Alan has worked in a number of world-class restaurants, including Inverlochy Castle, Claridges, Nobu, L’ortolan and Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons. His restaurants La Bécasse in Ludlow and L’ortolan in Shinfield both have Michelin stars, and made Alan the only chef with more than one Michelin starred restaurant outside London. He’s also appeared on a number of television shows, including The Great British Menu, Hairy Bikers and Market Kitchen.
The book is divided into the following sections:
The Start | The Journey | Starters | Mains | Cheeses | Desserts, and Basics
Without doubt this is one of my favourite. Ironically Alan had a great deal of trouble getting this book published, and ended up publishing it himself. This makes the resulting book even more remarkable, because the dishes are fabulous and the pictures make you want to get yourself straight to his restaurants.
There are a number of quotations alongside beautiful shots of the countryside. The photographer Mark Law, get’s his own section – Julia Charles, the nutritionist gets a section – favoured suppliers get a section… This book is a celebration of Alan’s journey, and the people who have helped him along the way….
By far one of the most original cookbooks in my collection. The recipes are easy to follow, and straight forward. The book is so much more than a cookbook though – it’s a journal which documents the beginning of Meat Liquor through it’s various incarnations, to the beast it is now. There are lots of photographs of the crew, little vignettes, there’s a whole conversation about queuing, refereed by Stefan Chomka… In fact, maybe that’s why I like it so much? It feels like my twitter stream, full of the opinionated and food obsessed people I love. I’ve listed some of the recipes at the bottom, but I can’t imagine you’ve found your way to this book without knowing who Meat Liquor are. If you do, yes, my darlings – you’re going to love it!
