Kitabı oku: «Eat – The Little Book of Fast Food»

For James Thompson

Acknowledgements

Early in 1991, I received a letter from Louise Haines, from the publishers Michael Joseph, enquiring whether I had ever considered writing a book. She had read a piece I had written in a magazine and wondered whether we could meet up. I replied that I was flattered and grateful but felt that writing a book was beyond me. Two days later she had talked me into lunch. A meal at which we hatched the idea for my first book, Real Fast Food, which was published in autumn 1992. Twenty-one years, ten cookery books, a memoir, a collection of essays and a change of publisher behind us, she remains my editor. I can never thank her enough.

Louise, this book is for you.

To: James Thompson, for his endless inspiration, wisdom, support and friendship. Without you there would be no books, no television series and my life wouldn’t be half as much fun. Thank you, sir, for everything.

My gratitude and love also goes to Victoria Barnsley, Jonathan Lovekin, Allan Jenkins, Ruaridh Nicoll, Gareth Grundy, Michelle Kane, Georgia Mason, Olly Rowse, Jane Middleton, Annie Lee, David Pearson, Gary Simpson, Araminta Whitley, Rosemary Scoular, Sophie Hughes, Richard Stepney at Fourth Floor, Rob Watson and everyone at ph9 and Dalton Wong and George Ashwell at Twenty Two Training. Thank you too to Jenny Zarins for allowing us to use her thoughtful portrait of me. And a big shout out to everyone at the Observer and all my followers on Twitter @nigelslater. Thank you one and all.

Introduction

Sometimes we cook purely for the pleasure of it, understanding the provenance of our ingredients, choosing them with great care, thoughtfully taking them on the journey from shop to plate. We seek out the perfect recipe and take our time, lovingly preparing our dinner from scratch. There are times when we might want to take the whole business even more seriously, meeting those who produced it or, if we have the space, growing some of it for ourselves. We want to consider it, discuss it, perhaps even write about it and photograph it.

But sometimes, we just want to eat.

This little book is for those times. The days when we have barely an hour to cook. The times we just want something delicious on a plate at the end of our working day. Yes, we can phone for a pizza, a Chinese or Indian takeaway. We can drop by that Vietnamese place on the way home or pick up a ready-made microwavable delight from the supermarket. But as much as I enjoy the odd takeaway, I have always found dinner is more life-enhancing when I have done more than open a box or picked up the phone. There is something, however quickly, for ourselves, or for someone else. That is why I have written this book and why its subtitle is The Little Book of Fast Food. A collection of recipes that you can have on the table in less than an hour.

By ‘fast’ I do not mean thoughtless or careless. There is great joy to be had in a perfectly cooked steak, its fat crisping lightly on the grill; a single fillet of spanking fresh fish singing to itself, quietly, in butter; a baked potato whose flesh has been mashed and freckled with rust-red, fat-peppered chorizo. Simple things, done well. Go up a notch and there is a thin, gold and white frittata of goat’s cheese; a light chicken ragù with thyme and spring onion; or a broth made with pork ribs and dark stars of anise. Even at its most complex, a Thai vegetable curry is made in minutes once you have blitzed the lemon grass, ginger, chillies, garlic and coriander to a yellow-green paste in the food processor. Making yourself and others something good to eat can be so little trouble and so much pleasure. And much more satisfying than coming home to a meal in a box.