This is everything and more; high class food, incredible stories, stunning photography and true honesty. It helped, of course that, back then, White had cheekbones so sharp you could slice your hand on them.

Orwell was a dishwasher and he describes one of his fellow plongeurs at length, a man who liked to describe himself as a "debrouillard," which word the dictionary defines as "resourceful" or "adaptable," but which Orwell says conveyed, at least as his comrade used it, a quality of toughness almost military in its disciplined unflappability. Amazing book to read and especially about a great chef how worked hard and reached to a great level and retiring from the kitchen and giving up his Michael stars who would do that. When it arrived, I regretted my choice because this enormous coffee table book was way too big and too nice to really refer to when cooking.Nobody has done a better job of obscuring the early, shimmering brilliance of Marco Pierre White than late-career Marco Pierre White.

Other than that, this is the book that made every famous chef in Britain today want to be a chef 20 years ago, and it made me a perfectionist and motivated in my own cooking. Wise, talented beyond his years and constantly striving for perfection, White Heat certainly encapsulates the essence of Marco Pierre White - true madness.Clarke's wife, Lindsay, later said in an interview that Marco went on to gut the shark there and then in the garden, "The stench was unbelievable.

One of the photographs featured White with a dead baby shark, which was laid across his lap in Clarke's garden for the shot. Mostly not my thing (pigeon cooked in a pig's bladder) though I might be tempted by the lemon tart (without the burnt sugar) or the cassette of chocolate - if only because White labels it as 'disgusting; it's a horrible dish. I'm glad I got the "25" now, though, because one of the truly great things about this book was the series of black and white kitchen action photos by Bob Carlos Clarke, a chance acquaintance who took on this project on a whim. Some of the recipes and the way they're assembled feel quite dated 30 years after this book's original publication, and it's interesting that there's not a single vegetarian dish (except for the desserts).Of course, Orwell goes on to point out, a little cruelly, that the plongeur needed this hypermasculine metaphor about his work because he was, in Orwell's scornful phrase, "a glorified charwoman. The gruelling kipper and whisky pâté I was served in one of his steakhouses in 2009 still repeats on me. The recipes are unfathomably intricate and indulgent (read: expensive to consume), but White's Puck-ish comments on each one make this cookbook into a gonzo trip through White's mind. By the time Harveys opened he had already worked in Britain’s great classical restaurants: the Roux brothers’ Le Gavroche, Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir and Pierre Koffmann’s La Tante Claire. very complex, brooding, and simultaneously it's all very simple because he never seems to hold anything back.

recipes from a chef regarded as one of the most creative and talented of his generation Written by the youngest Briton to have been awarded three Michelin stars. My copy is the 25th anniversary, which includes an epilogue on the book's influence on future generations.One of the most recent to announce is Bigfoot, which describes itself as the UK’s first craft beer and music festival, to be held this June at Ragley Hall in Warwickshire. The book is cited today as having influenced the careers of several Michelin starred and celebrity chefs, and was described by one critic as "possibly the most influential recipe book of the last 20 years".