The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen |
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Nigel Slater
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Pages: 400 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0007199481
Pub: Fourth Estate
Pub date: 2005-09-27
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3365
Reader Reviews:
delicious (0/2 people found this helpful)
This book is as enjoyable to read as the recipes are to cook and eat.
Delicious, easy-to-cook food.
Written in such an earthy tone. I love it!
The Most Beautiful Cookery Book in the World (3/4 people found this helpful)
This is not the cookery book I go to for every day use. It is however, my most treasured culinary possession. It is as thing of beauty and a joy forever. Make sure you buy the hardback edition, which has marbled end pages and a cloth spine, just to add that extra touch of decadence to what is already an extravagant luxury.
This is more than a cookery book, it is about a way of life. We are privileged to journey through a year in the company of Nigel Slater. His diary extracts are wonderful, and his recipes perfectly complement both the writing and the superb photography in the book.
For me this book has to be read in one sitting, and then dipped into over and over again. I also like to read it alongside Slater's memoirs, Toast, which talk of his childhood and his important emotional relationship with food. Together they add a whole new dimension to the works and thoughts of this man.
Food wise the recipes are fantastic. I was having a problem with Nigella's Brownies because I couldn't get mine to cook through properly. I tried Slater's recipe and haven't looked back. They are fabulous and I always get a standing ovation. Other highlights are the pumpkin and tomato Lakhsa and the duck and star anise stew.
Disappointed several ways.... (1/5 people found this helpful)
Several disappointments with this book:
(1) Carb counters beware! Anyone who believes, like me, that sugar and starches are the culprits behind modern obesity, will have a hard time following and enjoying this book. Nigel frequently makes meals and entire days without any protein whatsoever. Sometimes without any protein or vegetables (pasta and rice are high on the list, or why not a whole meal of boiled then fried potatoes with beer - as per the August 9 entry on the back cover).
(2) He claims to promote seasonal, local and fresh.... Pineapple and mango in November?
Finally
(3) I thought this book was a journal of food-writing, not a collection of recipes... I was very surprised to receive a cook book in the mail!
Good points:
- Pretty pictures
- Comfort food bonanza
- Interesting journal entries if you can ignore the lack of balance in the meals (no protein).
The best! (1/4 people found this helpful)
If the house was on fire and I could take one cookbook it would be this. This man is just magic and so is his food!
A year of seasonal food (7/8 people found this helpful)
Ever since I bought this book last year, I have returned to it again and again for inspiration or just to leaf through the pictures. Nigel Slater's recipes are clear and easy to follow. All the recipes I tried worked out well and I think both novice and more experienced cooks will find something to enjoy here. The prose is spare yet sensuous: Slater really does love his ingredients and the whole process of cooking. My only quibble is that the pictures are not captioned or placed next to the relevant recipe so that it can take a bit of guesswork to figure them out.
A great gift for anyone interested in food and cooking.
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