The Quo Vadis chef picks out an excellent Tuscan olive oil, a Japanese tea caddy and the “god of the great chef cookbooks”
INGREDIENTS
Sesti olive oil »
“I’ve just about used up my last bottle of Sesti olive oil (a great Tuscan), which I am saving up to replace. You can get it at Alastair Little’s shop Tavola in Westbourne Grove.” – Jeremy
Cider vinegar »
“It’s unbelievably good for your stomach. Not all the time, but every other day. Just drink a teaspoon diluted. Mum used to give it to us when we were children. I find if I’m really jaded, I just go ding!”
Sea salt »
“There’s no such thing as a bad Guérande salt and Maldon is brilliant too.”
Mushroom ketchup »
“I love it – when you need to give something just a whisper of depth. Use it like Worcester sauce.”
OBJECTS
Kaikado tea caddy »
“It’s made by seven generations of this Japanese family using Cornish tin exported to Japan. The mechanism is so simple. You can buy them at Postcard Teas on Dering Street.” – Jeremy
Bernard Leach casserole dish
“An original from the 50s made by the very distinguished potter Bernard Leach. He is to pottery what Edward Bawden is to illustration. A great treasure. The glaze is absolutely out of this world.”
Amaretti di Saronno tins
“They were in my mother’s kitchen for decades. Right from the 60s hence their extraordinary colour. Inside are all of her custard cups, for little creams and lemon possets – cold in summer, warm in winter.”
Marble mortar
“A fairly recent purchase. I was so annoyed with the cooks because they hadn’t ordered enough polenta. The order takes some time so I went up to La Fromagerie [a cheese shop in Marylebone]. This was in the window. It’s 250 year old Carrara marble – the marble that built Venice.”
BOOKS
An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, Elizabeth David »
“A big favourite. Funnily enough I’m doing a dinner at the Marksman based on it in very soon. Oh and French Provincial Cooking of course… an amazing, amazing book.”
Good Things, Jane Grigson »
“I adore Good Things. It’s arbitrary, it’s random, it’s very funny, lots of lovely little stories.”
Honey From a Weed, Patience Gray Buy from
“Extraordinary woman. It’s a book that Clarissa Dickson Wright (who ran Books for Cooks at the time) made me buy – above all others. Recipes for the cook – metaphors, poetry, beautifully sculpted. If you want to understand what the true art of foraging is, this is the book for you.”
Le Meilleur et le Plus Simple des Pommes de Terre, Joel Robuchon »
“Joel Robuchon before he became silly. Everything you ever want to know about the potato, every recipe. The most exquisite potato soup. Very accomplished.”
Heart of the Artichoke, David Tanis »
“He has taken what I love to do one step further – with more glamour. He’s much more cosmopolitan than I am – he worked at Chez Panisse and then in France. Everyone does Californian-Italian, but Californian-French – wow! My hero. A real dream boat and a very nice man.”
Roast Chicken and Other Stories, Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham »
“Beautifully considered recipes, presented in the most charming and modest manner.”
La Cuisine Gourmande, Michel Guérard »
“The god of the great chef cookbooks. One of the best cookery books ever written. One of the only true voices in nouvelle cuisine before everyone else annihilated it and did unspeakable things.”
