Last night was the first family giftie exhanges of the season and thems that sow shall also reap with the receipt by me of Tarts With Tops On by Tamasin Day-Lewis. I am the son of the best pastry maker on the planet, or at least my planet, trained as she was by my Cordon Bleu trained great-grantmother who was the head housekeeper at the Scottish summer home of the Collins family, the publishers, in the early decades of the last century. A golden age and moment in the history of pie.

This is a good recipe book. If you have never really cooked, you would still need a Joy of Cooking or another real cookbook to get you through some of the techniques referenced by Day-Lewis but not described in the "idiot's guide" sense. But what reward if you take on the task - hot water crust, mash potato topped smoked fish and a healthy psychological relationship with lard. Steak and kidney - king of pie. I have made 2004 the year of ribs, made them likely ten times and feel I have it down or at least can make them for twenty, a good test of any proficiency in the kitchen. Can I do the same in the next twelve months for pies?