Product Description

Bestselling cookery writer Nigel Slater's mantra is "recipes don't rule". Appetite is the revolutionary book that will help all cooks to have fun making anything from a baked potato to Christmas dinner. Inspiring and irresistible, Appetite takes a hundred simple classics and casts aside the insecurities of normal recipes. Ingredients are listed, followed by a suggestion of how much you might need, eg, "double cream--start with 100 ml then see how you go". Readers will be liberated to use their own judgement and actively encouraged to skip half the ingredients for pared-down versions that will teach them the essence of a dish. Recipe titles reflect this approach--"a cheap spaghetti supper", "a big pork roast", "a curry to make you sweat".

Slater's typically unpretentious style and ready wit in this beautifully illustrated book put the fun back into food. The first half of the book is packed with instructive, funky photographs and covers all the basics--from "getting rid of the three-course-meal tyranny" to "why is junk food so delicious". A long and helpful section will tell you where to get hold of everything worth eating. Written partly for the non-cook, this will be varied enough to attract more experienced cooks and people who bought Real Food and want another helping.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4582 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
What is there to say about a new Nigel Slater book? Especially one called Appetite. It is exactly what it should be. This is the book he has been heading for all along. It is about food, to be sure, but it is also a statement of his personal philosophy, which seems to amount to this: that our appetites are founded in pleasure; and that we must interrogate those pleasures, and take them very seriously indeed, if we are to eat as well as we can. To eat well means to eat, and cook, pleasurably. So in Appetite Slater takes food, and cooking, back to where he believes it belongs, back to the realm of sensuous pleasure and comfort. Back to the sheer bliss, as he might say, of putting something warm, soft and sticky in your mouth.

Very cleverly, he has built his book not around detailed recipes as such--that would be too specific for his purposes--but around the sort of thing that might pop into your head as something you would really like to eat. No one says "I fancy Shallow Fried Herring Milt with Sherry Vinegar, Parsley and Butter Sauce tonight"; but they might well think of a Creamy, Calming Pasta Dish, or a Big Fish Pie, or Bangers and Mash. They might like to know, too, some of the endless variations they can play on these platonic essences. These are the kinds of food this generous and handsome book celebrates; foods that have a genuine part to play in people's lives. This is quintessential Nigel Slater, laid-back, not claiming any special privilege as a chef ("If I can do it, so can you" he remarks); and all wrapped up in that wonderful, lived-in, squashy prose that hits the spot every time. A feast of a book, from a man with no tricks or gimmicks, who is happily in touch with his own appetites and wants to put us in touch with ours.--Robin Davidson

Guardian
'...he's a genius, his food is scrummy and his voice more personal than usual'

Daily Express
`Slater remains the reigning champion...Appetite is an instant classic. It's comprehensive, inspirational and beautiful to look at.'

Customer Reviews

Food heaven for fussy eaters
I have several Nigel Slater books and, crucially, he has alternative ingredients and options for each recipe. That's what makes this book so great for a fussy eater like me. For many of these there are 7 or 8 alternatives, perhaps to make a meat dish vegetarian, or change the spices or key ingredients used.

The most versatile recipe book I own, and really acknowledging that people have different tastes.

The only cook book you will ever need
This is absolutely superb.Nigel Slater takes you by the hand and shows you how to create meals that everyone wants.He encourages you to follow your appetite, and not to follow recepies slavishly.I have this,and the 30 minute cook, and I am constantly suprised and delighted by the meals that any body can create.

Just Brilliant
Nigel Slater keeps me fed. He gave me back my enthusiasm for good, tasty food during a time when eating what we liked, when we wanted it almost became thought of as something bad. This book has proved to be inspiration and I have had fantastic success with everything I have thus far made from it.The recipes are easy to follow and the ingredients are all widely available. It is even good to read just as a book on it's own and his prose is so distinctive, you can hear him talking to you as you read.
So, what do you feel like eating today? Don't feel bad about it. Feed your soul and your stomach.