"Read it, weep, and begin to humanize the idea that 'masculinity' requires dominance and humiliation."--Gloria...

'The Book of St John is too witty to be a manifesto, but it is a sturdy invocation of the need for comfort, generosity and ritual at the table. And it is a gurglingly delightful compendium of - quite simply - delicious ideas and stories' Nigella Lawson 'An unutterable joy from the team behind one of the most influential and important restaurants in Britain ... This is much more than a book of recipes, though (glorious as they are). It’s also about the importance of the table, of feasting, of friendship, of the white cloth napkin on your knee. And it sings of simple but wonderful pleasures: a bacon sandwich and a glass of cider, a doughnut and a glass of champagne.’ Diana Henry, The Telegraph 'The Book of St. JOHN, part food gospel, part memoir, part recipe book.' Observer Food Monthly Join the inimitable Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver as they welcome you into their world-famous restaurant, inviting you to celebrate 25 years of unforgettable, innovative food. Established in 1994, St. JOHN has become renowned for its simplicity, its respect for quality ingredients and for being a pioneer in zero waste cooking – they strive to use every part of an ingredient, from leftover stale bread for puddings, bones for broths and stocks, to typically unused parts of the animal (such as the tongue) being made the hero of a dish. Recipes include: Braised rabbit, mustard and bacon Ox tongue, carrots and caper sauce Duck fat toast Smoked cod’s roe, egg and potato cake Confit suckling pig shoulder and dandelion The Smithfield pickled cucumbers St. JOHN chutney Butterbean, rosemary and garlic wuzz Honey and bay rice pudding Featuring all the best-loved seminal recipes as well as comprehensive menus and wine recommendations, Fergus and Trevor will take a look back at the ethos and working practices of a food dynasty that has inspired a generation of chefs and home cooks.

In the eighteenth-century French household, the servant cook held a special place of importance, providing daily meals and managing the kitchen and its finances. In this scrupulously researched and witty history, Sean Takats examines the lives of these cooks as they sought to improve their position in society and reinvent themselves as expert, skilled professionals. Much has been written about the cuisine of the period, but Takats takes readers down into the kitchen and introduces them to the men and women behind the food. It is only in that way, Takats argues, that we can fully recover the scientific and cultural significance of the meals they created, and, more important, the contributions of ordinary workers to eighteenth-century intellectual life. He shows how cooks, along with decorators, architects, and fashion merchants, drove France’s consumer revolution, and how cooks' knowledge about a healthy diet and the medicinal properties of food advanced their professional status by capitalizing on the Enlightenment’s new concern for bodily and material happiness. The Expert Cook in Enlightenment France explores a unique intersection of cultural history, labor history, and the history of science and medicine. Relying on an unprecedented range of sources, from printed cookbooks and medical texts to building plans and commercial advertisements, Takats reconstructs the evolving role of the cook in Enlightenment France. Academics and students alike will enjoy this fascinating study of the invention of the professional chef, of how ordinary workers influenced emerging trends of scientific knowledge, culture-creation, and taste in eighteenth-century France.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1884.