Amazon.co.uk Review
Here's the idea: get the BBC audience to vote on their favourite British, holiday and all-time classic dishes, pop in a celebrity chef (Antony Worrall Thompson) to show us how to whip them up on telly, and spin a book out of it. Voilà,
The Top 100 Recipes from the Food & Drink TV Series is on the shelves. Perhaps a more appropriate name for this collection of recipes would be "How to Cook Like a Pub Chef", as none of these dishes would be out of place on the menu at your local. Spaghetti bolognaise, beef wellington, chicken kiev and rhubarb crumble are recreated and reworked (anchovy essence and Worcestershire sauce are added to the bolognaise sauce) just enough to allow you to claim them as your "own special recipes". That's about the extent to which most of these recipes will stretch the culinary imagination.
However, the book doesn't only focus on what the public voted for; AWT adds 70 of his own favourite dishes, and here you'll find some more interesting and inspiring recipes. (Isn't that what we buy cookbooks for?) Lemon polenta cake with rosemary syrup was the talking point of one dinner party, and the roast walnut pesto seems to be foolproof. AWT promises that none of these dishes are "beyond reach". The focus is definitely on uncomplicated recipes that steer clear of any of the latest food trends and remain (mostly) grounded in your mum's recipe collection. Most of these dishes will not impress your friends, but they will warm the cockles on a cold winter's night when only comfort food will do. -Amelia Crook
Synopsis
In a quest to discover the nation's favourite dishes, Antony Worrall Thompson, the popular presenter of Food and Drink, teamed up with the Radio Times and Good Food Magazine to find out which recipes really make our mouths water. The results of their three polls - the top ten Holiday Dishes, Best of British, and Classic Recipes - make an inspirational collection of recipes. In addition AWT has selected 70 of his favourite dishes from the series to create a really comprehensive selection that's bound to get you cooking. Each of the 30 winning recipes is illustrated with a colour photo and, since all the recipes have been cooked on Food and Drink you can be sure that they will be straightforward to prepare and delicious to eat.