Customer Reviews:
 Offally grumpy July 9, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
I too, was misled by the title into thinking this would be everyday recipes, arranged by the seasons, but it turns out that 'Week in, week out' refers not to the cooking but to the writing of his weekly column in the Independent. Although there are 52 columns there are no headings and no very discernible order (starts with New Year, Christmas still being mentioned on p.67) so you can't easily find a recipe suitable for a particular time of year.
Although some of the recipes are very good, and the methods given are very thorough, this was spoilt for me as an enjoyable read by the sheer tetchiness of the author's tone. As the favourable review by Henrietta Green notes, he is 'dismissive of modern food fads'. Well, he seems to be dismissive of plenty of other things too: supermarkets, celebrity chefs, idiot readers who make his recipes using low quality ingredients, idiot shoppers who are too stupid to care what they are buying, even recipe descriptions (apparently it should be 'crisp' and not 'crispy'). He writes: "The suggestion that there is no need to top and tail a gooseberry is yet another indication that we, as a nation, have become the most slovenly of cooks". Well, it sounds like common sense to me if you're going to sieve them anyway, and this suggestion was made by Elizabeth David in the 1950's in her excellent 'Summer Cooking' so it can hardly be used as an indicator of modern culinary doom either.
This book would suit you if you cook a lot of offal and less mainstream ingredients and if you, too, feel pretty grumpy about the modern world.
 week in week out,,simon hopkinson. December 21, 2007
21 out of 35 found this review helpful
im sorry to say i was very disappointed with this book,with a title like week in week out i was expecting a recipe book filled with slightly more basic recipes but found things like smoked eel!boiled salted ox tongue,roasted quails,braised pheasant,duck pilaf,chilli crab salad,poached lamb tongue and the photos were very old fashioned very 80's.i dont often find a cook book that i find uninspiring but this really left me cold.i really didnt find one recipe that i thought sounded nice.
 Simon Hopkinson - one-time chef appeals equally to professional and home cooks. October 23, 2007
33 out of 36 found this review helpful
His new book, Week In Week Out is a collection of 52 `seasonal stories'. It kicks off in winter with such dishes as Devilled Whitebait and Grilled Veal Kidneys with Creamed Onions and Sage. Spring offers Tomatoes stuffed with Crab & Basil, Summer makes the most of Broad Beans with Cream & Mint while for autumn he suggests Scallops with Verjuice & Chives. These recipes echo Simon's philosophy of `cooking for pleasure, rather than slavishness towards fashion'.
This book is not just for the complicated. Check out what he says about something as simple and foolproof as boiling new potatoes. Apparently it's just not good enough to plop them into boiling water, skin intact, as I always do. Oh no, you should take the trouble to scrape them all over which results in potatoes "of another texture". And do you know - he's right.
Simon is dismissive of modern food fads. A lot of restaurants, he feels, serve food to please the chef's ego rather than the customer. His `classic' recipes will stand the test of time simply because they make good - even the best - eating. It's worth remembering that his Roast Chicken and Other Stories, published in 1994, was recently voted the most useful cookery book of all time by Waitrose Food Illustrated.
Good cooking, clear concise recipes and strong flavours will out. And what makes Simon one of the greats is his attention to detail, his loving and understanding approach and, above all, the fantastic food that every home cook can create simply by following his instructions.
 Good but not great October 10, 2007
15 out of 29 found this review helpful
Simon Hopkinson;s books are fun and well-written, and this book is no exception. Recommended: a good Christmas purchase.
I did however buy, at the same time, Martin Lampen's debut book SAUSAGE IN A BASKET, published at exactly the same time as Simon's. This is a hilarious skewering of the ways food is served up to us in Britain, with all the attendant marketing gimmicks which the hapless British public seem to fall for time and again. Undoubtedly one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books about food I've ever read, and I strongly recommend it. A nice counterpoint to Simon's book (one I suspect Simon himself would enjoy), if you're in the market for two books. And it proves the essential fact that it is not only celebrity chefs who have a valid opinion about food in this country.
Simon does it again! October 9, 2007
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
There are some things you wait for with childlike excitement and once I'd heard Simon had this book in the offing I couldn't wait. I even pre-ordered.
Straight from it's Amazon packaging into the kitchen. The oil-slicked Caponata and the heady Tiramasu proved once again that from book to plate Simon delivers. You are in a safe pair of hands that guide you in a commonsense way to a competent plate of food.
The knowledge, the care and concern for the recipes and ingredients shine through. Both he and Nigel Slater have raised the bar on creating recipes that translate so well and encourage readers to have a go.
Simon, should you read this, be aware that you can still find tasty Jersey spuds just the way you remember them. Kidney shaped, with a slight iron taste and skins that slough off with your thumb. Lovely. You just have to know where to look. If you are ever over just call me up!
|
