The Man Who Ate Everything
ISBN 0-7472-6097-4
It Must Have Been Something I Ate
ISBN 0-7472-4307-7
Jeffrey Steingarten
Headline Book Publishing
My head chef, John Freeman, brought The Man Who Ate Everything into the kitchen one day and I nicked it to read, but then left it on a train and had to buy another copy. I got hooked, though, on Jeffrey Steingarten, so ended up buying the follow-up book.
Steingarten is the food writer for American Vogue and these two books are collections of some of the features he's written over the years. He's obviously fanatical about food, which really rings a bell with me, because I'm like that.
He's gone to great lengths to learn about each subject in each chapter. I learnt about Poilâne through Steingarten, and he'll write about, say, salt, then get every salt he can lay his hands on from around the world and investigate their qualities, their chemical make-up. What I found fascinating was the fact that, basically, they're all very similar. There are only tiny chemical differences that separate them - a few more trace elements, more magnesium.
That type of research is a great platform when I'm thinking of new dishes. You just need to thumb through these books quickly and his findings will inform your own research. The more information you can get, the better it is for pushing the boundaries in ingredient matching. The books make you ask why things go together and inspire you to push forward beyond the classics.
He's a very funny writer, too. He always takes you on a journey with whatever he's writing about and the way he describes ingredients is inspirational. The piece on white truffles made me want to go out to Italy. He's obviously an anorak - but so are most chefs.
I've set up my own library here in one of our outbuildings and send the boys on the brigade over there to read through the Steingarten books. I've even got my accountant reading him. If you love food, it's a really good read.
Sat Bains, chef-proprietor, Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms, Nottingham
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