Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5849 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-21
• Released on: 2007-09-21
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Synopsis
Taken from his much-loved columns in "The Independent", "Week In Week Out" brings together 52 stories about ingredients with their associated recipes. Each week Simon focuses on a particular seasonal ingredient, such as scallops, or a particularly apposite dish, such as Wintery Citrus Puddings or a favourite foodie topic such as the best dishes eaten on a recent trip to Paris. The recipes all take their lead from the time of year, and use the very best in-season ingredients. Simon Hopkinson's enthusiasm for robust, flavoursome and homely cooking and quality ingredients is infectious; his writing is warm and witty and his ethos - 'cook for pleasure rather than slavishness towards fashion' permeates the book. It is a book written to be used and used regularly in a working kitchen.

About the Author
Simon Hopkinson s first book Roast Chicken and Other Stories was recently voted the Most Useful Cookery Book of All Time in a survey of food writers, chefs and restaurateurs in Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine. In 1978 he became the youngest chef to win an Egon Ronay star before moving to Hilaire on Old Brompton Road in London in 1983. His friendship with one particular customer, Terence Conran, finally led to the opening of Bibendum in 1987 where he worked as a chef until 1995 when he retired to concentrate on writing. His other books include Roast Chicken Second Helpings, Gammon and Spinach, The Conran Cookbook and The Prawn Cocktail Years.

Customer Reviews

Offally grumpy
I too, was misled by the title into thinking this would be everyday recipes, arranged by the seasons, but it turns out that 'Week in, week out' refers not to the cooking but to the writing of his weekly column in the Independent. Although there are 52 columns there are no headings and no very discernible order (starts with New Year, Christmas still being mentioned on p.67) so you can't easily find a recipe suitable for a particular time of year.

Although some of the recipes are very good, and the methods given are very thorough, this was spoilt for me as an enjoyable read by the sheer tetchiness of the author's tone. As the favourable review by Henrietta Green notes, he is 'dismissive of modern food fads'. Well, he seems to be dismissive of plenty of other things too: supermarkets, celebrity chefs, idiot readers who make his recipes using low quality ingredients, idiot shoppers who are too stupid to care what they are buying, even recipe descriptions (apparently it should be 'crisp' and not 'crispy'). He writes: "The suggestion that there is no need to top and tail a gooseberry is yet another indication that we, as a nation, have become the most slovenly of cooks". Well, it sounds like common sense to me if you're going to sieve them anyway, and this suggestion was made by Elizabeth David in the 1950's in her excellent 'Summer Cooking' so it can hardly be used as an indicator of modern culinary doom either.

This book would suit you if you cook a lot of offal and less mainstream ingredients and if you, too, feel pretty grumpy about the modern world.

week in week out,,simon hopkinson.
im sorry to say i was very disappointed with this book,with a title like week in week out i was expecting a recipe book filled with slightly more basic recipes but found things like smoked eel!boiled salted ox tongue,roasted quails,braised pheasant,duck pilaf,chilli crab salad,poached lamb tongue and the photos were very old fashioned very 80's.i dont often find a cook book that i find uninspiring but this really left me cold.i really didnt find one recipe that i thought sounded nice.

Simon Hopkinson - one-time chef appeals equally to professional and home cooks.
His new book, Week In Week Out is a collection of 52 `seasonal stories'. It kicks off in winter with such dishes as Devilled Whitebait and Grilled Veal Kidneys with Creamed Onions and Sage. Spring offers Tomatoes stuffed with Crab & Basil, Summer makes the most of Broad Beans with Cream & Mint while for autumn he suggests Scallops with Verjuice & Chives. These recipes echo Simon's philosophy of `cooking for pleasure, rather than slavishness towards fashion'.

This book is not just for the complicated. Check out what he says about something as simple and foolproof as boiling new potatoes. Apparently it's just not good enough to plop them into boiling water, skin intact, as I always do. Oh no, you should take the trouble to scrape them all over which results in potatoes "of another texture". And do you know - he's right.

Simon is dismissive of modern food fads. A lot of restaurants, he feels, serve food to please the chef's ego rather than the customer. His `classic' recipes will stand the test of time simply because they make good - even the best - eating. It's worth remembering that his Roast Chicken and Other Stories, published in 1994, was recently voted the most useful cookery book of all time by Waitrose Food Illustrated.

Good cooking, clear concise recipes and strong flavours will out. And what makes Simon one of the greats is his attention to detail, his loving and understanding approach and, above all, the fantastic food that every home cook can create simply by following his instructions.