Appetite

by Nigel Slater

Book Overview

One of England's most revered cookbook authors turns a simple idea--taking a classic recipe and expanding on it--into a culinary masterwork. Appetite is sure to appeal to first-time cooks finding... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0609610783
• ISBN13: 9780609610787
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter Publishers
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 3.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.8" x 9.9"

Customer Reviews

Master Class on Cooking for the Family. Buy It!

`Appetite' by the eminent English culinary writer, Nigel Slater is one of those rare cookbooks on whose every page you get a new insight into the craft of cooking. Nigel is to wunderkind Jamie Oliver what Tom Colicchio is to Emeril Lagasse on this side of the pond. And, Slater's publishers take every opportunity they can to trumpet Sir Jamie's blurb on Slater that `Nigel is a Genius' on Slater's books. I think I can safely say that Slater is not a `genius', but he is hands down one of the most thoughtful and eloquent writers on food preparation I have read in my 2 ½ years of reviewing almost 500 cookbooks. I know from Jamie Oliver's series, `Jamie's Kitchen' on training his 15 young chefs and from his books that Oliver is every bit as good and as inventive in his recipes as is Slater. It's just that Oliver is not nearly as reflective and as literate about expressing his ideas. Slater's objective in this book is to promote the great pleasure of cooking without a recipe. He states this objective, eloquently as usual, in the very first sentence of his introduction, viz. `I want to tell you about the pleasure, the sheer unbridled joy, of cooking without a recipe'. And, I believe that Slater succeeds in this objective far better than the well-intentioned book `How to Cook Without a Book' by Pam Anderson. In order to make this objective a reality for the amateurs among his readers, it is not surprising that Slater must present us with almost 190 pages of introductory material to bring us all up to speed. This is not unlike the situation with the talented Jazz musician, who must be a master of the mechanics of both his instrument and of the way musical notes blend harmoniously from two or more different instruments. The irony and great pleasure in these introductory chapters is in the fact that Slater is a real minimalist when it comes to kitchen equipment. He is perfectly happy with two or three very good knives, a grill pan, a saute pan, a skillet, and a large casserole which can double as a stock pot or pasta pot or braising pot. Slater is also very fond of his genuine Chinese thin steel wok, but there are very few stir frying recipes in the book, as Slater is quite candid with the fact that the home kitchen simply cannot reproduce the high heat under a wok in a professional Chinese restaurant kitchen. While I was very pleased with everything I read up to page 61, it is there, on the section on cooking with steam, that I realized that Slater was on to something important. Here, and in most other sections, Slater demonstrates that he is from the school which teaches us to buy the best ingredients and do as little as possible to screw them up. In this vein, he is probably very much one with the writings of Richard Olney of `Simple French Food'. In his lecture on steaming, for example, we are taught to not waste the cooking juices from a piece of steamed food. And, even though there have been many implements made to do steaming, Slater is a minimalis

Great philosophy of cooking

This is the cookbook that I've been searching for! Nigel explains his philosophy of cooking and urges the readers to develop their food instincts and confidence by experimenting a bit, not slavishly following recipes. The amounts aren't exact--the risotto recipe I tried listed "a big piece of parmesan" or something like that. New cooks may be intimidated by not being told exactly what to do, but this style encourages us to trust and develop our own tastes. I enjoyed reading this cookbook straight through and have tried a couple of the recipes. The pictures are beautiful and I've always found it handy to have a visual guide for what the finished product might look like. However, if you're looking for an all-purpose cookbook with a wide variety of recipes, keep looking.

Absolutely, Positively Refreshing

Blunt and straight to the point insight about real cooking. This book is great. However, I only recommend this book if you like reading cookbooks and you are an advanced cook or aspire to be an advanced cook. His keen insight and practical, blunt advice help to hammer home what cooking really is... and should be.Nigel gives you a firm lesson in the fundamentals in just one or two sentences throughout the book. It's a cookbook that is mostly filled with great advice - kind of like a chefs journal on steriods. I highly recommend this book- it's the kind of book you can read twice and still learn more on the second reading. Bottom line = his opinions are really good advice and this book is like a casual conversation- except that he is the one doing all the talking.

Improve your confidence in the kitchen

Nigel's book is not like other cookery books, but if you read it and accept it's premise that most cooking is instinctive, you will get great results from this book. Don't expect it to be prescriptive down to the last pinch of salt - this is not Nigel's style. But you will discover your own way of doing things, and develop the confidence to go on and create your own dishes. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - it's fab!

I adore this book

I am a foodie, and I love cookbooks. This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever owned. [...] I completely enjoy reading Nigel Slater's prose. He talks about food in a way that makes you want to eat! His goal is to develop enough confidence in his readers that they can easily find their way around a kitchen without being slavishly bound to a book. If you are obsessed with exact measurements, you will not like this book. However, if you want to become a more confident cook, then you must read this.The first half od the book is written in prose with no recipes. However, there are enough suggestions that I found myself putting the book down to run in and whip up this-and-that just from reading the suggestions he has. There are lists of what goes with what and what is in season (although it is based on the seasons in the UK). Just reading this first half of the book (I read it as I would a novel) will make you a better cook. In the recipe sections, many recipes begin with a vague recipe (you know - a chicken, a lemon, a head of garlic, a little butter), then there are several sections after that add variations. Each well worth the space it fills. In many ways, this is a great cookbook for me (if I may gender stereotype for a minute). Although I am a woman, my husband and father have both enjoyed this cookbooks. Unlike most cookbooks, it is more concerned with tasty food and skills in the kitchen, rather than trying to help you to get exactly the result that the author got when s/he made it.Nigel is British, so you will find Britishisms here. Bangers are sausages, rashers are bacon. However, measurements don't matter too much since he uses them so infrequently anyway. One lemon in the UK is about the same as one lemon in the US! Also, there are several typically British foods, like British pudding here. But contrary to what most Americans think, British food can be amazing. Their food has not been as hijacked by convenience foods as ours has - so the food is real --- REAL GOOD!One last point... the photography is fabulous! I read that Nigel insists on doing all the cooking for the photo shoots and won't allow food stylists to spruce it all up for the camera... so you see the tasty crunchy bits at the bottom of the pan... very appetizing.I'm really hoping that Nigel will influence other cookbook writers to use this more laid-back style of writing. It's oh so much more fun!