Product Description

Potatoes; chicken; sausages; garlic; bread; ice-cream; chocolate. These are some of the favourite foods that Nigel Slater - and most other people for that matter - is passionate about. He has written over 120 new recipes that show them off at their best, taking us on a sensational journey from the perfect chip butty to fudgy chocolate espresso cake, via a rich white coq au vin, potatoes baked with cream, mustard and smoked haddock and easy home-made summer fruit and crme fraiche. This is real food - uncomplicated, comforting and good-natured, made from ingredients that feel right together. There is nothing beyond the capabilities of even the confirmed non-cook. Some recipes take ten minutes, others a couple of hours of slow, hands-off cooking. The only criterion is that the food tastes absolutely delicious.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3726 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Observer columnist Nigel Slater has chosen his eight favourite foods and sculpted a sensational cookbook around them. And what are they? Potatoes, chicken, sausages, garlic, bread, cheese, ice-cream and chocolate.

For each of the eight he offers a selection of recipes, some from friends and colleagues, including Alastair Little, Rowley Leigh, Peter Gordon and Nigella Lawson. As he explains in the introduction, "By Real Food I mean big-flavoured, unpretentious cooking. Good ingredients made into something worth eating. Nothing fancy. Nothing extravagant. Nothing careless or slapdash. Just nice, uncomplicated food--be it chicken roasted with olive oil, lemon and basil or simply a big, fat mushroom baked in garlic butter and stuffed inside a soft bap." And that's pretty much what he's achieved, though he does let himself go on occasion with recipes like Deep-fried Ice Cream and Mincemeat Parcels.

The book is peppered with short essays on ingredients that bear Slater's trademark dry wit. He is definitely one of Britain's best food writers and his collaboration with photographer Jonathan Lovekin marks this book out from the crowd.

Daily Mail
'A mouth-watering joy - you could almost pick the food up and eat it straight from the page'

Nigella Lawson, Vogue
'Nigel Slater - never off-form - is at his unpretentious, delicious best.'

Customer Reviews

Slater Shmater
I used to really like Nigel Slater's food page in the Observer when I was a student in the 90's, so I decided to pick up a book of his. I must say I was pretty disappointed - Nigel still writes with an undiminished passion about ingredients and flavours, but the recipies in here are frankly lame. If you cook everything in butter and double cream of course it's going to taste good! And thanks for the recipe for a baked potato. What really turned me off was the recipe for a rump steak sandwich in which Mr Slater admits that he "loathes brown beef". What cook in their right mind "loathes" brown beef for god's sake? Doesn't that discount half of the classic French and Italian dishes amongst others? You're a fake Nigel, go back to journalism.

I Love It
I love the fact that once again Nigel Slater has delivered a book easy to read, entertaining and useful! (I already own his "30 minute Cook" book - though I prefer "Real Food" layout and content!)
My boyfriend bought me this book this week and I have already been into it twice! I love the way Nigel Slater divides up his book...not the usual Starters, Fish, Meat, etc courses, but into subject headings such as Bread, Garlic, Cheese, etc! Wonderful! Buy this book if you want to create good dishes that will wow your guests without breaking the bank or turning yourself into sweating maniac! :-)

Great book let down by poor quality manufacture
The book contents is excellent. I can cook a bit but decided to start cooking more and bought a load of new books, this is my favorite. It is nicely laid out into sections on chicken, potatoes, sausage, garlic, bread etc and some good pictures in places to let you see what it should come out like. There is a clear nicely written intro to each section to get you enthused and very easy to follow recipes. I jumped straight in with the Thai green curry that turned out really nice.
The only down side of this book for me was that after cooking with it once the cover started coming away from the spine. Maybe I got a duff one? Either way it is going back and I will order the hardback version or another copy of this one as I do want a copy!