Among the English, there’s a strain of lefty loopiness that Mike Leigh captured in his early movie “Nuts in May.” I started to scent it when I read in the introduction to THE RIVER COTTAGE FAMILY COOKBOOK (Ten Speed, $32.50), by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr, that “the fish on Page 227 really was gutted by Mack, aged 9.”I certainly approve of teaching young people to cook (and to eat), but the charm of the book’s friendly pedagogy is crushed under the weight of its political correctness. The recipes don’t call for eggs — they call for free-range eggs. The detailed explanations of different flours, the instructions for growing your own potatoes and curing your own bacon (from free-range pork) seem designed less to awaken an interest in food than to breed cooking nerds. But at least the recipes are meant to be fun. I’d choose the River Cottage’s version of mac and cheese over Martha Stewart’s, since it’s not only less fussy (while still satisfying) — it’s served with bacon.
