Product Description

This is a classic 'dream' book - breaking away to a remote island and making a success of it - but it is also a remarkably useful locally-themed cookbook, based on the traditional produce of the Isles of Scilly and the special secrets of the bakery on the off-island of St Martin's. It's a book for anyone interested in islands and remote places, as well as cookery. Toby Tobin-Dougan made a lifestyle leap and moved to the tiny community on St Martin's, Isles of Scilly, where he opened a bakery, bought the pub, and installed a first-rate chef, Paul Websdale. In "The Island Ingredient" they tell their story, alongside 115 pages of fantastic food and bakery specialities, using locally-sourced ingredients wherever possible. It features text, recipes...and a third ingredient. The job Toby left was professional photography. This book is thick with remarkable photos of one of the most beautiful places on earth - over 90 in the section about the island, and another 70 pictures of the recipes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99024 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Toby Tobin-Dougan was born in Coventry, and later worked with the country's most renowned fashion, advertising and editorial photographers. In 1982 he visited St Martin's, Isles of Scilly, and falling in love with the island vowed he would find a way to live there permanently. Taking huge risks, he moved there in 1992. He converted a redundant barn into St Martin's Bakery and was voted Best UK Food Retailer by Radio 4's Food Programme in 2002. Early in 2007 he purchased the island public house, The Seven Stones. Through the inspired recruitment of a young and talented chef, Paul Websdale, co-author, they have transformed the business into a place of great success. Paul Websdale came to the Scillies as a boy in 1996 and returned to the islands in 2002 as commis chef at the St Martin's Hotel. After spells working for chefs Michael Caines and Martin Burge, a serious accident, and a lot of travel, he began his third season on St Martin's with his own kitchen at the Seven Stones, when Toby bought it in 2007.

Customer Reviews

Memories
Hi,

Great book, great photos and great recipes. We loved the book - it brings back the very happy memories of over 30 years of camping holidays on St Martins. Evocative pictures, interesting text and recipes aren't bad either - who can forget Toby's pasties?

If you're a committed holiday maker - a lovely slice of Scilly and if you enjoy cook books with a difference then this is a good one,

Kate

Not just a travel book, nor simply a cookery book. It is much more than that!
It is the recounting of human adventure of the noblest kind, of dreams fuelled by self-determination and a passion for learning, of a yearning not just to make a living but to live life to its fullest, with passion and sheer hard work, in a setting where nature is at its rawest and human relations at their warmest and, through this book, of a will to share this enriching experience with us through inspiring text and sumptious recipes.

In the first part of the book, Toby and Paulie, featured in BBC2's documentary `An Island Parish', describe their peregrinations through life which have led them to fall in love and finally settle in St Martin's. Toby's rich and lyrical descriptions, coupled with his fabulous photos of seascapes and portraits of local characters, are so vivid that you can almost feel the sea-spray, smell the gorse, hear the seagulls....Paulie tells of his fascinating travels around the world, learning with every moment new ingredients, new culinary techniques and new savors to implement, only to be drawn back to the island like a homing pigeon to try them out in the pub's kitchen.

Throughout the book we can feel the sense of belonging, the sense of communion with the other islanders who are also striving to contribute to the islands' livelihood and the deep feeling of gratitude to be accepted and embraced by this warm community.

And as the first part of the book draws to a close, with the beautiful photo of the departure of the last tripper boat cutting through the sea-mist, we are filled with a sense of longing, not unlike that felt at the end of an episode of an Island Parish, to find out what happens next.

Reading the recipes in the second half of the book takes on a different significance once the first part has been read. These are not just descriptions of ingredients and instructions of how to put them together, these are the rewards of trials and tribulations, of iterations of experimentation and customer feedback, of inventiveness and alchemy, of the orchestration of carefully nurtured ingredients. I am eager to get cracking on the bread recipes, to experience, just like Toby, the wonder of seeing the yeast work its magic. Inspired by the mouthwatering photographs, I can't wait for the weekend to jump on my bicycle and cycle to the local market in search of noble ingredients, herbs and spices to cook and in doing so bring into my home some part of this dream, of this good life, that many of us yearn to seize but few of us have the folly, guts or gusto to go out and get.

The Island Ingredient
A very good book. The cakes are delicious, it is possible to half the quantities of the date slice and you still have enough.