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, i.e. 'double cream -- start with 100 ml then see how you go'. Readers will be liberated to use their own judgement, indeed 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 put the fun back into food in this beautifully illustrated book. The first half is packed with instructive, funky photographs and covers all the basics -- from 'getting rid of the three-course-meal tyranny' to 'why junk food is 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: #4002 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-01
• Original language: English
• 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

Review
'He's a genius, his food is scrummy and his voice more personal than usual.' Guardian 'Slater remains the reigning champion!'Appetite' is an instant classic. It's comprehensive, inspirational and beautiful to look at.' Daily Express 'The total and utter must-have of the year.' Rosie Kindersley

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

Customer Reviews

Nigel is god!!!!!
I bought my first Nigel Slater book (Real Food) on a whim because it contained a section about cheese, my favourite food (!), and I have been absolutely hooked since. When I got 'Appetite' home I spent virtually the whole night reading it and devouring every word. He writes so temptingly about food that you just want to eat eat eat!!

If you're looking for fancy, pretty food then this may not be up your street but if you are looking for sheer, animal satisfaction and food that hugs your soul then this is the book for you! I must admit, I am partial to a bit of both types but this is the book I come to time and time again, the one that is splattered with all sorts of sauces, ice creams and bits of pastry, and the one that has produced groans of pleasure from everyone from my boyfriend to my parents to my friends who happen to sample my cooking with Nigel's inspiration.

It's not a book with strict, precise recipes, Nigel encourages you to cook with a little of your own judgement and he does this in such an enthusiastic way that it makes it seem easy, and it is! I cannot say enough good things about this book and the only bad thing I can come up with is that the food in it is so good that you may pile on a few pounds, but you'll have such fun doing it it really is worth it!!

Gorgeous grub
My brother's boss bought him a copy, which I nicked. I then bought my parents a copy.... No more is "It's Delia" heard at the dinner table... oh no, "It's Nigel".

This book hugely helped me as a cook. Nigel Slater teaches you cooking - not following a recipe. Indeed, the recipes are very vague in places, stating "a handful" of this, and "a pinch" of that. It's all about helping the reader develop their own skills as a cook. This is unfussy, everyday sort of food, the sort you want to cook after a horrid day at work, with an emphasis on using quality, fresh and seasonal ingredients.

I love the way the recipes have suggestions for adapting them. For example, his basic tomato pasta sauce has a page of variations, many of which are quite scrummy. After a while, you'll leave the book to one side and start improvising yourself!

But at the same time, this is a book you'll want to go back to. The illustrations are beautiful, and Slater writes clearly and with a warm humanity - he almost sounds as if he too has dreadful days when all he wants to do is escape home! There's also lots of useful information such as when particular foods are at their best according to season.

Great stuff for novices but (I'm told) also superb for more experienced cooks.

The man is a genius...
I own a numbr of Nigel Slater's books and this is my favourite - I have given copies to my parents and to my friends! No matter what occasion I'm cooking for I return to it again and again. Just reading the recipes makes me want to cook them and they all feel achievable. Everything I have cooked has turned out beautifully and tasted magnificent.

It is especially useful, if like me, you are a bit picky about your food. There are so many options for each of the recipes. It makes it easy to adapt to fit in with food foibles or store cupboard limitations.

Whatever you do though, don't ignore the first part of the book. This reference section is written with humour and a level of practicality that seems alien to so many food writers.

No shelf of cookery books is complete without this one.