

So here we are - one of my two or three Australian Women's Weekly Cookbooks. I think I also have a Thai one - which more or less taught me how to cook Thai food - that and Charmaine Solomon's Thai Cookbook. I have one on Cooking for Two, which I have barely looked at and an Italian one. I think I may also have a mini Moroccan one. I haven't bought one for some time though I do look at the latest titles in the supermarket. I think I have not bought one because they are a company that is attuned to what's in and what's not and at the moment it's all cupcakes and other kinds of baking and fresh, light, healthy. Not that I don't think we should all be eating fresh, light and healthy, but I have a natural aversion to books that stress the healthy part of the equation.

It's definitely not a snob thing though because their cookbooks are excellent. The recipes are clearly set out and generally pretty simple, but completely authentic - well in the sense that they don't use a lot of premade stuff. A recipe for a curry would have a list of spices for example, not a jar of a particular curry paste.

My early cookery education was a combination of watching and helping my mother and grandmother, lessons at school - where technique was the thing and reading recipes in women's magazines - Family Circle in particular I seem to remember. Later on the women's magazines were replaced by the rather more superior Sunday supplements from the Observer and the Times, which also, now that I think about it, introduced me to the 'celebrity cooks' - Elizabeth David, Robert Carrier et al. But I know for a fact that my mother and I first attempted the completely exotic spaghetti bolognaise from a recipe in one of these magazines. And thus began my exploration of world cookery. Doubtless the Australians were doing the same thing with the Australian Women's Weekly.

And indeed they did. There is one book on children's birthday cakes which is apparently an Australian mother's staple. I did not have this. Maybe this is why my birthday cakes were such a disaster. I look at what my daughter-in-law achieves and I despair. Mind you she has the benefit of the internet and how to videos. Every now and then there is a Best Ever Recipe book which apparently sells like hotcakes. And according to the current owners - Bauer Media, over 80 million copies of their books are sold worldwide.

It all began with a test kitchen which was set up shortly after WW1 - I assume to test the recipes which appeared in the magazines, but I think it was not until the 70s that the first books were published. I gather every recipe published is tested three times at least. So you would therefore think would you not that every recipe is doable and will turn out how it looks in the books. In a way this rigorous approach is the complete opposite to all of those cooks like Maggie Beer, Nigel Slater, Nigella Lawson, who encourage you to experiment and do your own thing with the basic premise. There is also not a 'voice' behind the recipes. In the credits you would be hard pressed to know who actually devised the recipes. Is it the food editor, the associate food editor(s), the home economists? Or somebody else entirely - the kitchen assistant? I take these terms from my Tomato Cookbook which I think was published in 1997. There is no copyright or publishing date anywhere to be found on the book (I speak as an ex cataloguer here) but there is an offer on the back page for a metric measuring set, which expires on 30/6/97. So one has to assume that it was published round about then.

On the back page of the book there are photos of 49 other books. Interestingly none of them are health centred. If anything the emphasis is on exploring other cuisines, making cakes and other such things and cooking for various different occasions - the famous Children's Birthday Cake book for example. In fact looking at them all I see that this is the time that I bought my few. As I say I have looked at new ones from time to time but have never felt tempted in the same way as I was back then. Well with titles like Vegan Cooking and the Mediterranean diet, I'm not that tempted at all. Oh and there was one 'health' book in my 49 - Healthy Heart Cookbook. Yes they are an institution and if they teach other people to cook like they taught me then it's a very good thing.

The world-famous Australian Women’s Weekly Cookbooks have inspired many generations of cooks. Creating, testing and publishing more than 7,000 recipes a year, AWW produces more food content globally than any other publisher. The Australian Women’s Weekly’s strength is creating new on-trend content, enabling us to keep up with the demands of an ever-changing market." Bauer Media Group

But back to my particular pick - the Tomato Cookbook. This is particularly apt today as I decided I would cook some kind of relish or chutney with some tomatoes that were a bit squashy. I actually combined a couple of other recipes, and then when I picked this book I realise that this is where I should have gone in the first place. This book is one of the very, very best places to find out all the things you can do with tomatoes in the way of preservation. Pickles, pestos, chutney, sauces, jams and more. There are 41 pages of delectable things you can do with squashy (or green) tomatoes. And I forgot that I had this. Which is the trouble with having so many cookbooks. But now that I have been reminded and tomatoes are in season I shall pick out a few things and give them a go. Maybe the hot sun-dried tomato mustard.

I'll leave the actual page that I picked out until tomorrow.