Paul Gayler 5 out of 5
Why don’t we see Paul Gayler on the TV more often? Could it be that he just doesn’t have the star quality of such “characters” as Jamie and Ainsley? He’s far too down to earth and straightforward to be a celebrity. He is, however my favourite chef and without doubt one of the most talented and pioneering contemporary chefs that Britain has produced. He has great understanding of food and flavour combining and has been a great innovator in vegetable / vegetarian cuisine despite not being a vegetarian himself. If I could afford it, I would eat at the Lanesborough Hotel (where Paul is Head Chef) far more often than the three times in the last nine years that I’ve been there. Of course I don’t believe he’s in the kitchen when I’m there but the food created by his chefs is always spot-on, even something as simple as penne with broad bean puree and truffle oil was sublimely perfect last time I went.
A long while ago I worked under one of Paul’s sous-chefs who seemed to be constantly saying “Gayler says do it like this” and a lot of what was passed on to me then made sense…..This knowledge and understanding shines through in “Flavours (of the world)”.
Essentially this is a collection of twenty five of Paul’s favourite ingredients (I’ll list them at the bottom of this page!) each with their own chapter. Each ingredient is discussed in-depth at the beginning of the chapter with descriptions, information on storing, preparation, culinary uses, other uses and even growing if the ingredient is a herb. Paul provides a list of complimentary flavours for each of the ingredients before moving on to a selection of his fantastic recipes starring the flavours he has chosen.
All the recipes sound delicious and there are some combinations you might not expect, especially in the savoury / dessert crossover style! such as veal fillet with mocha porcini sauce.
As much a book to be read for inspiration and new ideas as an actual recipe book, I love flicking through the pages of this one. Photography is mouth-watering with an image at the beginning of each chapter depicting the ingredient and then beautiful pictures of selected (not all) recipes.
As I said, Paul is my favourite chef and I have many more books of his in my collection which I will review later..
Those ingredients / chapters in full:
Balsamic vinegar… Basil… Cardamom… Chillies… Chocolate… Cinnamon… Coffee… Coriander… Cumin… Garlic… Ginger… Honey… Lavender… Lemons… Limes… Lemongrass… Mint… Mustard… Nutmeg… Olives… Peppercorns… Rosemary… Saffron… Salt… Tamarind… Vanilla…
Buy now from: Amazon UK
