Product Description

Alan is passionate about using seasonal produce, classic marriages of flavours and innovative presentation. The ethical and nutritional element of the dishes he creates are taken into account at every stage. Over two years of blood, sweat and tears have gone in to creating a book that offers an insight in to the sometimes complex cuisine of a highly ambitious top-flight kitchen. Each of the stunning photographs to complement every recipe have been taken by the talented photographer Mark Law.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17872 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 209 pages

Review
Among the hundreds of cookery books that have known in my time, there is absolutely no doubt that Alan Murchison's 'Food For Thought' is the most beautiful I have ever seen. A veritable work of art, it is the epitome of artistic imagination and exquisite taste, truly a feast for your eyes, even surpassing the evident usefulness for the ambitious cook. Its penetrating and highly selective attention to detail is overwhelming in every way. It is amazing that it has been produced (and even published!) by Alan Murchison personally. --Egon Ronay

Alan first came to work for me as Sous Chef having previously worked under a number of my protégés. During his 4 years with me at Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons I watched him develop tremendously both in and out of the kitchen to become a great master of his craft. I have been fortunate over the years to have some very talented chefs grace my kitchen and Alan is up there with the best of them. His true passion for food, creativity and attention to detail are second to none. Alan has a first class team that work very well together. The ability to motivate and get the very best out of your team is an essential part of running a restaurant and in that area he excels. In his producing his first book Alan has worked extremely hard and the results are stunning. I am very proud to give you a little Food for Thought. --Raymond Blanc

This is a fantastic book with superb images and really tempting recipes that give you an insight into Alan's culinary mind. --Michael Caines

About the Author
Alan Murchison is the Chef Patron and Managing Director of Alan Murchison Restaurants Ltd, who operate the Michelin Starred L ortolan near Reading and the award winning La Becasse restaurant in Ludlow. Prior to running the L'ortolan Alan was the Sous Chef to Raymond Blanc and Director Ecole de Cuisine at the Manoir aux Quat Saisons. For further information, please visit www.alanmurchisonrestaurants.co.uk

Customer Reviews

Hold on a second...
Now, don't get me wrong, this is a cracking book, but I think some of the reviews are going over the top. The organisation is good (I would prefer a cross reference from the 'basics' to the recipes), and the presentation is simple and clean. It isn't really a work of art though, and it is a book with a fairly narrow target audience.

It will be of little use to you if you are not already a very competent cook, and even then you are unlikely to be able to make the food that is so beautifully photographed here (who can leave their oven on for 48hours at 60deg?, professional chefs apart?).

If, like me, you want to be inspired to try new things, and to learn many of the intricate building blocks of flavour that are at the books core, then it's money well spent. If you want to cook every dish in a book sucessfully, look at beautiful photographs, and enjoy the writing, go for something else (Simon Hopkinson's 'Week In Week Out' for instance).

As a book it's very good, but not earth shattering. As an appetiser for Alan Murchison's cooking it's great.

Food For Thought - A real treat
This is a book that you should have in your collection whether it simply graces your coffee table or gets used in anger in your kitchen. It's the presentation that sets it apart; the recipes are doubtless complex but the stunning imagery ensures that you know what you are aiming for. Your dinner party guests will be in for a real treat should you decide to follow any of Murchison's recipes. The question is can you match the presentational excellence that the combination of fine food and photography sets? A real treat; go on, spoil yourself!

Food for Thought Indeed.
by Mark Geffryes

As cookery books go Alan Murchison 's first book "Food for Thought" is neither a cook's recipe book nor a `gastro-porn' coffee table book.

Most recipe books either fall into the Delia (and pretty much every other TV chef) camp - the aim is to provide a collection of easy to follow recipes with a picture of the finished dish so you know what to aim for. Or into the multi-starred Michelin, serious chef, camp - where there are recipes of immense complexity that professional kitchens produce day-in day-out, using sophisticated kitchen equipment and techniques, which only the most serious amateur cook would even attempt.

Alan Murchison may not be as well known as chefs who appear on television regularly, cooking or otherwise, and so his book will have a limited appeal. It is most likely to appeal to those who know him by reputation or have sampled his cooking.

At this point I should admit to a vested interest: I have been going to L'Ortolan for more than a decade, since the John Burton-Race days, and have enjoyed many excellent meals cooked by Alan Murchison and his team. I am constantly impressed by the quality, reliability, inventiveness and apparent simplicity of the food that the L'Ortolan kitchen produces.

Murchison's book is a labour of love. He admits it took more than two years to write and together with Mark Law's stunning photography he expects to be able to look back in a few years time and feel it is a book he is proud to have produced. This is a book you are unlikely to find in a best sellers' list or in the `75% off' remnants pile in your local bookshop; this is a self-published work of art.

As I turn the pages admiring the recipe pictures in "Food for Thought" I keep recognising elements, or whole dishes, that I can remember eating and I think this is how most buyers of the book will use it. I hope that having seen the picture and read the recipe the more adventurous will decide to cook some dishes themselves. But this style and level of cooking does not lend itself to a spur of the moment decision to make a meal based on what you have in the house. Murchison's recipes rely on preparation and buying good quality produce. At first glance the recipe can look straight forward with a manageable number of ingredients and not too many steps in the process. But read carefully and you will see the reference to the `Basics' section and this is where the flavours that will carry the dish start. Many recipes have half a dozen `basics' incorporated - which can be stock, herb crust, garnishes or a whole sub-dish. A number of the recipes open with the assumption that you are starting preparation 24 or 72 hours in advance of serving the meal. Theses recipes will reward those willing to accept the challenge.

The book begins with Murchison's background and the influences that brought him to become chef patron at L'Ortolan accompanied, mainly, by black and white photography of the kitchens at work. Then with the `Starters' the brilliant colour photography kicks off: Recipes accompanied by pin sharp pictures and the occasional page featuring the top class ingredients, in various states of preparation, like truffles! The `Mains' continues the visual feast with a mouth-watering array of fish, fowl and flesh. Although I know Alan Murchison can produce splendid vegetarian main courses they don't get a look in here. Next, we are into the `Cheese' course, no cooking just an explanation of some of the best cheeses available and their pairing with wine and food: Epoisses is teamed with Confit Red Onion and Gewurztraminer. The `Desserts' complete the list of photographed recipes. After the acknowledgements, with photographs of suppliers and produce, we are into the no-nonsense heart of Murchison's wonderful recipes - the `Basics'. No colour photography, just 233 basic recipes that underpin the cuisine. These are the building blocks of the great dishes that Alan Murchison produces.

`Passion' is an overused word in many walks of life - I have heard it used by many chefs when describing their motivation and it is used in the foreword, by Raymond Blanc, to describe Alan Murchison . I'd say Murchison's passion really shows through in "Food for Thought" - this is not a book to accompany a television series or a collection of seasonal recipes to be promoted alongside produce in a supermarket. This is Alan Murchison putting a stake in the ground and saying this is me, this is what I do and this is how I do it - passionate about his vocation.

Whether you just enjoy the artistry of Murchison's presentation, you marvel at the effort that goes into producing the dishes, or you decide to take up the challenge to cook some recipes yourself - this is a book you will keep returning to especially if you dine at either L'Ortolan or la Becasse.

In conclusion, I'd like to say I am about to start preparing the Duck Terrine on page 35 to be followed by the glorious Oxtail on page 81 - but after checking what is involved I think I'll take the easy option and just book a table at L'Ortolan and have Alan Murchison cook it for me!