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August 22, 2012

Earlier this week, the 5pm blog was at Tom Kitchin’s place in Leith for the launch of his new book, Kitchin Suppers. The chef first made his name for the speed with which he won his first Michelin star. Since then, he has lifted his profile further with numerous TV appearances, especially as a mentor to other chefs on shows such as the Great British Menu and MasterChef.

For his new book, Tom has stepped away from the professional kitchen and put himself in the shoes of the time-pressed domestic cook. As well as tips on sourcing, timing and flavour balancing, the book contains 80 recipes that have been created specifically for the home kitchens rather than dishes which have been adapted from a chef’s restaurant.

Speaking at the launch, Tom said, ‘I have a friend, not a chef, but a frustrated would-be chef. He is always calling me up and asking how to make a restaurant style sauce at home and the simple answer is you can’t.

‘I have my home team here in my restaurant kitchen and we get 20 kilos of veal bones, 20 kilos of beef bones and we chop them up, roast them and so on. Three days later, we have a sauce. I know it’s not practical to do this at home.

‘In this book , there is no veal stock, pigs’ heads, lamb testicles or the other stuff which I might be known for but, hopefully, this is cooking which will take home cooks to the next level.

‘Thanks to my surname, Kitchin Suppers pretty much suggested itself as the title for this book but suppers can mean so many different things.

‘In the book, we’ve got lots of mid-week family suppers for when you’re trying to rustle something up quickly. We’ve also got suppers which are more Saturday night suppers when friends are coming around for dinner and you have a bit more time to go to the farmers’ markets and prepare. The dishes in the books are ones which we cook at home. The point is that they are all accessible.’

Kitchin Suppers will be published by Quadrille in September and costs £20.