First, Catch
Study of a Spring Meal
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
NOMINATED FOR THE 2018 ANDRE SIMON FOOD & DRINK BOOK OF THE YEAR
BBC RADIO 4 FOOD PROGRAMME BEST FOOD BOOKS OF 2018
THE TIMES BEST FOOD BOOKS OF 2018
FINANCIAL TIMES SUMMER FOOD BOOKS OF 2018
"A one-off, the kind of food book that I believed was no longer being published... When I reached the last page, I went back to the beginning." – Bee Wilson, The Times
"A book as rich and rewarding as the rabbit stew he spends so many chapters making." – Jenny Linford, Times Literary Supplement
"A wonderful taste of fresh air... First, Catch is almost revolutionary... His words are delicious, musical heaven." – William Sitwell
‘Thom Eagle’s writing is pure joy – effortless and unaffected. Even such a seemingly banal and simple thing as boiling vegetables is engaging and illuminating in his hands. He is easily one of my favourite writers, and this book deserves to become a classic.” – Olia Hercules, author of Mamushka and Kaukasis
"It feels so tantalisingly transgressive to find a book that looks beautiful, feels lovely in the hand and just contains words — gorgeous, thoughtful essays... from a talented chef and writer." - Tim Hayward, Financial Times
‘The thing to do is just begin. The question, of course, is where?’
So opens Thom Eagle’s hymn to a singular early spring meal. A cookbook without recipes, this is an invitation to journey through the mind of a chef as they work. Stand next to Thom in the kitchen as he muses on the very best way to coax flavour out of an onion (slowly, and with more care than you might expect), or considers the crucial role of salt in the creation of the perfect assembly for early green shoots and leaves.
In an era when we are so distracted that we eat almost without realising what we’ve just put in our mouth, this is food and writing to savour, gently steering the cook back towards simplicity, confidence and, above all, taste.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this gorgeously written debut, London chef Eagle reflects on the foods, customs, and histories that come into play in selecting and serving a multi-dish lunch. Twenty-four essays guide readers in meal preparation while offering curious tidbits, cultural insights, and moral arguments on food (he disdains modern poultry farming). Eagle challenges the notion of recipes as "scientific sets of instructions," instead proposing "they are more like short stories... told in a curious imperative." While the chapter titles sound instructive "On curing with salt," "On almost frying" he educates while contemplating such topics as Italy's tolerance for bitter flavors, as well as meringues made out of sugar and blood (a little-known thickening agent) whipped "into a pinkly clouded mass." He explains how brining "alters the structure of muscle cells" so they retain moisture, but he also waxes rhapsodically while preparing soup stock: "It is easy to believe that bones, lying as they do in the depths of ourselves, are the repository of the soul, or at least of special, vitally animal instincts: we know things, as they say, in our bones." The recipes themselves are rewarding, including one featuring a wild-caught rabbit (which Eagle suggests one first blanch to get rid of the "grass excrement, of musk") that becomes the centerpiece of a rag . This wonderfully indulgent, pleasurable compilation of culinary meditations will thrill food lovers.
