Book Review - Wild Flavours - Mike Robinson
Wild Flavours - Mike Robinson (Cassell Illustrated, £20)
What a year it has been for Mike Robinson. Not content with running one of the best food pubs in the country (the Pot Kiln in Berkshire), his TV career has blossomed with the Heaven's Kitchen series, which has resulted in this publication, his first cookbook.
Not bad for somebody who studied forestry at university before changing tack and embarking on a cooking career as a
"dishwasher and general slave" in a small restaurant in the French Alps.
Since then, he has run a delicatessen and cooking agency, worked in Australia and France and made regular TV appearances.
Subtitled "real produce, real food, real cooking", Wild Flavours is a collection of recipes inspired by his love of gutsy, rustic food conjured from fresh seasonal ingredients.
A keen hunter, gatherer, forager, fisherman and all-round outdoor type, Robinson's repertoire encompasses Modern European dishes, as well as classic French terroir cooking.
Divided into nine chapters, the book's strongest sections include the meat chapter - with such hearty classics as beef bourguignon ("the most utterly moreish and sexy dish I know") and Robinson's signature dish of beef fillet with shallots and Guinness.
Game is also a specialist area, recipes include partridge roast with cabbage, bacon and Marsala, rabbit with shallots, rosemary and garlic and jugged hare. Each recipe has an
introduction from Robinson, who writes warmly and knowledgeably.
He also encourages people to source the best ingredients they can afford and to shop at local butchers and small shops, rather than supermarkets. For pub chefs, the book is packed with sound menu ideas, from simple starters like a warm salad of pigeon and black pudding to his own version of such time-honoured classics as coq au vin.
Robinson is also an advocate of using cheaper cuts of meat: his recipes for slow-roasted spiced leg of mutton with swede mash and smoked ham hocks slow-cooked with sage, cider and apples would look good on any pub menu.
The only downside is that he omits the recipe for his stunning muntjac ragu, which remains one of the best dishes I've eaten in a pub for a very long time.
