Hello! Welcome to the third edition of the Candlestick Review.
Determined Productions were the Rolls-Royce of cookbooks. Recognisable by their slender square shape, they were always beautifully litho printed with kaleidoscopic illustration. It is my dream to own them all.
To write this I’ve just poured myself a glass of red1. For research purposes, I’m sure you understand.
BOOK REVIEW
VINO
1969, Determined Productions
Disguised as a fun, colourful book is actually a book brimming with fascinating wine knowledge. In just the opening pages alone I learned more about wine than I ever knew before (to be fair I knew very little).
Wine is the pure juice of the grape, naturally fermented, casked, matured and bottled. It comes in three classes — red, white, and rose (pink). Red wine is made from pressed black grapes, white wine from pressed white grapes, and rose either from a mixture of the two or from black grapes with the skins left in the pressing long enough to tint the juice.
Like many Determined Productions books it is illustrated by John Astrop and Eric Hill (of Spot the Dog fame). Already vibrant in colour, when litho printed the images literally explode off the page.
Some people like to pretend there’s something very grand and special about drinking wine with a meal. There’s not. What 10-year-old French children can do, you can do.
The book is essentially a short manifesto on bunking wine myths and snobbery. Woven throughout is a simple message: do not be scared of wine.
In spite of what “experts” say, there is only one rule, DRINK WHAT YOU LIKE.
What wines go with what:
The first section of Vino sweeps through the basics - where wine is grown, how to order wine, how to serve wine, what to eat with wine - before wrapping up with recipes, and brandy and liqueurs. You could, technically, now impress that wine friend of yours with all this newfound knowledge.
I will admit to being one of those people scared of wine. I like it. I drink it. But don’t ask me about tannings or grapes. After reading Vino I think I am probably still that same person. Except now I know to drink sherry with soup.
BOOK REVIEW
It’s jam week over at the bookshop. I’ve spent months searching for the right books. As a design-led bookshop I’ve found purchasing jam-related books particularly challenging, mainly because there are so many ugly jam books out there! Yesterday I shared some pages from the British Sugar Bureau book, A Guide to Making Jams and Preserves, over on the Candlestick Instagram. Like the Determined Productions books, I have a soft spot for 1970s food illustrations —
You can view the rest of the book here
It is 7.30pm at the time of writing, don’t worry!