Product Description

This collection of recipes aims to make the secrets of Marco Pierre White's success accessible to all amateur cooks, and is full of tips and hints based on his feeling for the potential in natural foods from the land and the sea.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #418195 in Books
• Published on: 1994-10-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fascinating though it is, Wild Food from Land and Sea is a book that, in all probability, is not likely to send many readers racing to the kitchen. A collection of Marco Pierre White's restaurant recipes, it is more likely to be valued as a glimpse into the intensive, highly disciplined kitchens in which White's supremely refined food is conjured. Indeed, he says as much in his introduction, remarking that it amazes him that people buy books by professional chefs, the gulf between what is possible in a restaurant and a domestic kitchen being so vast. One might as well try (the comparison is not White's) to build a Ferrari in a garden shed. That this book assumes on the one hand the resources of a fully equipped and staffed kitchen, and on the other an intimate familiarity with the traditions of classic grand French cooking, is signalled by the presence of no fewer than 77 Basic Recipes, which are incorporated into the main dishes as sauces or garnishes. Quite a number of these basics are themselves built round others, such as the rich "Sauce Albufera", a confection of stock, cream and foie gras butter that finds its way into a number of dishes. In a way, to publish his restaurant recipes in their working form is a testament to White confidence and boldness. Here, he might be saying, are my "secrets"; take them if you want them. You'll find that the recipe, like a musical score, is merely the beginning. Like its companion volumes in Ebury's series of utilitarian paperback reprints, Wild Food from Land and Sea is challenging: stripped of any seduction of design or photograph, nothing survives but the recipes. But what recipes. "Panache of John Dory and Grilled Sea Scallop, Etuvee of Leeks, Sauce Lie de Vin"; "Bresse Pigeon, Braised Cabbage, Mushroom Ravioli and Thyme Juice"; "Creme Brulee, Pommes Sec, Jus de Granny Smith": Exquisite. --Robin Davidson

Synopsis
This collection of recipes aims to make accessible the secrets of Marco Pierre White's success to all amateur cooks, and is full of tips and hints based on his feeling for the potential in natural foods from the land and the sea. Marco Pierre White is the author of "White Heat".

Customer Reviews

`Almost as famous for his tempers, celebrity arguments and his fast-living as he is for food, MPW - the original celebrity chef'
`Almost as famous for his tempers, celebrity arguments and his fast-living as he is for food, MPW is the original celebrity chef.
`Wild Food from Land and Sea' contains over 80 main recipes, plus sauces, vegetables and garnishes, many of which can be made in advance.
Marco's innumerable tips on adapting recipes to suit your ingredients, and his secrets of life in a professional kitchen, ensure that even amateurs will be able to serve delicious food with style and entertain in confidence.'

`Six years ago my first cookery book, `White Heat' , was published. Since then I've left one restaurant and have started three more, I've gained three stars and a son, and I think I have calmed down somewhat.
My cooking has probably mellowed too, and this second book of recipes reflects this.....There are the old favourites here, which appear in almost every cookery book - the stocks without which a sauce would not taste right, and the sauces which are the making of any dish, whether simple or elaborate. There are also some more creative ideas, combinations which have worked well for me, and which I hope will do the same for you.'


175 quality matt pages, split over 5 chapters:-

Starter dishes
Fish dishes
Meat dishes
Puddings
Basic recipes

sandwiched between an introduction and an index.

The layout is understated, with simple occasional pale blue out-line drawings interspersing the text, rather than photography.
The main text is in quite a `fine' blue font, with a bolder recipe title.
A clear list of ingredients and method accompanies each recipe, along with relevant notes for each.

Recipes include:-

Soup of red mullet with saffron
Oysters with scrambled egg and caviar
Terrine of foie gras
Grilled lobster with garlic butter, sauce choron
Daube de boeuf bourguignonne
Braised beef brisket in a barley broth
Stracci pasta with rabbit
Champagne jelly
Crème Brulée
Tarte tatin of pears
Tarte au citron
Cadeau de chocolat
Basic stocks
Madeira jelly
Basic sauces
Mayonnaise
Tomato fondue
Basic risotto
Pomme fondant
Vichy carrots
Ratatouille
Crème anglaise
Vanilla ice cream

Truly the cookbook of the nineties!
White heat is said to be the start of the glossy cookbook era, but this book is so much better. Many of the rather heavy courses in his first book (White heat) has been refined to perfection, adding to the value of this "must have" cookbook. His puddings are simple, yet very subtle. Classics like tarte tatin, crème brulee and panna cotta makes you wonder if this is the ultimate recipes (no doubt better than the French and Italian originals). And this is just the end, the beginning is even better. Entrees like lobster on marinated potatoes and scallops with sauce vierge are genius.

The recipes are quite easy to follow (at least if you are a rather skilled home cook), the pictures are stunning (especially if you consider that this book was issued in the early nineties) and the compositions are vibrating. The only thing that can be criticised is that the main courses are a bit too heavy (at least from my point of view). You should definitely buy this book, I guarantee that it will be one of the jewels in your collection!