Book review: The London Cookbook by Aleksandra Crapanzano

11 August 2017 by
Book review: The London Cookbook by Aleksandra Crapanzano

The London Cookbook by Aleksandra Crapanzano (Sphere, £20)

The London Cookbook is a collection of the favourite dishes of those who work in the capital's best restaurants, cafés and pÁ¢tisseries, the iconic dishes they serve that you still crave years later. It's more of a to-do list of gastronomic experiences, a source of inspiration and a celebration of a golden age of London cooking. As Yotam Ottolenghi puts it: it's "as much about the vibrancy of eating in London as it is a working cookbook".

Food writer Crapanzano, although not a native (she lives in New York) spent a lot of her childhood living in London and says that, as a frequent visitor, she has been able to observe the city's culinary rise from the outside but with the perspective of an insider.

The book is arranged by meat, seafood, vegetarian, pasta, rice and grains. The recipes include some star dishes, such as Dan Doherty's duck confit congee, Wahaca's chicken tacos with charred spring onion mayonnaise and Theo Randall's risotto di peperoni - but it's the desserts section that gets me excited.

As well as the classics - an orange and lemon posset from Bread Ahead's Justin Gellatly, a bavarois framboise from Brasserie Zédel - there's a marsala raisin ice-cream from Trullo and Little Social's muscovado custard. In Jason Atherton's Mayfair restaurant this custard, served by head chef Cary Docherty, comes as a tart filling paired with black sesame crumble and crème fraÁ®che sorbet, but Crapanzano has (apologetically) removed the extraneous elements to create the ultimate comfort dish - a simple, gorgeously thick, almost caramel-like bowl of custard.

Each recipe has a story as a result of Crapanzano's research, during which she spent hours with some of London's most prolific chefs, making this book a delightful read as much as a source of kitchen inspiration.

If you like this, you might enjoy these

  • London: The Cookbook - by Cara Frost-Sharratt
  • Ottolenghi: The Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi
  • River Café 30 - by Sian Wyn Owen, Joseph Trivelli, Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray

Videos from The Caterer archives

Are you looking for a new role? See all the current hospitality vacancies available with The Caterer Jobs

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking