There are only a couple of celebratory chefs that 'grill my bacon' or 'poach my egg'. Hugh FW is one. Nigel Slater is another.
Nigel is the editor for the Observer Food Monthly but has not appeared on TV for awhile. The OFM has been running extracts from his new book The Kitchen Diaries - which has just been published and, thanks to the wonders of Amazon, has just landed in my grubby mitts.
It runs as a sort of diary through a year. Amongst the recipes are successful forays to farmers markets, admissions of failure 'what was I thinking of?', and the joys of delivered pizza 'do our best to catch every long string of hot cheese as we tear our great pizzas apart'. Plenty of suggestions and personal opinions enliven a host of recipes. What is also superb - for me whose knowledge of the 'seasons' has been corrupted by the supermarkets - is that is shows exactly what is in season and what should be eaten. The beginning of October, for example, has details of roast partridge. My local butcher has 'new season' partridge in stock; I would never have realised otherwise.
The photos too are superb. Taken by Jonathan Lovekin, on the day specified, imbued the whole book with a rustic simplicity, printed in a muted tone that just adds to the deliciousness and delight of the book. They are a world away from the side-lit , propped and glazed food pictures of the food-style mags. I love it for that alone.
Judicious with his use of adjectives, Slater writes as he speaks - or at least as I imagine he would if reading this on the telly. Its a thick, heavy book with stiff cover and no dust jacket. I can see that its pristine condition will not last.
