Appetite - Nigel Slater

Appetite - Nigel Slater I've been a big fan of Nigel Slater for many years, avidly reading his weekly columns in the Observer, and was delighted when I was given this a belated birthday pressie. It's taken me a few weeks to work out why then, in so many ways, this much-anticipated new title is a disappointment. The answer, I think, is that he's just tried too hard, almost to the point of desperation, to avoid producing 'another recipe book'. The result is a tome which rams its philosphy down your throat and then gets a big rolling pin to push it in a bit further - instead of making it incidental to what could be a very ...  Read the complete review

Have you ever visited someone's house and they say "Oh, stay and have lunch. It's pot luck, but do stay". You do and it's delightful and you just KNOW that this is how they eat all the time. There's no child saying "Urgh, you know I don't eat joined-up meat" and no man muttering "Why are we having mucked-about food?" "Can I have the recipe?" you ask. "Well, there isn't one, really. It's sort of Elizabeth David meets a restaurant we went to when we were on holiday and it's grown. If there ever was an original it's certainly nothing like it now." Don't you just ...  Read the complete review

In terms of writing a cookery book that is accessible and open to all, I think 'Appetite' represents a total, abject faliure. For all the culinary pornography that has swept the nation in the past couple of years (and by that, I mean stuff you look at, but have no intention of doing in the real world), I think a lot of people still prefer the Delia approach - simple, rigid and most importantly, reliable. Let loose in a kitchen without a clear plan of attack, I think that many people would feel out of their depth. So, yes, 'Appetite is the antithesis of inclusion, it's an exclusive book, it's desperate burning urge to make people experiment ...  Read the complete review

I am a big fan of Nigel Slater- I have faithfully read his Observer food columns and bought his last cookery book, "Real Cooking." However, I truly believe that "Appetite" has blown all of his wonderful past work out of the water. It is truly a must-have in the kitchen. Unlike many staunchly strict recipe books, this book offers a lot of really good and easy variations on each recipe. He might do a recipe on pasta with cheese using a penne pasta and a blue cheese and include the recipe and directions to make this meal. However, he also includes at least 6 different variations on that theme. Perhaps with a different type of pasta or cheese or ...  Read the complete review