Master Chefs (Cookery) Book

A strange book, Master Chefs has on its cover the names of 15 celebrated chefs, including Paul Heathcote, Nick Nairn, Gary Rhodes, Alastair Little, Anthony Worrall Thompson and Ken Hom. A top team, indeed. In the event, although they have contributed to the project, Master Chefs is pretty much a vanity project on the part of the giant catering and support services multinational Sodexho (a name to set the taste-buds tingling), previously known as Gardner Merchant. The company arranges classes for its chefs, 16 of whom are coached by an invited "Master Chef" in a menu which they then prepare for 100 guests. Master Chefs records the menus chosen for some of these occasions. The problem is that the food offered, while undeniably delicious and for the most part not too complicated, has something about it that says, unmistakably, Banquet. Perhaps it's the too-fiddly, precious presentation, combined with the very careful portion control. Whatever, this is food that is designed to impress rather than soothe or excite; it has very little to do with what most people would recognise as home cooking. Alastair Little comes closest to naturalness, with a Spinach and Ricotta Risotto, followed by Chicken Breast Stuffed with Porcini Mushrooms. Tony Tobin's menu shows perhaps the least attractive side of banquet food, with a geometrically trimmed Lasagne of Marinated Salmon and a Fillet of Rabbit Roasted in Parma Ham, leaning on a wedge of fennel confit and a cute little piped mound of truffle mash. Ideal for show-offs. --Robin DavidsonRead More