>>> BlackFriday The Food of Spain
The hyperbole in the product description calls this book one of the most important books on Spanish cooking during the last 50 years. How does the book measure up? I own a number of Spanish cooking books so in addition to comments on Roden's book please also find my recommendations.
This is a decent book about traditional Spanish food but it lacks the passion so apparent in The New Spanish Table (or for that matter the author's own The New Book of Middle Eastern Food). I think you learn more about Spanish food by reading that book because its informal and youthful style (i.e. cramped with info side bars inserts loads of smaller less artistic photos). Off course if you want to learn about the Spanish regions and their specialities you should pick up Culinaria Spain. However Roden does teach us a bit about the strong early Muslim influence as well as the different regions. Roden's history lesson is largely confined to pre 20th century. Unfortunately you do not get any understanding of how Spanish cooking has changed during the last 50 years. Another solid book that tries to do pretty much what Roden is trying to do is The Cuisines of Spain: Exploring Regional Home Cooking - a much better choice (more focused description of regional differences more recipes regional origin of all recipes noted).
The book is too designed by the publisher for my liking; e.g. lots of professional photos (but why a brown tinting on all of them?) big white spaces (who came up with the silly idea of having 3-4 cm margins??) and very safe recipes. This would be a good gift to a more conservative person that likes food a bit toned down but still nice. (In contrast the first book mentioned above would be a good gift to a more passionate person who just likes to cook.) I am not trying to belittle Roden's book but cooking is more fun with passion (e.g. Andres's Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen or his DVD. Check him out on youtube if you are not familiar with him.)
I am also disappointed by having only 180 recipes in a book of 600 pages. The book has a lot of intro text so the comparison isn't totally fair but still pretty fair. There is just too much fluff in this book. Compare with the author's early book on Middle Eastern food having 800 recipes on 500 pages. Also many of the recipes are too basic like chicken stock aioli and mayonnaise. Those recipes should be put at the end and not given full page treatment. Alternatively more detail could have been provided; e.g. how pestle and mortar makes the sauce different how to make it without eggs. Things need to be taken to the next level.
I don't think this book is directed to people who love to cook. There are just too many short-cuts described (e.g. doing aioli with bought mayo) and the author giving approval to all these short cuts (probably on request of the publisher). Also the recipes do not contain any tips of how to really get the best out of the ingredients. The recipes are very straightforward all additional complexity removed. Some people might like this approach but somebody who loves to cook would like to know the details that lead to perfection and an enlarged skill set.
If you want more recipes per page I would suggest the books by Penelope Casas. Probably best to start with her first book The Foods and Wines of Spain which will contain the classics. Her Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain and La Cocina de Mama: The Great Home Cooking of Spain follow the same style. (I am not familiar with her subsequent books). Her recipes are a little bit more traditional in preparation but the author is not Spanish and she is very careful in spicing the dishes. Compare with The New Spanish Table that is not afraid of spicing the dishes. I don't know who is closer to the "original" if there is an original.
Finally I do not recommend 1080 Recipes unless you want a book written for Spanish housewives
