Skip the fuss, keep the ‘Big Flavors’
Cookbook’s appeal lies in easy re-creation of chef’s recipes
“Big Flavors From a Small Kitchen” (Mitchell Beazley), a new cookbook by Chris Honor, the Australian-born chef behind Chriskitch in London, is approachable for all levels of home cooks despite its critically acclaimed restaurant roots. After all, they are humble roots: Chriskitch has seating for a mere 18 people inside, and started with one hotplate and one oven.
“What I cook is real food, but I’m not talking about some foodie cult of the authentic,” Honor writes. “I buy raw ingredients and I cook them. … Nothing I prepare is technically complicated — I do not have that luxury, either of time or equipment.”
The luxury in his book, written with Laura Washburn Hutton, is the ease with which one can imagine re-creating his recipes, which start with salads and move on to brunch dishes, soups, main courses, “bakery” (breads, cakes) and “extras” (salad dressing, drinks, flavored salts and vinegars). This isn’t super fussy food or food from a particular country, though it is refined and inventive. The flavors cull from all over the world, the ingredients mostly available at your local grocery store or farmers market; a beet salad zings with tarragon, a lamb pot roast delivers spicy warmth with a coffee and molasses crust.
“Big Flavors” is beautiful to behold, too, with delicious photographs by Tamin Jones married to each dish.
This summer-fresh watermelon salad and chocolate cake laced with Guinness and dates would be perfect to serve at your next dinner party or summer soirée.