This week I’m mentioning a book that has a very personal meaning to me. My father gave it to me in 1975 with a lovely inscription inside. Hors d’oeuvre and Cold Table by William Heptinstall, a chef of legendary status. He ran the Fortingall Hotel in Glen Lyon for decades that was quite famous in the 50s and 60s as the place to go. 

He left funds on his death so that every year, a sum of money—to help with transport and accommodation—would go to a young chef to further his career. I applied for this William Heptinstall Award in about 1989 and was sent to London to be interviewed by a group of very serious people in a boardroom at the International Food and Wine Society, near Harrods. I had a lovely lunch at Hilaire, where Brian Webb was cooking, and I still remember his cod dish. 

There are so many dishes in this book that I don’t know where to start. I love the chapter on flesh and meat with variants of hard-boiled eggs and instructions for so many things like smoking and pickling. It’s a good book for the budding cook or gourmand, and I particularly enjoy his terminology: salade de pieds anyone? (made with calves’ feet, pigs’ feet and sheep’s trotters). This is a rare book and one I hold very dear in my collection.