The Pedant in the Kitchen by Julian Barnes

This book contains no recipes.

Notes about this book

  • mjes on June 29, 2018

    This is a book about cooking from cookbooks, favorite authors (you'll want to order Posaine), making dinner for friends, culling cookbooks - and tools. In short, a very enjoyable set of meditations on cooking in real life.

You must Create an Account or Sign In to add a note to this book.

Reviews about this book

This book does not currently have any reviews.

  • ISBN 10 1843542390
  • ISBN 13 9781843542391
  • Published Oct 15 2003
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 96
  • Language English
  • Countries United Kingdom
  • Publisher Atlantic Books
  • Imprint Guardian Books

Publishers Text

The Pedant's ambition is simple. He wants to cook tasty, nutritious food; he wants not to poison his friends; and he wants to expand, slowly and with pleasure, his culinary repertoire. A stern critic of himself and others, he knows he is never going to invent his own recipes (although he might, in a burst of enthusiasm, increase the quantity of a favourite ingredient). Rather, he is a recipe-bound follower of the instructions of others. It is in his interrogations of these recipes, and of those who create them, that the Pedant's true pedantry emerges. How big, exactly, is a 'lump'? Is a 'slug' larger than a 'gout'? When does a 'drizzle' become a downpour? And what is the difference between slicing and chopping? This book is a witty and practical account of Julian Barnes' search for gastronomic precision. It is a quest that leaves him seduced by Jane Grigson, infuriated by Nigel Slater, and reassured by Mrs Beeton's Victorian virtues. The Pedant in the Kitchen is perfect comfort for anyone who has ever been defeated by a cookbook and is something that none of Julian Barnes' legion of admirers will want to miss.

Other cookbooks by this author