Cookbooks for Christmas: gift ideas for all the family

Perhaps it’s a chilling portent of my destiny as a maiden aunt, but I am a great believer in themed gifts. Every year come late November I’ll sit down with a cup of tea, crack my knuckles and think of an idea to base my Christmas presents around. The year I moved to Glasgow, for example, I milked the Scottish theme dry, dishing out shortbread, knitted jumpers and copies of Boswell and Johnson’s Tour to the Hebrides like there was no tomorrow – even the copy of Rod Stewart’s seminal festive album, ‘Merry Christmas, Baby’, hit its mark. This year, skills honed over the last quarter of a century and the family grapevine fully informed of my role at Great British Chefs, I decided to opt for cookbooks. With the world of food publishing thriving and more diverse than ever before, finding the perfect Christmas gift for even the trickiest of personality types proved refreshingly easy.

From Elizabeth David to Delia Smith, there are a number of classic tomes which every keen cook owns – or, at least, should own. With this in mind, it can sometimes be trickier buying for someone who has a strong passion than for one who doesn’t, simply because you run a higher risk of giving them something which they have already. Stoke their interest in the world of food while making their coffee table look significantly cooler by opting for the seminal White Heat by culinary rock star Marco Pierre White, something which most foodies will have heard of but are less likely to have in their collection. It is widely known as the text which influenced a generation of chefs, reflected in the updated edition of the book which contains, alongside wonderful photography, contributions from a number of the world’s greatest chefs including Pierre Koffmann, Jason Atherton and Phil Howard.

There are lots of recipe books collecting interesting weekday recipes – John’s Torode’s My Kind of Food being a lively example – but I’ve always thought they make slightly odd gifts, particularly at Christmas. It depends on the situation, I suppose – for a student or slightly less confident cook preparing their own meals for the first time something like Eat by the ever wonderful Nigel Slater would be an excellent choice, but for an accomplished cook who oversees the majority of the family meals look beyond everyday basics. Try Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully's latest offering, NOPI, which showcases some of the pair's most popular restaurant dishes in a stunningly designed book with beautiful photography. Not exactly everyday cooking (although easier versions and shortcuts are offered for several recipes), NOPI is an inspirational book from a household name with a cover so sleek and inviting that it's bound to leave its recipient feeling special.

There are some people who seldom cook but, when they do, you know about it. Whether that’s because they’re giving you regular updates on their Instagram or due to the noises and aromas (or smoke) coming from the kitchen, for them cooking is part performance, part pleasure. Challenge their culinary skills – while also helping to improve them – with Nathan Outlaw’s British Seafood, a comprehensive guide on the different varieties of British seafood and how best to prepare, cook and serve them. Seafood can be notoriously tricky to cook properly, but with informed advice from one of Britain’s leading (and multi-Michelin garlanded) seafood experts tackling anything from a live lobster to a bones-and-all flat fish will be within reach.