Introduction

I have the 2009 edition. I picked it up for a song on a market stall 3 years ago and have barely opened it since.

I've always thought I don't use my recipe books enough.

Of all the books on the shelf, I'm pretty sure I look at my Larousse Gastronomique least of all. Why go to the trouble of hauling 3 kilograms of book off the shelf, when Google is right there in my pocket? At least I'm in good company: It's been voted "most useless cookbook"; and the best the Guardian could say about it was that it "makes a great kitchen doorstop". (I can't believe I still remembered this review 10 years later, and then still bought the thing!)

So why am I doing this? I'm fed up of carting it across London for no reason each time I move house. I want to force myself to learn some of the old school, fiddly techniques that I've been avoiding. Sheer bloody mindedness.

Initially, I wanted to start at the beginning and work my way through alphabetically. However, I soon realised that with over 4000 entries to cover, I was unlikely to make it to Zuppa Inglese before the eventual heat death of the universe. So I am going to tackle it at random; one entry at a time, however unlikely or unpalatable.

Of course there will be exceptions. If something isn't seasonal, I'll file it away for later; or if something comes into season and I just have to write about it, then I will. It's my blog. Go away.

Entries I'm looking forward to:

• Butter
• Whisky
• Choux pastry
• Cheese
• Cholesterol poisoning

Entries I am not looking forward to:

• Brain: Offal is fine, this is just a step too far. See also: bollocks.
• Donkey: "The meat is blackish, the fat verging on yellow". Yum. Also, poor Eeyore.
• Sea urchin: I had a bad experience once, and do not want to go there again. But I will if I have to. For Science.