My Cookbooks - Christmas Chronicles Nigel Slater

By Kitchen Exile December 13, 2018 My Cookbooks

Dear Nige has had a place in my culinary heart for many years now. I was introduced to his books about 20 years ago and fell in love with his joy of food and the way he embraces the most simple ingredients.

One of his earliest books "Real Food" was one of the cookbooks that pushed me further in a culinary sense and gave me an insight into the fact that there was more to food than just a basic repertoire. I had just graduated from university and got my first job, so after years of abject student poverty, I finally had some cash to spend on food (and cookbooks!). It was also a stepping stone to many more cookbooks too.

I couldn't just single out one of his books but would have to include all of them, but for today and given that it's December, Christmas Chronicles seems to be an apt choice to focus on.
Christmas Chronicles is perhaps one of his best books to date, a seasonal book in the true sense that it documents the daily and weekly activities that are part and parcel of his Christmas preparation as well as harking back to childhood memories. It brought back a lot of memories for me of the activities in my childhood that took place leading up to Christmas such as baking the Christmas cake and feeding it, preparing the pudding, choosing the Christmas tree and visiting Christmas markets.

The recipes themselves are pretty simple but it is the pure celebration of ingredients and food and encourages the reader to allow themselves to indulge. With all of Nigel Slater's books it is not just the recipe but his prose that is a joy to read, he really knows how to engage the reader. You have the added bonus of great recipes paired with great writing. It is one of those books that you want to read curled up in front of the fire with a some mulled wine or an indulgent hot chocolate.

My Cookbooks