Vous voulez voir cette page en français ? Cliquez ici.

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Appetite [Hardcover]

Nigel Slater
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --  
Hardcover, Sep 24 2002 --  
Paperback --  

Book Description

Sep 24 2002
“If you decide to go through life without cooking you are missing something very, very special. You are losing out on one of the greatest pleasures you can have with your clothes on.” — Nigel Slater

A chance comment spurred the heralded Observer columnist and wildly popular cookbook author Nigel Slater to write Appetite. A reader asked “If you don’t give me exact amounts in a recipe, then how will I know if it is right?” Slater realized the reader had so little confidence in his own cooking that he didn’t know what he liked unless he was told. Appetite is not about getting it right or wrong; it is about liking what you cook.

To help the everyday cook achieve culinary independence, Slater supplies the basics of relaxed, unpretentious, hearty cooking, written with his trademark humour and candour. Slater doesn’t believe in replicating restaurant-style theatricality to impress guests -- he simply loves food, and his love is evident on every page.

Slater covers the philosophies of cooking, the basics to have on hand, and detailed descriptions of necessary equipment and ingredients. He tells you which wok to buy (the cheap one), and why it can pay to flirt with the fishmonger. There are sections on seasoning, a good long list of foods that pair well, and a large collection of recipes for soup, pasta, rice, vegetables, fish, meat, pastry and desserts. These are straightforward, easy-to-make dishes adapted for the North American cook -- every one a springboard to something new, different and delicious. And with full-colour photography throughout the book, Appetite is a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought


Product Details


Product Description

From Amazon

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 --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

“If you buy just one cookbook this year, let it be Appetite … The book would be worth it for the photographs alone. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down!” -- Globe & Mail Wine columnist Beppi Crosariol

"Nigel is a genius." -- Jamie Oliver

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

4 star
0
3 star
0
1 star
0
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.0 out of 5 stars
Most helpful customer reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars I adore this book Feb 22 2002
Format:Hardcover
I am a foodie, and I love cookbooks. This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever owned. [...] I completely enjoy reading Nigel Slater's prose. He talks about food in a way that makes you want to eat! His goal is to develop enough confidence in his readers that they can easily find their way around a kitchen without being slavishly bound to a book. If you are obsessed with exact measurements, you will not like this book. However, if you want to become a more confident cook, then you must read this.

The first half od the book is written in prose with no recipes. However, there are enough suggestions that I found myself putting the book down to run in and whip up this-and-that just from reading the suggestions he has. There are lists of what goes with what and what is in season (although it is based on the seasons in the UK). Just reading this first half of the book (I read it as I would a novel) will make you a better cook.

In the recipe sections, many recipes begin with a vague recipe (you know - a chicken, a lemon, a head of garlic, a little butter), then there are several sections after that add variations. Each well worth the space it fills. In many ways, this is a great cookbook for me (if I may gender stereotype for a minute). Although I am a woman, my husband and father have both enjoyed this cookbooks. Unlike most cookbooks, it is more concerned with tasty food and skills in the kitchen, rather than trying to help you to get exactly the result that the author got when s/he made it.

Nigel is British, so you will find Britishisms here. Bangers are sausages, rashers are bacon. However, measurements don't matter too much since he uses them so infrequently anyway. One lemon in the UK is about the same as one lemon in the US! Also, there are several typically British foods, like British pudding here. But contrary to what most Americans think, British food can be amazing. Their food has not been as hijacked by convenience foods as ours has - so the food is real --- REAL GOOD!

One last point... the photography is fabulous! I read that Nigel insists on doing all the cooking for the photo shoots and won't allow food stylists to spruce it all up for the camera... so you see the tasty crunchy bits at the bottom of the pan... very appetizing.

I'm really hoping that Nigel will influence other cookbook writers to use this more laid-back style of writing. It's oh so much more fun!

Was this review helpful to you?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely, Positively Refreshing Nov 21 2002
Format:Hardcover
Blunt and straight to the point insight about real cooking. This book is great. However, I only recommend this book if you like reading cookbooks and you are an advanced cook or aspire to be an advanced cook. His keen insight and practical, blunt advice help to hammer home what cooking really is... and should be.
Nigel gives you a firm lesson in the fundamentals in just one or two sentences throughout the book. It's a cookbook that is mostly filled with great advice - kind of like a chefs journal on steriods. I highly recommend this book- it's the kind of book you can read twice and still learn more on the second reading. Bottom line = his opinions are really good advice and this book is like a casual conversation- except that he is the one doing all the talking.
Was this review helpful to you?
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Nigel Tells Us All About His Pudding. Feb 12 2002
By Noix
Format:Hardcover
If you were ever dying to know what kind of candy bar Nigel eats while waiting for the bus in England, you'll be fascinated to know that he eats Kitkats- but he still thinks they "taste better when you're sitting down". Anyway, Nigel in Bombay has a different approach, Nigel in Bangkok, once again- he's a softie for anything flavored with lemongrass. So, this book is 1) all about Nigel and his idiosyncracies (none of which were useful or endearing to the reader) 2) Nigel's displaced sense of taste,and 3) Nigel not trying hard enough to make effortless cooking seem easy.
There are only a small handful of recipes in the book. The first half of the book is useless to anyone who has ever eaten anywhere but Denny's or Burger King. Nigel seems to think he's brilliant and innovative for suggesting we place mozzerella cheese and sliced tomatoes side by side on a plate, then goes on to call Parma ham and figs served side by side "a cliche".
His recipes are confusing, too, because the format goes something like my example below:

RECIPE FOR SHEPHERD'S PIE

leeks
carrots
potatoes
lamb

Then, Nigel will go on to give some measurements, and other very vague guidlines for cooking that go something like this:

-a ground beef, or
-enough heavy cream to fill a basket

I don't know about you but I'm more interested in making good food. Nigel uses this book as an ego fount. Obviously he's experienced enough to do all this stuff by feeling his way through it, but how can you teach someone to slap bread slices on a plate and then how to make a fruit tart with the left side of your brain in the same book? Well, you can't. Nigel can't!

Was this review helpful to you?
Want to see more reviews on this item?
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category


Feedback