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The Prawn Cocktail Years
  • Published: 13 August 2020
  • ISBN: 9781405948494
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272
Categories:

The Prawn Cocktail Years



Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham's first collaboration, Roast Chicken and Other Stories was recently voted the most useful cookbook of all time in a Waitrose Food Illustrated survey

While Lindsey Bareham was helping Simon Hopkinson put together his best-selling book, Roast Chicken and Other Stories, the two of them began to reminisce about hotel and restaurant dishes they had grown up with and always loved; those Cinderellas of the kitchen that we abandoned in our quest for the wilder shores of gastronomy. Classics such as Duck a l'Orange, Weiner Schnitzel, Moussaka, Garlic Mushrooms and, of course, Prawn Cocktail, have all been slung out like old lovers but when made with fine, fresh ingredients and prepared with care and a genuine love of good eating, these former favourites should grace the most discerning of tables.

The Prawn Cocktail Years sets out to rehabilitate the food we once loved and found exciting. In so doing, the authors take us on a cook's tour of the legendary post-war hotels and gentlemen's clubs with their Mulligatawny and Shepherd's Pie, to the bistros of Swinging London where Paté Maison and sizzling Escargots excited the braver palate. Then there were the first Italian trattorias where Saltimbocca and Oranges in Caramel were the order of the day and the 'Continental' restaurants with their exotic offerings of Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Kiev and Rhum Baba. Recipes for all these old favourites have been brought back to life as well as those classics that were once described as the Great British Meal - Prawn Cocktail, Steak Garni with Chips and Black Forest Gateau. Cooked as they should be, this much derided and often ridiculed dinner is still something very special indeed. The prawn cocktail years are staging a comeback . . .

  • Published: 13 August 2020
  • ISBN: 9781405948494
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272
Categories:

About the authors

Lindsey Bareham

Lindsey Bareham started to cook seriously when she was asked to edit the restaurant section of Time Out and has built a reputation for recipes that always work, taste good and are easy to achieve, even by the most inexperienced cook. She wrote a daily after-work recipe for the Evening Standard for eight years and currently writes the much-loved Dinner Tonight column for The Times. She is the author of twelve cookery books including In Praise of the Potato, A Celebration of Soup, Dinner in a Dash and The Fish Store. She wrote The Prawn Cocktail Years with Simon Hopkinson and helped him write Roast Chicken and Other Stories, which has been voted The Most Useful Cookery Book Ever by chefs and food writers.

Simon Hopkinson

Born in Bury, Lancashire, Simon Hopkinson left school at 17 to begin a career as a chef. He opened his first restaurant, the Shed, near Fishguard, just before his 21st birthday. In 1983 he launched himself on the London restaurant scene, becoming chef at Hilaire in the Old Brompton Road. He swiftly found himself one of the most acclaimed young chefs in the business and his friendship with Terence Conran led to the opening of Bibendum in the restored Michelin building in 1987. He retired as a full-time chef in 1995 to concentrate more on writing. As well as Roast Chicken and Other Stories his books include Gammon & Spinach (1998) and The Prawn Cocktail Years (1999) and he also writes a column in the Independent. His critically acclaimed cookery writing has won him the André Simon award, and the Glenfiddich Award three times.