Review: Let’s Eat, Tom Parker Bowles

Remember Market Kitchen? Is it still on?  I always had a bit of a crush on Matt Tebbutt but he never replied to me on Twitter, so that was the end of that.  I did like Tom Parker Bowles too.  I love his gentle, slightly posh manner, and his seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of food too.  His book, you’ll be pleased to know, doesn’t disappoint.  Let’s Eat is subtitled ‘recipes from my kitchen notebook’ and it turns out that’s exactly what it is, the scribbles and sidenotes of hundreds of dinners, written up into what basically forms ‘a story of my love of food’.  I love it too.

Tom’s recipes are proper, hearty fare.  I had a go at his treacle tart, and the result was, if not fantastically aesthetically pleasing (I’m no good at embellishment) utterly delicious.

I’ve used this book so many times (triple cooked chips: amazing, griddled lamb with cucumber raita: scrummy…) I completely forgot to review it, so apologies for lateness – it was actually published back in June.  My copy now sits, slightly grease-spotted and dog-eared, on the windowsill of my kitchen – the sign of a good cookbook, don’t you think?

Tom’s recipe for toad in the hole was also magical.  Look how far it puffed up!

I think, often, good solid recipes that ACTUALLY WORK get lost in the fashion and fluffery of food writing.  At the end of the day, if a recipe is easy (and a bit fun) to follow, I think that makes it pretty much perfect.  This book delivers on both those levels – there are delightful snippets of information woven into these recipes, making them just lovely to read.

Buy this book. And treasure it.  I bet you’ll go back to it time and time again.

Interestingly, Let’s Eat is available to download on iTunes.  I gave it a go and can tell you that it’s actually a really handy way of owning a cookery book.  Here’s a link to the page: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/let%27s-eat/id544236735?mt=11

Let’s Eat: recipes from my kitchen notebook is out now, priced £25 hardback, published by Pavilion.

2 Responses to “Review: Let’s Eat, Tom Parker Bowles”

1. mammyskitchen says:

   September 25, 2012 at 12:19 pm

   My first thought, before I clicked your link on the twitter was “I miss Market Kitchen”, must admit I am a bit of a fan of Tom Parker Bowles too so will probably get this book.

   That Toad in the Hole looks fab!

   Reply
   • English Mum says:

     September 26, 2012 at 2:43 pm

     I often have food TV on in the background. I wasn’t so much of a fan of Market Kitchen but I used to like the other one with Jennie whatnot. God, my mind’s going. Good book tho!

     Reply