Tough Cookies: Tales of obsession, toil and tenacity from Britain's culinary heavyweights - Softcover

Wright, Simon

3.76

25 ratings by Goodreads

9781861979759: Tough Cookies: Tales of obsession, toil and tenacity from Britain's culinary heavyweights

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861979754 ISBN 13: 9781861979759

Publisher: Profile Books, 2006

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An explosive expose of the culinary brotherhood of Britain. From Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay to Heston Blumenthal, Shaun Hill and Marcus Wareing, Tough Cookies blows the lid on the revolution in British cooking. 'The whole thing was a shit-fight. If they'd filmed it, it would be an Oscar nominee' Gordon Ramsay. Think of great cooking and you must think of France - the classic dishes, techniques and structure of kitchens are all derived from across the channel. British food was never renowned for its flair and inventiveness, until the 1980s when Marco Pierre White led an extraordinary revolution in British cuisine. Passionate and unpredictable, he inspired many of the top chefs in Britain today. In this insightful book, Simon Wright exposes the revolution for what it was and shows how the passionate idealism of the early years has been compromised. He takes us inside the kitchen to the brotherhood of chefs and tells the very distinct tales of Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, Shaun Hill and Marcus Wareing - four men who have risen through the vicious climate of the kitchen to make a special mark. Theirs is an elite band, tough to join, and these are the stories of how they qualified for membership. In terms of their impact on British eating out, their achievements in the kitchen and their status among fellow chefs, they have dominated the last fifteen years. From Michelin stars and the AA Restaurant Guide to haute cuisine and bacon and egg ice cream, nothing will ever be quite the same again on the British restaurant scene. Wright captures the magic, sweat and imagination of these exceptional characters in the kitchen.

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Review:

Revelatory, principled and entertaining, this enjoyable book explains why so few of our restaurants are excellent and so many are mediocre. (Christopher Hirst The Independent)

[Simon Wright] has captured the authentic stench of the top flight kitchen ... a delicious tale. (Jay Rayner Observer)

Enough kitchen gossip to satisfy the most prurient foodie. (Aileen Reid Sunday Telegraph)

Synopsis:

Take four of Britain's top chefs, grill, add an unfeasible amount of hard labour, beat with some brutality, stuff with tenacity and season with a pinch of machismo. Tenderise all this with a splash of the farcical, sear with a dash of the cynical, drop in a twist of fate, stir with a passion and what have you got? In "Tough Cookies", Simon Wright lifts the lid on this heady mixture and reveals what it really takes to get to the top in Britain's restaurant kitchens. Through the very different journeys of Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, Shaun Hill and Marcus Wareing, we learn that no matter how much natural talent or luck they have, no chef reaches the heights of their profession without an extraordinary effort of will. Mixing in his own experiences and musings on what makes good food and why it matters, Wright serves-up a rare insight into the reality behind putting good food on our restaurant tables.

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