Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Three Chimneys, 6 Nov 2003
This is a marvellously evocative book reminding me of my Scottish childhood with recipes for Scottish staples such as rumbledethumps, clapshot, and cranachan. In addition, Shirley Spears provides some wonderful modern twists on traditional recipes serving an Autumn Pudding (as opposed to Summer Pudding) and turning the staple ham and haddie into an elegant souffle. The recipes are interspersed with personal reflections of her life in Skye and setting up the world famous Three Chimneys Restaurant which anyone interested in good food will enjoy.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
True to the source, 28 Sep 2006
We had a wonderful meal at Three Chimneys last summer, and ordered the cookbook immediately.The photography is stunning, and Ms. Spear's reminiscences are frank, robust and touching. The recipes are true to the restaurant: simple ingredients cooked with care and precision. Ms. Spear is merciful to the home cook by suggesting how best to order tasks in these multi-stepped recipes -- many of the meals here are based on a series of inter-related, enfiladed recipes. But, as a cookbook, it is not perfect: We are almost never told how many servings to expect from a recipe, for instance. Many recipes call for oatmeal, but no guidance is given as to the type (steel-cut or flaked?) or whether or not the oatmeal is raw or cooked. The index is useless, and I have not yet discerned the book's organizing principle (seasonal? menu-driven? alphabetical?) However, in a way, these faults contribute to the book's considerable charm. There is nothing of the slick professional food-writer here, just a gifted, harried-sounding woman trying to communicate her life's passion.
|
|
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three Chimneys, Four Stars, 28 Oct 2008
Just finished reading Shirley's lovely book. My partner and I recently ate at the Three Chimneys and enjoyed one of the best meals we've ever had. Thus the book is a delight both as a souvenir of our visit, and in and of itself. Shirley's reminiscences are a joy to read - I loved hearing how she and her family took their dreams and made them a reality, and her evocative musings on Skye, fresh, seasonal produce, and life at the restaurant. And her recipes are also wonderful - and includes one for the Famous Hot Marmalade Pudding, which, believe me, is divine. The food photography is also good enough to make you salivate.
I have one or two niggling criticisms: for me, the format is too large - it is such a personal book I think it would work better as a smaller, thicker format, like a book you might read and cook from, the editing could be a bit tighter in one or two places (three mentions in as many pages that langoustines are alternatively known as prawns - once is ample), and I think it's a mistake to hold back content for a second book and repeatedly tell the reader so, then leak little scraps of it anyway - this feels like less of a 'tease' and a bit more like cheating the reader of content, or, more simply, poor organisation. Neither works well.
However, that's perhaps a little pernickety when, overall, the book is such a delight to own. I recommend it - and do of course look forward to Shirley's second offering.
|
|
|
|
by Nick Nairn
by Yotam Ottolenghi
by Nigella Lawson
by Skye Gyngell
See all Product Description
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Amazon Home