"Katy, is a newly qualified pastry chef who goes from turning out heritage duck egg and black garlic mayo sourdough sandwiches in a painfully pretentious London cafe, to making cheese scones with foraged sea buckthorn jam on the west coast of Scotland. Her journey also involves a Michelin-starred restaurant and a bespoke baking business (as well as a couple of disastrous run-ins with bitchy critics, including on a television gameshow involving Sue Perkins and a chocolate souffle challenge)."
"In fact, from the glistening, bronzed hunk of pork with salsa verde and pressed potatoes set in front of the UK's most feared culinary taste-maker, to the merguez and chip baguette Katy eats on the pavement after kidnapping a dog she doesn't even like, the food is the real star. Tastes as good as it reads pork with salsa verde. Photograph: Ola O Smit/The Guardian"
"I had an absolute blast writing the book, and the food sections were definitely the most fun thinking about what a starred restaurant might serve with a salted chocolate tart, say (Fergus Henderson's recipe is here, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't pair it with a beetroot sorbet and walnut crumb), or what a critic might order for lunch at Margot Henderson's Rochelle Canteen (bitter greens, like our own Rachel Roddy's, for a start)."
"And while I don't deliberately theme my bedtime reading around food, I can't deny the pleasure of a text that leaves me hungry for the meals it describes I'm thinking of Asako Yuzuki's Butter, which introduced me to the simple satisfaction of a sliver of butter perched atop a mound of steaming rice garnis"
A debut novel centers on a newly qualified pastry chef, Katy, whose path moves from a pretentious London cafe to the west coast of Scotland. The narrative follows her work making heritage duck egg and black garlic mayo sourdough sandwiches, then cheese scones with foraged sea buckthorn jam. Her journey includes a Michelin-starred restaurant and a bespoke baking business, alongside tense encounters with critics, including a television gameshow and a chocolate soufflé challenge. Meals are portrayed as the real focus, ranging from salted chocolate tart pairings to bitter greens at Rochelle Canteen. Scenes also feature pork with salsa verde and pressed potatoes, and street food like merguez and chip baguette after a dog-related incident.
#food-writing #pastry-and-baking #culinary-criticism #london-and-scotland-settings #michelin-star-dining
Read at www.theguardian.com
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