Keep it Simple: Fresh Look at Classic Cooking

Product Information

Like most people, I annotate my cookbooks - ticks, crosses, exclamation marks, emendations and suggestions for next time.

Thus everything from peasant cooking to classic haute cuisine may, by this definition, be accounted simple. Organized by season, the book captures the spirit of Modern British cooking, which Alastair Little pioneered in the 80s and 90s at his eponymous restaurant in Soho, and presents recipes which avoid fuss and complication, but deliver great results. The Times obituarist rightly said of his Simple French Food that it was "one of the very few cookbooks everyone should have".Every single one of the recipes presented is intended for any one from the absolute beginner to the accomplished culinary artisan. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item.

What we are after is "purity of effect" - which (you will have guessed by now) may involve considerable complication of means. Overleaf, where Olney mentions this item, I see I have underlined his words and written, "Why not explain what this is somewhere in the bloody book, matey? Alistair Little (British chef, author, and TV personality) puts together 100 effortless recipes that can be used in any kitchen. And here most people, and certainly most kitchen pedants, part company with Messrs Blumenthal and Olney, and also with Mrs David.The mouli doesn't work as he says, and on turning out the soufflé collapses flat and the sauce became a quarter deep layer on top of it, ie. This book may be twenty years old; but remember that in 1994 it won the Glenfiddich Award for a very good reason. I revere Elizabeth David, yet don't cook from her as often as I know I should, or even as often as I want to. If we make a dish once, and it turns out anything from a serious muff to a complete hash, then we don't cook it again. Alastair Little two hours (you're joking), Fay Maschler three, Frances Bissell four (getting warmer).

There are too many favourites to list but they include daube of beef and panettone bread and butter pudding. Before him in the UK, food was heavily cooked and sauced, year-round comfort food with barely a fresh vegetable in sight. But in practice, most domestic cooks feel that failure is indeed a disgrace, and that it would take some years of therapy to convince them otherwise.The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. This book won the Glenfiddich Award in 1994 and I still sometimes hear it referred to reverentially as the godfather of modern British cooking.

Unsuprisingly, I rediscovered timeless classic recipes that are still appropriate for cooking in the 2020's. e. how to decode and rearrange inadequately (and even downright badly) written recipe instructions out there in the vast spiralling market of in- and out-of- print cookery books.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.