A Cook's Book: The Essential Nigel Slater

The appeal of this collection of good home cooking recipes is summed up in Nigel Slater’s own words: A recipe must work. Otherwise, what is its point? At its most basic it is simply a set of instructions for making something to eat. Fine, if that is all you want. Such recipes are concise, neat, spare. But I also enjoy those that are more than just cold instructions, those that are more than simply ‘do this, do that.’ The best recipes are those that not only work but a delight to read, contain a useful tip or two, and guide the reader to a useful result with ease. I like to hear the voice of the cook who tempted me to follow their recipe, to feel they are beside me in the kitchen as I cook, a guide and a friend. Slater writes recipes just like that.  A longtime food columnist in the UK and the author of fifteen previous books, he cooks food which is sometimes unmistakably British—Cumberland sausage with cheddar roasted-potato mash; smoked haddock and mussel pie—and a page or two later h