The English Kitchen series from Prospect Books gives the reader lots of recipes and helpful hints but also offers that extra ingredient to a cookbook: knowledge and context. As very little of this has ever been dished up when it comes to English food, the series is therefore important. This book tells the story of English sausages through the recipes and writings of chefs, cooks and gourmets from the time of the Roman conquest to the present. The story that unfolds is surprising. The English sausage, so often regarded as a food of the peasant and the proletariat, has a long and distinguished lineage - the food of kings and courtiers, as well as commoners. The book contains chapters covering: the sausages of Roman England; English fresh sausages; regional fresh sausages; white puddings and hogs puddings; black puddings, smoked and keeping sausages. There is then a section on making sausages, a full glossary and bibliography. There are approximately 100 recipes. People now think of sausages in 'creative' terms: putting God knows what into a pork casing. This book emphasises the wealth of historical and regional recipes without the need for crazy creations at all. In our lifetimes we have sacrificed the glorious spicing and seasoning of good old-fashioned bangers for the repellent pap of pink recovered meat.

Pickles are a global food: from the fiery, fermented kimchi of Korea and Japan's salty tsukemono, to the ceviche and escabeche of Latin America, Europe's sauerkraut and America's dill pickles. They are also a modern food. Growing interest in naturally fermented vegetables - pickles by another name - means that today, in the early twenty-first century, we are seeing a renaissance in the making and consumption of pickles. Across continents and throughout history, pickling has been relied upon to preserve foods and add to their flavour; and in these health-conscious times they have acquired a new significance. Traditionally fermented pickles are probiotic and possess anti-aging and anti-cancer properties; while pickle juice cures hangovers, prevents muscle cramps in athletes and reduces sugar spikes in diabetics. In Pickles, Jan Davison explores the cultural and gastronomic importance of pickles from the earliest civilisations to the present day. Discover the art of pickling mastered by the ancient Chinese, find out why Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon took fermented cabbage into space, learn how the Japanese pickle the deadly pufferfish, and uncover the pickling provenance of that most popular of condiments, tomato ketchup. In this globe-trotting book, Davison discovers how pickles have been omnipresent in our common quest, not only to conserve, but to create foods with relish.