My book of the week is a classic and one that changed my way of thinking about food and cookery. White Heat by Marco Pierre White was gifted to me by my brother Rory for Christmas in 1990. It has always been a source of inspiration—more a piece of art than a recipe book.
Marco stormed onto the London restaurant scene in the late ’80s, described as an ‘enfant terrible’. They weren’t wrong as he ran a tough kitchen. He called it the SAS of kitchens at the time, and a young-faced Gordon Ramsay worked there.
He was different, not the classic, pristine chef in whites; he was cool. This was a ground-breaking book that appealed to the younger generation of chefs and was frowned upon by older folk. He was a rock-star chef with scruffy hair, but educated and with an innate understanding of flavour. Young cooks idolised him and we all started wearing butcher’s aprons because he did.
His food is so well thought out and presented. Pigs’ trotter ‘Pierre Koffman’ for example, learned from his time at Tante Claire with Koffman. Also tagliatelle of oysters with caviar, and a simple glazed lemon tart worthy of 3 Michelin stars.
This book was a vanity project, and he states in the book that no-one is cooking like him in Britain, and he was right. This giant of a man had worked in the best kitchens in the land and condensed all this knowledge into a restaurant called Harveys in Wandsworth. I called him up one day for a job, and he told me to come to London. The job was mine, but I never went. I got nervous, but I guess we all have regrets.
It’s a great book, with stunningly beautiful photography by Bob Carlos Clarke, including action shots and divine plates of food. I have eaten his food many times and have never been disappointed; his legacy is quite something. This book will always inspire me—it’s timeless.
