Cookery Book Review

Jamie Oliver: The Return of the Naked Chef (Michael Joseph £20)

Yes, yes, we find the in-your-face, cinema-verite style of Jamie Oliver to be just as teeth grating as you do, the faux-naif style of 'I'm just an Essex boy what loves pukka grub and so does me missus, the lovely Jules and all me mates, wizard'. It's as contrived a thing as has hit cookery in a long time, and it appears unstoppable: the new book is the best seller everywhere, the telly series rolls out across the globe, and, aged 24, Oliver has already won a first Glenfiddich award for his television series to add to the mountain of dosh such popularity brings.
This would all be too much to stomach were it not for a simple fact: Oliver knows how to cook, and his food is genuinely true and involving: it is quite pukka, to borrow his favourite adjective. He has hit a chord because he understands the way in which people cook today; minimum time, maximum result, Thai curry one night, pasta the next, fish the next, knock-out roast chicken on Sunday. Anything we have cooked from his books works and works well, and the layout of the recipes (one per page) is very encouraging for newcomers.
The only drawbacks are the garish intros to some of the recipes, and the fact that Oliver is not yet an inventive cook ­ this is all standard repertoire revisited. No matter: it's better entertainment than most mainstream telly cookery and much more useful to the millions of folk who will buy and use the book. Good luck to him, and the lovely Jules.

Here are some interesting new cookery books which we shall be reviewing in the future:

Sally Clarke's Book (Macmillan)
River Café Green, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers (Ebury)
Richard Olney: Reflexions (Brick Tree Press)
Michael Buller: French Chefs Cooking (IDG Books)
Conrad Gallagher: One Pot Wonders (Gill & Macmillan)
Antonio Carluccio's Vegetables (Headline)

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text © John & Sally McKenna
illustrations © Ken Buggy