Book review: Pitt Cue Co
Book review, by Janie Manzoori-Stamford
Pitt Cue Co
By Tom Adams, Simon Anderson, Jamie Berger and Richard H Turner
Octopus, £20
ISBN 978-1845337568
But the postage stamp-sized restaurant means that in the interests of fairness it operates a very on-trend no reservations policy and lengthy queues are still pretty much guaranteed. So when I heard that its founders were releasing a cookbook, I was thrilled. How utterly marvellous, I thought. I can recreate its infamous pulled pork every weekend should I feel like it and mine will be a smokey, barbecue kind of culinary heaven.
Sadly no. This is not a book for the keen home cook, unless the keen home cook is equipped with some pretty nifty kit. Don't misunderstand me: there's a lot that can be made in a domestic kitchen, such as the condiments, sides and cocktails. But a simple hot grill over burning embers will not really suffice when barbecuing a pork shoulder for 14-16 hours at a set temperature (see opposite). â¨My lot in life will be forever to queue hungrily on the corner of Newburgh Street to get my Pitt Cue fix.
However, the pro chefs out there - those endowed with all manner of Big Green Eggs and Josper Grills - should find this book a must, if only to stand out from the crowd of bad examples of pulled pork and sticky ribs that threatens to be the zeitgeist. This book should be a bible to those wanting to deliver something mind-blowing.
The collection is comprehensive, covering drinks, snacks, meats, sauces & rubs, slaws & sides and concluding with "sweet stuff". A pad of Post-Its to hand to bookmark all the cross-referencing will make lighter work of wading through it, but that's easy enough to live with.
Many of the recipes do take a fair amount of effort, particularly for food that tastes so divinely effortless, so if you really must make only one thing from this â¨book, make it the Pickleback: â¨a shot of bourbon chased â¨(or backed, if you will) with a slightly smaller shot of pickle brine. Sure, it sounds a bit weird, but it's simplicity and superb in equal measure - believe me! *hic*
By Janie Manzoori-Stamford
If you like this, you may enjoy these:
â- Hawksmoor at Home byâ¨Huw Gott
â- Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food by Tom Kerridge
â- Ginger Pig Meat Book by Tim Wilson & Fran Warde