The Perfect … Food Notes and Recipes by Richard Ehrlich

Ever wondered how to achieve perfect bread and butter pudding or chicken stock? Have you found that some cookbooks leave out those all important tips that divide success and failure? If the answer is yes on both counts, then roll in Richard Ehrlich as he sweeps your kitchen conundrums under the table for good.

The Perfect … Column was avidly read by Ehrlich fans every Saturday in The Weekend Guardian as he tackled yet another troubled subject. Ehrlich shoots from the hip, he always has done and with such directives as, ‘OK, motor roaring and blend the hell out of the mix,' you quickly get the picture. There are no recipes in The Perfect ..., just straight talking, no frills advice. Covering topics such as chicken liver paté, roasting garlic, the best way to cook asparagus, mussels, onion soup, béchamel, it's all here under one roof.

Ehrlich's way with tasteless tomatoes, inspired by Leigh Say of The Bell Inn, Skenfrith, deserves special mention. Core and halve tomatoes, add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Put in a shallow dish, drizzle with oil and then cook in the oven. You want to reduce the tomatoes by 10% of their raw state. Cook very slowly at your oven's lowest temperature overnight or utilise the heat of the oven after you've cooked something and turned it off. Repeat the process two or three times, letting the tomatoes cool down between cooking. They can come to no harm with this method. Once done, store in the fridge with their juicy oil. Perfect …

For cooks who like a good read and are fed up with prescriptive recipe books, The Perfect … will entertain. The articles, which have been neatly packaged up by Grub Street, will ensure that The Perfect … becomes a kitchen classic, standing proudly alongside your Elizabeth Davids and Jane Grigsons, with similarly grubby and thumb marked pages.

Publication details:
120 pp. Illustrations by Gillian Blease. £9.99
Published by Grub Street
ISBN 1904010830
2004

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