Fabulous food writing and recipes (Real Cooking - Nigel Slater)

Member Name: _lauren_

Product:	Real Cooking - Nigel Slater
Date:	13/11/09 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great writing and recipes, good to flick through for inspiration

Disadvantages: Not enough puddings!

I am a huge fan of Nigel Slater's writing - it makes me want to drool it sounds so good! He has a way with words and is incredible at describing food. I have many of his books, and this is a good one. I have a lot of cookery books, and tend to read them rather than cook lots out of them! This is definitely a 'reader', as well as being an excellent cookbook.

The book I have was published in 2006 and has a much better cover than the one shown by DooYoo! It cost me about £10 from Sainsbury's if I remember rightly. It is currently available for £7.40 on Amazon though which is a complete bargain!

*The Book*

The first main page states "there is too much talk of cooking being an art or a science - we are only making ourselves something to eat." This sums up Slater's style of cooking; it is relaxed and informal. His recipes are more of a guide than a rigid formula. This works perfectly for me because I tend to use recipe books as inspiration.

There are several sections in the book:
- Introduction
- Pots, Pans and Heat
- Fish and Shellfish
- Chicken & Other Birds
- Pork, Bacon & Sausages
- Lamb & Other Meats
- Pasta, Beans, Rice & Grains
- Vegetables
- Cheese, Snacks & Puddings
- Index

So there is something for everyone! What I like about this book is that it contains information on ingredients. For example, at the beginning of the Fish & Shellfish chapter he talks about: why he likes fish, and white fish and oily fish and what flavours go well with them. He also says what to look out for when shopping for fish which I have found useful.

The recipes aren't set out in a standard format (as in, a recipe on each page), which makes this book the type that you flick through and see what grabs you. The sections make this easier to do. However, the index is useful if you need to find a certain recipe.

*Recipes*

Recipes range from simple ones such as 'Roast Cod' which is 3 ingredients and 2 paragraphs, to 'Italian-Style Slow-Cooked Aromatic Lamb' which is 13 ingredients and nearly a page of writing. However, all his recipes are simple and easy to follow. When you read them it is as if your Mum is telling you down the phone! He explains the noises, smells, and colours you should experience at certain points which are useful.

Slater doesn't have much in the way of puddings - there are 9, and the majority of them are fruit based so not so good for the chocolate lovers out there! He is definitely a savoury man, and this is evident in the way he writes about the snacks! Recipes for 'crisp, buttery, toasted things' buttery, cheesy, stodgy things' and 'cold cuts salads and the ultimate sandwich' all appear in the book and although it is not the type of things you would usually need a recipe for, it is a joy to read and just makes you want to eat it!

Here is an extract from the chapter 'Pork, Bacon & Sausages':

'To be good, really good, a sausage must be hot and sticky. It must sport that tacky, savoury goo that you get when it has been cooked slowly. It must be sweet, savoury, gooey, chewy and all at once. And a sausage should always be eaten when slightly too hot - part of the joy of a banger is to toss it around your mouth while making sucking and blowing noises. A tepid sausage is a friend to no one.'

Now I don't know you about you, but that makes me want to go and eat sausages!

Summary: At the current price of £7.40 - a bargain for a brilliant book