On The Radio

I'm being interviewed by Kim Hill - New Zealand's finest radio host - on her Saturday morning show on National Radio this week. Unless the schedule changes at the last minute, I'm due on at about 11-20am, after the regular food spot. You can listen to a live stream from the RNZ site (go to one of the links above and click on the Audio box in the top left of the page header), and the interview should be hosted on the RNZ site for four weeks afterwards. I'll post a link when I have one.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 3:46 pm (permalink)

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The Truffle Book

"Absolutely rivetting" - a well-known prince. Available as softback, limited edition hardback, and PDF. Free sample PDF.

Full text searchable in Google Book Search.

topics

current reading

I've read two books called Heat in the last month. One was damn scary, and one was by George Monbiot, about global warming (which has a fantastic cover). Some would say I've been and gone and had my mid-life crisis, but it didn't involve doing an apprenticeship at the altar of real Italian cuisine and a tyrannical chef. Bill Buford is not me, and for that I'm grateful. I suspect he may be too. I enjoyed it - the kitchen stuff was pretty compelling (as was the Italian butcher I may just have to visit next time I'm on Italian truffle time), but somehow the whole thing didn't hang together. I know where Bill's coming from - and I can sort of sense where he went - but his own motivation (and his family's reaction) remain mysterious.

just read

A friend sent me Neil Perry's The Food I Love to make up for the accidental loss of Pierre Koffman's Memories Of Gascony. Koffman's book has contributed a couple of recipes to my standard repertoire (his gigot de quatre heures is regularly requested by family for special occasions), so its disappearance is deeply felt - but Perry is doing is best to stand in. Sometimes you pick up a cookbook, try a recipe, and it clicks. You want to try more, and you do. So far, everything I've tried - the fish in mad water, the seven hour lamb, the steamed then roast duck, has been excellent. I've even gone out and bought a digital oven thermometer on his say-so. Perry's a celeb chef in Australia - his Rockpool restaurant in Sydney is well worth a visit - and his cooking draws on the same sort of Italian inspiration that I find in Carluccio, Hazan and The River Café cookbooks.