A Handbook of Scotland’s Wild Harvests by Fi Martynoga

A Handbook of Scotland’s Wild Harvests is essentially a guidebook to all things edible that grow around us in northern Britain. It’s beautifully put together and edited by a good friend Fi Martynoga, who famously lived for a year as an 18th-century woman—in a cottage at the bottom of her garden, with no mod cons!

It’s a superb, informative guide with an introduction from Emma Chapman and contributors dotted all the way through offering ideas for what to do with various berries, mushrooms, trees and more. There are also plenty of insights into basketry, broom making, green woodworking and log stacking—some of my favourite pastimes. 

This book is a perfect companion for anyone who ventures outdoors and wants to make the most of their surroundings. Did you know, for example, that a wild cherry in Scotland is called a gean; that gathering birch twigs to form a broom stick (like a witch’s one) was common until not long ago; bracken was used for thatching; and that we ate pignuts and all sorts of wild leaves like burdock root and sea buckthorn. 

There are recipes too, running all the way through the book, for teas, infusions, mushrooms and more. So plenty of ideas for what to do with what you find. I was delighted to be asked to write a few words ago for the back cover when this book was published—a very proud moment for me, as the late Andrew Fairlie was asked too. This book is a must, for all.

Cuisine Actuelle, presenting the cuisine of Joel Robuchon by Patricia Wells

I’ve chosen a great read this week: Cuisine Actuelle, presenting the cuisine of Joel Robuchon by Patricia Wells. As a young chef, I used to read it often before going to sleep. The fact that this chef became so popular for his mashed potato, or pomme purée, is testament to the simple cooking here. 

A perfectionist, Joel famously held 31 Michelin Stars and I so wish I had gone to Paris to work with him all those years ago. His style was classic but with a simplistic approach. His plating of dishes was superb and he made food look wonderful. In this book you’ll find a brilliant collection of his recipes written by Patricia Wells, a highly-respected food writer and former restaurant critic for the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. 

Joel had many restaurants dotted across the world and was a regular on French TV. He was a powerful figure in the culinary world and the chair of the committee of Larousse Gastronomique. Sadly he passed away in 2018 aged 73. This is a book that I don’t read or look at that often, but when I do, it reminds me of a time when I was reading everything I could about food. Do have a go at making his pomme purée.

La Potiniere and Friends by David and Hilary Brown

La Potiniere and Friends is a wonderful cookery book. It’s not a book of fancy pictures, it’s a book of good recipes, from a time I remember well. David and Hilary Brown ran this quaint little restaurant in Gullane, East Lothian, and in it's day it was a place to go and eat great food. Service was unobtrusive, and as there was only David and Hilary running the place, standards were kept up. 

I recall eating there when I worked on The Royal Scotsman train. I was taken there by my boss, Stephen Coupe. It was glorious and I had a hallelujah moment. I dined on a delicious sole mouse and butter sauce, then wild duck breast with cabbage and bacon, fondant potatoes and a wonderful sauce, a piece of brie at perfect temperature with biscuits, finishing with a lemon tart for pudding. It was flawless. 

The book takes you on a journey through their food history of holidays in France with stories and anecdotes. They were quite a couple, and although I didn’t get to know them well, they always ate in places I was working. It was a great time and their book is a lovely addition to any collection. The few images there are provide a snapshot of what it was like to eat there. It’s still a great restaurant, but not run by these chaps anymore.

Nose To Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson

Nose To Tail Eating, A Kind Of British Cooking by Fergus Henderson with an introduction by guess who? Anthony Bourdain. This book has quite simply changed how many of us now eat out in Britain. How we cook, buy food and where we like to go and eat, is down to a few people. Fergus Henderson is admired by so many chefs and cooks, and along with his wife Margot, who cooks at Rochelle Canteen, and Trevor Gulliver who looks after the wine, they have changed so much. 

I have eaten his food many times and read his books. He has an intelligent, thoughtful ability to showcase ingredients and be brave by doing as little as possible to them, just cooking and serving them simply in humble surroundings with good wine and bread. His food isn’t technical but there is a touch of genius. For instance, a bone marrow and parsley salad with toast, a thing sent from the gods. A plate of yesterday’s cold roast meat with a few leaves, perfectly dressed in his ingenious dressing with that mustard kick that I love. A slice of terrine and cornichons. It's mind-blowing stuff and if there is a god, thank you for creating this place. If I could, I genuinely would eat in one of his restaurants every day. 

But if you eat at many restaurants throughout the UK, there will be a lesson learnt from this book in there somewhere. Even the fancy chefs who put dots on rocks for you to lick on a 37-course tasting menu eat there on their day off, because it is proper food. I ate there once and Thomas Keller, the great American chef, was on the next table. St John has a Michelin star but I feel it should have 3. 

Some folk don’t get it, and baulk at eating ox heart and chips, but it is truly delicious. There are no prima donnas here, and no tweezers in the kitchen. The front-of-house staff wear chef jackets, there is no art hanging, the place is very austere, the wine is excellent, I could go on…

This is a book that many will own and use as it has a great list of Fergus’ recipes that work. It’s as strong a book and as ‘go-to’ today as it has ever been. Remember, St John opened 30 years ago! If you go to London, please eat in one of their places.

The Food of The Scots by Alexander Fenton

The Food of The Scots, Scottish Life and Society by Alexander Fenton is my go-to book for anything historical regarding our food history in Scotland. It’s a fascinating account of what we ate hundreds of years ago in different parts of the country; describing what we ate at different times of the year in astonishing detail. 

Up until the 1970s we all seemed to eat a diet based on food grown locally. There didn’t seem to be a problem with over-eating—it was a good, balanced, simple diet without many options for fussy eaters. From porridge and parton bree (crab soup) to brose and bannocks, the study of what we ate, what we farmed and how this was distributed to the people is fascinating. 

For example, in the 1790s we existed mainly on oats, potatoes, turnips, herring, salt pork, blood in the form of black pudding, peasemeal, eggs, kale and sometimes butter. Wheaten bread was kept as a delicacy reserved for baptisms and marriages. Breakfast mainly consisted of porridge, or brose made from peasemeal; and lunch was something similar, with potatoes or bacon if you were lucky. A stew of sorts with veg and a bit of mutton was enjoyed, and oatcakes were popular right back in time as oats were easy to grow in our harsh climate. 

Soups and broths were also hugely popular, and this tradition carried on well in to the 70s and 80s as our own memories can recall the pot of soup always on the go. A great reference book. Everyone interested in their food history should keep this book close at hand.

A Blanc Christmas by Raymond Blanc

A Blanc Christmas by Raymond Blanc. This is a lovely festive collection of seasonal recipes, A glorious treat with some simple and stunning showstoppers to pull out of the bag for the table when friends and family are round. Some classics are here like turkey and Christmas pudding, and it's all warmed up by having images of roaring fires and decorated mantlepieces.

It’s a great book, well put together with great images and sadly one I only flick through once a year. Blanc does do a good cookbook and I am huge admirer. His place Le Manoir Aux ‘Quat Saisons is beautiful, with a kitchen garden to die for and the house itself is just stunning.

I will never forget when I worked for him, I turned up in an old MG and walked in the front door. Reception was horrified! I was soon rushed around the back to the kitchens. Chefs weren’t allowed to be seen in those days, now look at us.

Packed full of wintry dishes, using seasonal produce all readily available, it’s a great book to have in the library to feel that hint of Christmas magic as you flick through the pages.

The River Cafe Cookbook

Many of you will know and own this book. It was gifted to me in ’96 by Adrian, The Royal Scotsman train manager. The River Cafe Cookbook was a big hit when it was first published in the mid-90s. It was a time of simplicity, head-to-head with haute cuisine.

The restaurant in Hammersmith is notorious for being tricky to get a table, and guests have to leave by 10.30 at night as it’s in a residential area. The dishes are expensive, and rightly so as the produce is of exceptional quality.

The book was one of the first that didn’t bother too much about how pretty a dish looked. It was tasty Italian food, using incredible produce. I often mention the meals I have eaten there; squid with chilli and rocket, lamb with salsa verde. The chicken with mascarpone, prosciutto and lemon stuffed just under the skin is mind-blowing, full of flavour and so tasty. The vignole is a dish I have cooked many times, not great to look at, but it has the beauty of ingredients all working in harmony. It’s an orchestra on a simple, white plate with lashings of olive oil.

The controversy at the time of publication came in the form of the chocolate nemesis recipe. It gave many a yuppie, night terrors as their recipe “didn’t work”. It does, and I make it a lot as it’s heavenly. And that piece of gorgonzola I ate there a few years back, made me weep with joy. This book is a must in every home, written by Rose Gray and Ruth Rodgers, two fabulous chefs. Sadly, Rose is no longer with us, but Ruth is still there cooking, and just being so cool.

A Taste of Australia, The Bathers Pavilion Cookbook

This is a stunning example of what the food scene was like in the early to mid-nineties in Australia. A Taste of Australia, The Bathers Pavilion Cookbook has always been a go-to book for me for its cool vibe. It was ahead of its time, as hot young chefs in the UK like Marco Pierre White were still classically French based. 

Here we have sunshine, beaches and elegant table settings. The food is so simple with combinations like barramundi (an Aussie fish) with a coconut curry sauce—a dish I would devour whilst appreciating the melting pot of cultures in this beautiful country. The chilli salt squid is wonderful, and there are European influences with baked eggs and sweet baked ricotta, or tzatziki and hummus.

Victoria Alexander and Genevieve Harris did a great job creating this restaurant near Sydney, with Harris described as “a perfectionist”, and a chef of “incredible finesse and refinement”. It felt like a slice of the Mediterranean down under. A wonderful book to cook from. 

The food photography is simple and elegant, and the drawings reflect the colours of this beautiful land. I had such fun cooking in Australia and still miss it. But flicking through this book brings back many wonderful memories of happy times and lovely tastes.

Ruth Mott’s Favourite Recipes

Ruth Mott’s Favourite Recipes, Heart Warming dishes from BBC’s Victorian Kitchen Cook, may surprise some of you as it isn’t a glitzy, cool or trendy book. It’s a book I’ve had for years, given to me by some very dear friends as a birthday gift.

Years ago, I remember watching the television programme The Victorian Kitchen Garden with Ruth Mott the cook, and Harry Dodson the gardener who brought her the most incredible produce from the walled garden just outside the kitchen door. I fell immediately for this wonderful cook. There was a dish that stuck in my mind, where she took mutton chops and dipped them in egg and breadcrumbs and to this day I drool over that dish. She also made a leek pudding with a suet crust; nothing fancy, just proper food using vegetables from the garden, kept so simple. The sound of her cutting through a big, fat leek, hitting the wooden chopping board with her knife, is engrained in my head.

Ruth was born in 1917 and lived a busy life with her television career taking off when she turned 70. In 1970 she went to work as a private cook at a big house in Berkshire and spent the next 18 years cooking there, using old recipes from Victorian and Edwardian times. In 2001 she was a consultant historical cook for the film Gosford Park. Ruth passed away at the age of 95. What an innings. A chef/ cook who could show us all a thing or two.

This is a book I hope young chefs pick up and get something from. There’s a charm about the recipes. The images are very ’80s, but still lovely to look at.

Memories of Gascony by Pierre Koffman

This week I bring you a fabulous book by Pierre Koffman. Memories of Gascony is a masterpiece, full of stories and recipes that sit just right with me. As a young chef it was one of those books I read often: in kitchens, staff accommodation or in bed until the small hours, thinking about all this rich, decadent, yet essentially peasant food. 

Possibly because I was far away from family and feeling a bit lonely and sorry for myself, this book really made me feel at ease. Foie gras, duck, pork, beans and goose fat all still make me salivate to this day.

I was mesmerised by the different the lifestyle of people in south west France in the 50s and 60s. Pierre talks fondly of his grandparents and how people cooked, offering us a slice of history. It’s a rich insight into that rural part of the world and how people (without much money) ate not merely to survive, but to be happy.

Pierre came to London in 1970 to work at Le Gavroche with the Roux brothers, later becoming Head Chef at The Waterside Inn in Bray. Within 6 years of opening his own restaurant, La Tante Claire in London, he had earned 3 Michelin stars. This book is still a great read, and continues to inspire many a young chef.