Synopses & Reviews
This book features the chefs and gardeners of UK's most exciting restaurants, hotels, pubs and cafes focusing on the ways they produce the very best fruit and vegetables to appear on that day’s menu. It reveals their beautiful kitchen gardens, inspiring and delicious recipes, and their tried-and-tested gardening techniques. Now you can explore the kitchens and gardens of famous chefs, from Terence Conran to Raymond Blanc, and restaurants, such as River Cottage and Petersham. Gain extraordinary access to the kitchen gardens and personal recipe books of more than 20 head chefs. With this book any gardener can follow the precise steps that top chefs take to create great-tasting dishes. From choosing, growing, harvesting and cooking, find out how to make the tastiest dishes using more than 30 crops and recipes. The chefs reveal the details that contribute to perfection, how they collaborate with their head gardeners to determine soil preparation, the timing of sowing, careful harvesting and refined storage, right down to how they prepare the crops for cooking. For existing gardeners, it will offer inspiration when it comes to choosing what to grow from the perspective of what's good to eat. Arranged by region, this book will enable armchair and real exploration of restaurants, kitchens and gardens, from fruits to vegetables to herbs and from plot to kitchen. You can book a table at all the places featured, or enjoy recreating the ingredients and the meals yourselves.
Review
"McTernan (garden editor, The Simple Things magazine) here profiles the kitchen gardens of 20 culinary destinations in the UK (e.g., River Cottage, L'Enclume), highlighting the relationship between chefs and their gardeners. Each section includes insider gardening secrets; the basics of how to sow, care for, and harvest select plants; and artfully plated recipes (e.g., sea kale with brown shrimps and lemon butter sauce, grilled mackerel with beetroot) that readers are more likely to admire than prepare. VERDICT Filled with lush photographs and behind-the-scenes information about successful chefs and horticulture experts, this is a great candidate for armchair travel and culinary inspiration." - Library Journal
Review
"Calling all wannabe gardeners and star chefs! Direct from the United Kingdom's most exciting dining establishments, this beautifully illustrated compendium pays homage to some of the best farm-to-table dishes being served from London to Glasgow. McTerman and Ingram began this venture with the enthusiasm of groupies. The end result of their collaborative passion is a lushly documented overview of the craft of using seasonal foods, locally grown, and harvested with exquisite timing.
Eco-friendly food supplies have become very trendy. This book raises the bar, proving that regional crops, with a limited footprint and maximum nutrient value, can be the basis of culinary delights that rival the best menu items in top dining establishments around the world. By featuring the horticultural experts that these upper echelon chefs rely upon, the authors have opened the door for readers to begin creating their own unique creations from produce grown, literally, in their own backyards." - Anna Jedrziewski, Retailing Insight
Review
"a wonderful book for gardeners, cooks, culinary tourists and anyone else who has an interest in some of the most innovative dishes imaginable!" - A Hen's Nest
Review
"Ever wonder how food goes from garden to table in the restaurants of chefs who are working hard to incorporate food grown on site? "Kitchen Garden Experts" brings us into the world of UK chefs and their gardeners, a book that's as much about the products that are grown as the people that grow them." (5 COOKBOOKS FOR PEOPLE WITH A VEGETABLE GARDEN (OR WHO JUST LOVE GROWING FOOD) - Ecosalon
Synopsis
Kitchen Garden Experts features the chefs and gardeners at twenty of the UK's most exciting restaurants, hotels, pubs and cafes, focussing on how they produce the best fruit and vegetables to appear on their menus.
With this book you can:
- Explore the kitchens and gardens of twenty celebrated chefs, from, Sir Terrance Conran and Raymond Blanc to River Cottrage and L'Enclume
- Gain extraordinary access to 20 recipe books and 40 signature dishes
- Discover key ingredients and special growing methods that help these chefs win awards for excellence
- Follow the simple steps from plot to plate, learning new growing skills
- Savour the flavour of fresh local produce - either at your own table or by visiting the restaurants themselves
Twenty featured chefs include:
Raymond Blanc & Anne-Marie Owens at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Gill Meller at River Cottage Sir Terence Conran at Barton Court, Simon Rogan at L'Enclume, Tom Lewis at Monachyle Mhor, Jack Stein at Padstow Kitchen Garden, Ruthie Rogers at River Caf , Skye Gyngell at Heckfield Place.
About the Author
JASON INGRAM is an award-winning garden and food photographer. He is based in Bristol, UK, and travels widely photographing gardens, plants, food and people for magazines, books and advertising.
Cinead McTernan is a horticulturally trained editor of The Simple Things and The Edible Garden magazines, and deputy editor of The English Garden. She has previously worked on BBC Gardener's World. She calls Bristol, UK, home.
RAYMOND BLANC is a French-born English chef and restaurateur and owner of The Raymond Blanc Cookery School. He also is a best-selling author, and his BBC television series have included The Very Hungry Frenchman and Kitchen Secrets. His most recent six-part series is How to Cook Well, broadcast on BBC2.