A Cook’s Book – Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater’s two previous books Greenfeast Autumn, Winter and Greenfeast Spring, Summer can, perhaps, be seen as interruptions to the scheme of his other books. This new one is back in feel to a continuation of the Kitchen Diary sequence in both size, feel and content.

As always, Nigel Slater’s writing is a huge part of the appeal. Warm, funny and above all able to to encourage both hunger and the urge to cook via his enthusiasm for food and cooking. He writes in the introduction “I am a a home cook. I have cooked for half a century and still love every slow turn of the wooden spoon. Simple food, nothing fancy. Just something to eat really.” This downplays his role, he isn’t just creating something for himself to eat but something that can inspire us to do the same.

The book is split into sections by ingredient and occasion. There is a section called Everyday Greens which gives us vegetable recipes, some as side dishes, some as main courses; there is a section called Meat Feast which . . . . does just that concentrates on meat based dishes, there is a whole section on cheesecakes and one with four chocolate cake recipes. The last section is titled Just One More Bite Before I Go – no recipes in that section just an ode to the joy of a snack; a craggy lump of Parmesan, a spoonful of leftover pudding, an oatcake spread with peanut butter.

Hardback. 512 pages.

Measurements:

18cm x 24.9cm x 4.6cm