Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater
Author: Nigel Slater
"Right food, right place, right time. It is my belief—and the point of this book—that thisis the best recipe of all. A crab sandwich by the sea on a June afternoon; a slice of roast goose with apple sauce and roast potatoes on Christmas Day; hot sausages and a chunk of roast pumpkin on a frost-sparkling night in November. These are meals whose success relies not on the expertise of the cook but on the more basic premise that this is the food of the moment--something eaten at a time when it is most appropriate, when the ingredients are at their peak of perfection, when the food, the cook and the time of year are at one with each other."
—Nigel Slater, The Kitchen Diaries
Nigel Slater writes about food in a way that stimulates the imagination, the heart, and the palate all at once. The Kitchen Diaries brings an especially personal ingredient to the mix, letting us glimpse his pantry, tour local farmers' markets with him, and savor even the simplest meals at his table.
Recording twelve months in his culinary life, Slater shares seasonal dishes and the intriguing elements behind them. As someone who celebrates each visit to the cheese shop or butcher, he enthusiastically conveys the brilliant array of choices and encourages his view of food shopping as an adventure rather than a chore. A rainy day in February calls for a hearty stew; summertime finds him feasting on a lunch as simple as baked tomatoes with grated Parmesan. If an exotic mood strikes him, slow-roasted duck with star anise and ginger is in order. In The Kitchen Diaries, Nigel interweaves his meditations on how food should be enjoyed and prepared with his delicious recipes. No matter the season, The Kitchen Diaries offers a year-round invitation to cook and dine with the world's most irresistible lover of food.
About the Author:
Nigel Slater's autobiography, Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger won six major awards, including British Biography of the Year. The author of numerous classic cookbooks, including Appetite and Real Food, he writes a highly popular column for the Observer in London.
Publishers Weekly
Few writers could get away with what London Observer columnist Slater does here: jotting down what he eats and recording recipes for the homemade items over the course of a year. Slater, though, has the writing chops to make it work as proven in his memoir Toast. His style is lazily thoughtful, but also honest and unfussy: January 9 sees a "gray, endless drizzle" that makes it "the sort of day on which to light the fire, turn on the radio and bake a cake." The recipe for Double Ginger Cake that follows, however, highlights this book's sometimes problematic Britishness when it calls for both golden syrup and stem ginger in syrup, available, a footnote claims, "in some supermarkets and specialty shops." Slater's food isn't British in the stodgy sense. Indeed, he smoothly incorporates the flavors of other cultures into his cooking to make Indian-influenced Spiced Roast Potatoes with Yogurt and Mint, for example. Yet local references and recommendations, such as a tip that the best hummus may be purchased "at the Green Valley, just off the Edgware Road," will frustrate readers in the U.S. As George Bernard Shaw once said, the British and the Americans are two peoples divided by a common language. Sadly, much of this wonderful book is lost in translation, or lack thereof. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
See also: New Food Fast or Bacchus and Me
Year-Round Cupcakes
Author: Sara Neumeier
Cupcakes have always been crowd-pleasers at school birthday parties and neighborhood bake sales. But today they are also among the hottest culinary trends for sophisticated adults. Cupcakes Year-Round offers a platter full of delicious, grown-up recipes-Black Forest Cherry Cupcakes, Hot Buttered Rum Cakes, Carrot and Zucchini Cakes, and many more-along with kid-friendly PB & J's, Snowballs, and Spelling Bee Alphabet Cakes.
In addition to 50 tasty recipes, organized by season (Easter Egg Nests for spring, Reindeer Snacks for winter), the book includes helpful information on the basics of making cupcakes, from mixing to icing, as well as instructions for piping techniques and tips on customizing cupcakes with syrups, fillings, and decorations. Mix-and-match batter and icing combinations give the baker more than 100 delectable cupcake options. With its unique easel format and retro design, this book proves that cupcakes are just as much fun to make as they are to eat.
Author Bio: Sara Neumeier, a former food editor at Martha Stewart Living, is a recipe developer, food stylist, and writer whose work has appeared in Gourmet, Food & Wine, and Real Simple, along with Martha Stewart Living. This is her first book. Jonelle Weaver is a professional photographer whose work has appeared in such publications as Food & Wine, Condй Nast Traveler, and Gourmet.
