Nigel Slater’s inspirational guide to home cooking.

‘I want you to take in the spirit of the recipes and to deviate according to your ingredients and your feelings. I urge you to break the rules. I want you to follow your appetite.’

Inspiring and irresistible, ‘Appetite’ takes a hundred simple classics and casts aside the insecurities of normal recipes. Ingredients are listed, followed by a suggestion of how much you might need, i.e. ‘double cream – start with 100 ml then see how you go’. Readers will be liberated to use their own judgement, indeed actively encouraged to skip half the ingredients for pared-down versions that will teach them the essence of a dish. Recipe titles reflect this approach – ‘a cheap spaghetti supper’, ‘a big pork roast’, ‘a curry to make you sweat’. Slater’s typically unpretentious style and ready wit put the fun back into food.