Cooking: Simply and Well, for One or Many

Product Information

Alongside contemporaries such as Fergus Henderson, of St John, Lee takes as much credit as anyone for the extraordinary flourishing in our national cuisine over the past few decades.

They’re filled with books about food, from nouvelle cuisine pioneer Michel Guérard to current London pastry sensation Ravneet Gill. Put the oil into the cast-iron pan, lay the pork chop on top and let cook undisturbed until deep mahogany in colour, roughly 8-10 minutes. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.Along the way he indulges in biscuits, blood oranges, chocolate, fish (“shiny darlings lifted from the deep”) offal, potatoes and soup, among other delights. Warm, gregarious, solicitous, the very life and soul, this irrepressible Scotsman has endeared himself to generations of lucky London diners, first at Terence Conran’s Blueprint Café in the Nineties and Noughties, and for the past decade at the Hart brothers’ magnificent revival of the landmark Quo Vadis, on Dean Street in Soho. It is one of the best cookery books that I have ever read, it’s right up there with Elizabeth David. It’s not classic in my mind it really is something you might see from times gone - good eating never really goes away yes?

The chop goes wonderfully with so much, from olive oil, mash or potato and celeriac gratin to green beans, asparagus, peas, courgettes, Jerusalem artichokes or chicory. Lee hastens to add that at least it didn’t take 20 years to put together, like Alan Davidson’s Oxford Companion to Food. The recipes are arranged by favourite ingredients and occasions and include an introduction emphasising the importance of the quality and provenance of ingredients. Lay the spring onions on the hot pan to blister, turning after 3-4 minutes to blister the other side.There are sections on the usefulness and frugality of breadcrumbs, black olive crumbs to serve with everything; impromptu puddings like peaches in wine with bay leaves or plum compote with ricotta and hazelnuts; pea dishes galore; superb versions of classics like chocolate St Emilion and pommes Anna; big dishes to serve a few such as marinated chicken with roast pumpkin salad; and essentials like a wild garlic purée.

And while many of the recipes in the book were developed in professional kitchens, it is home cooking, and the home cook, that his book is about, and for. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Those spoilt types, like me, who are fortunate enough to eat occasionally at Quo Vadis will turn immediately to pies (“even the planet must have a crust”), knowing that no one on Earth makes a better one, before checking the index (I’ll save you the bother: it’s pages 144-5) for Lee’s smoked eel sandwich, for my money the greatest thing to appear on any menu (or cookbook page) since, yup, sliced bread. The word "classic" is used far too often to describe stuff nowadays but, in this generation of a million new cookbooks out every day (it seems), this will rise to the top and always be remembered.The great and good in food are all gushing about this book and as part of food’s upper tier it’s no surprise to see this praise for Mr Lee. Mayan gold and yukon gold potatoes cook a treat in this recipe, king edwards work very well, and good results were also enjoyed with baking and roasting potatoes. The anna makes a splendid cake, perfect when cut into wedges and served with cuts of beef such as bavette, onglet, rump and loin, or fillet of lamb, hogget, mutton, pork and venison, and, of course, it goes very well with roast chicken. Place the tart on a wire rack over a tray to catch any butter that may fall from the tart while baking.